Varieties of Bundeli Language

1.3.2 Varieties of Bundeli

Grierson and his associates found Bundeli to be, on the whole, a very homogeneous form of speech. Table 2 summarizes Grierson’s findings regarding the different dialects and the districts where they are spoken also see map 5. Grierson divides Bundeli into four different dialects: Standard Bundeli, Mixed Dialects of the Northeast, Mixed Dialects of the Northwest and the Broken Dialects of the South. Within each of these dialects there are a number of sub-dialects. The table also includes population figures for each district taken from Jaiswal’s estimates, which are projections based on the 1961 Census of India. Table 2. Bundeli speech varieties based on Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. IX General name of dialect Name of dialect Districts where spoken Estimated number of speakers Standard Bundeli Standard Jhansi, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Southeast Gwalior, Tikamgarh, Sagar, Narsinghpur, Seoni, Hoshangabad, and the Eastern part of Guna, Vidisha and Raisen 5,000,000 Pawari Northeast Gwalior, Datia 1,500,000 Lodhanti or Rathora Hamirpur, Jalaun 2,500,000 Khatola Chhatarpur, Panna, Damoh 1,500,000 Mixed Dialects of the Northeast Banaphari Southeast Hamirpur, Northeast Chhatarpur, northern Panna, northwest Satna 500,000 Kundri Hamirpur, Banda 15,000 Nibhatta Jalaun 15,000 Tirhari Hamirpur Mixed Dialects of the Northwest Bhadauri or Towargarhi Gwalior, Agra, Mainpuri, Etawah 1,800,000 Broken Dialects of the South Lodhi Balaghat 25,000 Chhindwara Bundeli Chhindwara 114,100 Kosti Chhindwara 4000 included in above number Kumbhari Chhindwara 50,000 Gaoli Chhindwara 20,000 Kirari Chhindwara 6000 Raghobansi Chhindwara 5000 Nagpuri Hindi Southern Chhindwara, Nagpur 105,900 Map 5. Bundeli speech varieties according to Grierson 1906 Within the Standard Bundeli area, there are four different subvarieties, one of which is named Standard. So, as Grierson portrays it, there is a StandardStandard and StandardPawari, etc. However, he states that these subvarieties of StandardStandard, although they have been given special names, are different only in “very unimportant local peculiarities.” Grierson 1906:86. The mixed dialects of the northeast are distinctive in that they are a mixture of Bundeli and Bagheli, but apparently are more Bagheli than Bundeli. Bhadauri or Towargarhi, in the northwest part of Bundelkhand, is a form of Bundeli considerably mixed with the Braj Bhasha spoken in Agra. As already mentioned, the so-called “broken” dialects of the south are not like the “mixed” dialects of the northwest and northeast in that they are not intermediate links between two neighboring languages. While there are two languages involved, instead of merging into one another, they are more of a pidgin-type mixture.

1.4 Purpose and goals