G.J.I.S.S.,Vol.3(2):52-59 (March-April, 2014) ISSN: 2319-8834 52 MAGAHI AND MAGADH: LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE Lata Atreya 1 , Smriti Singh 2 , & Rajesh Kumar 3 1 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar, India 2 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar, India 3 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Tamil Nadu, India Abstract Magahi is an Indo-Aryan language, spoken in Eastern part of India. It is genealogically related to Magadhi Apbhransha, once having the status of rajbhasha, during the reign of Emperor Ashoka. The paper outlines the Magahi language in historical context along with its present status. The paper is also a small endeavor to capture the history of Magadh. The paper discusses that once a history of Magadh constituted the history of India. The paper also attempts to discuss the people and culture of present Magadh. Keywords: Magahi, Magadhi Apbhransha, Emperor Ashoka. 1 Introduction The history of ancient India is predominated by the history of Magadh. Magadh was once an empire which expanded almost till present day Indian peninsula excluding Southern India. Presently the name ‘Magadh’ is confined to Magadh pramandal of Bihar state of India. The prominent language spoken in Magadh pramandal and its neighboring areas is Magahi. This paper talks about Magahi as a language, its history, geography, script and its classification. The paper is also a small endeavor towards the study of the history of ancient Magadh. The association of history of Magadh with the history and culture of ancient India is outlined. The paper also talks about people and culture of present day region of Magadh. 2 Magahi Language This section is concerned with general features of Magahi language. These general features are genealogical history of Magahi language, from where did the language Magahi got its name, position of Magahi language among various Indian languages, geographic distribution of the language, dialects of the Magahi language, the scripts used in writing the Magahi language and finally classification of Magahi language. 2.1 The Magahi Language Magahi is an Indo-Aryan language. Grierson (1927) has named Magahi along with Maithili and Bhojpuri as Bihari language. These days Magahi is spoken in districts of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa. Magahi has developed from Magadhi Apbhransha or Eastern Apbhransha branch of Magadhi Prakrit. Magahi is not the only language developing from Magadhi Apbhransha. Other languages developing from Magadhi Apbhransha are Maithili, Bhojpuri, Bangala, Assamese and Oriya. Pandey (1980) analysing the closeness of these modern Indo-Aryan languages to Magadhi Apbhransha writes that though Prachin Bangala, Prachin Oriya, Prachin Assamese, Prachin Maithili, Prachin Magahi and Prachin Bhojpuri had associated themselves with Magadhi Apbhransha but Magahi should be considered a model language developing from Magadhi Apbhransha. To support his argument he further writes that the literature of Siddhas, which are the earliest available document on Magadhi Apbhransha , there are found many instances which possess direct resemblance with modern Magahi. Aryani (1976) is also of the view that the language used by Siddhas is old form of Magahi. 2.1.1 The Name Magahi Magahi is also known by its Sanskrit name Magadhi. But the name ‘Magadhi’ is famous mainly among the educated speakers. Magahi is the common and popular name for the language. The name Magahi is derived from the word ‘Magadhi’ which was the popular name of eastern dialect of Apbhransha, fully known as Magadhi Apbhransha. As we have seen above Magahi is more directly related to Magadhi Apbhransha than the other languages developing from it, the name of the language Magahi is also the direct descendent from the name of the Apbhransha i.e. Magadhi. Aryani (1965) writes that the word ‘Magadhi’ underwent phonological changes with the development of Prakrits and Apbhranshas from Sanskrit, and became the word ‘Magahi’. Aryani (1965) further writes that Apbhransha was following Sanskrit but underwent various phonological changes. Because of those changes /maa/ became /ma/. Sound /g/remained protected. /d h / got changed into /h/. /ii/ coming with /d h /, remained as same. So, we have /maagad h ii/ changing to /magahi/. 2.1.2 Position of Magahi among Indian Languages In India, languages belonging to four language families are spoken. These four language families are: Indo- European, Tibeto-Burman, Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian. Indo-Aryan is the name given to group of languages spoken in India and belonging to Indo-European family. Indo-Aryan languages based on their historical development are named as Old Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan languages and New Indo-Aryan languages. Generally, two classifications