Angika is closely related to neighbouring Indic languages such asMaithili,Bengali,Bhojpuri andMagahi. Historically it was written in a separate script known as 'Anga Lipi'.[12] Later writers shifted toKaithi Script and eventually toDevanagari Script.[12] Angika has been declared as an additional official language of Jharkhand.
Angika has the status of "Second State language" in the Indian state ofJharkhand since 2018. It shares this status with 15 other languages, including Maithili.[9][14]
Angika is mainly spoken in south-easternBihar, including most ofMunger, the whole ofBhagalpur division and some south eastern parts ofPurnia division along with theSanthal Pargana division ofJharkhand.[15][16][12][16] Its speakers number around 15 million people.[17] The region where Angika is spoken is popularly known asAnga,Ang Pradesh andAngika-Belt.[18][19]Apart from Bihar and Jharkhand states of India, it is also spoken in theMorang district of Nepalese Terai as a minority language. 1.9% people of Morang returned Angika as their mother tongue during the2011 Nepal census.[20]
Mansa Puja (Vishari Puja), the folk festival of Anga Region, celebration in Deepnagar Chowk,Bhagalpur.
Festivals are the core part cultural part of the community. Anga celebrates the festivals of all daith with great enthusiasm and zeal. However,Manasa Puja[21] (Based on Behula Vishahari folklore) andKali Puja are two examples of intangible cultural heritage of the region. Apart from these, Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja, Chhath Puja, Biswakarma Puja, Basanti Puja, Holi, Guru Poornima, Eid and Karma-Dharma puja too hold a great significance for the region.[citation needed]
Manasa Puja is the folk festival In Bihar's Ang region. It is the biggest festival of Anga.Champapuri the capital of Ang Pradesh is the main temple of Maa Vishari.[23]Maa Manasa is regarded as Goddess of Serpants.[24] Even today, the tradition of Manasa (Bihula-Vishhari) Puja, which has been going on since mythological times, continues. Mata Mansa is worshiped in Bihula-Vishhari. Maa Mansa is said to be the daughter of Shiva and the sister of Vasuki sitting as a garland around Mahadev's neck. Mythological beliefs of Bihula Vishhari story of Champanagar of Ang Pradesh are spread everywhere. Its facts are also found in the remains of Vikramshila even two historicalmurtis of Maa Manasa have been found from the ruins.[25]
Kali Puja
Anga is famous for the way of its Kali Puja Celebration which is one of the most celebrated festivals of the whole region. Together with Manasa Puja, it isintangible cultural heritage festival of Anga.[26]
Chhath Puja
As per Legends,Chhath Puja stems from the earlyVedic period, where sages would fast for days and perform the puja with mantras fromRigveda. It is believed that Chhath Puja was also performed byKarna, the son ofLord Surya and the King ofAnga. It is therefore celebrated in every region ofBihar with full enthusiasm and is termed asMahaparv forBiharis.It is very popular festival in the Anga region[27][28][29]
Chhath Celebration in Narayanpur, Bhagalpur
Karma-Dharma puja
Glimpse of Karma-Dharma puja
Karma-dharma (Karma) Puja is an important Indian festival, primarily celebrated in the states ofJharkhand,Bihar,Assam,Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh,West Bengal, and some other regions. This festival is grandly observed every year on theEkadashi of theShukla Paksha in the month of Bhadra. Karma Puja holds special significance in strengthening the bond of love and affection between brothers and sisters. On this day, people perform special prayers and rituals to strengthen family relationships. Karma and Dharma are the principal deities of this festival, and on this day, people express their devotion and faith towards them.[30]
Angika cuisine is predominantly consumed in the Anga region, and is characterised by the use of mustard oil, fish, and bamboo shoots. The famous Bihari Fish Curry, Sarse Baingan (a mustard preparation of eggplant), are beloved Angika delicacies. Other Angika cuisines areGhugni-Mudi,Thekua.[31]
Bihari Style Ghughni which is served with MudiSarsebaigan (a unique delicious spicy Angika Cuisine of Mustard and Eggplant)
Manjusha Art is an Indian art form. They are temple-shaped boxes comprising eight pillars. They are made of bamboo, jute, and paper. They also contain paintings ofHindu gods and goddesses and other characters. These boxes are used in Bishahari puja, a festival dedicated to Goddess Bishari that is celebrated inBhagalpur,Munger and entire Anga Region of Bihar, India.[32][33][34][35]
Manjusha Painting (Map of Bihar in the Manjusha Painting portraying a great message)
Angika Folk Song performance during Ang Mahotsav in Anga Region
Music and drama plays a crucial role in Ang Culture,[36] although it is not so famous but is a daily part of lifestyle in Anga Region. There is also a Music Industry and film industry Angika Music Industry and Angika Film Industry which provides regional music and films based on good story-lines.[37]Sharda Sinha, a famous folk singer of Bihar has covered more than 1500 songs in all Bihari languages including Angika.[38] During The 2023 Shravani Mela visit inSultanganj.[39]Ang Mahotsav[40][41], a cultural festival of Music and Drama is held every year in The Anga Region and is a good platform to promote Angika.[42]
^Ethnologue’s figure combines the 1997 Indian census with the 2011 Nepal census.
^The figures significantly undercount Angika because census practices register speakers under “Hindi”, and societal and official pressures lead many to report it as their mother tongue.[5][6][7][8]
^Proisl, Thomas; Uhrig, Peter; Blombach, Andreas; Dykes, Natalie; Heinrich, Philipp; Kabashi, Besim; Mammarella, Sefora (2019)."The_Illiterati: Part-of-Speech Tagging for Magahi and Bhojpuri without Even Knowing the Alphabet"(PDF).Proceedings of The First International Workshop on NLP Solutions for Under Resourced Languages (NSURL 2019) co-located with ICNLSP 2019-Short Papers. Trento, Italy: European Language Resources Association (ELRA). pp. 73–79. Retrieved11 September 2025.
^abMishra, Sudhir Kumar (22 March 2018)."Bhojpuri, 3 more to get official tag".The Telegraph (India). Ranchi.Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved14 September 2025.The cabinet on Wednesday resolved to promulgate an ordinance to grant second official language status to Maithili, Angika, Bhojpuri and Magahi, in addition to 12 existing ones.
^abcKumari, Khusbu; Upadhyay, Ramanjaney Kumar (17 June 2020)."Socio-Cultural Aspects of Angika".Palarch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology.17 (6): 6798.
Grierson, George A. (1903).Linguistic Survey of India. Vol. V, Part 2,Indo-Aryan family. Eastern group. Specimens of the Bihārī and Oriyā languages. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. pp.13,95.
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