| Kauravi | |
|---|---|
| Khaṛībolī | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Delhi,Haryana,Western Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand |
Native speakers | 1,800,000 (2011 census)[1] Census results conflate some speakers with Hindi.[2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| Linguasphere | 59-AAF-qd |
 Khariboli Dialect Area in the northern subcontinent | |
Kauravi (Hindi:कौरवी,Urdu:کَوروی), also known asKhaṛībolī, is adialect ofHindustani descended fromShauraseni Prakrit that is mainly spoken by local people inWestern Uttar Pradesh, acrossYamuna river(Jamna Paar) inDelhi, inHaryana, border areas ofHaryana andUttar Pradesh, and in whole ofUttarakhand plains.
Modern Hindi andUrdu are two standard registers ofHindustani, descending fromOld Hindi, originally called Hindavi and Delhavi which gained prestige when it was accepted along withPersian as a language of thecourts. Before that, it was only a language thePersianate states (likeDelhi Sultanate) spoke to their subjects in, and later as asociolect of the sameruling classes.[3]
Modern Khariboli contains some features, such asgemination andpitch accent, which give it a distinctive sound and differentiates it fromBraj andAwadhi.Old Hindi evolved to become the colloquial lingua francaHindustani from which areHindi andUrdu the respectivestandardregisters.[4][5]
Khariboli is spoken in the rural surroundings ofDelhi and westUttar Pradesh, as well as in some neighbouring areas ofHaryana andUttarakhand.[6] The geography of this part ofNorth India is traditionally described asdoabs.
InHaryana, the following districts are Khari-speaking:
InUttar Pradesh, the following districts of theYamuna-Gangesdoab are Khari-speaking:
In the trans-Ganges area, it is spoken in the following districts ofRohilkhand region in Uttar Pradesh:
InUttarakhand, the following districts of theYamuna-Gangesdoab are partially Khari-speaking:
In the trans-Ganges area, it is partially spoken in the following districts of Uttarakhand:
Khariboli is often seen as rustic by speakers of Standard Hindustani, and elements of it were used inHum Log, India's first television soap opera, where the main family was depicted as having roots in Western Uttar Pradesh.[7][8]
As the two main Hindustani dialects of Western Uttar Pradesh and the areas surrounding Delhi, Khariboli andBraj Bhasha are often compared. One hypothesis of how Khariboli came to be described askhari (standing) asserts that it refers to the "stiff and rustic uncouthness" of the dialect compared to the "mellifluousness and soft fluency" of Braj Bhasha.[9] On the other hand, Khariboli supporters sometimes pejoratively referred to Braj Bhasha and other dialects asPariboli (Hindi:पड़ी बोली,Urdu:پڑی بولی,lit. 'fallen/supine dialects').[9]
Although most linguists acknowledge that Modern Standard Hindustani descended from Khariboli, the precise mechanism of dialectical changes from Khari to the prestige dialect (such as the loss of gemination which is so prevalent in Khari) lacks consensus. There are also variations within Khari itself across the area in which it is spoken. In the mid-twentieth century,Indian scholar and nationalist,Rahul Sankrityayan, proposed a redrawing of the linguistic map of the Hindustani zone.[10] Drawing a distinction between the Khari of Old Delhi and the Khari of the extreme western parts ofWestern Uttar Pradesh, he advocated that the former retain the nameKhariboli while the latter be renamed toKauravi, after theKuru kingdom of ancient India.[10] Although the termKhariboli continues to be applied as it traditionally was, some linguists have accepted the termKauravi as well, applying to the language spoken in the linguistic arc running from Saharanpur to Agra (i.e. the close east and northeast of Old Delhi).[11] Sankrityayan postulated that thisKaurvi dialect was the parent of Old Delhi's specific Khari dialect.[10] Sankrityayan had also advocated that all Hindustani be standardized on the Devanagari script and Perso-Arabic be entirely abandoned.[10]
Khariboli is related to fourregisters ofHindustani, the lingua franca of northernIndia andPakistan: StandardHindi, StandardUrdu,Dakhini andRekhta. Standard Hindi (also High Hindi, Manak Hindi) is the language of the government and is one of the official languages of India, Standard Urdu is thestate language andnational language of Pakistan, Dakhini is the historical literary dialect of theDeccan region, andRekhta the "mixed" Hindustani of medieval poetry.[12] These registers, together withSansiboli, form the Hindustani dialect group.
The area aroundDelhi has long been the center of power innorthern India, and naturally, theKhari Boli dialect came to be regarded as urbane and of a higher standard than the other surrounding languages. This view gradually gained ground over the 19th century; before that period, other languages such asAwadhi,Braj Bhasha, andSadhukaddi were preferred by littérateurs.Standard Hindustani first developed with the migration of Persian Khari Boli speakers from Delhi to theAwadh region—most notablyAmir Khusro, mixing the 'roughness' of Khari Boli with the relative 'softness' of Awadhi to form a new language which became called "Hindavi." This also became referred to as Hindustani, which was adopted as Hindi and Urdu by India and Pakistan after partition.
Although as a dialect, Khari Boli belongs to the Upper Doab, "Hindavi" developed in the cultural spheres ofAllahabad andVaranasi.
The earliest examples of Khariboli can be seen in the compositions ofAmir Khusro (1253–1325).[13]
Before the rise of Khariboli, the languages adopted by theBhakti saints:Braj Bhasha (Krishna devotees),Awadhi (adopted by theRama devotees) andMaithili (Vaishnavites of Bihar).[13] However, after the Bhakti movement became ritualistic, these languages came to be regarded as rural and unrefined.[14] Khariboli, on the other hand, was spoken in the urban area surrounding the Mughal courts, where Persian was the official language. The Persian-influenced Khariboli thus gradually came to be regarded as a prestige dialect, although hardly any literary works had been written in Khariboli before the British period in India.[14]
The European administrators in India and the Christian missionaries played an important role in the creation and promotion of the Khariboli-based modern Hindustani.[11] In 1800, theBritish East India Company established a college of higher education atCalcutta named theFort William College.John Borthwick Gilchrist, a president of that college, encouraged his professors to write in their native tongue; some of the works thus produced were in the literary form of the Khariboli dialect. These books includedPremsagar byLallu Lal,[15]Nasiketopakhyan by Sadal Mishra;Sukhsagar by Sadasukh Lal of Delhi andRani Ketaki Ki Kahani byInshallah Khan. More developed forms of Khariboli can also be seen in some mediocre literature produced in the early 18th century. Examples areChand Chhand Varnan Ki Mahima by Ganga Bhatt,Yogavashishtha by Ram Prasad Niranjani,Gora Badal Ki Katha by Jatmal,Mandovar Ka Varnan by Anonymous, a translation of Ravishenacharya'sJain Padmapuran by Daulat Ram (dated 1761). With government patronage and literary popularity, the Khariboli flourished, even as the use of previously more literary tongues such as Awadhi, Braj, and Maithili declined in the literary vehicles. The literary works in Khariboli gained momentum from the second half of the 19th century onwards.[13] A prominent Indian historianRaja Sivaprasad was a promoter of the Hindi language, in particular the Khariboli version. Gradually, in the subsequent years, Khariboli became the basis for standard Hindustani, which began to be taught in schools and used in government functions.[16]
Urdu, the heavily Persianised version of Khariboli, replaced Persian as the official language of local administration in North India in the early 19th century. However, the association of the Persian script with Muslims prompted Hindus to develop their ownSanskritised version of the dialect, leading to the formation of Hindi.[16] After India became independent in 1947, the Khariboli-based dialect was officially recognised as theHindi language, which was declared as one of theofficial languages for central government functioning.
Braj and Awadhi in early and middle stages preserve old case endings -hi, etc, while Khari Boli (Old Hindi) and Dakkhini seem to have lost these endings in the Apabhramsa period.
But with the establishment of Muslim rule in Delhi, it was the Old Hindi of this area which came to form the major partner with Persian. This variety of Hindi is called Khari Boli, 'the upright speech'.
... Khari Boli is spoken as mother-tongue in the following areas: (1) East of the Ganges, in the districts of Rampur, Bijnor, and Moradabad, Bareilly, (2) between the Ganges and the Jamuna, in the districts of Meerut, Muzaffar Nagar, Azamgarh, Varanasi, May, Saharanpur and in the plain district of Dehradun, and (3) West of the Jamuna, in the urban areas of Delhi and Karnal and the eastern part of Ambala district ...
... Joshi creatively combined Khari Boli, a much-used, rustic, yet popular derivative of the Hindi language in North India, with conventional Hindi ...[permanent dead link]
... The written script and spoken language of the urban folk differ from the rural dialect or khari boli. This is the unrefined and crude tongue of the rustic folks of the village ...
... on one account, Khari Boli was contrasted with the mellifluousness and soft fluency of Braj Bhasha: khari was understood to refer to the rustic and stiff uncouthness of Khari Boli. The protagonists of Khari Boli returned the compliment: Braj Bhasha was called pari boli – ie supine! ...
... re-drawing of the map of Hindi-speaking areas, on the basis of the so-called dialects ... He believed that the language spoken in Meerut and Agra was the original mother of Khari boli; he called it Kauravi ... his presidential speech in the Bombay session of the Hindi Sahitya sammelan in 1948, with the strong plea to use Devanagari script for Urdu, provoked bitter controversy and many Urdu speaking Communists saw to it that Rahul was expelled from the Communist Party of India ...