Magahi
MAGAHI (MAGADHI)
Magahi, or Magadhi, is spoken in the districts of Patna, Gaya and Hazaribagh and in the western part of Palamau, as well as parts of Monghyr and Bhagalpur. On its eastern frontier, Magahi meets Bengali. Grierson called the dialect of this region Eastern Magahi It is not credited with much polish. While Maithili prospered under the influence of learned Brahmanas, Magahi continues to be the language of the common people. It has no indigenous written literature, though a number of folk-tales and popular songs have been handed down for centuries from mouth to mouth. Strolling bards recite long epic poems in this dialect, and it was because of this that the word ‘Magadhi’ came to mean ‘a bard’. Kaithi is the script generally used for it. The pronunciation in Magahi is not as broad as in Maithili and there are a number of verbal forms for each person.