Rajasthani language
| Rajasthani | |
|---|---|
|
राजस्थानी Rājasthānī |
|
| Native to | India, Pakistan |
| Region | Rajasthan and areas of neighbouring Indian states; also spoken in some areas of Sindh and Punjab provinces in Pakistan |
|
Native speakers
|
20 million (2001) |
|
Indo-European
|
|
|
Early forms
|
Old Gujarati
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | raja1256 |
Rajasthani (Devanagari: राजस्थानी) refers to a group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken primarily in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in India. There are also Rajasthani-speakers in the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab. Rajasthani languages are distinct from neighbouring related languages such as Punjabi and Hindi, though due to apparent similarities and political reasons, they are sometimes conflated with the latter. Rajasthani is one of the two major language strains descended from Old Gujarati, a.k.a. Maru-Gujar or Maruwani, the other being modern Gujarati.
Rajasthani has a rich tradition of literature aging approximately 1500 years. Ancient astronomer and mathematician Brahmagupta of Bhinmal (town in Jalore, Rajasthan) composed Brahsfut Siddhanta. In 779 A.D., Udhyotan Suri wrote Kuvalaya Mala partly in Prakrit & partly in Aprabransh. Old Gujarati or Maru-Gurjar or Maruwani or Gujjar Bhakha (1100–1500 AD), ancestor of Gujarati and Rajasthani, was spoken by the Gurjars in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Texts of this era display characteristic Gujarati features such as direct/oblique noun forms, post-positions, and auxiliary verbs. It had three genders as Gujarati does today. During the medieval period, the literary language split away from Gujarati.
By around 1300 CE a fairly standardised form of this language emerged. While generally known as Old Gujarati, some scholars prefer the name of Old Western Rajasthani, based on the argument that Gujarati and Rajasthani were not distinct at the time. Also factoring into this preference was the belief that modern Rajasthani sporadically expressed a neuter gender, based on the incorrect conclusion that the [ũ] that came to be pronounced in some areas for masculine [o] after a nasal consonant was analogous to Gujarati's neuter [ũ]. A formal grammar of the precursor to this language was written by Jain monk and eminent scholar Hemachandra Suri in the reign of Solanki king Siddharaj Jayasinh of Anhilwara (Patan). Maharana Kumbha wrote "Sangeet Raj", a book on musicology and a treatise on Jai Deva’s Geet Govinda.
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