Vajjika language
| Bajjika | |
|---|---|
| बज्जिका | |
| Region | Bihar of India and Terai of Nepal |
|
Native speakers
|
12 million, Total 793,416 speakers in Nepal (2011) |
| Kaithi, Devanagari | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
mai-baj |
|
| Glottolog | None |
Bajjika is a language spoken in eastern India, considered by some to be a dialect of the Maithili language. It is spoken in the north-western districts of the Bihar state of India, and the adjacent areas in Nepal.
Bajjika is spoken in the north-western part of Bihar, in a region popularly known as Bajjikanchal. In Bihar, it is mainly spoken in the Samastipur, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar districts. It is also spoken in a part of the Darbhanga district adjoining Muzaffarapur and Samastipur districts. Researcher Abhishek Kashyap (2013), based on the 2001 census data, estimated that there were 20 million Bajjika speakers in Bihar (including around 11.46 illiterate adults).
Bajjika is also spoken in a small population in the neighbouring Nepal, where it has 237,947 speakers according to the country's 2001 census.
Bajjika has been classified as a dialect of Maithili, but its speakers now assert its status as a distinct language. When the proponents of the Maithili language in Bihar demanded use of Maithili-medium primary education in the early 20th century, the Angika and Bajjika-speaking people did not support them, and instead favoured Hindi-medium education. The discussions around Bajjika's status as a minority language emerged in the 1950s. In the 1960s and the 1970s, when the Maithili speakers demanded a separate Mithila state, the Angika and Bajjika speakers made counter-demands for recognition of their languages. In the following years, the Bajjika community saw a growth in linguistic awareness, and local movements demanding an autonomous status for Bajjika arose.
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