Friday, January 16, 2009

Dhundari Language

Dhundari is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Dhundhar region of northeastern Rajasthan state, India. Dhundari-speaking people are found in three districts - Jaipur, Dausa, and Tonk.
The second big group of Rajasthani is formed by eastern Rajasthani or Jaipuri, better known as Dhundhari. It covers the districts of Jaipur, Tonk., Kota and Bundi and parts of Kishangarh, Ajmer and Jhalawar.

The derivation of the name “Dhundari” is thought to be from two origins. According to the first opinion, Dhundari is believed to have drawn its name from the Dhundh or Dhundhakriti mountain, which is situated near Jobner in Jaipur District. The other opinion is that it is named after a river called Dhundh flowing through this region. Hence the name became Dhundhar.

Dhundari is classified as Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central Zone, Rajasthani, Marwari. Alternative names for Dhundari are Dhundhali, Dhundhahdi, Jhadshahi boli, and Kai-kui boli and Jaipuri. Jaipuri was coined by the European scholars such as MacAlister and Grierson Abraham. Ethnologue adds Dhundari-Marwari (Gordon 2005) to this language.

MacAlister completed the grammatical analysis in February 24, 1884. Books such as Moksha Marga Prakashak have been written in Dhundari by Acharyakalpa Pt.Todarmalji on Jain philosophy . The Serampore missionaries translated the New Testament into Jaipuri proper in 1815. It is not known whether there are any extant copies of the New Testament translation.

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