sugali zone

Oct 17, 2012
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Banjara Language

The dialect of Gor Banjaras is enriched with songs, ritual songs, folklores, proverbs and phrases.Even though the Indian oral literature is in vogue since Vedic times, generally the period of folklores like Panchatantra, Hitopadesh, Arabian Nights date back to 6000 to 1000 BC. The tragedy of Greek King Oedipus Rex is included as it is in Gor Banjara folklores. That means the ancient Gor language and literature might be as ancient as the Greek language. An independent dialect cannot be originated until there is an interaction for some centuries. Aryan dialects and Indo-Aryan languages need to be taken into consideration while searching for ancient history of the Gor Banjara dialect.Author on Indian Culture Will Durand says: “Sanskrit was the language of Pundits and priests. Even in Vedic period the language of all people was not one but many. Ancient tribes had a unique Aryan dialect (page 17).” It means an independent tribe was speaking Gor dialect. More research is needed in this regard. 'Bhashaonka Viagyanik Adhyayan’: Indian Aryan clans had different types and they had different dialects when they arrived in India. Aryan clans were distributed in groups (Kabila).

Gor dialect belongs to all Gor clan. Even today Gors while meeting for the first time ask each other: “ton gormati awach kaiyee.” That means the dialect spoken by Gor clan is the Gormati dialect. Among the aryans different clans had number of dialects. In this context Dr. Shamshersinh Narula has a reference in his book ‘Hindi Aur Pradeshik s). This clearly proves that the Gor was a group with an independent dialect among the different groups of Aryans. The pronunciations of the language become unclear in the cold region while they are clear in the hot region. The language is also affected by the place of origin and climatic factors. The meaning of the words is also created through the environment. There is a saying in Hindi, which means that the (taste of) water changes after every 4 miles while the language changes after every 10th mile. Gor Boli seems to be obeying this rule. The ancient Pashto language of Afghanistan in 1500-500 BC had an impact on the Gor dialect. Later the Paishahi language in Central India had an impact on it from 500 BC to 1000 AD.
And since then, according to changing times Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Rajasthan, Hindi, Nemadi, Malawi dialects were also instrumental in shaping the Gor dialect. Today the Gor Banjaras inhabit in 20 provinces. Even though the Gor dialect had been subjected to local dialects still two Banjara men from different provinces find no difficulty in communicating with each other. It means that the Gor dialect is alive today without any destruction of its core. A look at their oral literature and dialect before they entered India reveals that many of their generations had resided in Afghanistan. The independent Gor dialect might have originated in the Afghanistan region. Sanskrit is considered as the mother of Indian languages. Even its origin is said to be in Afghanistan according to a reference in a book by Samshersinh Narula: “Based on the comparative study of Pashto and Sanskrit, it is concluded that the Sanskrit has originated in the region West of Indus river (page 30).” Based on this finding the theory that the place of origin of Gors might be Afghanistan gets support once again. A researcher in Indian languages Dr. Griyarson has noted that Banjara Labhani dialect is the sub-dialect of Rajasthani language. While language expert Bholanath Tiwari, Dr. Uday Narayan Tiwari and researcher in Indian dialects Dr. Devendra Kumar Shastri treat Labhani Banjara dialect at par with Nimadi and Malawi dialect. More interested readers should refer to my book titled ‘Gormati.’


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