Bhopal: Tribal dialects face extinction in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: Tribal dialects face extinction in Madhya Pradesh

“When I was working on Gondi dialect dictionary, I was surprised to find that Gondi dialect in Mandla, Dindori, Balaghat and adjoining areas of Chhattisgarh have become almost Chattisgarhi," said Laxminarayan Payodhi who has worked extensively on tribal culture .

Rajan RaikwarUpdated: Monday, February 06, 2023, 09:01 PM IST
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Members of the tribal community at an event in Madhya Pradesh | FP File Photo

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): At a time when government is implementing schemes for socio-economic uplift of tribals, the dialects spoken by different tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh are facing threat of extinction. Some dialects have vanished without leaving a trace.

Laxminarayan Payodhi, who has worked extensively on tribal culture and has prepared dictionary of words used in Gondi, Korku and Bhili dialects , told Free Press, “Tribal dialects are losing existence because words from different cultures are sneaking into them at fast pace.”

“When I was working on Gondi dialect dictionary, I was surprised to find that Gondi dialect in Mandla, Dindori, Balaghat and adjoining areas of Chhattisgarh have become almost Chattisgarhi. About 70 per cent words of Chhattisgarhi have made their way into Gondi dialect in areas adjoining Chhattisgarh. This means that 70 per cent words of Gondi dialect are lost in those areas,” Payodhi added.

Gondi dialect has maintained purity to a vgreat extent in Seoni, Betul, Chindwara districts. Prominent tribal dialects are Gondi, Bhili, Korku, Baigani, Kolihari, Bhariya.

“Kol community has lost Kolihari dialect. People of Kol community live in Umaria, Sidhi, Shahdol but they no longer speak Kolihari. They speak Bagheli,” he said.

Earlier, people from Saharia tribe used to speak Sahrani dialect but Saharias have adopted Bundelkhandi dialect now.

People belonging to Bharia community speak Gondi with blend of Hindi words. However, Baigani dialect of Baiga tribe has survived in its true form.

Vasant Nirgune, scholar of tribal & folk culture and former survey officer of Lok Kala Academy, said tribal culture was heading towards extinction. “Owing to influence of regional dialects, tribal dialects are slipping into oblivion,” he said.

An officer of Tribal Research Institute admitted that tribal dialects were facing extinction. Some work has been done to prepare dialect dictionaries.

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