r
language were not systematically recorded
for all provinces in the Census of 1891, and it is therefore impossible to compare
census figures with those given above. 09-03-259
INTRODUCTION.
259
Separate figures for the Banjr language were not systematically recorded
for all provinces in the Census of 1891, and it is therefore impossible to compare
census figures with those given above.
Banjr falls into two main dialects-that of the Panjab and Gujarat,
and that of elsewhere (of which we may take the Labh
of Berar as
the standard). To these we may add the Labnk of Muzaffargarh in the
Panjab, which differs from that spoken in the rest of the province. The dialects
of the Kak
rs, or comb-makers, of Jhansi in the United Provinces, and of
the Bahr
pis of the Panjab have also, on examination, turned out to be
the same as the Labh of Berar. We therefore find the total number
of speakers of Banjr to be as follows:-
| Labnk
of Muzaffargarh... ... |
|
436
|
| Labnk
of the rest of the Panjab... |
22,433
|
|
| Lab
of Gujarat... |
1,300
|
|
|
----------
|
23,733
|
|
| Other Banjr...
|
131,419
|
|
| Kakr...
|
40
|
|
| Bahrpi
of the Panjab... |
2,872
|
|
|
----------
|
134,331
|
|
|
TOTAL, Speakers of Banj
r.
|
158,500
|
|
All these different dialects are ultimately to be referred to the language
of Western Rajputana. The few speakers of Labnk in Muzaffargarh employ
ordinary Bkanr, and my only reason for entering their language above
is that it is not the vernacular of Muzaffargarh, which is Lahnd.
The Labnk of the Panjab is most nearly connected with the Bg
spoken in Hissar and in the adjoining parts of Bikaner.
For the other Banjr dialects, we must take the Labh of
Berar as the standard. It is in this locality that the tribe has most strongly
preserved its racial characteristics, and employs the purest form of its speech.
Elsewhere (except in the Panjab and Gujarat) the same dialect is spoken, but
more and more corrupt as we go eastwards, westwards, or northwards from Berar.
I have little information regarding the Banjr of Hyderabad and the rest
of Southern India, as the Linguistic Survey does not touch these tracts, but
from what I have learnt concerning it, it appears to me that the dialect of
Hyderabad closely resembles that of Berar, while that of Madras is more mixed
with the surrounding Dravidian languages.
The Labh of Berar possesses the characteristics of an old form
of speech, which has been preserved unchanged for some centuries. It may be
said to be based partly on Mrw and partly on Northern Gujart,
and gives one the idea of being derived from the original language from which
these closely connected forms of speech have sprung in comparatively late times.
In the following pages, I shall first deal with the Labh
of Berar as the standard. I shall then describe the Lam
of the Bombay Deccan, next the Labh
of the Central Provinces, and then the Banjr
of the United Provinces. In connexion with this, I shall deal with the Kakr
of Jhansi. I shall next describe the Labank
of the Panjab (devoting a few lines to that of Muzaffargarh), and then the Lab
of Gujarat. Finally, I shall describe the Bahrpi
of the Panjab, which properly belongs to the Berar dialect, but which is here
placed on account of its geographical habitat.
2L2