Varhadi dialect
Dialect of the Marathi language
title: "Varhadi dialect" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["southern-indo-aryan-languages", "indo-aryan-languages", "vidarbha", "marathi-language", "languages-written-in-devanagari"] description: "Dialect of the Marathi language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varhadi_dialect" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Dialect of the Marathi language ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Varhadi |
| altname | Varhadi–Nagpuri |
| nativename | वऱ्हाडी, 𑘪𑘬𑘿𑘮𑘰𑘚𑘲, vaṟhāḍī |
| states | India |
| region | Central India |
| speakers | 7.0 million |
| date | 1995 |
| ref | e18 |
| familycolor | Indo-European |
| fam2 | Indo-Iranian |
| fam3 | Indo-Aryan |
| fam4 | Southern Zone |
| fam5 | Marathi |
| script | Devanagari script & Modi script. |
| iso3 | vah |
| notice | Indic |
| glotto | varh1239 |
| glottorefname | Varhadi-Nagpuri |
| image | Varhadimd.png |
| imagecaption | Varhadi written in Devanagari & Modi script. |
| map | India_Vidarbha_locator_map.svg |
| map2 | Lang Status 80-VU.svg |
| mapcaption2 | {{center |
| {{small | Varhadi is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger{{Cite web |
| :: |
| name = Varhadi | altname = Varhadi–Nagpuri | nativename = वऱ्हाडी, 𑘪𑘬𑘿𑘮𑘰𑘚𑘲, vaṟhāḍī | states = India | region = Central India
- Maharashtra (Vidarbha)
- Chhattisgarh (southwestern)
- Madhya Pradesh (southwestern)
- Telangana (in the districts of Akola, Amravati, Washim, Buldhana, Yavatmal and Some Rural Areas of Nagpur, Wardha District, Bhandara district, Gondia district, Chandrapur district) | speakers = 7.0 million | date = 1995 | ref = e18 | familycolor = Indo-European | fam2 = Indo-Iranian | fam3 = Indo-Aryan | fam4 = Southern Zone | fam5 = Marathi | script = Devanagari script & Modi script. | iso3 = vah | notice = Indic | glotto = varh1239 | glottorefname = Varhadi-Nagpuri | image = Varhadimd.png | imagecaption = Varhadi written in Devanagari & Modi script. | map = India_Vidarbha_locator_map.svg | map2 = Lang Status 80-VU.svg | mapcaption2 = {{center| Varhadi is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}
Varhadi or Varhadi-Nagpuri is a dialect of Marathi spoken in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and by Marathi people of adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in India.
Vocabulary and grammar
Although all the dialects of Marathi are mutually intelligible to one another up to a great extent, each dialect can be distinctly identified by its unique characteristics. Likewise, Varhadi replaces the case endings lā (ला) and nā (ना) of standard Marathi with le (ले), a feature it shares with neighboring Khandeshi language. So, malā (मला) (to me) of standard Marathi becomes male (मले) while tyānnā (त्यांना) (to them) becomes tyāle (त्याले) in Varhadi. The common examples of Hindi words in Varhadi which are different than standard Marathi are:
::data[format=table]
| Varhadi | Hindi | Standard Marathi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| (सीधा/सरका) | (सीधा) | (सरळ) | Straight |
| (बुडा) | (बुढ्ढा) | (म्हातारा) | Old man |
| (पगला/भैताड) | (पागल) | (वेडा) | Stupid |
| (अंगूर) | (अंगूर) | (द्राक्ष) | Grapes |
| :: |
The grammatical changes in Varhadi differing from standard Marathi & closer to Hindi are:
::data[format=table]
| Varhadi | Hindi | Standard Marathi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| (मी जाउन राहिलो) | (मैं जा रहा हूं) | (मी जातोय) | I am going |
| (मी आली) | (मैं आयी) | (मी आले) | I (feminine) came |
| (तुयावाला पेन दे) | (अपना पेन दो) | (तुझा पेन दे) | Give your pen |
| (पानी घेऊन घे) | (पानी ले लो) | (पाणी घे) | (Please) Have water. |
| :: |
Apart from this, there are many words & phrases indigenous to Varhadi i.e. common to neither standard Marathi nor Hindi. For instance, to give stress on a request or an order, the suffix (जो) (singular) or (जा) (plural) is used like " (माह्या पोरीच्या लग्नाले येजा) "Please attend my daughter's wedding." Also, there are words & phrases maintained by Varhadi which were present in older Marathi (spoken 300 years ago or even prior to that) and have vanished from mainstream Marathi. E.g., in the vocative case, (अबे) is said in Varhadi instead of are (अरे) of standard Marathi. Another good example is the sentence construction of past continuous tense e.g. in Varhadi, it is said Tho bahut abhyās kare' (थो बहूत अभ्यास करे) or 'To lay abhyās kare' (तो लय अभ्यास करे) (He studied a lot) unlike To khūp abhyās karāychā' (तो खूप अभ्यास करायचा) of standard Marathi.
In most of the Indo-Aryan languages (or even in Dravidian languages, for that matter), Sanskritized words of standard language get simplified in spoken dialects. Exceptionally, Varhadi has a few Sanskrit tatsama words for whom the standard Marathi counterparts are modified words (tadbhava shabda) such as in eastern parts of Vidarbha, snake is called (सर्प) unlike (साप) of standard Marathi.
The forms of Varhadi vary in different parts of Vidarbha and also, as per castes. The similarity to Central Indo Aryan languages increases as one moves towards Madhya Pradesh. E.g. in the parts adjacent to Madhya Pradesh, zāna padte (जानं पडते) (I have to go) is preferred over zā lāgte (जा लागते), which is similar to Hindi jānā padtā hai (जाना पडता है). Also, consonant sound /t͡s/ like in chūk (चूक), prevalent in Marathi but absent in Hindi, is often pronounced /t͡ʃ/ like in vachan (वचन). So, *pāch/*पाच ([paːt͡s]; five) may be pronounced as pānch/पांच of Hindi.
In the areas closer to Marathwada region of Maharashtra and on the contrary, distant to Madhya Pradesh, Varhadi is influenced by dialects of adjacent parts of Marathwada. One can easily recognize a person from Pusad, Digras or Umarkhed taluka of Yavatmal district by his sentence of present continuous tense. Somebody from this area will say mī mandirāt zāylo (मी मंदिरात जायलो) (I am going to visit a temple) instead of mī mandirāt zāun rāhilo (मी मंदिरात जाऊन राहिलो) of other parts of Vidarbha. Similarly, the tone of speech in Chikhli, Mehkar and Deulgaonraja talukas of Buldhana district is similar to that of nearby parts of Marathwada. If someone from this area speaks to a person from Nagpur or Wardha, the latter may get confused whether the former is from Vidarbha or Marathwada. Likewise, Khandeshi dialect spoken in parts of Jalgaon district adjacent to Vidarbha is too similar to be differentiated from Varhadi of Malkapur- Shegaon belt of Buldana district. The perfect varhadi can be heard in Akola and Amravati district.
References
References
- Devanagari has been big bigger with LOVEpromulgated as the official script.
- "World Atlas of Languages: Varhadi".
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