Magahi derived from the ancient Magadhi Prakrit, which was created in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the core of which was the area south of the Ganges and east of Son River.
Though the number of speakers in Magahi is about 12.7 million, it has not been constitutionally recognised in India. In Bihar, Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters.[13] Magahi was legally absorbed under Hindi in the 1961 Census.[14][15]
The ancestor of Magahi, Magadhi Prakrit, formed in the Indian subcontinent. These regions were part of the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the core of which was the area of Bihar south of the river Ganga.
The name Magahi is directly derived from the word Magadhi.[16]
The development of the Magahi language into its current form is unknown. However, according to linguists, Magahi along with Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Odia originated from the Magadhi Prakrit during the 8th to 11th centuries. These different, but sister dialects differentiated themselves and took their own course of growth and development. But it is not certain when exactly it took place. It was probably such an unidentified period during which modern Indian languages begin to take modern shape. By the end of the 12th century, the development of Apabhramsa reached its climax. The distinct shape of Magadhi can be seen in the Dohakosha written by Sarahapa and Kauhapa.
Magadhi had a setback due to the transition period of the Magadha administration.[17] Traditionally, strolling bards recite long epic poems in this dialect, and it was because of this that the word "Magadhi" came to mean "a bard". Devanagari is the most widely used script in present times, while Bengali and Odia scripts are also used in some regions and Magahi's old script was Kaithi script.[18][19] The pronunciation in Magahi is not as broad as in Maithili and there are a number of verbal forms for each person.[20] Historically, Magahi had no famous written literature. There are many popular songs throughout the area in which the language is spoken, and strolling bards recite various long epic poems which are known more or less over the whole of Northern India. In the Magahi speaking area, folk singers sing a good number of ballads. The introduction of Urdu meant a setback to local languages as its Persian script was alien to local people.
The first success in spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the official language of the province. After independence, Hindi was given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950,[21] ignoring the state's own languages.
^Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 549. ISBN978-1-135-79710-2. Retrieved 3 August 2025. In one sense, Magahi is written in four scripts, Devanagari, Kaithi, and also Bangla and Oriya. Bangla and Oriya scripts are employed in writing the forms of eastern Magahi current in the Manbhum area, such as Purulia but also in the southeastern part of the Hazaribagh district that borders on the Manbhum region. The Oriya script is used, expectedly, in areas where it coexists with Oriya, such as Mayurbhanj.
^Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2021). "Magahi". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Twenty-fourth ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
^Verma, Sheela (2008). Magahi Folklore and Folk Tales. Manohar. p. 31. ISBN9788173048043. Aryani (1965), on the basis of several data, estimated the number of Magahi speakers at approximately 9,900,000 for 1951. Surprisingly enough, the 1971 census figures show only 6,638,495 speakers for Magahi. This discrepancy can be understood in the context of the socio-linguistic phenomenon of educated urban speakers naming their language of schooling, Hindi, as their mother-tongue. Obviously, the number of Magahi speakers did not really decline between 1951 and 1971 but was simply swallowed up by the census figures for Hindi.
^Jain Dhanesh, Cardona George, The Indo-Aryan Languages, pp449
^Maitra Asim, Magahi Culture, Cosmo Publications, New Delhi (1983), pp. 64.
^Verma, Sheela (2008). Magahi Folklore and Folk Tales. Manohar. p. 28. ISBN9788173048043. Hindi is the formal language of the region, used in schools and law courts. Magahi today employs the Devanagari script borrowed directly from Hindi in place of the Kaithi script used earlier.
^Verma, Sheela (2008). Magahi Folklore and Folk Tales. Manohar. pp. 31–32. ISBN9788173048043.
