Language, Religion and Rituals

Chhattisgarh is by and large considered as a tribal subjugated state. It houses a major population of the tribes in its territory. It is noted that in spite of the contemporary avant-garde influence prevailing in every nook and corner of the country, the tribal people of Chhattisgarh have retained their original culture and traditions. It shares its borders with Madhya Pradesh on the north-west, Maharashtra on the west, Andhra Pradesh on the South, Orissa on the east, Jharkhand on the northeast finally Uttar Pradesh on the north. As a result, although Hindi is the official language of Chhattisgarh, yet there are influences of Dravidian languages and other languages like Oriya, Marathi and the tribal dialects. The Chhattisgarhi dialect is chiefly an Indo-European dialect with heavy existence of vocabulary and phonetics from Dravidian and Munda languages. It was popularly acknowledged as Khaltahi by the local people belonging to the hilly areas, whereas among the Oriya people it was accepted as Laria. On the other hand the Surgujia sub-dialect is prevalent in places like Surguja, Koria and Jashpur. Interestingly, there are about 93 languages/dialects spoken in the state of Chhattisgarh. The main Munda languages prevailing in Chhattisgarh are Korba, Korku and Kharia. Apart from these, Muasi, Nihali-Mankari, Dhelki, Toori (in Raigarh), Khaerwari, Mahto, Kora Majhi, Mundari, Munda, Birhord, Santhali and other Munda dialects are also spoken. The dialects of the state which are categorized under the Dravidian Language Family are Gondi (spoken by the Gond tribes who identify themselves as Koitor or Koitol), Abujh-Maria, Dormi, Koya, Ghotul-Maria, Dandami-Maria and Bhuria. The dialects practiced by the Baigani, Agariya, Panka, Dindwar, Binjhwari, Dhanwar, Lariya, Bhuliya fall under the category of Indo European Languages. Sadri is one among this class that is used by the tribal communities to communicate with other people (mainly outsiders – Chhattisgarh, Orissa to West Bengal). Halbi is another such Indo European dialect spoken chiefly in southern Chhattisgarh.