| Braj | |
|---|---|
| Brij Bhasha | |
| ब्रजभाषा | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Braj |
| Ethnicity | Brajwasi |
Native speakers | 1.56 million (2011 census)[1] Census results conflate some speakers with Hindi.[2] |
| Devanagari | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | bra |
| ISO 639-3 | bra |
| Glottolog | braj1242 |
 Braj-speaking region | |
Braj[a] is a language within the Indo-Aryan language family spoken in the Braj region in Western Uttar Pradesh centered on Mathura. Along with Awadhi, it was one of the two predominant literary languages of North-Central India before gradually merging and contributing to the development of standardized Hindi in the 19th century. It is spoken today in its unique form in many districts of Western Uttar Pradesh, often referred to as 'Central Braj Bhasha'.
The language was historically used for Vaishnavite poetry dedicated to Krishna, whose life was associated with sites in the Braj region. There were also early prose works in terms of the hagiographical vārtā literature of the Vallabha sect.[3]
Braj is considered by scholars to be a more conservative example of the Central Indo-Aryan languages compared to the Hindustani language, which has been influenced by Panjabi and intermediate dialects.[4]
Braj Bhasha is spoken in the nebulous Braj region centred on Mathura, Agra, Aligarh, Hathras, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur, Deeg, Karauli, Gangapur & Dholpur in Rajasthan. It is the predominant language in the central stretch of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab in the following districts:
In Rajasthan it is spoken in the districts of :
In Western Uttar Pradesh spoken in the southern part of western Uttar Pradesh. Braj-speaking districts include Mathura, Hathras, Agra, Aligarh, Etah, Firozabad, Budaun, Mainpuri, Bareilly, Sambhal and Most parts of Gautam Buddh Nagar (areas of Jewar and Greater Noida), Bulandshahr (areas of Khurja, Shikarpur, Bulandshahr, Aurangabad, Bulandshahr, Anupshahr and Sikandrabad) and Even Some communities still speaks Braj basha near southern part of Ghaziabad.
In Haryana it is spoken in the districts of :
The area of South Delhi, which is connected to Faridabad, still has some communities that speak Brajbhasha.
In Madhya Pradesh it is spoken in the districts of :
It is spoken in several villages of Mathura, specially in Vrindavan, Madhuvan, Deeg, Kaman, Kosi Kalan, Chhata, Baldeo, and all other villages belongs to Braj Area with Bajna, Surir, Bhidauni,
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t̪ | ts | ʈ | k | ||
| voiceless aspirated | pʰ | t̪ʰ | tsʰ | ʈʰ | kʰ | |||
| voiced | b | d̪ | dz | ɖ | ɡ | |||
| voiced aspirated | bʱ | d̪ʱ | dzʱ | ɖʱ | ɡʱ | |||
| Fricative | s | ɦ | ||||||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||||
| Approximant | ʋ | l | j | |||||
Most Braj literature is of a mystical nature, related to the spiritual union of people with God, because almost all of the Braj Bhasha poets were considered God-realised saints and their words are thus considered as directly emanating from a divine source. Much of the traditional Northern Indian literature shares this trait. All traditional Punjabi literature is similarly written by saints and is of a metaphysical and philosophical nature.
Another peculiar feature of Northern Indian literature is that the literature is mostly written from a female point of view, even by male poets. This is because the saints were in a state of transcendental, spiritual love, where they were metaphorically women reuniting with their beloved. (In its inversion of the conventional genders of worshipper and worshippee, Maulana Da’ud's Chandayan departs from this tradition.)
Important works in Braj Bhasha are:
