Nepali (Devanagari: नेपाली) is the official and most-widely spoken language of Nepal, where it also serves as a lingua franca. It is also extensively used beyond Nepal's borders in the Himalayas. It is an Indo-Aryan language, belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch within the Indo-European language family, native to the Himalayan region of South Asia.
Nepali has official status in the Indian state of Sikkim and in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, a semi-autonomous region of West Bengal, being a majority language in both of these places. It is also spoken by about a quarter of Bhutan. Nepali also has a significant number of speakers in the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Uttarakhand. In Myanmar, it is spoken by the Burmese Gurkhas community. The Nepali diaspora in the Middle East, Brunei, Australia and around the world also use the language. Overall, Nepali is spoken by approximately 19 million native speakers and additional 14 million as a second language.
Nepali is commonly classified within the Eastern Pahari group of the Northern zone of Indo-Aryan. The language originated in the Sinja Valley of Karnali Province, which served as the capital of the Khasa Kingdom around the 10th and 14th centuries. It developed in close contact with several Indo-Aryan languages, particularly other Pahari languages. Nepali was originally spoken by the Khas people, an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayan region of South Asia.
The earliest known inscription in the Nepali language is believed to be an inscription in Dullu, located in Dailekh District, which was written around the reign of King Bhupal Damupal, around the 981 CE. The institutionalisation of the Nepali language began during the rule of the Kingdom of Gorkha in the 16th century, which later became known as the Kingdom of Nepal. The various different dialects of Nepali language are believed to emerged across the Khasa Kingdom, present-day Western Nepal, parts of Uttarakhand, India, and parts of Tibet which later expanded into the Gandaki basin, shaped by influences from Sanskrit, and local Tibeto-Burman languages helping Nepali language develop into a lingua franca.
Like all other modern Indo-Aryan languages, Nepali grammar has undergone significant syncretisation and has lost much of the complex declensional system found in older forms of the language. Nepali developed a significant literature during the 19th century. Around 1830, several Nepali poets wrote on themes from the Sanskrit epics Ramayana and the Bhagavata Purana, which was followed by Bhanubhakta Acharya translating the Ramayana into Nepali, which received a great popularity for the colloquial flavour of its language, religious sincerity, and realistic natural descriptions.
Etymology
The term Nepali derived from Nepal was officially adopted by the Government of Nepal in 1933, when Gorkha Bhasa Prakashini Samiti (Gorkha Language Publishing Committee), a government institution established in 1913 (B.S. 1970) for advancement of Gorkha Bhasa, renamed itself as Nepali Bhasa Prakashini Samiti (Nepali Language Publishing Committee) in 1933 (B.S. 1990), which is currently known as Sajha Prakashan. Conversely, the term Gorkhali in the former national anthem entitled "Shriman Gambhir" was changed to Nepali in 1951. However, the term Nepali was used before the official adoption notably by Jaya Prithvi Bahadur Singh, now considered one of the national heroes of Nepal, who advocated for embracing the term. जङ्गबहादुरलाई पनि घिसार्ने गरिएको पाइन्छ तर उनको पालामा गोर्खा भाषा वा नेपाली भाषा नभनी पाष्या बोली वा पर्वते भाषाको प्रचलन रहेको देखिन्छ । तर उक्त सनद जारी भएको एक वर्षपछिको जङ्गबहादुरको एक पत्रमा उनले गोर्खा वा गोर्खाली वा नेपाली भाषाका नमुना भनी नभनी पाष्या (पाखे) बोली भनेका छन् ।
The initial name of Nepali language was "Khas Kura" (), meaning language or speech of the Khas people, who are descended from the ancient Khasas of Mahabharata, as the language developed during the rule of the Khasa Kingdom in the western Nepal. Following the Unification of Nepal led by Shah dynasty's Prithvi Narayan Shah, Nepali language became known as Gorakhā Bhāṣā (; language of the Gorkhas) as it was spoken by Gorkhas.आजभन्दा करिब नौ दशकअघि मात्रै देशको नाम 'नेपाल' का रूपमा स्विकारिएको हो भने, पहिले खस–पर्वते–गोर्खाली भनिने भाषालाई 'नेपाली' नामकरण गरिएको हो । The people living in the Pahad or the hilly region, where it does not generally contain snow, called the language (), meaning "the speech of the hills".Lienhard, Siegfried (1992). Songs of Nepal: An Anthology of Nevar Folksongs and Hymns. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas. . Page 3.
History Origin and development
Early forms of present-day Nepali developed from the Middle Indo-Aryan apabhraṃśa Vernaculars of present-day western Nepal in the 10th–14th centuries, during the times of the Khasa Kingdom. The language evolved from Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Apabhraṃśa. Following the decline of the Khasa Kingdom, it was divided into Baise Rajya (22 principalities) in Karnali-Bheri region and Chaubise rajya (24 principalities) in Gandaki region. The currently popular variant of Nepali is believed to have originated around 500 years ago with the mass migration of a branch of Khas people from the Karnali-Bheri-Seti eastward to settle in lower valleys of the Karnali and the Gandaki basin.
During the times of Sena dynasty, who ruled a vast area in Terai and central hills of Nepal, Nepali language became influenced by the Indian languages including Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj Bhasha and Maithili. Nepali speakers and Senas had a close connect, subsequently, the language became the lingua franca in the area. As a result, the grammar became simplified, vocabulary was expanded, and its phonology was softened, after it was syncretised, Nepali lost much of the complex declensional system present in the older languages. In the Kathmandu Valley (then known as Nepal Mandala), Nepali language inscriptions can be seen during the reigns of Lakshmi Narasimha Malla and Pratap Malla, which indicates the significant increment of Nepali speakers in Kathmandu Valley. It was during this period of growth that Nepali borrowed many words from various Sino-Tibetan languages, primarily Newar. This is evident from the fact that the borrowed words match the older form of the languages in question.
Middle Nepali
The institutionalisation of the Nepali language is believed to have started with the Shah kings of Gorkha Kingdom, in the modern day Gorkha District of Nepal. Following the Unification of Nepal, the language moved to the court of the Kingdom of Nepal in the 18th century, where it became the state language. One of the earliest works in the Middle Nepali was written during the reign of Ram Shah, King of Gorkha, a book by unknown writer called Ram Shah ko Jivani (A Biography of Ram Shah). Prithvi Narayan Shah's Divyopadesh, written toward the end of his life, around 1774–75, contains old Nepali dialect of the era, is considered as the first work of essay of Nepali literature.
During this time Nepali developed a standardised prose in the Lal mohar (royal charter)—documents related to the Nepalese Kingdom dealing with diplomatic writings, tax, and administrative records. The language of the Lal mohar is nearly modern with some minor differences in grammar and with a pre-modern orthography. Few changes including changing Kari (करि) to Gari (गरि) and merging Hunu (हुनु) with cha (छ) to create huncha (हुन्छ) were done. The most prominent work written during this time was Bhanubhakta Acharya's Bhanubhakta Ramayana, a translation of the epic Ramayana from Sanskrit to Nepali for the first time. Acharya's work led to which some describe as "cultural, emotional and linguistic unification" of Nepal, comparatively to Prithvi Narayan Shah who unified Nepal.
Modern Nepali
The modern period of Nepali begins in the early 20th century. During this time the ruling Rana dynasty made various attempts to make Nepali the language of education, notably by Dev Shumsher and Chandra Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, who established Gorkhapatra and the Gorkha Bhasa Prakashini Samiti, respectively. At this time, when Nepali had a limited literature compared to the Hindi and Bengali languages, a movement notably in Varanasi, and Darjeeling was started to create uniformed Nepali identity, which was later adopted in Nepal following the 1951 Nepalese revolution and during the Panchayat system. In 1957, Royal Nepal Academy was established with the objectives of developing and promoting Nepali literature, culture, art and science. During Panchayat, Nepal adopted a "One King, One Dress, One Language, One Nation" ideology, which promoted Nepali language as basis for Nepali nationalism. This time is considered to be a Golden Age for the language.
In West Bengal, Nepali language was recognised by West Bengal Government in 1961 as the official language for the Darjeeling district, and Kalimpong and Kurseong. The Nepali Language Movement took place in India around the 1980s to include Nepali language in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. In 1977, Nepali was officially accepted by Sahitya Academy, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of Indian literature. After Sikkim was annexed by India, the Sikkim Official Languages Act, 1977, made Nepali as one of the official languages of state. On 20 August 1992, the Lok Sabha passed a motion to add the Nepali language to the Eighth Schedule.
Official status
Nepali written in the Devanagari script is the official language of Nepal.
On 31 August 1992, Nepali was added to the list of scheduled languages of India. Nepali is the official language of the state of Sikkim and Gorkhaland of West Bengal.
Despite being spoken by about a quarter of the population, Nepali has no official status in Bhutan.
Geographic distribution
Nepal According to the 2011 national census, 44.6% of the population of Nepal speaks Nepali as its first language. and 32.8% speak Nepali as a second language. Ethnologue reports 12,300,000 speakers within Nepal (from the 2011 census). It is spoken by 20,250,952, about 77.20% of the population, as their first language and second language.
India
According to the 2011 census of India, there were a total of 2,926,168 Nepali language speakers in India.
+Nepali speakers in India by stateStateNepali speakers (2011 census) 2,926,168West Bengal1,155,375Assam596,210Sikkim382,200Uttarakhand106,399Arunachal Pradesh95,317Himachal Pradesh89,508 Maharashtra75,683Manipur63,756 Meghalaya54,716 Nagaland 43,481 Delhi37,468Gujarat25,142Jammu and Kashmir22,138Punjab22,061Haryana19,914Karnataka19,274Uttar Pradesh18,743Jharkhand16,956Andhra Pradesh11,551Mizoram8,994Madhya Pradesh8,724Odisha8,654Rajasthan7,636Tamil Nadu7,575Chandigarh6,546Bihar5,727Kerala3,665Chhattisgarh3,431Tripura2,787Goa2,600Daman and Diu1,401Dadra and Nagar Haveli1,152Andaman and Nicobar Islands949Puducherry431Lakshadweep4
Bhutan In Bhutan, native Nepali speakers, known as Lhotshampa, are estimated at 35% of the population. Under pressure from ethnic cleansing, many Lhotshampa have left Bhutan and this number includes displaced Bhutanese refugees, with unofficial estimates of the ethnic Bhutanese refugee population as high as 30 to 40%, constituting a majority in the south (about 242,000 people).
Myanmar Nepali speakers entered British Burma as Gurkha soldiers of the British Raj. While estimates vary, their population is said to range from 300,000 to 1 million. After Burma gained independence, many Gurkhas joined the Myanmar Armyas soldiers, and are now occupied in a variety of professions.
Australia