80 



Janardan Singh — Dialects spoken in Baghelhhand. [April 



language. This might be the case with the Gondi of the Central 

 Provinces. Bat the dialect spoken by the Gonds of Rewah is not the 

 non- Aryan dialect which their brethren use in the Central Provinces. 

 They as well as other tribes, namely Kols, Baigas, &c., mostly of 

 aboriginal descent, inhabiting the southern portion of Rewah, on 

 the other side of the Kymore, speak what represents the widest devia- 

 tion from the Baghel dialect in the State. Herewith are enclosed 

 a prose passage and some songs of the Gondi dialect. These will 

 show that the language they speak is mainly Bagheli corrupted and 

 mispronounced with an admixture of some new words, the relics of 

 their aboriginal tongue they once spoke. 



I have, &c., 

 (Sd.) Janardun Singh, 

 Secretary to H. H. the Maharaja of Bewah. 



Statement of Dialects. 



1 



2 



3 



4 



Local name of 

 the dialect or 



' 



Approximate 

 number of per- 





form of speech. 



Name of lan- 



sons speaking 





To be written in 



guage of which 

 it is a dialect. 



the dialect in 



Remarks* 



the local verna- 



the locality to 





cular character 





which the re- 





and in the Ro- 





turn refers. 





man character. 









^^m^^^^^ 









Bagheli or 



Hindi. 



1,000,000 





Baghelkhandi. 









iit€t ^5it^T^ 









Gondi 



Hindi. 



500,000 



The Gondi dialect is 



or Gondani. 







confined to the Gonds 

 and other aboriginal 

 tribes inhabiting the 

 eastern and southern 

 parts of the Rewah 

 territory, on the other 

 side of the Kymore 

 ranges. 



(Sd.) Janardun Singh, 

 Secretary to H. fl". the Maharaja of Bewah. 



