Bhadarwahi


Bhadarwahi is a native language of the people of the Bhaderwah region in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Bhaderwahi is a Western Pahari language spoken by about 50,000 people in Bhaderwah town and surrounding villages. It has many alternate names like Baderwali, Bhadri, Badrohi, Bhadlai etc. Bhaderwah is about 230 kilometers away from Jammu, the summer capital city of Jammu and Kashmir.

Classification

The Bhaderwahi group of languages mainly includes three dialects, viz. Bhaderwahi, Bhalessi and Padri spoken respectively in Bhaderwah, Bhalessa and Paddar regions which form a dialect chain with Churahi.

Status

The language is commonly called Pahari. Some speaker may even call it a dialect of Dogri. The language has no official status. According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the language is of definitely endangered category, i.e. many Bhadravahi children are not learning Bhadravahi as their mother tongue any longer.
Till 20th Century, Bhadravahi was classified as a dialect of Kashmir. Since Language Census 2000, GoI classifies the language as a dialect of Hindi. Linguist do not agree with any of this classification and emphasise on its uniqueness.