Hindi and Urdu are the official languages of the state (recently Maithili is also included as one of the official languages of the state, although the usage of the language for official purposes is negligible), while the majority of the people speak one of the Bihari languages - Bhojpuri, or Magadhi,. Presently Bihari languages are considered one of the five subgroups of Hindi; however, Maithili was declared a separate language. However, these are considered to be derived from the language of the erstwhileMagadha kingdom - Magadhi Prakrit, along with Bengali, Assamese, and Oriya. Bihari Hindi, a slang form of Standard Hindi, is used as a lingua franca and many speak it as their first language throughout the state. A small minority also speak Bengali, mainly in big districts or along the border area with West Bengal . Many Bengali speakers are people from West Bengal or Hindu people from erstwhile East Pakistan who immigrated during the Partition of India in 1947.
There is a common misconception that all Biharis speak Bhojpuri. Though it is 9th Largest language based on native which speak it; but majority of them are in Eastern UP. The majority of the population in Bihar speak Maithili and its dialects, which accounts for 65% of Bihar 's population.
In spite of the large number of speakers of Bihari languages, they have not been constitutionally recognized in India Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the sole official language of the province. In this struggle between competing Hindi and Urdu, the potential claims of the three large mother tongues in the region - Magahi, Bhojpuri andMaithili were ignored. After independence Hindi was again given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950. Urdu became the second official language in the undivided State of Bihar
The relationship of Maithili community with Bhojpuriand Magahi
Bihar has produced a number of writers and scholars, including Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Ram Avatar Sharma, R. K. Sinha, Raja Radhika Raman Singh, Shiva Pujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Ram Briksh Benipuri,Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Pandit Nalin Vilochan Sharma, Gopal Singh "Nepali", BabaNagarjun, Mridula Sinha, and Pankaj Rag. Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan , the great writer and Buddhist scholar, was born in U.P. but spent his life in the land of Lord Buddha Bihar.Hrishikesh Sulabh Aalok Dhanwa Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay Bihar . Of late, the latest Indian writer in English, Upamanyu Chatterjee Patna in Bihar . Devaki Nandan Khatri , who rose to fame at the beginning of the 20th century on account of his novels such as Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati , was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.Vidyapati Thakur Deen Mohammad Sidhharth Chaoudhary Sidhharth Chaoudhary Day Scholar.Bihar has also made important contributions to Urdu literature. Shad Azimabadai, Nasikh, Jamil Mazhari and Mazhar Imam as eminent poets; Suhail Azimabadi, Akhtar Orenivi, Shaukat Hayat and Shamoel Ahmed as short story writers; and Paigham Afaqui (novel Makaan), Abdus Samad (novel Do Gaz Zameen), Husainul Haque (novel Farat),Ilyas Ahmed Gaddi (novel Fire Area)enjoy special place in global literature.
The literary and cultural movement Bhookhi Peedhi , or Hungry Generation, was launched from Bihar 's capital in November 1961 by two brothers, Samir Roychoudhury
Urdu is second government language in Bihar which is the mother tongue of Muslimswho form about 17% of state's population. Near 25% people in Bihar read and write Urdu. Bihar has produced many Urdu scholars, such as Shaad Azimabadi , Jamil Maz'hari , Khuda Baksh Khan, Maulana Shabnam Kamali , Bismil Azimabadi (poet known for the patriotic ghazal "Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai"), Kaif Azimabadi , Rasikh Azimabadi , and in these days, Kalim Aajiz
Source: Wikipaedia
