West NimadiIndo-Aryan, Rajasthani
The Khargone, Barwani and Maheshwar register, and the one usually treated within the region as standard Nimadi.
इस क्षेत्र का अनुवाद अभी इस भाषा में नहीं हुआ है, इसलिए यह अंग्रेज़ी में दिखाया जा रहा है।
Nimar · Central Highlands & Forest Belt
बोली और मौखिक परंपरा
Nimadi belongs with the Rajasthani languages rather than with Hindi proper, and is closest to Malvi above the scarp — but it takes a distinct set of features from the Tapti valley to its south, which is where it parts company with the plateau. The census records almost all of its speakers as Hindi speakers, so the published figures are far below what anyone in the valley would estimate. Its literature is real but small: a Nimadi rendering of the Bhagavad Gita, a body of essays, and above all the Singaji bhajans, which are the language's oldest continuously performed text.
बोलियाँ
East NimadiIndo-Aryan, Rajasthani
Khandwa, Burhanpur and Harda, picking up Marathi and Ahirani vocabulary as the country approaches the Tapti trough.
Bhili, Bhilali and Barela of the slopesIndo-Aryan, Bhil group
Spoken on both flanking ranges and in continuous contact with Nimadi on the floor. Barela is spoken across the Satpura foothills of the western districts and is usually described as a Bhili variety, with its speakers commonly bilingual in Nimadi.
Marathi in the old Holkar townsIndo-Aryan, Southern
Present in Maheshwar, Mandleshwar and Barwaha as an administrative and household inheritance of the eighteenth century, rather than as a border effect.
स्थानीय शब्दावली
| शब्द | अर्थ |
|---|---|
| Narmade Har नर्मदे हर | The greeting used the whole length of the valley — hello, goodbye, thank you and a salutation to the river, all in two words. Parikrama walkers are fed and housed on the strength of it. |
| Parikramavasi परिक्रमावासी | One who is walking the Narmada Parikrama. The word marks a temporary status that carries a claim on food and shelter from every village on the route. |
| Pania पानिया | Maize bread baked wrapped in leaves in the embers. The leaf is not packaging; it is what makes the bread. |
| Nimad निमाड़ | The low country. Usually derived from the word for low or sunken ground, and used in the valley in exactly that sense — as the opposite of the plateau. |
| Banalinga बाणलिंग | A naturally rounded Narmada pebble treated as a self-formed Shiva linga, worshipped without consecration because the river is held to have done the consecrating. |
| Thecha ठेचा | Chilli and garlic pounded raw on a stone and served beside the meal. The word is the verb for pounding. |
| Mahua महुआ | Madhuca longifolia — the tree, its dropped corolla, the food made from it and the spirit distilled from it. One word does the work of four, which tells you how central it is. |
| Karanj करंज | A masonry water structure in Burhanpur's underground supply system — a reservoir and drawing point fed by tunnels rather than a well sunk from above. |
| Bhagoria भगोरिया | The week of pre-Holi weekly markets in the Bhil and Bhilala country, and the festival held at them. |
| Ghat घाट | In this valley both the stepped riverfront and the climb up the scarp. Going "up the ghat" means leaving Nimar for Malwa, and the phrase carries the whole cultural distinction with it. |
कहावतें
| कहावत | शाब्दिक अर्थ | अर्थ |
|---|---|---|
| Narmade Har | Narmada, take it away | Both a greeting and a petition — the river is asked to carry off what is offered to it. It is the only greeting in general use along the whole reach, across caste and religion. |
| Ganga snan se, Yamuna paan se, Narmada darshan se | The Ganga by bathing, the Yamuna by drinking, the Narmada by sight alone | The commonly quoted formula for the Narmada's standing among rivers — that it does not require you to enter it. It is also the theological basis of a pilgrimage performed by walking along the bank rather than by bathing at a point. |
| Narmada ke kankar utte Shankar | The pebbles of the Narmada are themselves Shiva | Said of the banalinga stones from the river bed. It explains a real trade — the pebbles are collected, ground, polished and sold as objects of worship that need no consecration. |
Nimar की बोलियाँ, स्थानीय शब्दावली और कहावतें। (13)