GADCHIROLI

Gadchiroli is a district located in the eastern part of Maharashtra which shares its borders with the states of Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Its geographic position, combined with the presence of longstanding indigenous communities, has contributed to a linguistically diverse landscape. While Marathi is the most widely spoken language, the 2011 Census also identifies Gondi, Santali and Telugu as prominent languages in the district. Local linguistic diversity is further reflected in regional varieties such as Gondi Madia, Jhadi, and Kohali, which distinguish Gadchiroli from other parts of Maharashtra.

Remarkably, the 2011 Census of India data reveals that several languages are spoken as mother tongues in Gadchiroli district. At the time of the Census (2011), Gadchiroli district had a total population of approximately 10.73 lakh (10,72,942).

Of this population, 56.38% reported Marathi as their first language. This was followed by Gondi (14.01%), Santali (9.44%), and Telugu (8.87%). Other languages spoken as mother tongues included Bengali (5.12%), Hindi (2.24%), and Chhattisgarhi (1.69%). Smaller linguistic groups in the district included Kurukh/Oraon (0.54%), Urdu (0.36%), Banjari (0.26%), Halbi (0.21%), Madia/Muria (0.20%), Sindhi (0.13%), Gujarati (0.11%), Marwari (0.06%), and Kannada (0.04%).

Gondi is a language spoken by the Gond people across central India, including states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Gujarat. As per the 2011 Census, Gondi is spoken by 14.01% (1,50,329 people) in Gadchiroli district, making it the second most spoken mother tongue here.

The origins of Gondi have been the subject of multiple theories. The traditional view maintains that Gondi has primarily existed as an oral language without a written script. However, it has been noted in the Languages of Maharashtra (2017) that this perspective has been challenged by scholars such as Motiram Kale, who argues that Gondi is an ancient language that once served as the official language of the ancient Gondwana Kingdom, complete with its own script and literary tradition. Scholar Vyankatesh Atram claims that hieroglyphs discovered in Gondwana are actually Gondi script and that it served as the official language of the Kuyava Kingdom in the pre-Rigveda period. According to this theory, the written script disappeared when Duryon, the Kuyava capital, was destroyed around 3201 BCE.

Despite these historical shifts, this language has endured beautifully in its oral form. Unfortunately, it has been classified as a “vulnerable language” in UNESCO’s 2009 report, which states that while most children still speak Gondi, its use may be restricted to certain domains.

Gondi is classified as part of the Dravidian language family in the Chandrapur Gazetteer (1972) and as mentioned above, is spoken across central India. However, rather than existing as a single uniform variety, Gondi exhibits significant dialectal diversity. The influence of surrounding languages, such as Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, and Chhattisgarhi, has contributed to regional variations in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammatical structures.

Sound System (Phonology). It is listed in the volume Languages of Maharashtra (2017), that there are more than 13 vowel sounds (counting all the short, long, uncommon vowels and diphthongs) and more than 37 consonant sounds in the Gondi language. They are as follows:

Kinship Terms. Gondi includes a distinct set of kinship terms that differ and are phonologically unique.

Influence of Regional Languages on Vocabulary. Gondi is spoken differently across Gondia, Gadchiroli, Bhandara, and Chandrapur in Maharashtra. In these areas, the language is in close contact with Hindi and Marathi, which has led to gradual shifts in vocabulary.

In many cases, original Gondi words have been replaced by borrowed forms, especially in everyday contexts. In other cases, certain words in Gondi may look or sound similar to words in Hindi or Marathi, but carry different meanings. For instance, The word मुलगी (mulgī) means mother’s elder sister in Gondi, whereas in Marathi, it means girl. These kinds of terms are often referred to as false friends [words that appear the same across two languages but differ in meaning.]

Other terms, like सकार (sakār) for morning or दुपार (dupar) for afternoon, resemble their counterparts in Marathi and Hindi, and may be considered as borrowings which have slight alterations in the way they are pronounced and spelled.

Lexical Overlap with Marathi and Sanskrit. Some Gondi words also resemble terms in Marathi or Sanskrit in both sound and meaning. As noted in Languages of Maharashtra (2017), Vyankatesh Atram has pointed to certain Gondi terms as being possible sources for later Marathi words. For example:

• कलुष (kaluśa) – coal → is believed to be the possible source for the Marathi word कोळसा (kolasā)
  
• जावा उन्माल (jāva unmāl) – having a meal → similar to Marathi जेवण (jevaṇ)
  

While the direction of influence is debated, such overlaps point to long-standing interaction between Gondi and neighboring languages.

Gondi Madia, also called Gayata Pollo, is a spoken variety used by the Madia Gond community. They reside across parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. Madhukar Madavi and Maheshwari Gavit in the volume Languages of Maharashtra (2017) note that in Maharashtra, they primarily have settled in the Gadchiroli district, across Sironcha, Etapalli, and the forested areas of Bhamragad. Linguist Stephen Futch describes it as a regional variation of Gondi that shows influence from Telugu, due to the area’s location near the border.

Gondi Madia has some distinct sound patterns. One common feature is that the sound “la” is sometimes replaced by “da” or “ra” in everyday speech. These small shifts give the language its own sound and rhythm.

Here are some examples of words used in Gondi Madia:

The sound ळ (ɭ) is commonly used in the variety and can be seen in words like hulna.

Gondi Madia, spoken near multiple language regions, reflects a long history of language contact [interaction between speakers of different languages]. As a result, it contains loanwords (borrowed words) from English, Kannada, and Telugu. These borrowings are often adapted to fit the sound and structure of Gondi Madia speech.

Interestingly, during British rule, contact with English introduced new words into the community’s vocabulary. These were adapted by adding the suffix “-ku”, which allows the borrowed word to follow local grammatical patterns.

The way these words are formed is an example of what linguists might call suffixation [adding a word ending to help it function grammatically in the language].

Because of proximity to Kannada-speaking areas, Gondi Madia includes many borrowed Kannada words. Some of these appear in slightly changed forms. They are, in many ways, examples of borrowed forms that have been reshaped locally.

Madhukar Madavi and Maheshwari Gavit (2017) note that in some cases, in Gondia Madia, the suffix of a word is also borrowed from Kannada. For example, in nariyala kāya (coconut), the word काया (kāya) is added to expand or complete the meaning.

Telugu also has a significant influence on Gondi Madia, particularly in the vocabulary used for numbers. This is most visible in Sironcha and surrounding areas along the Telangana border, where Gondi Madia and Telugu speakers live in close proximity.

This kind of mixing is likely a result of language contact [when speakers of different languages interact closely and influence each other’s speech].

Jhadi is a language variety spoken across four districts in eastern Maharashtra [where Gadchiroli lies], a region often referred to locally as the “Jhadi Patti” or “Jhadi Mandal.” This variety holds historical significance, with early literary mentions that trace back nearly a millennium.

Dr. Harishchandra Borkar in the volume Languages of India (2017), mentions that Jhadi appears in the poetic work Viveksindhu, written by Mukundraj, who is regarded to be one of the earliest Marathi literary poets in 1110 CE. He says that, “many words of this variety can also be found in the prose work edited around the same time by Mhaimbhatt [म्हाइंभट, the writer of the book Lilacharitra, who is associated with the Mahanubhav Panth].” In this work, Borkar writes, the region of Jhadi Mandal is directly identified as the homeland of Jhadi-speaking people.

Jhadi includes several words for everyday objects and actions that differ from standard Marathi. One notable pattern is the frequent use of the suffix “-ना”, especially in verbs, a feature that gives the variety a recognisable rhythm.

This -ना (-nā) ending appears consistently across many verbs. It likely serves as a marker of action, and is used widely in both descriptive and process-related verbs.

Kohali, also referred to as Kohalauu or Koharau, is the language spoken by the Kohali community, who in Maharashtra, are noted to reside across the districts of Gondia, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, and Chandrapur. The Kohalis are associated with reservoir-building and watercraft, and are believed to have been brought to the region from Kashi (Varanasi) around 500 years ago by Gond rulers.

Interestingly, despite their North Indian origin, it is mentioned in the volume Languages of Maharashtra (2017) that they have no “resemblance to the languages of the North,” except for perhaps Hindi. Over centuries, it has developed into a distinct regional speech variety.

As a distinct speech variety, Kohali has its own variations when it comes to pronunciation. One notable phonological feature in Kohali is the replacement of the “l” sound with “r”. Very remarkably, this is reflected even in how speakers refer to themselves: Kohali becomes Kohari or Koharau in local pronunciation.

Kohali includes several unique words for common items, along with regional variations of words that resemble Hindi but differ in sound or form.

An interesting sound pattern in Kohali which can be observed here involves the replacement of the “ch” sound (as in छ) with “s” (स) in certain words. For example, the word for chest is commonly छाती (chātī) in Hindi and Marathi, but appears as साती (sātī) in Kohali. Another example is hole, which is usually छेद (ched) or छिद्र (chidra), but becomes सेद (sed) in this variety.

These kinds of substitutions, in many ways, help shape Kohali’s distinct pronunciation system and mark it as different from neighbouring languages, even when the words share a similar root or meaning.

Kohali kinship terms are especially rich and complex, structured by gendered perspectives. Terms can differ depending on whether the speaker is male or female, and whether the term refers to one’s own family or in-laws.

Kinship vocabulary falls into three categories:

1. General terms (used by anyone)
   
2. Male speaker’s perspective
   
3. Female speaker’s perspective
   

This gendered variation shows how Kohali organizes family and social roles linguistically, offering insight into the community’s social structure and ways of relating. Also as mentioned above, a notable sound shift in Kohali is the replacement of “l” with “r.” Here, one can observe how the Hindi word साला (sālā), meaning wife’s brother, is realized in Kohali as सारा (sārā).