Official language in No official status Glottolog dhun1238 Native to India | ISO 639-3 dhd Native speakers 9.6 million | |
Language family Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-European languages, Indo-Iranian languages | ||
Dhundari is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Dhundhar region of northeastern Rajasthan state, India. Dhundari-speaking people are found in three districts – Jaipur, Karauli, Hindaun, Sawai Madhopur, Dausa, and Tonk. The derivation of the name “Dhundari” is thought to be from two origins. According to the first opinion, Dhundari is believed to have drawn its name from the Dhundh or Dhundhakriti mountain, which is situated near Jobner in Jaipur District. The other opinion is that it is named after a river called Dhundh flowing through this region. Hence the name became Dhundhar.
According to the 1991 census, the total population of Dhundari speakers is 965,008.
Dhundari is classified as Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central Zone, Rajasthani, Marwari. Alternative names for Dhundari are Dhundhali, Dhundhahdi, Jhadshahi boli, and Kai-kui boli and Jaipuri. Jaipuri was coined by the European scholars such as George MacAlister and George Abraham Grierson. Ethnologue adds Dhundari-Marwari (Gordon 2005) to this language.
MacAlister completed the grammatical analysis on February 24, 1884. Books on Jain philosophy, such as Moksha Marga Prakashak, have been written in Dhundari by Acharyakalpa Pt. Todarmalji. The Serampore missionaries translated the New Testament into Jaipuri proper in 1815. It is not known whether there are any extant copies of the New Testament translation.
The sentence structure is SOV. No systematic language development has been carried out in this language.