Languages

Sambalpuri, an Indo Aryan language, is spoken throughout the Western Orissa tract, and in adjoining bordering districts of Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand by more than a Crore and half (15 millions) population. It is the prime language used for day to day communication in this region. It has few variants such as Sundargarhi, Balangiri, Kalahania, etc spoken in respective districts and nearby areas.

The Oriya speakers from Coastal Orissa consider it as a dialect of Oriya language. But, linguists and researchers have fond its origin from Ardh- Magadhi Prakrit and not from Oriya which has evolved from mixture of Udri and Madgadhi apabhramsa. There is a movement going on in many stages among many section of the Western Orissa society to register the language in 8th schedule of our constitution. Some also, are trying to change the name to Kosli from Sambalpuri. The Ex MP, Deogarh, Sriballbha Panigrahi was the first among elected representatives to demand in Loksabha to list the language in the constitution followed by Ex MP, Sambalpur, Sri Prasanna Acharya.

Though the written history is not so old in Sambalpuri languages but, it is survived for centuries through folk songs, folk music. The Sambalpuri music industry is one of the most profit making industry in India. It is being enjoyed by people of both Western and Coastal Orissa and neighbouring Chhattisgarh state.  The film industry is in its nascent stage with three releases in big screen but in home video segment it is an usual phenomenon.

Other than Sambalpuri, small no of people also use other native languages such as Agharia (Laria), Kharia, Kisan, Munda, Sadri, Oram, Bhulia, etc for their personal communication which is limited inside their communities. English and Oriya languages are used for education by the natives. In office work people generally prefer to use Sambalpuri as the mode of interaction.

From the beginning of the Independence, Western Orissa has attracted people from different parts of the country, hens Hindi is widely spoken by the migrated people for communication in cities and towns such as Rourkela, Rajgangpur, Biramitrapur,  Jharsuguda, BrajarajNagar, Belpahar, Sambalpur, etc. Due to heavy migration from Coastal Orissa, Oriya is spoken in Rourkela.

Following is an excerpt taken from an article published in the book West Orissa: A study in Ethos/ Sambalpur University press/ By B. K. Tripathy and A. K. Dash

Sambalpuri Language – Its evolution and Identity