Page 65 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

3.1.6 Demography and distribution
Bhojpuri is a multi-ethnic language spoken by the different ethnic groups of

people. Being a multi-ethnic language, it is spoken in far and wide regions of Nepal as
well as in India both as mother tongue as well as a second language by heterogeneous
groups of people irrespective of caste and creed. It is spoken in Central Madhesh-

Terai in Nepal as well as in the adjacent neighbouring territories of Western Bihar and
Eastern Uttar Pradesh in India aboriginally. This language is said to have been written

in Kaithi script in the past but now it is written in the Devnagari script. As the district-
wise demography of the native Bhojpuri speakers of 2011 census depicts a clear

picture of distribution of its demography, Table 3.1 presents the stronghold of
Bhojpuri populace in Nepal.

Table 3.1: Stronghold of the Bhojpuri native speakers in Nepal
Districts Population Bhojpurias Percentage
1. Sarlahi 769,729 6,868 0.89%
2. Rautahat 686,722 29,481 4.29%
3. Bara 687,708 495,307 72.02%
4. Parsa 601,017 469,619 78.14%
5. Chitwan 579,984 9,668 1.67%
6. Nawalparasi 643,508 186,840 29.03%
7. Rupandehi 880,196 322,067 36.59%
Total 4,848,864 1,519,850 31.34%
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Census Report, 2012

The internal migration of non-Bhojpuri speakers and a shift of the Tharu
population from Bhojpuri into their own ethno-linguistic identity in recent days are
responsible for a very thin population of Bhojpurias in Chitwan, though it has slightly

increased from that of 2001 census. Likewise, the Bhojpuri population has decreased
in Rautahat and Sarlahi as the previous population made a shift from Bhojpuri to

Bajjika recently.
Besides, Bhojpuri migrants are available in all the districts of Nepal except

Jajarkot, Dolpa, Kalikot, Mugu, Humla and Bajura.
Likewise, 95.89% of the Bhojpuria population lives at their native places and

others elsewhere as migrants in Nepalese territories.
Moreover, the latest census of 2011 shows Bhojpuri spoken by 159,379 Nepalese
citizens as the second language in 44 districts of Nepal. It comprises 0.6 percent of the

total population. In this way Bhojpuri is spoken by 1,744,337 Nepalese populace
comprising 6.6 percent of the total population. Though it is the official data of Bhojpuri

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