Angika is considered as oldest language of Hindi family. According to Pundit Rahul Sankritiyayan, the evidences of oldest form of written Hindi literatures are available in the Sarah’s Angika poetries of 800 A.D.
The first poet of Hindi literature, Saraha, was also the first poet of the Angika language and literature. Saraha belongs to the 8th century, and is the first poet whose poetry is available in written form.
Classification : Indo European - Indo Iranian - Indo Aryan - Eastern zone - Bihari – Angika
ISO 639-2 & ISO/DIS 639-3 Code for Angika Language : anp
Angika is written in the Anga Lipi, Kaithi, and Devnagri scripts.
Angika is among very few languages of India and world in which a Search Engine (Google-Angika) has been developed and is available for public use since 2004. Google Angika has been developed by Google Search Engine with the help of Mr. Kundan Amitabh.
Angika is a language of the Anga region of India, more than 58,000 km² area that falls within the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Angika is spoken by more than 30 million of the Indian population ((As per 2001 Census and as per the statement given in Indian Parliament by Shri Subodh Roy Member of Parliament of India which is available in PARLIAMENTRY PROCEEDINGS ), and around 50 million worldwide.
Angika is spoken in most of the Metros of India like Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, and Bangalore.
Angika is also spoken in most of the industrial cities of India like Durgapur, Vadodara, Surat, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro and other parts of the country.
Angika is also spoken in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian countries. Besides this, a sizeable Angika speaking population migrated in other countries such as the Gulf, United States and the United Kingdom.
Angika is closely related to Bengali, Oriya, and Assamese. It is grouped in with the Bihari languages (including Bhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili and Vajjika). Angika is highly intelligible with other Bihari languages.
It may be correlated with the Cham Language of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and China. As Cham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of Champa in central Vietnam. Champa is one of the oldest colonies of Southeast Asia, which had been established by the inhabitants of Anga Mahajanapada of Ancient India around 2000 years ago.
There exists an independent web portal for the Angika language and literature, angika.com. which is fully devoted to Angika language. Angika.com is available in English and Angika languages.This website has been constructed by Mr. Kundan Amitabh in the year 2003.
Angika was called as Chikka-Chiki by George GA Grierson in one of the Linugistic Survey of India. Various alternate names for the language are used: Anga, Aangi, Angikar, Chhika-Chhiki, Bhagalpuri, Apbhramsa, Bihari.
Dialects of Angika include : Deshi, Dakhnaha, Mungeria, Devgharia, Gidhhoria, Dharampuria.
Number of programmes are broadcasted from Patna and Bhagalpur Radio stations. Similarly, number of programmes are telecasted from Patna Doordarshan.
Demography: Southern Bihar- Bhagalpur District, Munger District, Banka District, Lakhisarai District, Jamui District and Sheikhpura District. Northern Bihar- Katihar District, Purnia District, Khagaria District, Begusarai District, Saharsa District, Madhepura District, Araria District, Kishanganj District and Supaul District. Jharkhand - Sahebganj District, Godda District, Dumka District, Deoghar District, Pakur District and Giridih District. West Bengal - Malda District Nepal - Angika is also spoken in Tarai region of Nepal. South-East Asian countries - Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and others. Elsewhere- A large number of Angika speakers have migrated to the Persian Gulf, the United Kingdom , the United States and other countries. Also a substantial portion of the Angika-speaking population has settled elsewhere in India, mainly in Punjab State, Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Baroda, Surat, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jamshedpur, Durgapur, Rourkela, and Bokaro etc.
अंगिका (Angika)मुख्य रूप से प्राचीन अंग(Anga or Ang)यानि भारत के उत्तरी,पूवी एवं दक्षिण बिहार, झारखंड, बंगाल, आसाम, उङीसा और नेपाल के तराई के ईलाक़ों मे बोली जानेवाली भाषा है.यह प्राचीन भाषा कम्बोडिया,वियतनाम,मलेशिया आदि देशों में भी प्राचीन समय से बोली जाती रही है.अंगिका भाषा आर्य-भाषा परिवार का सदस्य है और भाषाई तौर पर बांग्ला, असमिया, उड़िया और नेपाली,ख्मेर भाषा से इसका काफी निकट का संबंध है. प्राचीन अंगिका के विकास के शुरूआती दौर को प्राकृत और अपभ्रंश के विकास से जोड़ा जाता है.लगभग 4 से 5 करोड़ लोग अंगिका को मातृ-भाषा के रुप में प्रयोग करते हैं और इसके प्रयोगकर्ता भारत के विभिन्न हिस्सों सहित विश्व के कई देशों मे फैले हैं.भारत की अंगिका को साहित्यिक भाषा का दर्जा हासिल है.अंगिका साहित्य का अपना समृद्ध इतिहास रहा है और आठवीं शताब्दी के कवि सरह या सरहपा को अंगिका साहित्य में सबसे ऊँचा दर्जा प्राप्त है.सरहपा को हिन्दी एवं अंगिका का आदि कवि माना जाता है.भारत सरकार द्वारा अंगिका को जल्द ही भारतीय संविधान की आठवीं अनुसूची में भी शामिल किया जायगा.
Ang Desh