# Varhadi dialect

Varhadi or Varhadi-Nagpuri is a dialect of Marathi spoken in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and by Marathi people of adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in India.

## Vocabulary and grammar

Although all the dialects of Marathi are mutually intelligible to one another up to a great extent, each dialect can be distinctly identified by its unique characteristics. Likewise, Varhadi replaces the case endings lā (ला) and nā (ना) of standard Marathi with le (ले), a feature it shares with neighboring Khandeshi language. So, malā (मला) (to me) of standard Marathi becomes male (मले) while tyānnā (त्यांना) (to them) becomes tyāle (त्याले) in Varhadi. The common examples of Hindi words in Varhadi which are different than standard Marathi are:
| Varhadi | Hindi | Standard Marathi | English |
| Sīdhā / sarkā (सीधा/सरका) | Sīdhā (सीधा) | Saraḷ (सरळ) | Straight |
| Budā (बुडा) | Buddhā (बुढ्ढा) | Mhātārā (म्हातारा) | Old man |
| Pagalā / bhaitād (पगला/भैताड) | Pāgal (पागल) | Vedā (वेडा) | Stupid |
| Aṅgūr (अंगूर) | Aṅgūr (अंगूर) | Drākśa (द्राक्ष) | Grapes |
The grammatical changes in Varhadi differing from standard Marathi & closer to Hindi are:
| Varhadi | Hindi | Standard Marathi | English |
| Mī jā'un rāhilō (मी जाउन राहिलो) | Maiṁ jā rahā hūṁ (मैं जा रहा हूं) | Mī zātōy (मी जातोय) | I am going |
| Mī ālī (मी आली) | Maiṁ āyī (मैं आयी) | Mī ālē (मी आले) | I (feminine) came |
| Tuyāvālā pēn dē (तुयावाला पेन दे) | Apnā pēn dō (अपना पेन दो) | Tujhā pēn dē (तुझा पेन दे) | Give your pen |
| Pānī ghēūn ghē (पानी घेऊन घे) | Pānī lē lō (पानी ले लो) | Pānī ghē (पाणी घे) | (Please) Have water. |
Apart from this, there are many words & phrases indigenous to Varhadi i.e. common to neither standard Marathi nor Hindi. For instance, to give stress on a request or an order, the suffix zo (जो) (singular) or zā (जा) (plural) is used like "Māhyā porīchyā lagnāle ye zā (माह्या पोरीच्या लग्नाले येजा) "Please attend my daughter's wedding." Also, there are words & phrases maintained by Varhadi which were present in older Marathi (spoken 300 years ago or even prior to that) and have vanished from mainstream Marathi. E.g., in vocative case, abe (अबे) is said in Varhadi instead of 'are' (अरे) of standard Marathi. Another good example is the sentence construction of past continuous tense e.g. in Varhadi, it is said 'Tho bahut abhyās kare' (थो बहूत अभ्यास करे) or 'To lay abhyās kare' (तो लय अभ्यास करे) (He studied a lot) unlike 'To khūp abhyās karāychā' (तो खूप अभ्यास करायचा) of standard Marathi.
In most of the Indo-Aryan languages (or even in Dravidian languages, for that matter), Sanskritized words of standard language get simplified in spoken dialects. Exceptionally, Varhadi has a few Sanskrit tatsama words for whom the standard Marathi counterparts are modified words (tadbhava shabda) such as in eastern parts of Vidarbha, snake is called sarpa (सर्प) unlike sāp (साप) of standard Marathi.
The forms of Varhadi vary in different parts of Vidarbha and also, as per castes. The similarity to Central Indo Aryan languages increases as one moves towards Madhya Pradesh. E.g. in the parts adjacent to Madhya Pradesh, zāna padte (जानं पडते) (I have to go) is preferred over zā lāgte (जा लागते), which is similar to Hindi jānā padtā hai (जाना पडता है). Also, consonant sound /t͡s/ like in chūk (चूक), prevalent in Marathi but absent in Hindi, is often pronounced /t͡ʃ/ like in vachan (वचन). So, pāch/पाच (; five) may be pronounced as pānch/पांच of Hindi.
In the areas closer to Marathwada region of Maharashtra and on the contrary, distant to Madhya Pradesh, Varhadi is influenced by dialects of adjacent parts of Marathwada. One can easily recognize a person from Pusad, Digras or Umarkhed taluka of Yavatmal district by his sentence of present continuous tense. Somebody from this area will say mī mandirāt zāylo (मी मंदिरात जायलो) (I am going to visit a temple) instead of mī mandirāt zāun rāhilo (मी मंदिरात जाऊन राहिलो) of other parts of Vidarbha. Similarly, the tone of speech in Chikhli, Mehkar and Deulgaonraja talukas of Buldhana district is similar to that of nearby parts of Marathwada. If someone from this area speaks to a person from Nagpur or Wardha, the latter may get confused whether the former is from Vidarbha or Marathwada. Likewise, Khandeshi dialect spoken in parts of Jalgaon district adjacent to Vidarbha is too similar to be differentiated from Varhadi of Malkapur- Shegaon belt of Buldana district. The perfect varhadi can be heard in Akola and Amravati district.