The Bhojpuri people or Bhojpuriyas are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent who speak the Bhojpuri-language and inhabit the Bhojpuri-Purvanchal region. This area is now divided between the western part of the Indian state of Bihar, the eastern part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, northwestern Jharkhand, along with some neighbouring districts in the Madhya Pradesh and Madhesh of Nepal. A significant diaspora population of Bhojpuris can be found in Trinidad and Tobago, Netherlands, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, other parts of the Caribbean, Fiji, South Africa, and Mauritius.
Culture
Language and literature
Bhojpuri is spoken by around 50 million people. It is native to Bhojpuri region of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Bhojpuri is sociolinguistically considered one of the "Hindi dialects" although it linguistically belongs to the geographic Bihari branch of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages. The first Bhojpuri novel Bindiã was written by Ram Nath Pandey in 1955. It was published by Bhojpuri Sansad, Jagatganj, Varanasi. Bhikhari Thakur's was famous writer of Bhojpuri language. His famous book is Bidesiya.
Cuisine
Bhojpuri cuisine is part of North Indian cuisine. It is mild and spice is less used. It has majorly influenced the cuisine of the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, and South Africa.
Influence and reputation
According to G.A. Grierson, Bhojpuriya people have influenced all over India and called them people from energetic race and has called them the Civilizer of Hindostan. In order to compare Bhojpuriyas with Maithils and Magahiya he writes:
He further writes that Bhojpuri people form the fighting nation of Hindostan, and has praised for grab any opportunity. He writes:
Notable people
Mangal Pandey, Freedom Fighter from Ballia
Kabirdas, Bhojpuri poet
Ravindra Kishore Sinha, Billionaire businessman and Politician
Siddhant Chaturvedi, Bollywood actor
Jayaprakash Narayan, Indian independence activist and politician (Bharat Ratna) Dr. Rajendra Prasad, First President of India Lal Bahadur Shastri, Second Prime Minister of India Chandra Shekhar, Former Prime Minister of India Lalu Prasad Yadav, Politician and Former Chief Minister of Bihar Bhikhari Thakur, Author Heera Dom, Poet Raj Mohan, Singer Dinesh Bhramar, Poet Bindeshwari Dubey, freedom fighter and politician Ravi Kishan, Actor and Politician Manoj Bajpayee, Actor Vinay Pathak, Actor Om Prakash Rajbhar, Politician Saryu Rai, Politician Medini Ray, king of Palamu in 17th century Babu Veer Kunwar Singh, Maharaja of Jagdishpur estate Parichay Das Manoj Bhawuk, Bhojpuri Po Anjana Om Kashyap, Journalist Chandan Tiwari, Folk singer Manoj Tiwari, Actor, singer and politician Pankaj Tripathi, Actor Tejashwi Yadav, Politician Amita Suman, Actress Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Poet Yashwant Sinha,Bureaucrat, Politician Munshi Premchand, Author Dhyan Chand,Olympian Bahadur Prasad,Olympian