Brajavali dialect


Brajavali was a literary language used by Sankardev for some of his compositions in the context of his Vaishnavite religion, Ekasarana Dharma, in Assam. Though similar languages were used in the Vaishnavite contexts in Odisa and Bengal, the one used in Assam was different, as it was based on Maithili, to which Assamese and a sprinkling of Western Hindi was added. In general, the vocables and idiomatic expressions of Brajavali were local, while the inflectional forms were Maithili, easily understood by the people of Assam but carrying the flavor of Brajbhasa, the language of choice of the Bhakti poets.