Magadhi Prakrit
Magadhi Prakrit or Magadhan was a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language, replacing earlier Vedic Sanskrit in parts of the Indian subcontinents. It was spoken in present-day Bihar, and eastern Uttar Pradesh which later expanded southeast to include some regions of modern day Bengal, Odisha, and Assam, and used in some dramas to represent vernacular dialogue in Prakrit dramas. It is believed to be the language spoken by the important religious figures Gautama Buddha and Mahavira and was also the language of the courts of the Magadha mahajanapada and the Maurya Empire; some of the Edicts of Ashoka were composed in it.
Magadhi Prakrit later evolved into the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, including the Bengali–Assamese languages, Bihari languages, and Odia, among others. Out of all of its offshoots, Bengali is the most spoken, with over 240 million speakers, followed by Odia and Maithili,followed by Magahi with over 20.7 million,as well as Bhojpuri
