Bhadrawahi is a primitive tribal community settled predominantly in the hilly regions of Jammu & Kashmir .They speak a language known as 'Bhadrawahi'. It derives its name from the beautiful mountain valley of Bhadrawah, also known as “Nagon ki bhoomi” (land of Snakes). According to the oral history, the nagas had migrated to the hilly areas of Bhaderwah as they were threatened by the naag yagya performed by the king of Hastinapur.
Bhaderwahi is a Dogri Kangri language spoken by about 53 000 people in Doda district (Bhaderwah town and surrounding villages).It has many alternate names like Baderwali, Bhadri, Badrohi, Bhidli. Bhaderwahi belongs to the Indo –Aryan group but it doesn’t have any script of its own and uses Arabic or Devnagri script. Despite high bilingualism, Bhaderwahi people have very positive attitude towards their language, they speak Bhaderwahi at home, village and religious domains. The people are also credited to have unity in diversity. For example, besides regional languages, there are about one dozen languages being spoken in different areas. These are Kashmiri, Dogri, Bhaderwahi, Kishtwari, Siraji, Pogli, Khashali, Gojri, Paddri , Urdu and English by the modern educated generation who have the exposure to the outside world, unlike elder Bhadrawahi women, who only speak Bhadrawahi, as they do not have enough exposure and live a very simple and traditional village life .
Humaira Khan