The ancestor of Magahi,
Magadhi Prakrit, formed in the Indian subcontinent. These regions were part of the ancient kingdom of
Magadha, the core of which was the area of
Bihar south of the river
Ganga. The name
Magahi is directly derived from the word Magadhi. The development of the Magahi language into its current form is unknown. However, according to linguists, Magahi along with
Assamese,
Bengali,
Bhojpuri,
Maithili and
Odia originated from the Magadhi Prakrit during the 8th to 11th centuries. These different, but sister dialects differentiated themselves and took their own course of growth and development. But it is not certain when exactly it took place. It was probably such an unidentified period during which modern Indian languages begin to take modern shape. By the end of the 12th century, the development of
Apabhramsa reached its climax. The distinct shape of Magadhi can be seen in the
Dohakosha written by Sarahapa and Kauhapa. Magadhi had a setback due to the transition period of the Magadha administration. Traditionally, strolling bards recite long epic poems in this dialect, and it was because of this that the word "Magadhi" came to mean "a bard".
Devanagari is the most widely used script in present times, while
Bengali and
Odia scripts are also used in some regions and Magahi's old script was Kaithi script. The pronunciation in Magahi is not as broad as in Maithili and there are a number of verbal forms for each person. Historically, Magahi had no famous written literature. There are many popular songs throughout the area in which the language is spoken, and strolling bards recite various long epic poems which are known more or less over the whole of Northern India. In the Magahi speaking area, folk singers sing a good number of ballads. The first success in spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced
Urdu as the official language of the province. After independence, Hindi was given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950, ignoring the state's own languages. ==Geographical distribution==