Bhojpuri, spoken in eastern Uttar Pradesh, is classed under which group of Indo-Aryan speech?

The correct answer is C, the Bihari group. Bhojpuri descends from Magadhi Apabhramsha and is grouped with Magahi and Maithili in the Bihari group of the Eastern Indo-Aryan family, a classification made by George Abraham Grierson in the Linguistic Survey of India. In Uttar Pradesh it is spoken across Purvanchal, in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ballia, Azamgarh and Deoria.

Option A, Western Hindi, holds Khari Boli, Braj, Kannauji, Bundeli and Haryanvi, all from Shauraseni Apabhramsha. Option B, Eastern Hindi, holds Awadhi, Bagheli and Chhattisgarhi, all from Ardhamagadhi Apabhramsha, and this is the strongest distractor because Bhojpuri is spoken in the east of the state. Option D, Pahari, is the hill speech of the Himalayan belt. Remember the chain for a statement based question: Magadhi gives Bhojpuri, Ardhamagadhi gives Awadhi and Shauraseni gives Braj and Khari Boli.