Lambadi Language Script

Lambadi is the language of the Banjara people, and it has been carried for centuries in speech and song rather than in books. When it is written, it borrows the script of the state its speakers live in: Telugu script in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (లంబాడి, బంజారా), Kannada script in Karnataka, where the language is usually called Lambani (ಲಂಬಾಣಿ), and Devanagari in Maharashtra and the north (लंबाडी, बंजारा). So when people search for the Lambadi language lipi, the honest answer is that the lipi is whichever of these the writer went to school in.

This page gives the Telugu-script set, the one Unicode's locale data (CLDR) lists for Lambadi and a common choice for Lambadi song lyrics, captions and booklets from Telangana. The same words in the other scripts use the letters on the Kannada, Hindi and Marathi pages. Gor Boli has no script of its own in Unicode, which is what searches for a Gor Banjara lipi are after, so it is typed in the letters of the regional scripts.

The Lambadi alphabet in Telugu letters

Telugu script is an abugida: each consonant carries a built-in a, and a vowel sign changes it. ల is la, లా lā, లి li, లీ lī, లు lu, లె le, లో lō. Independent vowel letters such as అ a, ఆ ā, ఇ i, ఈ ī, ఉ u, ఊ ū, ఋ ṛ, ఎ e, ఏ ē, ఐ ai, ఒ o, ఓ ō and ఔ au can stand at the start of a word or syllable. The 34 consonants run from క ka through మ ma in five rows of five, then య ర ల వ, శ ష స హ and the retroflex ళ ḷa.

Two signs do most of the remaining work. The round ం (anusvara) writes a nasal before a consonant, which is why లంబాడి is la + ం + bā + ḍi and బంజారా is ba + ం + jā + rā. The tick ్ (virama, called pollu in Telugu) removes the built-in a: గోర్ బోలి, Gōr Bōli, ends its first word on a bare r, and సేవాలాల్ (Sevalal) and తీజ్ (Teej) end the same way. When the virama falls between two consonants the font joins them, so క + ్ + ష shows as క్ష. Because Lambadi is an Indo-Aryan language, writers lean on the aspirated letters ఖ ఘ ఛ ఝ ఠ ఢ థ ధ ఫ భ, and spelling is not standardised: the same word may be written with a short or long vowel by different writers.

How to type Lambadi in Telugu script

On a phone, add the Telugu keyboard (in Gboard: Languages → Add keyboard → Telugu). Its transliteration layout lets you type Lambadi words in English letters, lambadi or gor boli, and pick the Telugu spelling from the suggestions; the other layout shows the Telugu letters directly. On Windows, add Telugu under Settings → Time & language → Language and choose the Telugu Phonetic or Telugu INSCRIPT keyboard; switch with Win + Space. On a Mac, add Telugu - QWERTY under Keyboard → Input Sources.

Whatever the method, a vowel sign follows its consonant, while a virama suppresses its inherent vowel or links it to the next consonant; the font draws the joined shapes. That is also why copying from the grid works: paste ల, then ం, then బ and ా, and you get లంబా. Telugu letters live in the Unicode block U+0C00–U+0C7F; ల is U+0C32, so in HTML it can be written ల.

Lambadi, Lambani, Banjara, Gor Boli: one language and where it is spoken

The names change by region and by who is speaking. Lambadi or Lambada is the usual name in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Lambani in Karnataka, Banjara across Maharashtra and the north, and the Banjaras' own name for themselves and their speech is Gor, hence Gor Boli, "the Gor language". It is an Indo-Aryan language related to the Rajasthani languages, a reminder that the Banjaras trace their origins to Rajasthan and spread across India as travelling traders.

CLDR estimates about 3.8 million speakers, all of them in India, but Banjara settlements, called tandas (తండా), are found from Maharashtra and Karnataka to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and many speakers also use Telugu, Kannada, Marathi or Hindi every day. For the letters of those neighbours see the Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi collections, the Gondi collection for another tribal language of the same region, and the India collection for the country's flag, food and festival emoji.

Banjara culture in emoji: mirror work, Lambadi dance and Teej

The best-known sight of Banjara culture is the women's dress: a full skirt and veil worked with tiny mirrors, bright thread, coins and cowrie shells, with heavy jewellery. 🪞 🧵 🪡 stand for that mirror-work embroidery, and 💃 for the Lambadi dance, a folk dance of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh performed by women in those costumes, whose steps echo farm work such as sowing and harvesting.

🌱 belongs to Teej (తీజ్), when Banjara girls grow wheat sprouts in small baskets for days and then carry them in procession with songs. 🐂 and 🧂 recall the bullock caravans in which Banjara traders once moved salt and grain across the country. On 15 February people post జై సేవాలాల్ 🙏, Jai Sevalal, for the birth anniversary of Sant Sevalal Maharaj, a Banjara saint and reformer revered in the community.