Gujari

Gujari
  • Gurjari
  • Gojri
  • Gujjari
  • Gurjar
  • گُجری
  • गुर्जरी
Gurjari written in Takri, Perso-Arabic script (middle) and Devanagari (bottom)
Pronunciation[ɡuːdʒəreː] ⓘ
Native toIndia, Pakistan, Afghanistan
Region
Native speakers
20 million (2018-2022 estimates)
Standard forms
Dialects
Takri, Perso-Arabic script, Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3gju
Glottologguja1253
Gujari speakers in different districts of Indian states, northern areas of Pakistan and eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

Gujari (گُجری) also spelt Gurjari, Gojri, Gujri, Gojari, or Gurjar is a Central Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages, spoken by most of the Gurjars in the northern parts of India and Pakistan, as well as in eastern parts of Afghanistan. Gujari is the second most widely spoken language in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, after Pahari, and after Kashmiri in Jammu and Kashmir. It is mostly spoken in the northern Pakistan, including Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and north western Indian states, including, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana and also in the eastern parts of Afghanistan. Gujari has strong linguistic similarities to Rajasthani, Punjabi, Haryanvi, Gujarati, Dogri, and Pahari, especially in phonology and morphology, indicating the bond between it and these various Indo-Aryan languages.

It is spoken by 19% of population in Azad Kashmir and by 9.5% population in Jammu and Kashmir as the mother tongue. Gujari is the second most spoken language in Azad Kashmir and Jammu and Kashmir, and rank sixth or seventh in Gilgit-Baltistan. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gujari is a major language, ranking after Pashto, Hindko, and Saraiki. It is mainly spoken in the northern half of the KPK province.

Gujari is written mainly in the Perso-Arabic script in Pakistan, but in India it is written in both the Perso-Arabic script and Devanagari. In 1999 the Government of Jammu and Kashmir recognized Gujari by including the language in the sixth schedule of the state constitution.

In March 2025 the Government of Azad Kashmir included the Gujari an optional subject in the course curriculum for grades sixth and eight. On 27 October 2025 the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made Gujari the sixth officially recognized language in the provincial assembly.