WIKITONGUES: Musamoni speaking Baleswari Odia

"This is one of the many bedtime stories from grandma that children of Odisha would have grown up with. The language in the story is called Balesori/Baleswari Odia, a northern dialect of the Odia-language that is spoken mostly in Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak and Keonjhar/Kendujhar districts.

This is a story from the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent of a newly widowed lady. She is restricted by the social norms and is not even supposed to pronounce her husband's names. So she manages to share the family details with the judge/police by twisting the words and finally cremates her dead husband's body."

Help us caption & translate this video!

[subhapa]

Thank you so much Wikitongues for publishing it. For those who are asking about resources in the Odia language, here are some:

[khust]

I'm a bit familiar with Indian languages, but honestly this is the first time I've heard of Odia and surprised to see it has 40 million speakers.

Does it have an alphabet, a grammar book or a dictionary? I have never heard anything like this before.