Madhya Pradesh is considered as the heartland of India, thanks to its strategic positioning in Central India. With overwhelming natural beauty and numerous heritage monuments bedecking its landscape, the state is today counted amongst one of the most colorful states in the country. The true spirit of India comes alive in its culture, which is a praiseworthy concoction of cultures pertaining to various other states. The cultural potpourri that the state witnesses even extends to its languages.

Though Madhya Pradesh acted as the rocking cradle of many dynasties across various phases of history, it is conspicuously Indo-Aryan in nature. Most of the people here are followers of Hinduism and Hindi is the main and official language of the state. Spoken by a chunk of the population, Hindi also helps to unify the diversified cultural and historical background of the people here. Apart from Hindi, many other Indian languages and dialects are also prevalent all over the state.

Excluding standard Hindi, several regional variants also find place amongst the people of the state. Some people consider them as dialects of the Hindi language. Many others beg to differ and regard them as distinct, but related languages. Among these major languages are Malvi in Malwa, Nimadi in Nimar, Bundeli in Bundelkhand, and Bagheli in Bagelkhand and the southeast region of the state. The Bagheli-speaking people are mainly scattered in six districts of Madhya Pradesh (Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Shahdol, Umaria and Anuppur).

These offshoots of Hindi further have dialects of their own. Most of the tribal people and aborigines speak languages that includes Bhilodi (Bhili), Gondi, and the isolate Kalto (Nahali). A substantial number of people also speak Marathi, because of the legacy of Maratha rule in the state. Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi and Gujarati are some other dominant languages spoken in Madhya Pradesh. There might be linguistic disparity as far as the primary languages of the people in Madhya Pradesh are concerned, but the state nevertheless exhibits a rich and strong unity, deemed as exemplary.