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| Happy strides of Dogri | | Opportunities and challenges ahead | | By Balraj Puri | 4/1/2010 11:49:25 PM |
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Dogri has made happy strides in last few decades. Recognition by Sahitya Academy was followed by its inclusion in eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Much work is being done on Dogri by the Institute of Modern Indian Languages in Bangalore. Dogri writers have received awards not only from the Academy but also by the state government and at least three of them are Padam Shri awardees. Their works have been translated into other languages besides English. They are being invited to national seminars. Their books receive subsides from the J&K Cultural Academy. Much work has been done by the Dogri department of Jammu University and many students appear in its examinations every year. Doordarshan and Radio Dogri programmes, make their own contribution to popularize and enrich of the language. Dogri Sanstha is financially viable and holds regular literary activities.
This is far from complete account of the strides that Dogri has made. This should be occasion not for exaggerated pride or complacency. This is not the end of its journey. This is an occasion for a realistic and serious assessment of opportunities and challenges ahead.
It is, for instance, unrealistic to demand that Radio Kashmir be bifurcated into Kashmir and Dogri Radio and Kasheer channel into Kasheer and Dogri channels. There was a time when the state was known as Kashmir State. I remember that when Kasheer channel was launched form Srinagar by the then Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaittey, leader of the BJP which was in power at that time, from Srinagar, where I was also present, I told him that the name and programme of the channel did not cover all languages spoken in the State. By now, it is being realized that Kashmir should be called Jammu and Kashmir State. But Dogri, too, is not synonymous with Jammu. According to the last census only 54% people of the region registered their mother tongue as Dogri. Dogri speaking people should concede the right of other sister languages spoken in the region, like Gojri, Pahari, Punjabi and other dialects for recognition, so that the harmony in the region is not disturbed.
Another problem that is worrying me is that he progress of Dogri is dividing its speakers on religious lines. For Muslims, in general, cannot read or write in Devanagri script which Dogri has adopted. Mother tongue is known to be a much stronger bond than religion. Why should it be otherwise in case of Dogri.
A group of persons, who had migrated to Lahore in 1947, once visited Jammu and were invited by the Dogri Sanstha. They told us that they have formed Bagam-e-Jammu which met once every month in which Dogri songs and poems, recorded by some one from Jammu radio, are recited. They requested that they be supplied a collection of best Dogri poems in Persian script. We accepted their request and formed a committee comprising Prof Ram Nath Shastri, as convenor and Shiv Ram Deep and myself as members. A little later Shastri ji resigned from the post of secretary of the Sanstha and stopped taking interest in its activities, for some reasons. And Deep died soon after.
I still think that the project is worth pursuing, particularly for those who do not know Devanagri script. Similar problem was faced by Punjabi writers in India and Pakistan. A computer has been devised that automatically transcribes Punjabi literature into Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi (as Persian scripts, used for Urdu, is also called). Why modern technology be used for doing the same thing for Dogri. Meanwhile we should encourage Dogra writers, who do not know Devanagri, to write in the scripts they are familiar with. I remember to have persuaded late Yasin Beg, a talented writer, who used to write in Urdu, to also write in Dogri. He produced a book of Dogri poems in Persian script which was highly appreciated. Unfortunately he died very young. But where is his Dogri book?
A proposal that my friend Lalit Mangotra, often makes for creating terminology in Dogri for physical sciences and advanced social sciences is too ambitions and counter productive. English has been adopted in most countries including India for this purpose. West Bengali tried Bangali, one of the most advanced languages of India, for a while. But soon gave it up in favour of English. We would be lagging behind the rest of the world in modern knowledge even if we succeed in evolving appropriate terminology in Dogri.
Our foremost priority should be to raise the standard of Dogri as a literary language. In its earlier phase it carried on the momentum of the rich heritage of folk literature. Later writers were well versed in modern literature of other languages. How to maintain and improve the intellectual and literary content of poetry and prose in Dogri should be a matter of serious concern. For this purpose work of criticism in essential which has sadly has declined.
Finally, while there is phenomenal increase in the number of published books in Dogri but readership is lacking cheaper subsidized books and better publicity many help.
It is not only the responsibility of the writers but also of entire Dogri speaking community to ensure that the opportunities that the government institutions and modern media have provided do not go waste.
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