Kashmiri
was traditionally written in Sharda script, and
lot of our manuscripts especially religious
texts were written in this script. However,
after Persian replaced Sanskrit as the court
language of rulers its use diminished and was
limited to writing of horoscopes and books of
knowledge. However, during British rule besides
Sharda, Kashmiri was also written in Devanagari
and Roman specifically used by European scholars
and researchers like Sir George Grierson etc.
After Independence of India and accession of
Jammu and Kashmir with India, Perso-Arabic,
i.e., Nastaliq script was approved as
official script for writing Kashmiri and Urdu
which was introduced by Dogra rulers as official
language of the State was continued in same
capacity by the then State Govt. lead by Sheikh
Mohmmad Abdullah and most of the Kashmiri
literature is now available in this script.
However, Devanagari and Roman scripts continued
to be used by some sections of society for
literary purposes.
After unfortunate incident of displacement of
about 4 lakh Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 from
Kashmir who had to resettle in various parts of
the country and across the world the
preservation of their mother tongue itself was
threatened. Since Urdu was not in curriculum
anywhere outside Kashmir, pursuing and
preserving their mother tongue through
Nastaliq script was impossible. It was then
that the demand for usage of Devanagari as
script for Kashmiri spread on amongst the
displaced Kashmiris and took the shape of an
educational and cultural movement under various
fora. On wide ranging public requests, the then
HRD Ministry, GOI appointed a committee of
experts to examine the problem and assist the
Ministry in introducing Devanagari in a proper
way. The expert committee under
chairmanship of Sh. M.K. Kaw IAS, the then
Secretary Education, Govt. of India and
convenorship of Dr. Roop Krishen Bhat, a
Linguist and then Principal of Northern Regional
language Centre, Patiala, a Regional centre of
Central Institute of Indian languages (CIIL),
Mysore, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India,
comprised of Prof. Omkar Koul the then Director
CIIL, Prof Harikrishna Koul, Prof R.L. Shant,
Dr. Shashi Shekhar Toshkhani, Prof. Chaman Lal
Sapru, Sh. S.N. Bhat Haleem and Dr. Raj Nath
Bhat, all eminent scholars of Kashmiri. It was
consequently decided after many workshops and
brainstorming sessions that Devanagari should be
adopted as an additional script for Kashmiri
language to enable the children of displaced
Kashmiris to pursue, learn and preserve their
mother tongue. The committee also worked for
standardization of the Devanagari script, got a
software prepared through experts like Sh.
Sandeep Bhat and Sh. M.K. Raina and got
published textbooks and other materials through
CIIL, MHRD.
The committee also recommended that Govt. of
India should be approached to approve the use of
Devanagari as additional script for Kashmiri
besides Nastaliq in terms of all Govt.
incentives like awards of Books, subsidies,
grants etc. on the pattern of Sindhi language
through various schemes of the Govt. of India
and the State Government of Jammu and Kashmir,
including Sahitya academy and the Academy of art
culture and Languages J&K.
However, the GOI initiative was practically
dropped following change in the central Govt. in
2004. No subsequent steps for the recognition of
the script were since taken resulting in
discouragement for people in general and
Kashmiri Diaspora in particular. After that
matter was pursued at various levels in the
Government but decision is still pending.
Justification
·
The popular demand for Devanagari for Kashmiri
has all along been on the premise that this
script would only be approved as an additional
script to the official Nastaliq script.
Devanagari is NOT sought to replace Nastaliq
anywhere in any capacity. The official status of
Nastaliq Kashmiri is not sought to be
disturbed in any Government or non-Government
fora. Only bracketing Devanagari with
Nastaliq is being demanded.
·
Being the most scientific script, i.e., we write
the way we speak, maximum number of displaced
Kashmiris know Devanagari already. There are
only six diacritical marks to be learnt to
convert Nagri Hindi into Nagri Kashmiri which is
learnt only in few hours of time. There is
plenty of teaching-learning material available
in this script.
·
The Ministry of Information and Technology has
got a software prepared in standardized
Devanagari Kashmiri as referred above through
experts of language and it is widely in use
through computers, laptops and mobile phones.
·
A vast amount of literature of Kashmiri has been
published in Devanagari script including the
Kashmiri Literary magazine VAAKH published
regularly for last fifteen years from Delhi
besides Kashmiri sections in Devanagari Kashmiri
in all leading journals of the community like
Koshur Samachar, Vitasta, Kheer Bhavani
Times etc. According to a survey report
dozens of displaced Kashmiri writers have
published on their own, more than 150 titles of
books during the last three decades in the
Devanagari script besides the officially
approved Nastaliq.
Advantages
·
The biggest advantage will accrue to thousands
of young Kashmiris in Diaspora, who have been
deprived of any creative contact with their
mother tongue for the last three decades. Most
of them, especially those who were born after
1990 lost all that tradition and heritage to
make them complete human beings and good
citizens of this great democracy.
·
Nagri used for Kashmiri will bring common
Kashmiri people, students, writers and scholars
nearer their counterparts in other Indian
languages and ethnic groups. So it will help
forge national and emotional integration amongst
them.
·
Now that after the scrapping of article 370 and
acceptance of Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi and English
as official languages besides Urdu for the U.T.
of J& K, it is appropriate time for acceptance
of Devanagari as additional script of Kashmiri
language besides Nastaliq.
(Dr. Roop Krishen Bhat)
Author, Linguist, Translator and Media
Freelancer
Convener Expert committee for Devanagari
Kashmiri
Editor VAAKH, chairman: CKLLC-AIKS, Managing
Trustee: Kashmir Cultural Trust
Former Professor and Director MHRD, Govt. of
India
