(c) The Revival

Presently the pandits are using Hindi pattern of Devanagari script for kashmiri writing in different publications organised by various fora of our community. But in spite of best efforts, same difficulty persists. To read and grasp merely a page of such publications, it takes even the kashmiri knowing person, an hour or so. How could our future generations, who might not be knowing even a word of their mother tongue, be benefited with these writings in the currently used script or scripts? Kashmiri as a language for pandits will cease to exist right from my third generation onwards. In other words within a period of say thirty years from now Kashmiri language will be a past history so far as pandits of the valley are concerned.

Once, sometime in 1997, I suggested to my grandson, then aged five, that if he would narrate only ten kashmiri words, I would be pleased to meet his entire demands. After a lapse of a few months I met him again in Jammu. He started narrating as "Treth", "Tawan", "Tapale", "Mazhar" etc. etc. On my asking him whether he could tell me any proper word he had learned,he replied in affirmative. "What is it?" I asked him again. He murmured something like "Dek Bode". Enable to locate the term, I told him whether he could write it on paper. He then wrote as "डेक बोड". I understood it, but my shaking soul was signalling me that, there was no future for our progeny to maintain their identity. This incident had a telling effect on my conscious self. Besides creating a strong stir and the great urge in me, to find some way to locate a suitable script for our language which could be easily understood and studied as a subject by our future generation.

There was no use trying Hindi pattern of Devanagari script as it lacked all the requisite qualities of reproducing our sounds (vowels). Kashmiri language has a bulky set of plus twenty-one vowels, besides the specifically sounded six additional consonants. Then there was the only alternative left with me and that was the switching over to Sanskrit pattern, where I found most of our sounds could be accommodated. No other script of the world had the capacity to entertain this huge stock of sounds. The next practical problem for me was that I knew nothing of Sanskrit language, excepting a few hymns which I had memorized in my childhood and that too without knowing their meaning.

I had gathered in my childhood that the kashmiri language was an off-shoot of Sanskrit. My probe in this direction led me to the conclusion that our language had, indeed, its origin in Sanskrit. Our ancestors of yore had modified the Sanskrit language in a simpler way so as to make it easy to understand and also to avoid its gigantically built grammar.

After fixing a majority of vowel sounds of our language, I still felt that a few of the sounds remain yet to be fixed. In between, I had a chance to lay my hands on some Sanskrit works published in South India, where I found that some additional signs were being incorporated by them to suit their local pronunciations and diction. From those indications I got the desired clue for updating the missing links. In this way, after a strenuous labour of 3-4 years, I was finally able to devise a perfect and workable script for our language. Besides being an easy-to-grasp, it is a complete script capable of recording the most tedious terms and complicated sound system of our language. Quite pertinent to mention here that no knowledge whatsoever of Sanskrit is required in studying the proposed script. One has to just memorize twenty odd steps to master the script so has to write and then read with utmost comfort and ease. Gone are the days when kashmiri reading and writing was considered a big botheration. Our language with this script in use shall have all the qualities of being a perfect language with a script of its own.

Before I proceed further in introducing the proposed script to my community, I wanted to inform all the members of my august community that I have already prepared an encyclopedic collection of volumes of Kashmiri spoken words, terms, phrases and old sayings etc. with the idea of compiling an encyclopedia of all such material for the benefit of our future generations. The material has been recorded haphazardly as and when these terms occurred to my mind, as past reflections. I had to do it all my myself as none was either willing or able to help me in this gigantic adventure. The whole material is now required to be rearranged in an alphabetical order so as to give it a shape of a dictionary. My advanced age and failing health does not permit me now to carry on any further with this task. I would, therefore, appeal to such interested persons of my community as are willing to share this work with me and help fulfilling a noble cause. Actually I need at least 10 to 15 kashmiri knowing persons to whom this work could be entrusted on voluntary basis for completion before the same is sent to the press for printing.

My address at Delhi is WZ-1079/C(F.F), Nagal Raya, New Delhi- 46 and at Jammu it is - H.No.227-B, Lane No.2, Adarsh Enclave, Trikuta Nagar, Jammu

My phone numbers are--

011-28520700

0191-2474131

and my mobile numbers are--

(+91) 9868601622 and

(+91) 9796022713

I shall be eagerly awaiting your phone call.

To All my non-kashmiri readers-In this post there are some kashmiri words. Should anybody wish to know the meanings of these words they are requested to write in their comments.

By CL Nagri

To be continued in the next post....