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Save Gurmukhi to Save Punjabi
Nanak Singh Nishter
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Tracing the links between scripts and languages, the author
stresses the need to preserve and protect the Gurmukhi script. |
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 Sikhs
are settled all over the world. In most parts of India, outside
Punjab, wherever they reside, a sizeable majority of them have
maintained their separate identity even though they have lost direct
access to the Punjabi language. They have adopted the regional
languages as their spoken languages, such as Hindi, Bihari, Marathi,
Telugu, Kannada, Assamese and Bengali.
Under most trying circumstances, Sikhs outside Punjab have held on
to their religious values and ethos. I belong to the area of
erstwhile Hyderabad State, where the Sikh army of Maharaja Ranjit
Singh was sent to help the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1930. I am a
fourth generation descendant of those families presently living in
Hyderabad.
It
may come as a surprise to some that most of the non-Punjabi speaking
Sikhs read Gurbani in Gurmukhi Script only and maintain complete
Sikhi Saroop though they have lost access to spoken Punjabi
language because of their local circumstances.
The need for alarm is the present situation wh ere Punjabi speaking
children of Punjabi speaking parents read Gurbani in Hindi (Devnagiri
script).
In
Pakistan, Punjabi language is written in Urdu (Persian) script and
in India and other parts of the world, it is written in Gurmukhi
script. Forces inimical to the advent of Sikhism have targeted the
separate identity of Sikhism and as far as language goes, their
prime target has been the Gurmukhi script.
Arya
Samaji forces made strenuous attempts to popularize Punjabi in Hindi
Script (Devnagari) instead of Gurmukhi. Though they succeeded at
the census by returning their mother tongue as Hindi, they failed on
the Gurmukhi script front, but they did succeed in imposing Hindi in
the whole of North India. 
Like Punjabi, Gujarati, Assamese, Bengali, Oriya and Kashmiri, have
survived as they were able to maintain their distinct scripts.
Other languages like Dogri, Pahari, Haryanavi, Rajasthani, Marwadi,
Bihari, Bhojpuri, Maithali, Magahai, Malvi, Bundali, Gondi, Munda
and others are on the verge of extinction with some die-hard
followers making last ditch attempts to save them. This is
primarily due to disregard and lack of interest for their respective
scripts. Interestingly, these languages have died out only in the
last century. What could not happen in a thousand years of
foreign rule has happened pretty quickly under indigenous rulers.
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It was only after the formation of Jewish homeland state
Israel in 1948 that Hebrew was revived by making it the official
language of Israel. It is the prime responsibility of every
Sikh to search ways and means to counter every attempt to
undermine the Gurmukhi script. |
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Some years back, with one stroke of the pen, the medium of
instruction at the Osmania University of Hyderabad, where medicine,
engineering, law and all other faculties were taught in Urdu was
changed, thus giving a deadly blow to the language and to the only
Urdu medium language University of the world. Now, the rulers of
the country want to save the Urdu language as part of an appeasement
plan for the Muslim community, otherwise the en bloc voting pattern
followed by them will affect their election prospects.
The mother tongue, obviously, has not to be taught; what has to be
taught is the script in which the mother tongue is written. A new
and cunning methodology that is being adopted to undermine Gurmukhi
in a subtle manner requires attention. Hindi newspapers of Punjab
are publishing prominent news items with interesting headlines on
their front page in Punjabi language but in Hindi script to
popularize the paper and the Devngagri usage of Punjabi.
If
this cancerous mode spreads among the masses, as is being rapidly
done, it may become well-nigh difficult to save the Gurmukhi script.
If
the community fails to extensively use Gurbani and Gurmukhi, it will
meet the fate of Sanskrit language and script which was destroyed in
the name of “Dev Bhasha” (divine language). Once the scripts
“Zend” of the Zend-Avastha of Zoroastrians (Parsi), “Hebrew” of the
Torah and Bible of the Jews and Christians, Pali of the Dampadda of
Buddhism, Prakrit of Jain Sutras, Agams, and Mahavir Vani of
Jainism, disappeared, their respective languages followed suit.
 It
was only after the formation of Jewish homeland state Israel in 1948
that Hebrew was revived by making it the official language of
Israel. Similarly, Arabic survived and grew when it became the
official language of many Arabian countries.
It
is the prime responsibility of every Sikh to search ways and means
to counter every attempt to undermine the Gurmukhi script.
According to the Government of India Census 2001, 39.45% of the
Sikhs are totally illiterate and maximum illiteracy is in Punjab. A
large number of Sikhs in Punjab do not know how to read or write any
language! Out of those who know how to read, how many of us read
Guru Granth Sahib is a question each Sikh should ask oneself.
On
the eve of the Tercentenary of Guruship of Guru Granth Sahib, there
is no better way than to rededicate ourselves to the daily
recitation and listening of Guru Granth Sahib, the each one teach
one Punjabi campaign and the development of an individual and
collective will to resist and fight all attempts to foist
illegitimate Punjabi in any other script but Gurmukhi.
 A
regular columnist for World Sikh News,
Nanak Singh “Nishter” is a Hyderabad based orator, writer and Urdu
poet. He is an activist-academician making immense contribution to
the social and cultural welfare of Sikh society. He has presented
papers at national and international seminars on Sikhism and social
problems. He is director of International Sikh Centre for Interfaith
Relations. He may be contacted at
nanaknishter@gmail.com
26
March 2008
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