What sound barrier?

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For millenia, 10 Adivasi languages have remained oral traditions. Now, one woman has created a script for each, says G Vishnu

Chalk tongues Prasanna Sree practises the Bagatha script with two students from the tribe
Chalk tongues
Prasanna Sree practises the Bagatha script with two students from the tribe

RAJKUMAR AND Premchand are 12-yearolds from the Valmiki tribe. They live in Arassu village, 120 km from Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Of late, if you bumped into them you would find them drawing over and over what seem like indecipherable symbols on a slate. The two are obsessed with mastering what may be the biggest ever change in their tribe’s existence.

An ambitious project has devised a script for Kupya, the language that Rajkumar and Premchand’s tribe speaks. To understand the implications, imagine a world where you can’t read or write because the language your people speak has no script. You can’t write letters in your mother-tongue. Your children, born in an increasingly literacy-driven world, are likely to shrug off your language. With the simultaneous disappearance of an oral tradition, you have no way of recording your thoughts. When you die, it’s as if you had not existed. This is the world in which millions of Indians live. But now, an ambitious new project is changing that for at least 10 Adivasi communities.

Prasanna Sree, the 46-year-old head of the English Department at Andhra University, has devised scripts for the languages spoken by 10 tribes — the Bagathas, Gadhabas, Jathapas, Valmikis, Kolams, Porjas, Koyas, Konda-doras, Kotias and Gonds. Sree worries about what she calls ‘linguistic genocide’ and she has reason to. More than 196 Indian languages are in the endangered list.

Sree belongs to the Koruva community which speaks Kuru, an oral language until recently. She was also one of the earliest Adivasis to enter academia, and subjected to much ill-treatment growing up. School and college were particularly difficult.

“I wanted to do something for society. I used to visit Adivasi communities to record their oral histories. Around 1994, I became convinced that I needed to devise scripts for my language as well as other tribes. I was told someone had already devised a script for Kuru. So I limited the project to the rest of the 10 tribes I was constantly in contact with,” she says. She chose largely hill-tribes in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The Konda-doras have a lot of Bengali influence, and their script has co-opted some Bengali script design elements. Sometimes, Sree used the bones of existing scripts. For Gondi, she resurrected the vast work done by 20th century Gond scholars and completed it.

Sree faced plenty of dissent during her research. In the beginning, Porja tribals, who have been terribly oppressed by outsiders, saw her arrival as an intrusion. The Maoists, too, with bases in Andhra jungles, had objections (though they, too, have attempted such projects, especially in Chhattisgarh and Orissa) — something Sree tries hard to avoid discussing.

Now that the scripts are finished, efforts are on to spread their use. This is where Rajkumar and Premchand, the little Valmiki boys, are pioneers. “They are my best students. Their enthusiasm is a big boost to our efforts,” says Kiran Kumar, a researcher at Andhra University. Kiran is one of the 100-odd volunteers popularising new scripts in their communities. Historically, introducing scripts has increased job opportunities. Andhra-based Adivasi activist Madhusudhan, 43, believes Sree’s project can be large and inspiring enough to end apathy amongst educated Adivasis who migrate to cities but remain underemployed. “Young Adivasis can return to their villages to help their community,” he says.

Prominent academic Ganesh N Devy knows the terrain Sree has negotiated. Devy runs Bhasha Trust, which preserves indigenous culture, heritage and livelihood. He has devised scripts for 11 oral Adivasi languages — his are closer to Devanagari and Gujarati scripts. He justifies this without anxiety, holding that a language can be written and read in any script. “Scripts are not sacred. Language scripts are like a camera. The language is what forms a universe,” he says. He cites the biggest and most obvious instance: “English doesn’t have a script. It’s written in Roman script.”

ONE UNDERSTANDS Devy’s enthusiastic welcome of language script projects. “Neglecting a language is to neglect a worldview; 97 percent of Indian languages don’t make it inside the Parliament. That limits democracy. To strengthen Adivasi languages in their own scripts strengthens democracy and any step here needs to be welcomed,” he says. Devy started his project by introducing little magazines to tribal groups in their script. Ten out of his 11 new scripts are subgroups of the Dhilli language — the 2001 census had a 90 percent increase for tribal people who claimed Dhilli as mother tongue across Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP and Maharashtra. Livelihood options too increased, says Devy.

Devy doesn’t dismiss the challenges of popularising Sree’s scripts. The Olchiki script for Santhali took nearly a century to reach its currently thriving state, with a slew of little magazines and even a few novels. “These new scripts will face just as many challenges,” Devy warns.

Contrary to his apprehensions, several tribes are optimistic about the scripts project. The Gonds are spearheading implementation of their script. With a population of nearly a crore living all over Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra, the Gonds are the biggest community Sree’s project serves. They are painfully aware of the cultural treasures already lost. Sedam Arju, a member of the Gondavan Gondi Sahitya Parishad, will lead a Gond delegation to meet the Andhra chief minister. They will appeal for the recognition of the Gondi language and script, and introduction in schools. Even those with mixed feelings, like academician KM Metry of Hampi University, recognise what Gondis gain: reconciliation with history. “Gond influences go back to Harappa and Mohenjodaro civilisations. Gondi is the biggest influence on almost all Dravidian languages,” he says.

Ask Sree about Adivasi livelihood and survival, and she has a simple answer: “Adivasis have always waited on the threshold of progress. All outsiders who have conquered them have made Adivasis run from themselves. English education is the latest culprit. I devised the scripts for something Adivasis desperately need — a cultural renaissance.”

Over now to Rajkumar and Premchand.

vishnu@tehelka.com

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