Maj Gen S K Sharma, (Retd)
Aren’t you surprised to see display boards,written in an unfamiliar language,which have come up at many locations in Jammu in the last two years? A few of these boards are shown in the figure.
This language is Dogri, but written in its original script Takri, which now has become almost extinct. Now, it is neither taught in schools nor any literature is being developed in this script. Most of the Dogras staying in Jammu even do not know that Takri was the script of their mother tongue, just a century ago.
Takri is the script which flourished in 16th – 18th centuries and had been the official script of many languages and dialects of the Northwestern hilly areas of India. In J&K, Maharaj Ranbir Singh had made this script as the official script for Dogri in 1860, and it remained so till 1944 when Hindi took its place. During the reign of Maharaja |Ranbir Singh (1856-85), all the government officials had to learn this script. Maharaja himself used to sign in Takri and all the court decrees and official correspondence was in Takri.
Even the Ranbir Penal Code which was applicable in J&K till abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on 5th August 2019was written in Takri.Judiciary of J&K was guided by the code till 2019.Other books which were published in Takri script included Ranbir Chikisa, Vyavhar Gita, Lilavati, Ranbir Dand Vidhi, Qanoon Zabta Dewan etc.
Besides Jammu, Takri was the official script for most of the languages spoken in almost all the 30 princely states which formed Himachal Pradesh in 1948 and Jaunsiri-Babber areas of Uttarakhand. Details of languages written in Takri script are as under:
* Dogri/Kishtwari/Bhaderwahi in all the ten districts of Jammu province
* Jaunsari(in Khalsi, Chakrata, Tyuniareas), Gahri (in Garhwal area) etc. inthe State of Uttarakhand
* Chambeali (in Chamba region), Kulvi (in Kullu area), Mandeali (in Mandi area), Kangri(in Kangra area), Kochi (in Bushehr), Kinnauri (in Kinnaur area), Sirmauri (in Sirmaur area), Gaddi (in Bharmour area) of Himachal Pradesh
In the pre-independence era, the official language of Chamba State was Chambeali with Takri as its script. It remained as an official script till 1948. Its revenue records are also written in Takri script.
So, this script has a lot of literature, history and wealth of knowledge which are now gathering dust. This script is also not being taught in schools in the country. The governments of all these states do not feel the urgency of saving/retrieving this treasure of knowledge and preserving it, what to talk of motivating the young generation to learn it. If this intention continues, the world will lose a vital part of our rich heritage.
On one side, the governments are spending crores of rupees in archeological dept, in digging out the past history, whereas on the other side, the Takri script which was the official script of in so many districts in India is being allowed to die down.
It should be in the interest of the complete society as well as the govt. to pay heed to it and make this script revive again.
Takri Revival Efforts
Takri revival efforts have started in Jammu as well in Chamba district. Their details are as under:
In Jammu
An organization named Senior Citizens SS Club, Chowadi, headed by Dr. Kasturi Lal Gupta, former Principal Govt. Medical College, Jammu started the Takri campaign around two years ago. Efforts made by their club are:
* Conducting awareness programmes in the prominent organizations of Jammu city. They have already conducted programmeswith J&K Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Traders Federation, Warehouse and various schools at Jammu
* Preparing big display boards of sizes 15 to 40 square feet in Takri and installing at the most-visited prominent places like parks, temples, crossings, cremation grounds, tee-junctions etc.
* Around 20 boards have already been installed and can be seen at Channi Himmat, Chowadi, Trikuta Nagar, Greater Kailash etc. They have also donated these boards to big organizations like Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Amar Singh Club, ISCON Temple, UKL Medical Centre etc., all in Jammu city
* President of Sr. Citizen Club has been creating awareness among the Vice Chancellors of the Jammu-based universities and spreading this message. He has motivated the staff of the Central University of Jammu to establish a Centre of Takri Script in their university.
He has also helped them in preparing a proposal for this Centre for forwarding to the University Grants Commission for funding.
* The President has also approached Director, CIIL (Central Institute for Indian Languages), Mysore, Karnataka to include Takri in the Recently Extinct Indian Scripts, so that work on this could start at their level also.
* Dr. Shikha Magotra, a Ph.D in Computer Science with thesis on Takri alphabets, conducts online courses on Takri script. Starting in 2023, she has already trained two batches. She also unites all Takri-lovers thought a Whatsapp group Takri Lipi.
* Aksharaya, an organization outside J&K, surveyed State Archives in 2019 and developed a translation tool to translate Dogri written in Devnagri script to Takri script (NamayAkhaar). They have developed digital front for each alphabet of Takri so that one can work on computers.
In Himachal Pradesh
The Government of Himachal Pradesh has initiated many programmes to revive Takri. A few of these are given here.
* In January 2009, it established a programme in association with IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University), to train specialists in Takri. Help from National Manuscripts Mission was also taken.
It is worthwhile mentioning that this Mission has already translated 1.26 lakh manuscripts including a few of the Takri script.
* On 31st December 2010, Anshuman Pandey, a scholar at the University of Michigan USA sent a proposal to an international organization Unicode Consortium for creation of a universal and standard form of Takri. After due deliberations, the Chambeali version of Takri was accepted and proper hexadecimal codes allotted to 60 characters/alphabets of Takri and a separate block named DOGRA Block has been created.
This has given Takri an international visibility
* In 2017, Ajay K Saklani produced a Dogri (Himachali Dogri) film named Saanjh to revive and promote Takri script. This film got the Best Feature Film Award in the Borrego Springs Film Festival, 2017 and Award of Merit in Accolade Global Film Competition.
Actions by Society and Government
Dogras will feel proud in case their heritage records are preserved and Takri is revived. For that I appeal to the government and society to come forward and give their contribution for it.
* Appeal to Civil Organizations: All organizations’ heads, industrialists, shopkeepers, owners of private schools and colleges should participate in this movement and change their display boards to include Takri alphabets also. Even the name boards outside the residential houses, appointment boards in offices be written in Takri too besides other scripts. In case needed, Senior Citizens SS Club Chowadiagrees to provide all the help for Takri translation.
* Appeal to the Govt.: Education Dept. should revise their syllabi of primary classes and include a chapter of Takri in the syllabi. The Departments of Transport, Smart City, JMC etc. are requested to issue suitable instructions to promote this by writing the words likeKhandMithe Lok Dogre in Takri on all the government buses, cars and trucks plying in Jammu region. Even the murals being made on the walls in the city should contain these words in Takri.
Govt. should also take help of National Manuscript Mission to get translated the Takri-written old documents, coins, copper plates etc. in Hindi and English.
(The author is Former Member Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
