Bhubaneswar
Languages have a complex relationship with time. And stories of their contestations with time are nothing new. Scripts are understood as a prominent and crucial step in the evolution of a language over time. A script allows for a language to be recorded thus reducing losses over time. It provides a consistent way of representing the meanings of sounds and words in a language thus allowing for the standardisation of the language.
Written texts stand the test of time by allowing for propagation, way after they have been formulated. They also allow for people speaking in various dialects to communicate easier. Overall else, scripts play an important part in the conversation about the cultural identity of a language.
Social reformer and freedom fighter Pandit Raghunath Murmu’s creation of the Ol-Chiki script that is widely used today has enabled several generations of Santhali people to engage with their spoken language through reading and writing as well. This has immensely impacted in safeguarding the language and identity of the community.
Raghunath Murmu’s personal journey has been hugely influential in him becoming the cultural icon as Odisha celebrates him today. Born in 1905 at Dandbose (Dahardih) village in what was then Mayurbhanj state, he first attended primary school at the age of seven. On finding the teacher to be Odia, he was perplexed at the absence of Santhali in his classroom. This led to his meditations on the absence of written scripts for Santhali and about the larger questions of teaching in mother tongue.
Continuing inquiry around Murmu’s memories, it’s relevant to look at the State’s institutional mandates for protection and evolution of languages. It goes back all the way to the 1970s when the Academy of Tribal Dialects and Culture (ATDC) was set up in cognizance of the need for culture integrated development processes for a state like Odisha with 62 Scheduled Tribes and 13 PVTGs.
The Academy moved into its next phase of relevance as it was rechristened the Academy of Tribal Languages and Culture (ATLC). In its work at the intersection of tribal community-culture-governance, ATLC over the decades has been able to build structural capacities for indigenous language evolution.
Decoding these capacities may be seen in three broad categories:
a) Creating technical constructs for language evolution like primers and dictionaries
b) Documenting culture elements as is preserved in living memory through language
c) Creating and facilitating communities of technical practice around language like teachers, scholars and culture practitioners
Moreover, these foundational capacities in indigenous languages have found their way into policy-enabled functional usage pipeline by the State in the form of access to nurture services like primary education (multi-lingual education) and health (multi-lingual health information), and availability of information on key rights in indigenous languages.
Today more than ever, there is a rejuvenated focus on revitalising and promoting indigenous languages in the world. It has come from the cognisance of the urgent need to take concrete steps to prevent languages from falling into disuse.
Multilateral organisations like the United Nations are making concerted efforts like creating the International Decade for Indigenous Language (IDIL) in order to bring awareness, and formulating joint action frameworks to appreciate indigenous languages in their wider and deeper role in peace building, good governance, the protection of the environment, and the safeguarding of culture in all its forms.
Long term government mandates, democratising language evolution tools, policy led-functional usage of indigenous languages and nurturing institutional networks of indigenous communities are the four key outcomes that IDIL proposes. A State-mandated institution like ATLC can find its reinvigoration in this rising global consciousness around Indigenous languages that anchor cultures which could be the pathways to learn and embody regenerative ways of living, being and development.
To celebrate the contributions of Pandit Raghunath Murmu, the Odisha government announced a sum of Rs 10 crores for the renovation of the burial place of the legend. The amount will be spent on the development of the burial place of the Guru along with a meditation mandap, an auditorium and research centre, peripheral development and beautification and amenities for tourists.
An amount of Rs 75 lakh will be spent on the development of the Samadhi at Dandbose-Kapiburu and another Rs 75 lakh on a meditation centre while Rs 3 crore will be spent on building walls and connecting roads in Kapiburu. Similarly, Rs 2 crore will be spent on an auditorium and research centre and another Rs 1 crore on constructing a dormitory and other facilities for the convenience of tourists visiting the place.
The State government plans to spend Rs 70 lakh for beautification of Kapiburu and setting up of a reception centre there and Rs 1 crore on development of Dandbose and Maranga-Ahara tank. Apart from this, Rs 80 lakh will be spent on drinking water facilities and electrification.
These works will be taken up in five phases.
To celebrate the legend’s birth anniversary, the Odisha government has declared a holiday on May 5.
(The writer is associated with Odisha’s Poverty and Human Development Monitoring Agency)
