Dr Purvaiya Hans
Maharaja Ranbir Singh, the third and solely surviving son of Maharaja Gulab Singh, was born in 1830 within the fort of Ramgarh. He ascended the throne as second Maharaja of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on twentieth February whereas Maharaja was nonetheless alive. Maharaja Ranbir Singh was not solely an important administrator but additionally an important patron of literature and an important builder of temples. He constructed many temples, essentially the most outstanding being Sri Raghunath Ji temple and Ranbireshwar temple.
On account of varied reforms made by Maharaja the script turned match for wider official use and for the aim of litho and typo printing which was extensively achieved afterwards for making ready ebook for official use and faculty research. He laid nice stress on the Dogra cultural renaissance by revival of Dogri script and its popularisation.As a way to popularise Dogri and to show its standardized kind to the folks, Maharaja Ranbir Singh began a Dogri class in Sri Raghunath Ji temple pathshala. The sons of nobles and respectable residents had been ordered to be taught Dogri. Students had been supplied free board, lodging and books and uniforms as an incentive to be taught Dogri. The Maharaja used to go to the varsity each week and himself examined the progress made by every scholar and used to provide awards. Even sudras had been additionally given equal alternative to get free schooling. Ten % was deducted from the wage of such staff within the Authorities places of work who didn’t possess working data of Dogri.
Dogri, the mom tongue of individuals in Jammu, was given the standing of official language by Centre in 2003 by together with it within the Eighth Schedule. Dogri was the twenty second Indian language to be given such recognition. That is for the primary time that any Authorities organisation has used the Dogri script. The then Dogra ruler, Maharaja Ranbir had modified Dogri script and in 1884 CE the primary ebook in Dogri alphabets was revealed underneath his aegis. Recognition of Dogri as official language of Jammu and Kashmir was one of many long-awaited calls for of the Dogras of Jammu which lastly acquired fulfilled after a wait of a number of many years.
On this context allow us to bear in mind the second Dogra Maharaja Ranbir Singh who devoted his life for the promotion of Dogri language, literature and tradition. Maharaja realized the significance of Dogri as a mass media for dissemination of data and schooling. He gave this language official standing by recognizing it as court docket language on equal standing with already present Persian language. For the reason that occasions of Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin of Shah Mir dynasty, Persian language was continued as court docket language by Mughals, Afghans and Sikhs. It was solely Dogras who lastly shook off the yoke of international rule and launched Dogri language as quickly as they turned autonomous.
For promotion of Dogri, Maharaja acquired its script standardized on the strains of Devanagari script. The modified type of the script got here to be often known as Namme Dogre Akkhar (New Dogra letters) as in opposition to the older model viz., Parane Dogre Akkhar (outdated Dogra letters). Standardization made the script match for the aim of litho and typo printing which was extensively achieved afterwards for making ready books for official use and faculty research. Dogri courses had been books began at Raghunath Mandir Pathshala. On this regard authenticity has been supplied within the data of Frederic Drew who himself had witnessed using Dogri language for official function.
Testifying to the intensive official use of Dogri, Mr. Drew writes, “The New Dogri is used for petitions which are learn earlier than the Maharaja for this function, it has changed Persian by which petitions had been written after I first got here to Jammu; nevertheless it has usually displaced both Persian or the outdated Dogri. The outdated Dogri character is made use of just for writing the Dogri language, it’s allowed in sure paperwork, as in studies from officers of the military, who’re of a category by whom Persian is hardly acquired; additionally, many accounts are saved in duplicate in Persian and Dogri; the accountants of the one class are thought of a verify on the opposite, a steady facet by facet system of audit being thus carried out.”
Dogri script turned so fashionable underneath his regime that it was utilized in all official publications of the state achieved from Patwari guidelines, to civil, penal and navy codes in pressure within the state. Many a time publications had been made bilingual i.e, in Dogri and Persian. Dogra script was additionally utilized in stamp papers, forex, postal stamps and postal obliterations. Not solely this, quite a few Dogri books had been printed to be used in faculties and public libraries. A brand new imaginative and prescient was drawn by Baldev Prasad Sharma, the primary Dogra to move the Info Service of the State as Principal Info Officer and likewise the primary Dogra to be elevated to the rank of a Station Director of All India Radio, his final posting being Station Director, Radio Kashmir, Jammu from the place he retired or January 1, 1967, in context of elevation of Dogri language underneath the rule of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. He was the primary scholar to problem the assertion the well-known linguist Dr. Grierson that neither the Dogri kind nor any printed ebook in Dogri was in existence on the time when he had come to Jammu. Sharma proved that about twenty Dogri books, a few of them in Dogri kind had been truly printed years earlier than Dr. Grierson got here to Jammu. These books, Sharma held, established past doubt that in the course of the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh the Dogri script had been modified and improved. He additionally positioned samples of the Dogri kind forged throughout Ranbir Singh’s reign, in Sri Pratap Singh Museum at Srinagar. Sharma additionally unearthed the Dogri translation “Lilawati” a uncommon Sanskrit ebook by well-known Indian astronomer and mathematician, Bhaskaracharya. This Dogri ebook was printed on the “Vidya Vilas Press” Jammu in 1873 CE. Credit score goes to Sharma whose discovery established that its translator, JyotshiVisheshwar, the then Principal of Raghunath ji pathshala, was first Dogri author of Jammu at a time when books had been printed by lithographic proces on the “Vidya Vilas Press” and by typographical course of at Sri Raghunath Ji Press Jammu in 1884. One other voluminous work “Vyavhar Gita” (an analogy to Bhagavad Gita) was additionally composed by him. Kaviraj Neelkanth Sharma wrote two Ayurvedic books “Ranbir Chikitsa Sudha Saar” and “Ranbir Prakash” in Dogri script. Sanskrit works like “Amar Kosh” and Persian ebook “Kareema”had been additionally translated into Dogri. A Dogri college primer “Vidyarthion ki Pratham Partak” was additionally revealed. Books on subjects like navy had been additionally written in Dogri. A ebook every on Musketeer Regulation and Tent pegging had been revealed in Dogri. Military legislation and Civil and Prison legal guidelines had been revealed by the names of “Sri Ranbir Sainik Dand Vidhi” and “Sri Ranbir Dand Vidhi” respectively. Maharaja Ranbir Singh adopted the footsteps of Avantivarman and Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, who had been former rulers of Kashmir and had been of benevolent nature. He employed pandits and maulvis to translate and transliterate non secular texts. Sir Aurel Stein catalogued 5,000 such works. Moreover non secular books, books on medical sciences and arithmetic had been additionally translated into Urdu, Dogri and Hindi, as mentioned earlier. Maharaja established a Translation Bureau known as “Daarul Tarjumah” underneath the patronage of a realized Hakim of Turkish Afghan ancestry, Agha (Hakim) Muhammad Baqir who was additionally the Chief doctor to the Maharaja. It was underneath this bureau that Maharaja Ranbir Singh acquired “Tibb-e-Unaani” translated from Arabic and Latin into Persian and Dogri.
Ranbir Singh was a scholar of Sanskrit and Persian language. He was additionally keen on talking Pashto. He conversed together with his Afghan bodyguards in Pashto. He established a Sanskrit pathshala within the complicated of the Raghunath Temple. Grammar, geometry, philosophy, poetry, algebra, and Vedas had been taught in it. Though Ranbir Singh obtained semi-formal schooling, he was all for spreading schooling amongst the plenty. He donated Rs 100,000 (equal to 44 million or US $ 610,000 in 2019) to College of the Punjab on the time of its institution is 1882. In return he was made the primary fellow of the college. He ceaselessly met students from numerous fields and mentioned topics with them. He was famous as an important scholar of classical Persian and was additionally realized in Swedish and English.
However sadly, after his demise, the patronage which Dogri has loved acquired misplaced and British pressurized the Authorities to undertake Urdu as official language. Even after this transfer, Dogri and Hindi had been often featured in official stamps of Jammu & Kashmir. Dogri acquired ultimate blow after the top of Dogra rule and Urdu imposition by successive governments.
Now in current occasions it’s our obligation to revive, reclaim and cherish our heritage. Authorities should take mandatory steps for the promotion of Dogri language and Dogri script in Jammu area. Though varied measures have been initiated both by the govt.. companies or by particular person themselves as a way to rejuvenate the misplaced glory of this language. Not too long ago Dogri Script finds place on signposts at Jammu railway station after fifteen years of its inclusion in Eighth Schedule of the Indian Structure. These steps one way or the other trigerred enthusiasm amongst notably the children who had been in massive numbers sharing it on the social media and we hope a vivid way forward for this language in years to return. Enough steps ought to be taken to show this language on the college and school stage.
(The writer is Assistant Professor, Division of Historical past Govt. Diploma Faculty, Sidhra)
#Dogri #language #Maharaja #Ranbir #Singh
