Initiative taken by the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages by organizing a two-day seminar on promotion of Dogri language is welcome by the entire region in Northern India where Dogri language is spoken and written. Presence of a galaxy of literary luminaries at the inauguration of the seminar by the Governor speaks of the interest people envisage in the promotion of this language. Inclusion of Dogri in the 8th Schedule opened up good chances for Dogri language and literature to develop and achieve significant level of advancement. Fortunately, Dogri has adopted the Sanskrit script, a highly scientific script and phonetically very perfect for the language. Not only that, Dogri language has been immensely enriched by Sanskrit language in terms of vocabulary, grammar and syntax. One of the important instruments of promoting Dogri language and literature is to translate into it the vast fund of Sanskrit mythological, aesthetical, philosophical and literary masterpieces, including the sutras, not only to enrich the language but also to bring the past of the Indian civilization to the knowledge of our younger generations who are brought up in Dogra milieu. The aim is to enrich the language not only in terms of syntax but also in its civilizational content.
We have a galaxy of eminent Dogri litterateurs and we are rightly proud of them. But we need to open vistas for new generation of Dogri writers and singers not only to keep the tradition intact but also to give new content to the language and literature. We are living in a fast changing era of human history, and it is the literature that preserves and enfolds the new trends and new aspirations of young India. A huge task of translating the masterpieces of Indian literary treasure as well as of world literature awaits the budding litterateurs in Duggar Desh. If the Academy is able to assist talented writers to reproduce even half a dozen world classics into Dogri annually, it will be a big contribution towards its development. Further, it has to be understood that Dogri language must be gradually developed so as to develop the faculty among the youngsters to pick up the fundamentals of modern science and technology in their mother language. It will need fairly widened canvas for absorption of technical vocabulary and usage. Another task awaiting competent scholars of Dogri is to produce a compendium of etymological descriptive of Dogri language. It means that the roots or etymology of Dogri words should be researched and its sources established. In simpler language, we need to find the dialects from which the fund of vocabulary has been borrowed and then adapted direct or indirect in Dogri language. This will acquaint scholars with the history of language and relation with past or present dialects in the region extending over the entire Northern India.
Institutions like the Cultural Academy and Dogri Sansthan should also jointly encourage love for Dogri spoken and written language among the youth by giving awards to those who make a significant contribution to Dogri literature. Regular meets, symposia, literary presentations, research papers, translations etc. would be the activities for promotion of this language. Yet one more task is to focus on Dogri usage in different parts of the Duggar Desh so as to find out the impact of local geography, topography and tradition on the language. Two suggestions made by the Governor are realistic. A monthly tabloid magazine in Dogri catering to social, cultural, historical and political perspectives would naturally attract the attention of a wider section of society. The 6-7 year Action Plan with benchmarks for promotion and development of Dogri literature is of much need. Translation into Dogri of Jammu history down to the present day is of urgent need if we mean that no opportunity should be given to those who intentionally distort history. Time frames for literary output doe not generally work once the ball stats rolling but to begin with a time frame would be desirable.
Finally one word about the preservation of all cultural manifestation like manuscripts, old print copies of valuable Dogri literary and historical compositions etc. all need to be preserved and processed so that it is never lost to us. It is the duty of all concerned institutions that hand-written scripts of outstanding Dogri writers or painters are collected and preserved as part of Dogri heritage. The Governor has expressed willingness of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to assist such endeavours. All interested in the promotion of Dogri heritage should make use of this rare opportunity. We should be proud of our heritage and therefore preserve it for posterity.
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