The weight of legacy
Dogras have a rich legacy right from ancient times. It is believed that(as told in the book : Kashmir, beyond the vale by M J Akbar) when Alexander came to conquer India, many warrior groups shifted their base to present day Jammu to defend the country from a relatively advantageous position. From that time onward there have been numerous instances when Dogras bore the brunt of waves of invasions. It was under these circumstances that great generals like General Zorawar Singh, General Baj singh, Mian dido, Kumedan Baste Ram Mehta etc emerged to the forefront. These are just the 18th and 19th century military generals. Many more great names, numerous inspiring stories could have seen the light of day but for the lack of a sense of strong literary tradition that prevails in J&K.
The world sees Dogras as a warrior community but the pity is that this singular outer lens has affected the all round development of our society. We have a very weak literary sense. Thus many great personalities were born and forgotten just like that. A case in point being Lala Hansraj Mahajan or Tahira Sayeed or Dinoo Bhai Pant. Dinoo Bhai once said that -
Hindi sadhi daadi hai te dogri sadhi ma
dadi thar dadi hai te mau thar ma.
"Hindi is our grandmother and dogri is our mother, and both are equally cherished as per the relation".
Infact there is a strong argument in favour of mother tongue that it promotes love for our people, our motherland and thereby strengthens the public spirit and nationalism. Bhagat singh once said "Patriots — be they merely social reformers or political leaders — pay highest attention to the literature of their country".Lack of knowledge of mother tongue affects an individual in two ways drastically. One it creates a gulf between the rural and urban folk. One reason why today we don't feel the pains of farmer is due lack of emotional connect with them. Our areas of concern don't largely coincide. Second, when we meet someone from other culture who respects their mother tongue, we experience an identity crisis. e.g., people outside J&K consider everyone from J&K as Kashmiri. If you want to prove to them that you are dogra you must know dogri. If not, we take safe refuge in - 'similar to punjabi' and hide our own shallowness.
Reason for such treason
Our neglect of language is pitisome. There are multiple factors behind this trend. The main reason behind this is the fact that Jammu being a multi-ethnic and multi cultural society, mother tongue was never made mandatory in the school curriculum. While article 370 prohibitted the implementation of RTE act which mandated instruction in mother tongue at primary level. Most private schools in Jammu even today don't teach dogri as the third language. The aversion for teaching dogri arises from the fact that knowledge of dogri offers very limited economic returns, in terms of Job, formal communication skills etc. But is it fair to assess whether the mother is worthy of love before loving her. There are no conditions attached to it. It must flow from depth of character.
In addition to it, communalisation of language has also happened which restricted it to very few districts in Jammu division.We hardly find any Muslim or Sikh name among the dogri stalwarts. We must remember that mother knows no religious boundaries. By alienating the other religious groups of their true identity we are going for mutual damage. We don't even claim the legacy of the great Banda Singh Bahadur a Dogra Sikh. Infact all languages are religion agnostic and to communalise them is to divide the spirit of our country.
To some extent even the literary circles and the entire artistic community must share the blame. Firstly, there is very slow pace of updation of dogri vocabulary. In absence of proper vocabulary more foreign words have to be used. Lack of formalisation leads to popularisation of slang which inhibits the growth of cultured language. Secondly, the quality of historical research into the Dogra way of life, can best be described as patchy. Infact even today school textbooks while teaching the story of Raja Jambu Lochan describe it as an event of 2nd millenium BC but it is contradictory to all available evidences.
Thirdly, most of the literary works are difficult to access for common public. E-commerce websites like amazon, flipkart hardly sell dogri books. To search a dogri song with lyrics in google search is a tough row to hoe. While Punjabi and hindi dubbed south Indian movies can be easily found on youtube, it is near impossible to find a dogri movie on such platforms. Hardly we see dogri poets and writers interact with audience through webinars especially during the present lockdown. Fourthly, comes the question of news reporting and media. It can be said that dogri news media is virtually absent. There is just one bulletin in dogri news in local channels like JK channel and All India Radio.
Finally there is the issue of quality. I must confess that I am not the right person to judge on the quality for I neither have the required knowledge nor the experience of rating such artworks.But one recent dogri song on creating awareness on COVID-19 by JK Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, seems to be little shallow. In comparison a song by 2 young girls on same issue fares much better for it catches the pulse of listener. Hence talent is there, but some lacunae remain. However it can be said that if the quality of artworks is good, then in present era of viral videos, it is bound to get good public response.
Har boli sikho sikhni vi chahidi, Par pakki vekh ke kacchi nai dhai di
Learn other languages for it is good to learn,
but don't destroy your own identity by seeing the refined identity of others or don't try to ape others.
Finding our own pathways
It is also essential to promote emerging forms of arts like standup comedy, karaoke singing etc in dogri. Some Vlogs have been created and are doing good work like Ambal youtube channel. Due to efforts of natrang theatre, many young artists have emerged and they can contribute immensely to promote dogri language. Artists from different segments must engage with their viewers, live through media platforms like that of Daily excelsior. This is being done by Indian express at national level too.
Another essential point to understand is that level of women empowerment is strongly linked to the status of development of mother tongue. If women are empowered, educated, they can guide their children to understand the importance of mother tongue. Some may disagree by saying that an educated woman would want her kids to learn foreign languages. However it can be understood from different communities at national level that as women become more aware of the worldly developments they are bound to see the importance of mother tongue. Examples can be taken of Bengali or Malayali societies. So focus on ensuring that women's rights are protected both inside and outside homes.
There are surely many suggestions I have in my mind but that is not the point. The point is to make the reader think what he/she can do for the mother tongue. The generations before us never had to face this challenge because of relative isolation of cultures. However the generations to come should not be stolen from their cultural heritage by the inaction of present generation. We have a great duty to perform, for posterity, for humanity.
