A part of a speech made by Amadou Hampâté Bâ at the 1960 conference of UNESCO is almost synonymous today as an African proverb. These lines are- “En Afrique, quand un vieillard meurt, c’est une bibliothèque qui brûle.” (In Africa, when an old man dies, it's like a library burning).

The words stand as silent sentinels to an immediate need - understanding the significance of communication and languages. This necessarily also does not mean written languages, but the essence of languages, as a tool for communication and also as a medium through which socio-cultural ethos is not only preserved but passed on from one generation to another. Being an intrinsic part of intangible heritage, the region of Asia boasts of one of the most glorious mix of languages and dialects, which are more than mere representations of specific communities, but are landmarks of identities and of geographies. Thus, as the words above only refers to Africa, its application far supersedes mere geographical boundaries and sees similar reverberations across almost all spheres of the present world, including South Asia. This paper looks into South Asia and its endangered languages of indigenous communities and how their narratives help to represent various issues of human rights. 

Folklore and tales in particular have immense value in terms of educating and sharing knowledge with the younger generation across all locales of human existence. This becomes especially important in the region of study - South Asia - as language remains at the heart of all local cultures and even connects individuals to ethnic identities within the national framework. Today, though each South Asian country differs in its cultural practices, yet they all share the commonality of linguistic association to cultural values. It is this camaraderie within this linguistic diversity, which helps to create a unified platform of looking at human rights issues of the indigenous communities of South Asia. 

Language is an important path for communication. Unfortunately, many languages are on the verge or have already faced extinction across the world. South Asia, mainly including the countries of the SAARC conglomerate (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) have a glorious mix of languages and dialects and many of them are in critical situations. It is important to mention here that, along with the languages, speakers of those languages also face various challenges as most are indigenous communities who have borne the onslaughts of numerous hurdles down the course of history. Being compelled by various socio-cultural, economic and political causes and circumstances which push them towards a corner, today many of these indigenous communities, along with their traditional languages, are often seen to struggle for existence.  It is imperative to understand the need to protect these endangered languages and the communities and thus, a further look into the issues of human rights of these communities. The narratives here have been presented under two sections, one being ‘folklore’ and the other ‘narratives from present times’. 

Across the region of South Asia, corresponding to the SAARC region, there are 500 languages. Afghanistan boasts 47 living languages, Bangladesh is home to 39, Bhutan has 24, India 415, Nepal 123, and Pakistan 72; besides Myanmar 108 and China 235. (Gyanwali, 2019, pp-68- Gyanwali, Gokarna Prasad 2019 Language Endangerment in South Asia. In Patan Pragya (Volume: 5 Number: 1 Sept. 2019). Nepal.). The major languages of South Asia belong to five families: Indo-European (Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani), Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic (Munda and Khasi), Tibeto-Burman and language isolates (Burushaski, Kusunda and Nahali). (Ibid).

Out of the vast number of languages across South Asia, more than 85% languages are in endangered situations. This is a serious issue as each language shares an intricate bond with the culture it is associated with and it can alone be understood by a thorough analysis of the respective culture (Gyanwali, 2019, pp-73) and thereby, also helps us to understand the various challenges of communities better.

Indigenous people

Indigenous People speak about an ethos of a land and its very identity. They are also the inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures of that land and know ways of relating to the environment within which they live. This makes their existence unique and different from the dominant societies which surround them. In spite of representing specific lands and their philosophy and character, it is interesting to note how indigenous people of the world share common problems related to the protection of their fundamental rights as distinct people. Their battle goes on and their struggles continue for years - to seek recognition of their identities and ways of lives and also their rights to traditional lands, territories, and natural resources.

Through centuries of struggle, indigenous people have always faced challenges with their rights being violated often and thus “Indigenous Peoples today are arguably among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people in the world. The international community now recognizes that special measures are required to protect their rights and maintain their distinct cultures and way of life” (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs - Indigenous People). And speaking of protecting the rights of Indigenous People, languages play an important role. To understand each person’s cultural history, memory, identity and traditions, the UN had thus declared the year 2019 as ‘The Year of Indigenous Languages’ (IY2019). The aim was to further facilitate communication, development, social integration and education. The following decade, 2022-2032, was also declared as the ‘Decade of Indigenous Languages’

Following the UN declaration of the ‘Year of Indigenous Languages’, the Human Rights Council’s Resolution of 2019 called all states to “participate actively in the organization and implementation of the activities relating to the [International] Year in 2019 and to uphold the spirit of the Year by taking measures to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the need to preserve, revitalize and promote them”. With a need to preserve, revitalise and promote indigenous languages, there was also a call to all states to perform various activities within their own countries as well as in different international platforms, along with UNESCO, to promote indigenous languages.

Human Rights and Endangered Languages

In the very ethos of protecting the identity of their communities, indigenous languages speak about various issues of human rights. This, by nature looks into the basic recognition of life and nature and the beliefs of the world’s religions as well as the traditional spiritualities of indigenous people. Thus, in the safeguarding of human rights of indigenous people, there are various factors which are also protected, including traditional knowledge and belief systems which also paves a way for amicable living of various religious beliefs.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples speaks for “free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples be obtained in matters of fundamental importance for their rights, survival, dignity, and well-being”. (UN Environment Programme, 2020) It also further explains that “consultations to obtain this consent must respect local governance and decision-making processes and structures; must occur in indigenous languages and on indigenous peoples’ time frames; and be free of coercion or threat.” (UN Environment Programme, 2020).

Thus, lie the need to preserve and protect languages of Indigenous People, many of which are in critical stages of survival or are on the path of extinction. The following narratives will further help to elaborate this.

Folklore And Indigenous Languages

As per UNESCO, there are 191 languages of India that are classified as vulnerable or endangered. The following example is from a famous storyline from folklore of India. This single storyline is famous across the entire nation and thus, is part of many languages. This paper presents this single story to further highlight various languages of indigenous communities of South Asia and how they face common socio-cultural issues. This folklore is about seeking justice. On the onset, it is also interesting to note how this storyline has spread beyond India and to other places of South and Southeast Asia. This folktale stands as a symbolism of the common problems of human lives across the region. The story is also present in my mother tongue, Bengali.

This Bengali story is well-renowned and also forms part of the compiled book of folktales ‘Tuntunir Boi’ (The Book of the Tailor Bird) by famous author, poet, illustrator and publisher Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury. The book was published by Upendrakishore in 1910 at his own press U Ray and Sons. Since the book is based on compiled stories which Upendrakishore collected from all across Mymensingh, Now part of Bangladesh, it is also possible that he came across the stories in various local languages which were then translated into Bengali and published. Thus, it is possible that the present storyline belongs to a local language, rather than Bangla (Bengali). Nevertheless, Upendrakishore’s Bengali book made the stories famous across the entire region of erstwhile Bengal and thus, these stories are still as famous in West Bengal (India) as in Bangladesh. Titled as ‘Dushtu Bagh’ (The Naughty Tiger), the Bengali version of the story goes thus.

Once a tiger was captured and put into a cage by the king of a kingdom. This cage was kept near the main gate of the king’s palace and the tiger kept appealing to every passer-by to set him free. No one paid heed. Finally, a Brahmin Pandit (a symbolism of an erudite scholar of erstwhile times), who was passing by, took pity on the tiger’s plight. This gentleman was known as kind-hearted but gullible and thus, many a times, he was mistaken as a simpleton by many. As the Brahmin Pundit agreed, the tiger understood that he was indeed naïve. He thus feigned innocence and promised the Brahmin Pundit that he will not eat him upon being released. However, once released, the tiger wanted to eat the Pundit, who was shocked to see the deceiving nature of the tiger. Desperate to save his life, the Pundit gathered an idea to appeal to three juries to seek justice for this ungrateful demand. With much difficulty, they managed to find two juries- a banyan tree and a dyke, locally referred to as ‘aal’ in Bengali, which is a slightly elevated land that separates two agricultural lands. As the Pundit sought justice from both, he was highly disappointed to see how cruel they were with their instant verdicts of agreeing with the tiger to instantly kill the Pundit. The sentence was against the entire human race as they destroy nature and thus, the Pundit was told to suffer. The Pundit was in a fix and right at that moment, a third jury, in the form of a very clever fox intervened and saved the Pundit by putting the tiger back into the cage by fooling him and fastening the cage door tightly.

Moving away from this Bengali version, let us see how the storyline is evident across indigenous languages of Central and Southern India. This is seen in the book, the ‘Old Deccan Days’(1870)  by M. Frere, which had stories collected from various indigenous languages. In this book, the story is titled, ‘The Brahmin, the Tiger and the Six Judges’. In this version, the tiger attempts to eat a foolish Brahmin and they seek help from six juries, including a banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis), a camel, a bullock, an eagle and an alligator. Finally, they approached a clever jackal, who saved the Brahmin by tricking the tiger back into its cage.

There is yet another version of this storyline from amidst indigenous languages of erstwhile northern and northwestern parts of India (forming parts of the present country of Pakistan and Afghanistan). This is titled, ‘The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal’, and is part of the book, ‘Tales of The Punjab’ (1894) by Flora Anne Steel. According to this version, a shrewd tiger fooled a poor Brahmin and they sought the help of four juries- a peepal tree (Ficus religiosa), a buffalo and a road and the fourth jury, a jackal saved the Brahmin from his unfortunate fate.

Coming very close to this version is the storyline from various indigenous languages of northern India. Titled as ‘The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal’, this story is part of the book ‘Indian Fairy Tales’ (1892) by Joseph Jacobs. In this version, the appeal is made to a peepal tree (Ficus religiosa) and a buffalo and finally, the third and the last jury, a jackal resolved the dispute by putting the tiger back into the cage.

There are also many regional versions across the Indian subcontinent and one such example is in the Santhali language of central and eastern India. Titled ‘The story of a tiger’, this is part of the book ‘Santhal Folktales’ (1891) by A. Campbell. This mentions a cowherd, who saw a tiger trapped in a quagmire as he was grazing his bulls in the forest. The tricky situation arose when the tiger was set free from the quagmire and he wanted to eat the cowherd. Finally, they sought advice from a mohwa tree (Madhuca latifolia) and a cow and both proved to be of little help. Finally, a jackal helped to resolve the matter and saved the poor cowherd.

Interestingly enough, this storyline spreads far and wide across South Asia. In a version from Sinhala language from Sri Lanka, a crocodile attempts to eat a simple villager and appeal was variously made to a kumbuk tree (Terminalia arjuna) and a cow and finally a jackal settled the dispute. This Sinhala version is part of the compiled book, ‘Village folktakles of Ceylon’ (1817) by H. Parker. It is also interesting to see the similarities between the various versions, inspite of geographical differences. Thus, a version of ‘The Panchatantra’ from India comes close to the Sinhala version where a crocodile attempts to eat a Brahmin priest and various appeals were made to a mango tree and an old cow and finally a jackal settled the matter.

In a similar manner, another version is seen in Korea, which begins with an interesting description of a small village, threatened by regular visits of a maneater. Being terrified of the tiger, which was killing people and domestic animals, the village chief instructed to build a trap. A pit was dug and covered with leaves and food. That night, the tiger fell into the pit and the very next morning, as the nephew of the village chief was passing by, he pleaded with him to take him out. Upon coming out, as the young man realised that he was in danger, he sought help from two juries - a cow and a rabbit. As the cow advised to kill the young man, the wise rabbit saved him.

Moral Of The Story

An important aspect is highlighted through the storyline - the need for understanding human rights and how it almost failed the protagonist, who is variously represented by the Brahmin Pundit, the cowherd, a simple villager or the nephew of the village chief. If it was not for the intervention of the last jury in each storyline, the protagonist would have surely succumbed to the greed of the antagonist, represented variously by the tiger or the crocodile.

There is also an interesting factor in each of the versions of the storyline. Each one of them highlight the importance of local plants or animals, e.g. the immense prominence of kumbuk tree across the region of Sri Lanka, the significance of the mango, banyan or peepal trees in the regions of India, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh or the importance of an agricultural field across the region of South Asia. In a similar manner, the mention of the animal changes from region to region, e.g crocodile changes to a tiger in the regions of Bengal and Bangladesh or the jackal changes to a sly fox as the latter used to be widely available in the region, etc. Since many of the folklore from South Asia are available through various printed versions across the last two centuries, a reference in modern days becomes easy. This helps to understand and comprehend the significance of the art of storytelling of which ‘Folklore’ forms an integral and inseparable part.” (Maitra, SAARC Art, 2017).

Finally, the problems of the common man being the same, the storyline survived as an important thread, connecting various regions across South and Southeast Asia.

Other narratives Across South Asia

Moving away from folklore, there are also many other types of narratives of recent and past history of endangered languages. It is important to note, these historical and personal narratives become more important in the total absence of collected data about intangible cultural heritage or oral traditions of most of these communities. And if analysed closely, they too reflect the significant role of human rights. These narratives speak of economic distress, migration, loss of lives and homes, amidst others. Below is a brief look at some of these narratives through a single example from each of the eight countries across the SAARC region.

Sri Lanka

Interestingly enough, the ‘Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger’ of UN mentions Sri Lanka to be the “least heterogeneous linguistically” as approximately 70% of its 13 million population speak Sinhala (closely related to Indo-Aryan languages) and 25% speak Tamil, a dialect of the language spoken in South India (pp-63).

The Atlas also mentions the Vedda language of Sri Lanka to be spoken by a very small population of the Vedda community of around 300 people. Thus, along with the community, the language too is endangered and this is rightfully mentioned in the Atlas as well “Vedda, itself (is) related to Sinhala, but it may be extinct within a decade.” (Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, pp-63). Traditionally noted as hunter-gatherers, the Veddas have also been practicing fishing as well as honey-gathering as their main occupation, however, over the years and in recent times, they are seen to practice many other professions, including in many urban centres.

There are three types of Vedda communities of Sri Lanka - the Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas, and Bintenne Veddas and almost all speak Sinhala today, which is the dominant language of Sri Lanka. Thus, another reason for their local language to face critical situations of survival at present times is the domination the language faces from the main language of the land.

It can be seen that the current language of the Veddas has evolved as a mixture of pidgin language that developed to communicate with people using alien languages, such as Sinhalese. The Vedda language (Dharmadasa 1990) is said to be a Creole which has evolved to its current state. (De Silva and Punchihewa. 2011.pp-1) Most importantly, today, the Vedda language seems to have great influence of Sinhala in the Sinhala dominant regions and in the Tamil dominant regions, the language has great influences of Tamil.

However, it is also to be noted that in an overall manner, there is a great influence of Tamil as the medium of instruction in many of the local schools which the children go to, is Tamil. On the other hand, many traders, especially from the Middle East, who used to trade in honey and other products with the Veddas, communicated with them in Tamil. Thus, most Veddas speak Tamil today and most of the modern generation do not even know their traditional language. Thus, the cultural identity is rapidly diminishing and the Veddas are increasingly embracing Sinhalisation and Tamilisation within the respective geographical localities they live in, acquiring Buddhist, Hindu and more recently Christian values rather than their own, following the footpath directing towards accelerated modernisation which leaves little room for cultural diversity. (De Silva and Punchihewa. 2011. pp-10)

In the distant past, the Veddas mostly lived in the Ratnapura district of the Sabaragamuwa Province. Today, they are seen to inhabit only Vedi rata or Maha Vedi rata consisting of areas from the Hunnasgiriya hills and lowlands up to the sea in the east (De Silva and Punchihewa, 2011. pp-XII- De Silva, Premakumara and Asitha G Punchihewa 2011 Socio- Anthropological Research Project on Vedda Community in Sri Lanka. Publication of Department of Sociology: University of Colombo and Ministry of Culture and the Arts, Government of Sri Lanka. University of Colombo: Sri Lanka)

De Silva and Punchihewa further mentions about the Vedda community and its language to be best described as “a group of people of Sri Lanka with indigenous ancestry, confined to isolated pockets extending from the eastern and north eastern slopes of the hill country to the Eastern and North central parts of the country”. (De Silva and Punchihewa. 2011. pp-10)

An important part of the Vedda language are the folk songs and stories and the knowledge about traditional medicine. According to one such Vedda folklore, they are supposed to be the descendants of King Vijaya, from erstwhile Bengal region of India, who is also considered to be the first king, from whom the main line of Sri Lankan royalty came into existence later on. The Sri Lankan religious chronicle, The Mahavamsa also speaks about King Vijaya.

The Vedda language remains a repository of the various socio-cultural and religious issues which have threatened its very existence down the ages. Thus, as the Vedda community dwindles into a mere existence, its language seems to be at an even more critical condition.

Nepal

There are 70 endangered languages in Nepal and Seke (Serake) is one of them (source- ELA Endangered Language Alliance, New York) and has only 700 speakers in the world (ELA). What is more interesting is to see the diaspora story associated with this language as out of those 700 speakers, around 100 live in New York and there are often many diasporic stories about this in various dailies.

In Nepal, Seke is spoken in just five villages of Tshugsang (Chhusang), Tsangle (Chaile), Gyaga (Gyakar), Timi (Tetang) and Tangbe - all in the Upper Mustang district of highland Nepal. Amongst the villages, each dialect is distinct and those of Timi and Tangbe are more unique from the rest. However, none of these have been documented so far. The story of their struggles often goes unnoticed as failure of agricultural productions because of drastic climatic changes often force many to migrate to other countries, including as far away as America, in search of jobs. This is also the reason for the large number of Seke speakers in New York.

According to folklore, the word ‘Seke’ means ‘golden language’. There is also an interesting mythology that associates the origin of the language to Buddhism. According to this story, the language was passed down from people living in the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, who settled in Mustang, a former kingdom, whose terrains were formed from the heart and the innards of a demon defeated in a battle by a Buddhist monk.

Of the 100 Seke speakers living in New York, around half of them live in a single building in Flatbrush. Over a newspaper report about diasporic languages in New York, reporter Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, mentioned in The Independent ( January 20, 2020) about the Seke language and its many speakers in two buildings in Flatbrush and some other parts of Queens. This article is titled, ‘In Brooklyn, the last stronghold of a dying Nepalese language’. The introduction of the report mentions “Seke a rare, unwritten language from the Himalayas, is in danger of disappearing within a generation, yet one building in Flatbrush houses some of its last speakers”. The report further expands to render a diasporic view of the inhabitants of the building, which is also shared by several other communities from South Asia as well as Africa. For the Seke speakers, the place is a miniscule representation of their homes in faraway Nepal as many things inside their small apartments resemble a touch of home, including their low wooden sitting arrangements and rugs, hot butter tea, Tibetan thangka paintings on walls and offerings placed in front of a framed photo of the Dalai Lama, amidst others. With most of them having being apple farmers in Nepal, in New York most of them work as manicurists, construction workers and cooks.

Life is harsh with its many difficulties in America but inspite of all the hurdles all the Seke speakers strongly support protecting their language as they see it gradually dying everyday. The possible reasons mentioned in the newspaper report are the maximum usage of Nepali and even Hindi. Thus, the report quotes Nyaka Gurung, a resident of Flatbrush and a Seke, expressing both alarm and resignation about how quickly the tongue of his forebears is vanishing. “It’s scary,” he says, as he fingers a Tibetan rosary. “Seke is just going to be a story that you tell your kids: ‘Oh, there was once something called Seke.’”

Thus, the Seke language needs to be preserved and the many human rights issues it highlights, needs to be understood - from the problems of the community losing their agricultural lands at home to struggling to make alternate living in a foreign land and the many challenges that the diaspora faces.

Bangladesh

The Pangkhua language of Bangladesh is alternatively also referred to as Pangkhu, Pankho, Panko, Pankhu. It is a ‘severely endangered’ language of Bangladesh. According to official documents including ‘Bangladesh Some Endangered languages’ (2007) and ‘Ethonologue’ of SIL International (18th edition, 2015), there are 2500 speakers of this language. In Bangladesh, the speakers are seen in Bilaichari, Jorachari, Barkal and Baghaichari districts and parts of Rangamati district and also in Chamdur valley and adjacent hills in Lawngtlai district, Tlabung and West Phaileng subdivision. The speakers are also found in neighbouring regions of India and Myanmar. It is a Sino-Tibetan language. Today, most speakers of Pangkhu mostly speak Bengali as all education of the region is conducted in Bengali, and thus, very few are bilingual.

 

An interesting feature of this language is its folklore and folk songs. Since the language does not have any script, these oral and folk tales and songs are very important to understand the migration histories as well as incidents of exclusion. The Pangkhua community uses Lushai literature of the Mizo communities. There remain minimal language differences between Pangkhua, Tlanglau, Falam Chin, Bawm and Mizo. Thus, the preservation of this ‘severely endangered’ language will help to understand regional as well as local history.

Bhutan

Bhutan's significant contribution is the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme under the Dzongkha Development Commission, which is also part of the Himalayan Languages Project of Royal Government of Bhutan and is sponsored by Leiden University of Netherlands. The Dzongkha Development Commission, in the past few years, have been working and documenting about three specific languages - Gongduk, Lhokpu and Monkha- the tree endangered languages of Bhutan. The report of the Dzongkha Development Commission mentions these three languages as important because of being “the most intriguing from the comparative and historical linguistic point of view because of the key positions which they occupy within the Tibeto-Burman language family and because of what these three languages can tell us about Bhutan’s past and about the prehistory of the entire greater Himalayan region.”

Let us briefly look at the narratives of the Lhokpu language, which has roughly around 2500 speakers today. There is a place called Celo, which is often mentioned in the Lhokpu language. The word ‘Celo’ means an area, where three rivers converge or ‘three confluences’ or ‘triple confluence’. This actually refers to the original homeland of the Lhokpu, which extends across the Jaldakha river, including the area called Bara Tendu in Sipsu. These three rivers, in Lhokpu language are- Sihti, Cunti and Dronti. The second syllable of each of the names of the river, i.e. ‘ti’, actually means ‘water’ in Tibeto-Burmese. The Lhokpu also has their own names for every stream, cove, brook, hillock or ridge in the area.

The Lhokpu are the aboriginal Dung population, native to western Bhutan. At present the Samtsi district administration of the Royal Government of Bhutan is pledged to protect the interest of the native Bhutanese Lhokpu population. According to Bhutanese government records, Nepalese immigrants began to encroach upon Lhokpu lands as woodcutters during the first decade of the 20th century. This was compelled by Sir John Claude White, political officer in the British Indian government. This revenue from the timber was put to educate young Bhutanese in British India. The most elderly Lhokpu generation recalls the advent of the first Nepalese immigrants to the area and these stories are embedded within the endangered language of the Lhokpu.

The story of the displacement of the Lhokpu mentions that the present day Dorokha, to have once been a major Lhokpu settlement, with the village of Pumta being a significant settlement. The region of Denchukha was an important town of the Lhokpu, which was also the seat of the Lhokpu kings. Today, both Dorokha and Denchukha are important Nepali settlements and the Lhokpu settlements have extended beyond present-day Sipsu. Besides the Lhokpu, there are also other indigenous communities in the region, who have moved out or beyond their original regions, like the Meche, who lived in the bottom of the hills of the Bhutanese Duars jungles, where no Meche is found now, but the area in inhabited by Bengalis (from West Bengal). The typonyms of the Lhokpu language provides an interesting data of the dramatic changes of population in the region around the 19th century. This is important to understand migration and resettlement histories of various communities of the region.

The Lhokpu folklore speaks of two bouts of epidemic, which led to large number of deaths of members of the community. The first pandemic is referred to in the Lhokpu language as ‘leyam’ or blood dysentery, which was accompanied with high fever. In the Loto Kucu area, only 12 households survived this period of pandemic. Many of the kids from these families, who are now grandparents themselves, recount, that many women and girls came to reside in Loto Kucu as they fled from other Lhokpu settlements, which were wiped away during the leyam pandemic. However, soon after arriving, they died.

After this pandemic, a large number of Nepalese came in and settled in the area. Soon, another round of pandemic struck the region, after the new Nepali immigrants arrived. This is referred to as ‘rhihka’ or fever and is mentioned to have been brought by the new settlers in the region, who were the hosts. Thus, the Lhokpu narratives and folklore mentions how they were once an isolated and strong civilisation, but fell into decay because of the pandemics. The words like pandemic and epidemic thus, still instil fear in the hearts of the Lhokpu community.

Thus, the Lhokpu language speaks of celebrated time of a small community, which is as endangered as its language. The narratives of migration and resettlement of the community also help in medical anthropological study of the Himalayan region and thus, the language, with its rich history, needs to be preserved. The Right to Life is a fundamental right of every being. The very fact that the community still fears an outbreak of epidemic because of lack of proper medical facilities, should draw attention to severe lapses in human rights.

Pakistan

According to UNESCO, there are 29 endangered languages in Pakistan and Kalasha is one of them. The Kalasha community of Pakistan is considered to be the smallest ethnoreligious group and thus, is an endangered community. Their language is also called as Kalasha and as per UNESCO, it falls under ‘severely endangered’ list. This community has around 3000 people speaking the Kalasha language. This small group inhabits the Chitral district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and their folk songs speak of their ancestors having migrated from a location, possibly further south, which they refer in their folk songs and epics as ‘Tsiyam’.

 

The Kalasha practices a sort of animism, which displays resemblance to the structure, rites and rituals of Hinduism and this is reflected in their language as well. Around mid-20th century, though there were attempts of forcible conversion to the dominant religion of the land, but this small community resisted all efforts and stood by their beliefs. However, out of the present-day 3000 people of the land, around half of the population have converted to or are the descendants of the majority religion of the land- Islam.

Within the folds of this endangered Kalasha language, there are many folk songs, epics and narratives, which speak of the origin, the migration and possible origin of the community. According to their folklore, their religion of animism is highly influenced by Hinduism as well as the religion of the ancient Greeks as many of their gods and spirits show a resemblance to both religious beliefs. There is an interesting folklore in the Kalasha language, which explains the influence of the ancient Greeks, which says that the Kalasha people are the descendants of the Greek army of Alexander the Great, who got left behind from his armed campaign. However, this legend is often doubted by historians as Alexander never seemed to have passed through the region. There is another mention of the origin of the Kalasha in their folklore, which mentions them to be the descendants of the Gandhari People (corresponding to the ancient Indian kingdom of Gandhar, which roughly extended from the present regions of Rawalpindi district of present-day Pakistani-Punjab and Peshawar districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa till the valley of Kashmir. The capital of Gandhar was Takshashila).

Thus, today, the Kalasha language speaks of a possible origin of the community as well as the regular critical situations the community members battle in order to survive and within these very everyday battles, lie the question of Human Rights- for a freedom to live within their choice of spiritual beliefs

Afghanistan

UNESCO recognises 23 endangered languages in Afghanistan, 12 of which are exclusively spoken in Afghanistan and one has gone extinct. Amongst these 23 endangered languages, Tregami or Katar Gambiri is a ‘severely endangered’ language and is spoken by the Nuristani community. They live in the villages of Gambir, Kaṭâr, and Devoz in the Tregâm Valley off the lower in the Pech River in Watapur district of Kunar Province in Afghanistan. The area is in the Hindu Kush, along the border of Pakistan. According to 2011 data, the Tregami language of Afghanistan is spoken by the Nuristani group of around 3500 people (2011 data). Every speaker also speaks Pashto in addition to Tregami.

 

Today, the Tregami, along with many other languages of Afghanistan struggle for their survival as they face tough competition from prominent languages of the region like Dari and Pashto. According to the latest data, of CIA World Factbook, Dari Persian is spoken by 78% (L1 + L2) and functions as the lingua franca, while Pashto is spoken by 35% and Uzbek by 10%

An interesting fact about the Tregami language is its similarities in beliefs like the Kalasha language of Pakistan. The Tregami folklore and oral traditions mention the community to have lived northeast of the merging point of the Kabul and Kunar rivers and they gradually moved westward to escape conversion at the hands of the Islamic community, who rapidly advanced into their area. The oral traditions and folklore also show similarities with ancient Hinduism with a belief in a supreme creator and several lesser gods. Prayers and offering sacrifices to the gods to seek blessing and atonements were common and are considered a mix of animistic beliefs, merging with Hinduism. In 1895, the Nuristani clans were defeated by Amir Adur Raham Khan’s forces and the region was converted to Islam and the land was renamed as- ‘Nuristan’- ‘Land of Enlightenment’.

The oral traditions also speak of a possible Greek origin of the community, just like the Kalasha oral traditions from Pakistan. Alexander the Great had passed through the area in 327 BCE and his army was defeated at the hands of the fierce tribes of the region in the Kunar River area. Alexander suffered great losses. Soon afterwards, Alexander died. However, it is not known if his soldiers stayed back in the region though the local folklore speaks of a possible origin of the community from the soldiers of Alexander’s army. Nevertheless, there is no available historical proof about this.

Thus, the endangered language of Tregami not only speaks of the everyday struggles of survival, but also connects its historical identity to the larger platform of the region through the folklore of its possible Greek origin.

Maldives

The story of this island nation is interesting as the UN does not list any endangered language/s from this region, but it is important to see how the old Dives Akuru (Divehi/Maldivian letters) script got lost across the last few centuries and got replaced with a newer script- the Thaana or Taana of the Divehi language (Maldivian language). Along with the loss of the old Dives Akuru script, there has also been a loss of history and historical data from the region.

The Dives Akuru (Dhivehi/Maldivian letters) script has been the oldest script of Maldives in which the language of Divehi was written. This script has been there since age-old times and its existence can be traced right from 3rd century BCE, till around 12th century CE, when many Buddhist scriptures got translated and written down by Buddhist monks. This script was written from left to right. Thus, Dives Akuru script and the Divehi language was the prominent language and script from very ancient times.

However, the story gradually started to change from 12th century onwards as the country started facing many political and social challenges from the time the island started to experience conversion into Islam. Inspite of all challenges, the Dives Akuru script continued from 12th century, till upto early 18th century, after which it started to become extinct mostly, but there are evidences of the script still being used in some isolated islands till the 1960s, but the last of the native user died in 1990s.

 

Today, Maldivians rarely learn the Dives Akuru script, which has been totally replaced by the Thaana or the Taana script. This Thaana of Taana script of the present-day Divehi language, is a mixture of many languages of South Asia, including Arabic, English, Hindi, Sinhalese and Urdu. This script is relatively new and started to develop from 16th century onwards. Today, all schools teach Maldivian (Divehi) and the Thaana script, along with English, which is the medium of instruction in all schools. Arabic is preferred as the second script. Thaana is written from right to left.

Thus, a closer look at the history of the ancient Dives Akuru script of Maldives speaks of years of struggles between cultures and religious beliefs. Though the modern Thaana script is a representation of decades of acculturation, the ancient script of Dives Akuru speaks of many narratives of displacement.

Indigenous Languages And Endangered Identities

Thus, whether narratives are from folklore or from present times, stories often speak of issues of lives and livelihoods. Thus, the very essence of indigenous languages and dialects help to speak of many issues of concern of daily lives and thereby, there remains a need to protect these very languages and dialects as many of them stand endangered in present times. This is true of the region of South Asia as well.

In terms of diversity, today, Asia, stands as the greatest example of language diversity as far as the number of languages go, while Africa comes in closely as a second. Mesmin Tchindjang, Athanase Bopda and Louise Ange´line Ngamgne mentions in their ‘Languages as cultural vehicles for integration and development’ (pp- 42), Sub-Saharan African to have lost about one-third of its inhabitants between 1880 and the 1930s, causing the loss of a number of local African languages and today, the region of Africa is second only to Asia in terms of the number of languages, while in terms of population and surface area it is third after Asia and the Americas. However, the diversity of Africa remains at the topmost in linguistic diversity, taking into consideration the connection with the population.

 

Though many scholars have proposed many methods to understand how endangered or critical the condition of a language is, UNESCO, in 2003 put forth its ‘Language vitality and endangerment’ document. This outlines nine factors for determining language vitality and how critical a language is to survive in the long run. These nine points are-

1.   Intergenerational language transmission

2.   Absolute number of speakers

3.   Proportion of speakers existing within the total (global) population

4.   Language use within existing contexts and domains

5.   Response to language use in new domains and media

6.   Availability of materials for language education and literacy

7.   Government and institutional language policies

8.   Community attitudes toward their language

9.   Amount and quality of documentation

Out of all nine points, the first one- 'Intergenerational language transmission’- is taken as a ‘golden’ point and has further helped UNESCO to propose few categories to understand how endangered a language is, UNESCO further has proposed for common understanding four levels of language endangerment, that varies between ‘safe’ (not endangered) and ‘extinct’ (no living speakers). Based on the ‘golden criteria’ of intergenerational transfer, the four levels of endangerment, as proposed by UNESCO are-

-         ‘vulnerable’ -not spoken by children outside the home

-         ‘definitely endangered’- children not speaking

-         ‘severely endangered’- only spoken by the oldest generations

-         ‘critically endangered- spoken by few members of the oldest generation, often semi-speakers

 

To elucidate upon these four levels, below are some examples from various parts of India-

-         Vulnerable languages in India - Karbi (Assam) and Adi (Arunachal Pradesh), amidst others.

-         Definitely endangered languages in India- Bawm (Northeast)

and Jad (U.P.), amidst others.

-         Severely endangered languages in India- Remo (Odisha) and Atong (Meghalaya), amidst others.

-         Critically endangered languages in India- Manda (Odisha) and Handuri (Himachal Pradesh), amidst others.

 Understanding Human Rights Through Narratives And Folklore

Stories are created and stories are made. At times they reflect history and at other times they speak of history amidst us but at all times they speak of our common emotions, needs and expressions. The many cross-references and the similarities amidst single storylines of folklore across the region of South Asia is something important to take note of amidst these stories. This pattern speaks of a particular manner in which oral narratives evolved over a period of time and across a geographical area. “This “cross-fertilization” also helps to reflect similar emotions across a geographical area of close proximity as folklore and folktales are often autotelic. They travel by themselves and cross linguistic boundaries, every time they are told and every time a bilingual tells or hears them.” (Maitra: 2019).

Just like folktales, narratives from everyday lives also tend to retain important fragments of their original story from the lives of the people (who makes these stories in the first place) and also develops culturally specific details and elements over a period of centuries. Thus, each language develops its own repository of narratives of origin, migration, displacement, resettlements, economic losses or loss of homes or even death and disease. All the above examples of various narratives of South Asia touch upon each of these examples. Thus, stands the significance of a language and the need for its protection for the many embedded stories that it carries. Bruno Bettelheim mentions about the meaning of these stories in our society as- “carry important messages to the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious mind, on whatever level each is functioning at the time” (Boudinot 2005) as well as conveying universal human problems.

The exact origins of folktales remain cloudy and uncertain as it cannot be determined precisely. Over time, folktales have been created organically and moved haphazardly across borders, societies, and generations. Likewise, narratives, other than folklore, too serve an important purpose to survive generations and move across borders and yet carry an essence of their original ethos.

Finally, it is important to understand that the threat to many of the endangered languages across South Asia follows a pattern and similar causes, including the socio-cultural, political or religious pressures from dominant languages or scripts or dominant religions or even politics of a region. One or more of these circumstances often pushes the speakers and thus, the community as well, into a marginal existence. Thus, intergenerational transmission is a healthy way to fight some of these challenges. However, it is easier said than done as each and every family faces its own challenges of everyday survival, including the most significant being economic issues, which often pushes the community into total oblivion. Various matters, thus, can seriously be brought to notice under human rights issues.

Learning a mother tongue in elite schools is secondary as children mostly learn the dominant language. Even the everyday exposure to media highlights only a handful of prominent languages of South Asia, including Bengali, Hindi, English, Nepali, Dzongkha, Tamil, Sinhala, Pashto, Dari, Urdu etc. A handful of children from elite backgrounds often use one of these dominant languages at home, but not exclusively. This is a pattern which is even seen in families where the mother tongue is spoken at home. Even in such families, the dominant language takes precedence, pushing the mother tongue into a marginal existence. This also often discourages children from learning the script of the mother tongue.

This is the reason, presently, there is often a debate concerning the very significance of the word ‘mother-tongue’ when most existences are multilingual. Concerning these doubts, it is important to note here an important factor, that most of the endangered languages of indigenous communities are plagued by communities facing severe economic issues. Thus, battling financial crises, these communities are often left with no option but to forgo their mother tongue. In many such situations, this also results in the gradual decay and final death of an entire community as well and this is where the situation differs between urban and rural spaces. Across many urban spaces, in spite of losing a mother tongue, a community may not necessarily be wiped out but the situation within rural confines is more challenging, where economic distress often creates severe circumstances that leads to migrations and resettlements and to a great extent, the loss of traditional languages as well. However, in case of specific elite situations, the loss of a language, may not necessarily push the community (for that matter, individual lives) into a marginal existence or its members into a state of penury or complete extinction. This very action is a violation of human rights as the UN (UN Environment Programme, 2020) mentions “free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples be obtained in matters of fundamental importance for their rights, survival, dignity, and well-being”.

Today, many universities across the globe are working to preserve many endangered languages, alongside many governmental agencies of respective governments. On the other hand, there are many organisations who are also working in sectors of human rights of various marginal communities. At times, local and regional literature often helps to highlight these issues. Translating many of these literatures can be an important step to encourage the language and its narratives about human rights, reach a global audience. Translations also provide an incentive to learn and explore different cultures, various issues of different communities and also finally aids in supplying a positive aspect for a peaceable living. 

Unfortunately, the story of the major languages of the world, including South Asia, follows a pattern of the one which is dominant. The world over, as is evident from the Atlas of endangered languages, there is a thrust of the dominant languages taking a precedence and most of the endangered languages are proposed to completely disappear by 2100. Probably, soon, in a time in the near future, the grand and great grand-children of the present generation may not be able to tell the story of their own mother tongue. Some of these languages will be lost forever and will only be limited to the pages of gazetteers and history books and along with these languages, a tremendous loss will be the various histories of many communities. With such a situation developing and spreading across the world, not only South Asia, it is important to question ourselves “Are we really evolving as a global world?”

(The author is a Kolkata-based visual anthropologist, culture specialist, writer, translator and columnist. The above paper is part of the extensive research work of the author from 2017 on South Asian culture. Views are personal. She can be reached at lopamudramaitra@gmail.com)