India: A Feast of Languages: Background information when reading The Far Field

India: A Feast of Languages

This article relates to The Far Field

In Madhuri Vijay's novel The Far Field, characters speak a variety of languages: Hindi, Kashmiri, English, Tamil and Urdu. India has a shimmering history as the crossroads of civilizations and cultures, so it's not surprising that its inhabitants speak many languages. The constitution of India recognizes 22 official languages, but a 2011 census reveals that there are more than 121 different mother-tongue languages spoken by at least 10,000 people, with quite a few other languages used by smaller numbers of native speakers.

The 22 languages recognized by India's national constitution are: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri. Hindi is one of the most common mother-tongue languages on the globe (ranked after Chinese, Spanish and English) with approximately 300 million native speakers. Bengali is the 7th most-commonly spoken language on Earth, with almost 200 million native speakers. States in India have the right to determine other languages as official for localized government and schooling purposes, and this situation is reflected in the novel.

English is widely spoken, a legacy from Britain's colonization of the Indian subcontinent during the period known as the British Raj from 1858 to 1947. The end of British rule led to the partition of Pakistan (primarily Muslim) from India (primarily Hindu). Ties of language and religious traditions are both complex in this region. Today, Urdu and English are the official languages of Pakistan, while Hindi and English are used by India's national government. The state of Jammu and Kashmir in the northwest shares (disputed) borders with both Pakistan and India. Urdu is its official language, but Kashmiri is the language taught in schools and widely spoken. As might be imagined, languages cross contemporary state and national boundaries in many other cases. For example, Urdu has its origins in Persia, while in certain isolated regions of contemporary India there are small populations speaking so-called minority languages common to that particular area. One example here is Garo, not one of the nationally-recognized languages, yet spoken by almost one million tribal people living in the Garo Hills area of northeastern India bordering Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam.

Sanskrit is nationally-recognized, yet not widely spoken. The epic poem Bhagavad Gita, which has great historic and Hindu religious significance, was originally composed in Sanskrit around 200 BCE. This ancient language offers many "loan words" recognized today throughout the world. For example, guru is a Sanskrit word meaning "venerable, weighty, honorable." Many terms in the practice of yoga, such as namaste ("bowing to you"), and tadasana ("mountain" + "posture"), or garudasana ("eagle" + "posture") are from Sanskrit. The Sanskrit word karma means "action affects fate." "Dinghy" comes from the Hindi word dingi, meaning "small boat." Catamaran owes its origins to the Tamil kattumaran, meaning "logs tied together."

Other loan words from the Indian subcontinent now commonly used around the globe include food terms, such as chapati, roti and paratha (all forms of flatbread), and curry, which comes from the Tamil "kari" translated as "sauce for rice." Then there is sweet, syrupy chutney, on loan from the Hindi chatni, which means "to lick." Other Hindi loan words include "jungle," from jangala, meaning "uncultivated ground." A "bangle" bracelet is derived from bangri, "a ring of colored glass worn on the wrist." "Sari" (a wrapped dress) and "pajamas" (literally "leg" + "garment") are loan words from the Hindi. Urdu lends "khaki," which means "dusty," or "dust-colored." And last but not least in the clothing realm is "cashmere," which is luxurious wool from Kashmiri goats.

Learning about a region and honoring diverse vocabularies opens up new doors to understanding human history and intellectual crosscurrents. Commonalities in language help bridge communication gaps, ideally promoting efforts to build a peaceable planet. Consider another Urdu loan word, toofaan, meaning "typhoon," which we can agree is a massive storm in any language.

Check out this issue's review of Babel by Gaston Dorren for more information on languages and their loan words.

Sanskrit writing, courtesy of oneindia

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to The Far Field. It originally ran in January 2019 and has been updated for the January 2019 edition. Go to magazine.