Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 329

APRIL, 1931)
GENERAL VIEW
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south of the Br. country, and reaching to the valley of the Narmadā. It also has a literature of considerable merit.
1 The one exception is the fact that the termination of strong masculine nouns with a bases ends in ā, not in au or 0, thus agreeing with the vernacular Hindöstant of the upper Doab and with Panjabi, both of which owe it to the influence of the Outer languages.
9. The Intermediate languages, as their name implies, are of a mixed character, repre. senting the Midland language shading off into the Outer languages. In those to the west of the Midland the shading off is very gradual, the influence of the Midland language being strong near the centre, and gradually fading away as we approach the circumference. On the other hand, the eastern Intermediate language, Eastern Hindi, belongs rather to the Outer type, and is not so strongly influenced by the Midland language.
10. Panjābi (P.) lies immediately to the north-west of Hindi and occupies the central Panjab. The eastern Panjab is occupied by Hindi, and the western by Labndā, an Outer language. Nowhere do we see the gradual change of the Midland to the Outer languages more clearly than in the case of P. This is due to the very composite nature of the speech. We shall see that the north-western Outer languages (including Lahndā) are strongly in. fluenced by the Dardic languages of the extreme north-west, and traces of this Dardic influence extend over the whole P. area, growing weaker and weaker as we go eastwards, just as the influence of the Midland language grows weaker and weaker as we go westwards. This linguistic condition leads us to the conclusion that much as we know from history was the case in Rajpūtānā) this mixed language, mainly Outer, but partly Dardio once extended over the whole Panjāb, and that the inhabitants of the Midlana, through pressure of population or for some other reason, gradually took possession of the Panjāb, and partly imposed their own language upon the inhabitants. In no other way can the nature of the mixed language of the Panjāb be explained. One result of this mixture is that it is quite impossible to give any definite boundary-line between Panjābi and Lahndā, and if, for convenience sake. we take the degree of 74° East Longitude as an approximate conventional frontier, it is to be clearly understood that much that is very like Lahndå will be found to its east, and much that is very like Panjābi to its west. Panjabi has a national alphabet akin to the Mahājani of Rajputānā and to the Sāradā of Kašmir. The characters are known as Landē? or clipped,' and it is a most imperfect means of writing. It has only two or three signs for the initial vowels, and none for the non-initial. The consonants, too, are far from clear and the script varies from place to place. It is seldom legible to anyone but the writer, and not always to him. According to tradition, Angada ('538-52), the second Sikkh Guru, found that the hymns of his religion when written in this character were liable to be misread, and he accordingly improved it by borrowing signs from the Nāgari alphabet and by polishing up the forms of the existing letters. The resultant alphabet became known as Gurmukhi, or that which proceeds from the mouth of the Guru. This Gurmukhi alphabet is the one now used for printed texts used by the Sikkhs of the Panjāb, and is also used by Hindus of the same country. Musalmans, as a rule, prefer the Persian alphabet.
The standard form of Panjabi is that spoken round Amrtoar (Amritsar), and although it varies slightly from place to place, it has only one real dialect, the Dögri (D.), spoken in the State of Jammū and, with slightly varying inflexions, in the District of Kängrā. This has a written character of its own called Takkari or Takari, the name of which is probably derived from that of the Takkas, a tribe whose capital was the famous Sakala. P. has a small literature, mainly consisting of ballads and folk-épics. The contents of the Sikkh Granth. though written in the Gurmukhi character, are mostly in old Hindi, only a few of the hymns, though some of these are the most important, being written in Panjabi. Of the languages connected with the Midland, P. is the one that is most free from borrowed words, whether Persian or Sanskrit. While capable of expressing all ideas, it has a charming rustie flavour
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