Indian Antiquary Vol 60

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

Page 345

August, 19311
GENERAL VIEW
(84143
8 See also, beside the grammar of T. Grahame Bailey, D. L. R. Lorimer, Phonetics of the Gilgit Dialect of Shina, JRAS., 1924, 1 and 177, and, for important information regarding the Brokpā, or Highland, dialects, R. B. Shaw, Stray Ariana in Tibet, JASB., XLVII, Part i (1878), 26 ft.
1 J. W. McCrindle, Ancient India as described in Classical Literature, 51. 41. Kāšmiri or Kadir (K.) is the language of the valley of Kašmir. Its basis is & tongue closely allied to şiņā, and some of its most common words, such as the personal pronouns or words indicating close blood-relationship, are almost identical with the corte. sponding words in that language. But at an early date it developed a literature under San. skrit influence, and both its vocabulary and its accidence have been strongly affected by that language or its descendants, especially the Lahndā of the Western Panjāb, spoken immediately to its south. In the fourteenth century A.D. the valley was invaded by the Musal. māns, and it remained under their rule till the year 1814, when it was conquered by the Sikkhs. During these five centuries the bulk of the population became converted to Islām, and a large number of Persian and (through Persian) Arabic words was added to the vocabulary. Those Kašmiris who became Musalmāns naturally borrowed most freely from this foreign source, but the speech even of those few who remained faithful to Hinduism is also infected by it. Kāšmiri has a small literature, and has received study at the hands of ite own speakers. A grammar, on the model of the Kaumudis of India and named Kasmirasabdamrta, was written about the year 1875 A.D. by Isvara Kaula, who for the first time gave the language a fairly consistent system of spelling. His system is gradually being adopted, but with most writers, the spelling of the language is still in a state of chaos. Kāšmiri varies slightly from place to place. It has one important dialect, Kašte wārī, spoken in KaštAwār (Kishtwar of the maps) to the south-east of the Valley, on the Upper Cināb. There are also a number of local dialects of small importance, such as Dödi, Rāmbani, and Poguli, spoken in isolated villages south of the Valley, in the hills between it and the Cināb, where the latter passes through Jammu territory. Kāšmiri is the only one of the Dardic languages that has a written character. Musalmāns, who form the bulk of the population, employ a modification of the Persian character. Hindūs prefer the Sāradā character, and in this most old Kāxmiri works are written, but of late years the Nagari has begun to come into general use. Although Kāšmiri cannot be called a pure example of the Dardic languages, it is the only one for which we have ample materials for study. It will hence be frequently referred to in the following pages.
Published by the ASB., under the editorship of the present writer, in 1898.
42. Maiya (My.) may be taken as & corrupted form of şiņā. The river Indus, after leaving Baltistān, flows pretty nearly due west through the Cilās country till it receives the river Kandiā. From this point the joint Indus-cum-Kandiā turns to the south, and passes through a wild hill-country known as the Indus Köhistan, till it de bouches on to the plains of the Panjab, and a tract in this Kõhistān is locally known as Mayo. In this Kõhistān several dialects are spoken, all based upon şiņā, but much mixed with the Lahndā spoken to its south, and with Pašto. These dialects are collectively known as Kõhistāni, and Maiya, the most important of them, may be taken as a typical example. Others, such as Cilis and Gauro, are described by Biddulph in Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh. None of them have any known literature or written character. The Kõhistān was for long under the domination of the Afyāns, and the main language of the country is still Pašto, Kõhistāni being spoken only by a few tribes who, while they have acoepted Islām from their conquerors, still adhere to their ancient tongue.
43. Another Kõhistān, that of the valleys of the rivers $wāt, Panjkõrā, and Kunar, lies immediately to the west of the Indus Kõhistān. Here also Pašto is the main language, but, exactly as in the case of the Indus valley, there are a certain number of tribes who still speak languages that are based on şiņā, with an admixture of Pašto and. Lahndā. As a