I have come across several written and verbal discussions about saving our Gujarati language from the English attack.
We observe that the thinkers and writers of Gujarati language continue to steadfastly refuse to let English dent its ‘purity’. We look down upon the use of English words in our spoken and written Gujarati. We feel threatened that Gujarati will be impoverished if more and more Gujaratis depend on the use of ‘Gujlish’.
In the course of learning Arabic, I have come across interesting facts, which make me inquire into our collective mindset, history and lazily forgotten facts.
Let me depend on a paragraph written in Gujarati on http://www.gujaratindia.com/, a Government of Gujarat website, to make my point.
“ગિરનાર પર્વતમાં મળી આવેલા શિલ્પ-સ્થાપ્ત્યો મૌર્ય સમ્રાટ અશોકના સામ્રાજ્યની ગવાહી પૂરે છે. જેણે શક અને હુણોએ કબ્જેં કરેલા વિસ્તા રમાંથી ખદેડી મૂકી ગુજરાત પ્રદેશમાં સામ્રાજ્ય કર્યું હતું….સમયાંતરે ગુજરાતનો કારોબાર વિવિધ રજવાડાંઓના હાથમાં હતો. ઇ.સ. ૧૯૪૭માં ભારત આઝાદ થયું ત્યાગરથી લઇ ૧ મે, ૧૯૬૦ સુધી સૌરાષ્ટ્રા સિવાયનો સમગ્ર ગુજરાત પ્રદેશ મુંબઇ રાજ્ય હસ્તાક હતો. બાદમાં મહારાષ્ટ્રર રાજ્યમાં મુંબઇ સમાવી ગુજરાતને અલગ રાજ્યનો દરજ્જો મળ્યો….ઇ. સ. ૧૬૦૦માં ડચ, ફ્રેન્ચર, અંગ્રેજ અને પોર્ટુગીઝ પ્રજા રાજ્યના દરિયાઇ સિમાડે આવી ને વસી હતી….ગુજરાતમાં સ્વાભાવે માયાળુ, ખંતીલી પ્રકૃતિ અને મહેનતકશ ગુજરાતી લોકો શહેરો, ગામડાંઓ અને નાના કસબામાં રહી તેની આર્થિક ઉપાર્જન પ્રવૃતિ કરે છે….” Source:
This is just an example all of us can refer to easily. There are approximately 100 words in the text above, of which 12 words highlighted in red colour are of Arabic/Farsi origin! I am not implying that the website is ill written – it is just the way Gujarati today is!
Arabic/Farsi Rooted --- Sanskrit Rooted --- English
Gawahi --- Sakshi --- Witness
Karobar --- Vyavahar --- Administration
Azad --- Swatantra --- Free
Sivay --- Vina (?) --- Without
Alag --- Veglu (?)** --- Independent
Darajjo --- Varg (?) --- Status
Isvi San --- Isvi Samvat --- AD (Anno Domini in Latin!)
Dariya * --- Samudra --- Sea
Etc, etc.
*Actually dariya means river, popularly used in Indian languages to describe sea
** ‘Judu’ and ‘alaydu’ both are of Arabic/Farsi origin
Now you will agree that all of us will protest, if I wrote the same paragraph, replacing all words of Arabic/Farsi origin with words of English or English origin!
On one hand we have this fear and repulsion of English, and on the other, over centuries, we have continued to embrace the rapacious invasion of Farsi and Arabic into the core of our psyche and our written and spoken communication.
The more you read Gujarati, the more you will find Arabic/Farsi living in it. Words of Arabic and Farsi root are almost like the embryo carried in the womb of a pregnant Gujarati – inseparable! Sometimes, it is impossible or at least very very difficult to find a Sanskrit based word in Gujarati for a popular Arabic based word. Try ‘harami’ (bastard), ‘multavi’ (postponed), ‘radd’ (cancelled), ‘khajano’ (treasure), ‘safarjan’ (apple), ‘fakro’ (paragraph), ‘vasiyatnamu’ (will), ‘waaras’ (heir), ‘hakk’ (right), ‘daawo’ (court case or claim), ‘kul’ (total), ‘mushkeli/takleef’ (difficulty). Can you see the damage done already? Or is it enrichment?
Oh, even when Gujarati Hindus celebrate new year on the 1st day of Kartik, we say “Saal Mubarak”, neither of which words has its origin in Sankrit. That reminds me of Hindu, which word (Hindu) is Farsi for Sindhu, a Central Asian Pushtu speaking invaders’ reference to the non-Islamic and much confusing civilization/people of the Sindhu river valley. Hindu probably originates from Indus, a Greek word for or related to Sindhu river.
Check out Bhagwad Gita, any of our vedas and other shastras to ensure the absence of the word Hindu. In pre-Islamic times, not far back - just 1,400 years ago, we referred to our religion as ‘dharma’. The ‘ahlek’ and ‘alakh’ of ‘alakh niranjan’ visibly come from ‘halek’, as in ‘kaif halek’ meaning ‘how are (you)’ in Arabic, a common greeting.
Gujarati is probably the only Indian language which uses ‘Shu/Sha’ for ‘Kya’ in Hindi, ‘Kaay’ in Marathi, ‘Ki’ in Bangla and Punjabi and ‘kay’ in Rajasthani……Where does it come from? Of course from Arabic. If you want to ask “How is everything?” or “What’s news?” in Arabic, just say “Shu khabar?”. Surprising? And we thought it is pure Gujarati?
A simple question like “shu”, words such as ‘sawal’, ‘jawab’, ‘akhbar’, ‘adalat’, ‘maafi’, and ‘vagere’ are the heart of our everyday Gujarati (and Arabic) communication. It matters a lot to who we are and how we think.
I am not a linguist, and have not researched deeply before writing this. However, the presence of Arabic in Gujarati is very obvious if you speak both these languages.
So why do thinkers and writers of Gujarati language continue to steadfastly refuse to let English dent its ‘purity’? Is it this understanding of damage done? Or is it the belief that Arabic has enriched Gujarati, but English will pollute it? Why do we look down upon the use of ‘time’ when some one says ‘Time shu thayo chhe?’ and forget that even ‘shu’ is foreign?
We could probably have the approach one: If my large hearted mother Gujarati has loved to carry the twin babies Arabic and Farsi in its lap for centuries, how justified are we to stop her from adopting English? Pretty easy to implement!
Or our approach two could be: Let’s move to the pure Gujarati with its root firmly in mother Sanskrit. Almost impossible for us to now re-learn how to say, “Aa sawal no jawab shu chhe?”
What I do not understand is the more popular approach three: It’s fine for Gujarati to be laced with Arabic, but it’s not fine if English pollutes it. Difficult to justify, difficult to implement.
