Utnoor Gondi Standardization Conference – Part 4

The Gunjela Gondi script printed onto flags in the village of Gunjela

Close by to the Kumaram Bheen complex that we are staying in is a village called Gunjala. During a manuscript survey undertaken by the University of Hyderabad, it was here that Professor Jaider Tirumal Rao discovered four ancient books written in a previously unknown script. Luckily, there were three people in the village who were still able to decipher and this script – which has come to be known as the Gunjala script – is reputedly the ancient script of the Gondi language. You can see it above printed on to a series of flags describing different animals. 

Professor Jaider Tirumal Rao of the University of Hyderabd - the discoverer of the script

 Today happened to be the inaugural celebration for a literacy drive in the village: in six months, the planners hope, all of the village children will be able to read and write in this script. The Conference’s coincidence with this celebration also raises a number of questions about the Gondi language’s written form. While this script may have a strong claim to historical authenticity, is it possible to reintroduce it across the whole of the Gondi-speaking region from this one small village in Telengana? The script we are using in the dictionary compilation is Devanagari (the script Hindi is written in) – this was chosen mostly because most of the participants can read it – and this issue is sure to require more thought. There is a choice here between widespread comprehension and the cultural value that this script may have as a connection to the Gond past and this is surely something that will have to be stringently debated at a later stage.  

A traditional instrument played at the celebration in Gunjela

 This is the last day of the Standardization Conference and we have now finalised over 2100 words. This should be enough for the publication of a useful dictionary in February. The collector of Adilabad District even stopped by to congratulate everyone.

In the middle is the collector of Adilabad District