Dogri Language is quite a popular language in India and it belongs to the family of Indo Aryan languages. This language is mainly spoken in the region of Jammu in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, Dogri language is also spoken in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and other states of the country. The Dogri speaking people are known as “Dogras†and their region is called as “Duggarâ€. Dogri language is actually a member of the Western Pahari languages group. It is considered as the most important language and even the authorized verbal communication of Himachal Pradesh.
History of Dogri Language
History or the origin of Dogri Language can be traced back to the era of Amir Khusro, great poet. In the list of Indian languages of this great poet, the earliest references of Dogri language could be found. The Greek astrologer Pulomi, accompanying Alexander in his 323 B.C. campaign into the Indian subcontinent, referred to some inhabitants of Duggar as a brave Dogra family living in the mountain ranges of Shivalik. However, the steady evolution of the literature of Dogri language witnessed the scripting of "Rajauli" that is actually a translation by "Tehaldas" of an original Persian work.
During the 20th century, the Dogri language and literature witnessed a huge development in several spheres such as prose, poetry, novels, plays and short stories. On 2nd August 1969, the General Council of the Sahitya Academy, Delhi recognized Dogri as an “independent contemporary literary language†of India. On 22nd December 2003, in a major milestone for the official status of the language, Dogri was recognized as a national language of India in the Indian constitution.
Literature in Dogri Language
Literature in Dogri language is rich and it includes some fabulous collection of poetries, fictional stories and several dramatic works. Dr. Karan Singh, one of the prominent names in Dogri literature, has contributed tremendously through a number of novels, travelogues as well as philosophical treatises. He has also translated some famous Dogri songs into English language for popularizing this language.
Script of Dogri Language
Dogri was at first written using the Dogri script which is very close to the Takri script. The language is at present more usually written in Devanagari in India and in the Nasta`liq form of Perso-Arabic in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Dogri language has its own grammar and it own dictionary. Dogri vocabulary has been influenced by some other languages, particularly Persian and English. It has descended from Classical Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas. Dogri verbal communication embraces various dialects of Punjabi words and a little of Western Pahari.
Classification of Dogri Language
Dogri Language can be considered to be a part of Indo-European languages, Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Aryan languages, Pahari languages and Western Pahari languages. Dogri previously considered a Punjabi dialect, but now it is promoted as a written language in India.
Some of the famous Dogri Language writers are Narendra Khajuria, Padma Sachdev, Madan Mohan Sharma, Prakash Premi, Kuldeep Singh Jindhrahia, Krishan Sharma, Chhatrapal, Dhian Singh, Darshan Darshi and so on.
