Saurashtra language

Saurashtra (Saurashtra script: , Tamil script: சௌராட்டிர மொழி, Devanagari script: सौराष्ट्र भाषा) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily by the Saurashtrians of Southern India who migrated from the Lata region of present-day Gujarat to south of Vindhyas in the Middle Ages.

Saurashtra, an offshoot of Shauraseni Prakrit, once spoken in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, is now chiefly spoken in various places of Tamil Nadu and are mostly concentrated in Madurai, Thanjavur and Salem Districts. Census of India places the language under Gujarati. As of the 2011 Indian census, the Saurashtra language had about 247,702 native speakers.

Classification

Saurashtra belongs to the western branch of the Indo-Aryan languages, a dominant language family of the Indian subcontinent. It is part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is also classified as being part of a Gujaratic languages that, alongside Saurashtra includes the languages like Gujarati (see SIL Ethnologue).

Etymology

According to the oral legends of the Saurashtra people, they migrated to South India from the Saurashtra region of modern-day Gujarat; however, scholars believe this account lacks historical basis, and that the Saurashtrans actually migrated from the area of Mandsaur.

The name "Saurashtra" itself is from Sanskrit (, ), the vṛddhi form of (, ), derived from (, ) + (, ). Thus the name literally means "(of/from) a good country."

History

The oldest available inscriptions in Saurashtra are found in Mandasaur, which is a city in the Malwa region (present day Madhya Pradesh). The language is the modern living and active form of ancient Shauraseni Prakrit. However, it also shows some similarities with Maharashtri Prakrit, the ancestor of Marathi and Konkani. They are also present in significant numbers in Tirupati of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="2" | 

!Labial

!Dental

!Alveolar

!Retroflex

!(Alveolo-) palatal

!Velar

!Glottal

|- style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" |Nasal

!plain

|- style="text-align:center"

!murmured

|- style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="4" |Stop/ Affricate

!voiceless

|- style="text-align:center"

!aspirated

|- style="text-align:center"

!voiced

|- style="text-align:center"

!murmured

|- style="text-align:center"

! colspan="2" |Fricative

|- style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" |Approximant

!plain

|- style="text-align:center"

!murmured

|- style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" |Flap/Trill

!plain

|- style="text-align:center"

!murmured

{|class="wikitable"

|+Vowels

! ||Front||Central||Back

|-style="text-align:center"

!High

||| ||

|-style="text-align:center"

!Mid

|||||

|-style="text-align:center"

!Low

| |||| 

Writing system

Saurashtra script

thumb|The Saurashtra Alphabet Chart

thumb|The word "Saurashtra" written in the Saurashtra script.

Saurashtra for most of the part had been an oral language lacking any script of its own. Around the 17th to 18th centuries some attempted to write it in Telugu script. Around 19th century a script was invented. There were attempts to revitalize the script in the latter half of the 19th century, ignoring most of the complex conjunct characters.

The Saurashtra script is an abugida, that is, each letter represents a consonant+vowel syllable. There are thirty-four such letters. An unmarked letter represents a syllable with the inherent vowel [a]; letters can be marked with one of eleven vowel diacritics to represent a syllable with a different vowel. Vowel diacritics are attached to the top right corner of a base letter or written alongside it. There are also twelve letters for writing independent vowels (i.e. word-initial vowels). The four vocalic liquid letters r, ru, l and lu behave in the same way as vowels, so are often included in the vowel class. The alphabet chart containing vowels, consonants and the compound letters in Devanagari script are as follows:

thumb|Saurashtra Devanagari alphabet chart released with guidance of CIIL|right

Common words

The language itself is somewhat similar to modern day Gujarati and Marathi as both originated from Prakrit. However, in the course of migration to South India, the language was influenced by Dravidian Languages such as Telugu and to a lesser extent Kannada and accumulated words from those language in its vocabulary as loanwords.

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" width=200 | English

! scope="col" width=200 | Saurashtra word

! scope="col" width=200 | loan word/Ancestor word ḷ ṭ

| "Rasam" (Tamarind extract) || Piḷchār || Puḷi + Chāru (Telugu)

| Read/Study || Cheudi/Choudi || Chaduvu (Telugu)

| Mirror || Addam || Addam (Telugu)

| Flattened rice || Aṭkul || Aṭukulu (Telugu)

| Shop || Aṅgiḍi || Aṅgaḍi (Telugu/Kannada)

| Rangoli || Muggu || Muggulu (Telugu)

| Cloth || Boṭṭo/Boṭṭal || Batte/Battalu (Telugu)

| Swallowing || Miṅgi || Miṅgu (Telugu)

| Jump || Dhuṅki/Dhumki || Dumuku (Telugu)

| Vehicle|| Boṇḍi || Bandi (Telugu)

| Children || Pillan || Pillalu (Telugu)

| Way || Vāṭ || Vāṭ ( Marathi )/ Vāṭu (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

| Punch (blow with the fist) || Guddi || Guddu (Telugu)

|Sprinkles|| Chiṅkul || Chinukulu (Telugu)

| Drop || Boṭṭu || Boṭṭu (Telugu)

| Work || Kām || Kāmu (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

| Monkey || Kōdi || Kōti (Telugu)

|Milk

|Dūd

|Dūdhu (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

|Water

|Pani

|Pāṇī (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

|Cow

|Gāi

| Gāi (Gurjara Apabhramsha)/ Marathi)

|Who

|Kōn

|Kōṇ (Marathi/ Kavaṇa Gurjara Apabhramsha)

|Out

|Bharāḍ

|Bahāra (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

|Come

|Āu

|Āvō (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

|Do

|Kēr

|Karā (Marathi), Karahi (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

|Go

|Jā

|Jāhi (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

|Home

|Ghēr

|Gharu (Gurjara Apabhramsha)

|Rice

|Bhāt

|Bhāt (Gurjara Apabhramsha, Marathi)

|No (I do not want...)

|Nokko

|Nako (Marathi)

|Sour

|Ambaṭ

| Ambaṭ (Marathi) / Amboṭ (Konkani)

|Spicy

|Tikke

|tīkhaṭ (Marathi)

|Curry

|Amṭi / Auṇṭi

| Amṭi (Marathi)

|Fog/Snow

|Monchu

|Man̄cu (Telugu)

|What

|kāyo

|Kaye (Marathi)

Literature

The literature of Saurashtra is not as large as the literature of other literary languages such as Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, and Telugu. The earliest available Saurashtra literature that survives to this date is the Saurashtra translation of the great Sanskrit epic of Ramayana. It was written by Venkatasoori Swamigal (1800 AD), a Sanskrit scholar and disciple of Venkataramana Bhagavathar who lived in Ayyampettai of Thanjavur district.

Other important literary works in Saurashtra are:

Bhagavad Gita (Bhagavat Giito) 1953 AD – written by T.R.Padman abhaiyer
Thirukkural (Saurashtra Thirukural Payiram—Pitika Pragaranam) 1980 AD – translated by Sankhu Ram
Mahabharata (Paandavun Khetho) 2013 AD – written by Kasin Anantham
Silappatikaram 2018 AD – translated by S.D.Gnaneswaran

Besides Thirukkural, Sankhu Ram has done many literary works in Saurashtra like Gnanamritha Geetham, Shiddhashrama Prabhaavam and so on. The first Saurashtra dictionary was brought out by T.M. Rama Rai, the author of Vachana Ramayana, in 1908. It was printed in Saurashtra script and was in the form of slokas. Apart from these he is also credited for Niti Sambu and Natanagopala Nayaki Swami's Kirthanas.