Kosal Discussion and Development Forum

Kosli language should be a subject and the medium of instruction in primary classes : Dr. Mahendra Kumar Mishra

July 30, 2011 at 7:07 am sanjibkarmee 4 comments

Following comment was posted in our earlier posting. For the convenience of readers we are posting it here.

After reading the above comments on Kosli language and literature   I   have to offer my views.

1.South Kosal is a tract identified with current western Orissa adjoining  eastern Chhtishgarh. Kushavati Nagra is found to be the capital of Kush – the second son of  Lord Ramachandra.

2. South Kosal is found in the puranic and Sanskrit canons which   have the records of   ruling dynasties.

3. Koshalananda Kaavaya is written  for the Chauhan Kings in 16th  century AD  is  the evidence of  Kosal  as  Sambalpur and  interestingly  Pundit Gangadhar Mishra was  from Puri, a court poet  in  Sambalpur  Raj-durbar.

4. Dr Suniti Kumar Chaterjee, a noted indologist and  historical linguist mentioned   in his work (1967  Dr Artaballabh  Memorial speech in Orissa Sahity Academy ),  Dr. Krushna Chandra Panigrahi, a noted historian, and  Dr. Khageswar   Mahapatra, a linguist, in their   work  have  mentioned about the   distinct language  of South Koshala which is not intelligible to the Oriya people. Even to day, the pure   oral tradition of Kosli language is unintelligible to Oriya people.

5.The  writings of  Dr Harekrishna Mahatab indicates that  Kosal  was never a part of  present Orissa before  the  British Raj. He was unable to face Maharaja RN Singh Deo as  stated Sri Nilamani Raotray.in the auto biography.  Formation of Orissa is  a modern aspect in which the contribution of  Britishers and Madhubabu can be mentioned. But to my knowledge till  the merger of 26 garjat  Orissa   was never conceptualized as a state.

Presently  the National   Curriculum   Framework  2005  and  Right to Education Act  2009 has emphasized the linguistic Human Rights of   children  to   pursue their  learning in primary   schools.   Based on this Act  and  NCF  2005 , ten tribal languages in Orissa  has been adopted  to teach the tribal  children in mother tongue.   The Munda and Kishan  languages  of  Sundargarh has been  accordingly taken up. Thus it would   be proper now to take up Kosli as the medium of instruction in primary classes.  Kosli should be a subject and also the medium of instruction in primary stage at least from Class I to class V.

Oriya colonialism is unfortunately created a hegemony  among the people not only of  Kosal  but also  to the Adivasis of Orissa for which  the  self hate  for one’s won language  and culture   had been created. But now the turning point is that many tribal languages are regenerated and revitalized by the speakers   community and no qualification is required for that. Consider when Sweden was subduing Finland over a period of 300 years and the oral tradition of Finland became the written literature of Finland. Now Kalevala – the national  epic of  Finland  is Kalevala  which   was sung  by the  unlettered singers  and  now it is a widely known as  National epic translated in to 204 languages of  the globe.

Now the rich oral literature of Kosal followed by hundreds of writers from Kosal can revitalize its own culture and language, not only to restore it for language sake but the epistemology and worldview that is created across the ages.

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