Not having a common script for languages in India behind much ignorance about them

[Seva Lamberdar]

The Indian languages share many similarities and common features with one another.  In addition,  the changes in them take place slowly and gradually, from East to West or North to South and vice versa, usually in the form of words and phrases undergoing small deviations in form and pronunciation from one area to the next. 

Unfortunately, due to a large number of archaic and different scripts, about a dozen, in use currently to write various languages in India, most of the similarities and common features in Indian languages remain hidden and unknown to majority of people who usually are not able to use (read and write) more than a script or two.

Moreover, the use of different scripts exclusively for languages in even the adjacent states / regions sometimes, leads to the mistaken notion that languages in India are very different from one another, without any similarities and common features in them, and that they change abruptly / suddenly from one region to the next. 

Suffice to say, if Indian languages had a single, efficient and easy script (especially with 47 letters: 33 consonants and 14 vowels, as in Devanagari) to write them all, rather than several archaic scripts exclusively used these days for different languages in various regions / states, there would be more number of people now able to read, write and use multiple languages in India.   

A recent blog by Mr H.S. Madhava Rao on Sulekha website, "BHOOTAKOLA of Dakshina Kannada .. Part 1" (http://Creative.Sulekha.Com/Bhootakola-Of-Dakshina-Kannada-Part-1_638465_blog), described the Bhootkola festival (Bhootakola implying spirit worship ritual). This festival, according to the blog (written in the English language using the standard Roman script), is celebrated in southern Karnataka region of India, where the main language used by people is Kannada (written in Kannada script). 

Since the blog was written in the English language using Roman script which I can read, rather than the Kannada language in Kannada script which I can't read, I was able to get a clear and complete picture of the festival upon reading the blog, including understand the meanings of special words and names in it (related to the festival) from the Kannada language which, I noticed, have similarities with other Indian languages.  Needless to say, this would not at all be possible for me, i.e. find out various details about Bhootkola festival in Karnataka while also able to recognize and understand special Kannada words / names with similarities in other languages, if the blog had been written in Kannada using Kannada script (which I can't read) rather than English using Roman script (which I can read and as the case here).  

Note the words "kola" and "nema" used in the blog in the sense of play and ceremony, respectively, which supposedly are rooted in Kannada and its dialects.  Moreover, speaking generally about drama or art, the word "kola" (meaning play) might originally be based on ಕಲೆ (or "kale", meaning art) in Kannada, which incidentally is very similar in use (meaning) and sound to कला (or "kala", meaning art) in Hindi.  

Similarly, the word "nema" is used in the blog in the sense of ceremony (or ritual, ritualistically), indicating its Kannada roots as  ನಿಯಮ (or "niyama", signifying rite or ritual),  which again is similar in use (meaning) and sound to नियम (or "niyam", implying ritualistic significance) in Hindi. 

It would be impossible in the above to recognize the close relation and similarity (in meanings and sounds) between words ಕಲೆ (in Kannada) and  कला (in Hindi) or ನಿಯಮ (in Kannada) and  नियम (in Hindi) without the use of a common familiar script (Roman) used for English in the blog.

Let's consider another important word "Bhoota" (meaning ghost or spirit in English) from the blog in the following which has the same kinds of sound and meaning in several Indian languages using different scripts, including the Kannada language using Kannada script

भूत / प्रेत (bhoot or pret, meaning ghost in Hindi),
ಭೂತ (bhūta, meaning ghost in Kannada),
പ്രേതം (prētaṁ, meaning ghost in Malayalam),
ਭੂਤ (bhūta, meaning ghost in Punjabi),
প্রেতা (prēta, meaning ghost in Bangla),
ભૂત (bhūta, meaning ghost in Gujarati), بھوت (bhoot, meaning ghost in Urdu).

In conclusion, it is clear from the above that Indian languages, in spite of numbering in dozens and using several different scripts for writing, share enormous similarities and common features with one another which remain unfortunately hidden and unknown to most people due  mainly to the lack of a common script to write them.

[Seva Lamberdar]

ଭୂତ   (bhoot, meaning ghost in Odia)