GUJRI

Gujri is the spoken language of the Gujars of Kashmir who constitute a sizeable proportion of the population of the region. This language belongs to the Indo-aryan group of languages as against the Dadric origin in Kashmiri language. This language has a very old history, that is it dates back to the immigration of the Gujar tribes from central Asia into the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent about 8^th century A.D. When Gujars came to India, they are said to have been a fighting race and, therefore, occupied a vast belt of last extending  from Gujarnwalla and Gujrat in Pakistan to Rajasthan and Gujarat, Himchal Pradesh,Mewat and Jammu and Kashmir in India. They retained their language –Gujri and preserved it with some regional variations. This is borne out by the fact that Gujri as spoken in Kashmir bears a close similarity to Rajasthani, Mewati, Gujrati, Pahari, Punjabi and Dogri languages. Their phonetics, vowels, sounds and vocabulary bear a close similarity to one another. Dr. Grierson has listed seven such languages of the Indio-Pak sub-continent which have a common origin. These are Gujrati(Pakistan) Rajasthani, Mewati, Gujri( Yousuf Zia dialect)Kangda Gujri, Hushiarpuri Gujriand Kashmiri Gujri.

Gujri is much older than Hindi and Urdu languages. In fact, these two languages have borrowed some of their vocabulary from Gujri. Gujri language lagged behind in its development due to the fact that it did not enjoy official patronage as did Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujrati and Sindhi language enjoy. Gujars as a distinct  race were scattered in various parts of north India, and in Kashmir they were pushed back into hills and forests all round the valley and the contiguous area of Jammu region. This might have been due to historical reasons. However, Gujri languages remained the language of the common man, a spoken language and because of this reason, the language was able to survive the total neglect and various visitudes and episodes of the long history of Gujar race. Gujars  were a brave and martial race who after having fought bloody wars in the north and north-western parts of India and Pakistan , had established their kingdoms. But under the impact of foreign invasion and bitter and prolonged strife with the nature and other races like Jats etc. their kingdoms disintegrated and they were pushed out of the main lands of India and into the outskirts of Kashmir valley. However, they have preserved their distinct culture, ethnic identity and their language.

There are a large number of words which are used in both Kashmiri, Gujri and Pahari languages with some phonetic variations. The Gujri language now enjoys official patronage in Jammu and Kashmir State. The Academy  of Art, Culture and Languages has been encouraging writers and poets of Gujri language by providing them financial assistance and various incentives in the form of cash awards and certificates. This Radio Kashmir Srinagar and Jammu as well as the Doordarshan, Srinagar and Jammu have regular news broadcast and programmes in Gujri language in which poets, writers and social workers participate and express their views and ideas in Gujri language.