Documentary based on survey of 780 Indian languages to be screened on August 6 at SPPU

A documentary based on the Peoples’ Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) – an exhaustive survey of 780 Indian languages carried out in 2010 by professor Ganesh Devy and his team of around 3,000 volunteers across the country – will be screened for the first time at the department of Pali, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), at 4pm on August 6. The 29 minutes’ long documentary titled ‘Sammas (Portmanteau)’ took independent filmmaker, Dhananjay Bhawalekar, three years to make. Bhawalekar came across this project by chance. “When I first heard about this project - an exhaustive linguistic survey of India called the PLSI – I was quite impressed by Baroda-based Devy’s work,” said Bhawalekar.

‘Sammas (Portmanteau)’ depicts the PLSI project – the world’s largest linguistic survey carried out at the beginning of the 21st century – in terms of conceptualising and gathering information on over 700 Indian languages. It has a voiceover by actor Mohan Agashe. According to Bhawalekar, “Language is a unique acquisition of humans. It differentiates humans from other animals, and India has a vast language diversity. The colonial rule marginalised many communities and tribes. Their knowledge, wisdom and languages were rejected. Modernity adversely impacted these communities. The premise of my documentary is that the traditional culture and linguistic existence of nomadic communities, tribals and many small groups is under threat.”

The film depicts various factors that have contributed to the extinction of languages such as rapid industrialisation which has induced waves of migration. Extinction of a language also brings to an end an entire culture associated with it. “Language is an integral part of human existence, and a basic right of every human being,” said Bhawalekar.

Devy, who led the PLSI in 2010, said, “Previously, the oral traditions of knowledge had a wider reach but printing forced standardisation of language and languages that did not get printed remained neglected.” He said that in post-independent India, states were formed on the basis of languages having scripts. In the process, many languages with rich oral traditions were denied the status of official languages. Languages can be preserved only by the speakers of those languages. This responsibility need not be entrusted to the government. Conservation of language is possible if the speech community is actively involved. Language also acts as a powerful agent of national Integration.

Devy has been active in the field of conservation of tribal languages and culture for the past 30 years, “A language provides the foundation for culture. We need to preserve linguistic diversity or else in future, we will lose a vast cultural treasure,” he said. For his work, Devy travelled across the country and met members of every language community. Through his work, he showed how languages can be preserved. One of the methods he used to conserve language is the compilation of folklore and scripts of different languages. His work helped in preserving the linguistic identity of tribal communities. He stood with the Indian tribals in their struggle against social and cultural injustice. He founded and developed schools, libraries and museums in the tribal areas of Gujarat. The adivasi academy at Tejgarh was founded by him. Devy believes in the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, and Rabindranath Tagore. On September 5, 2013, the manuscripts of the PLSI were dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial in Delhi. Devy is carrying forward the legacy of the great author, Mahashweta devi. Before him, George Abraham Grierson had carried out a linguistic survey of India but in those days, the map of India was quite different. As such, Grierson’s survey could not record all the Dravidian languages.