Hi Friends Kein aayo!Â
                                           I wanted to have this Post as a tool to discuss the now extinct Kutchi script , share any information we may have about the same and the efforts (if any) being carried out to revive and popularise it.
 Kutchis have a distinct language and although it is many times mistaken for gujarati its vocabulary is distinct and the way it is spoken is more so. I read on some of the sites that we do have a written script and its details are available in the Kachchh Museum. It would interesting and worthwhile to study the script , popularise it and in turn have our own distinct written language which would strengthen our culture,identity and enrich our life.  Appreciate your comments and suggestions .
I have always been under the impression that we, in fact, do not have a written script and hence the emphasis on learning to read and write in Gujarati. I remember explaining our language resembling the Sindhi language in the past and never to Gujarati. It is interesting to know that there is a written script for our language. It would certainly be interesting to understand the same and find out why is it that it has been lost.
There are a few attempts to revive by people who are deep into Kutchi sahitya. The only name I know among those is Dr. Visanji Nagda. I remember seeing a Kutchi shayri/poetry show on DD2 as a child. One of the speakers was Dr. Nagda.
Kutchi Language gets its own script !
Read more at :
http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=3&contentid=200907112009071103202225014550c50
Its Very Good News for Kutchis! Thanks to Dr Rajul Shah
Wow. Definitely an interesting development. I saw the depictions for “K” (plough), “T”, R (3 circles). Would be interested to learn more for curiosity.
Jagdish, are you based in Ahmedabad?
Pardon my ignorance, but I dont get it. Why do we need to learn yet another script ? Why use a script that enables you to communicate with only a small group of ppl when you can use one which enables you to communicate with a larger group ?? No flames plz 🙂
Saara samachar indeed! Rajulben aakhi script kevar and keda publish karindha hi khabar pe tah vadhare saaro aai (any Kutchi in ahmedabad can do this quickly). A full alphabet scannned image(s) would help. Also agar vakya (sentences) sample and some translation of popular Kutchi Literature would be great to start with.
Dallas,texas mein raan toh Ane trying to revive Kutchi Literature,Kahavats and Script. email shold be in kutchvalley profile.
From the article link, it seemed that the script was not revived, it was invented.
To reply to LS Kutchi Language is unique in the way it is spoken just like any other Language in India or elsewhere . Every Language generally has its own script(most do) which is better suited to express the specific language, its tones and other specifics with regards to its speakers. Also learning in ones own mother tongue is the best according to authentic research and surveys.
This was the very reason Languages like Gujarati, Marathi,Hindi,… where derived from Devnagari script (originally Sanskrit Script) .
Kutchi did have its own script which went extinct during the british era and now its coming back due to the will of Kutchis and initiative by people lik Dr Rajul Shah .
Last few versions of pagdandi have an article on the kutchi script.
Online version of pagdandi at http://www.kvoss.org/pagdandi2.htm
I have found few comments on net about this so called invention. Please refer them and then overjoyed. It seems that someone is fooling us and plays with our sentiments. Someone who knows Kutchies becomes very sensitives when it comes about Kutch, kutchy or kachiyat.Here is the reference
Dear sir, The kutchi script copyrighed is look like a publicity stunt. You can copyright anything in this country
even your personnell logo which can be done by spending few rupees.
It looks like pictorial script and who is going to use it. You can not dump it on people. For this ‘Invention’,
even kutchi authores have not been taken in confidence or even Kutchi sahitya akadami, which is at present is
authorised body for representing Kutchi Literature and run with support of Govt. of Gujarat. She over ruled everything.
Many of the welknown authores who has spent their life for Kutchi Literature have been sidelined and even not taken in
to account then who is going to use this script ? These authores have written many books in Kutchi using Gujarati and
Devnagri script. We wonder what qualification Dr. Rajul has except Graphologist, which is nothing but a small
certificate course for improving your writting or you can do fancy, desiner lettering using various variety of pen.
By taking copyright you want to sell it to Kutchies ? One has to take a permission for using it ? Main question is
who is going to use it ? then why this stunt without taking any consideration of the people who have spent their life
for it ? Nothing is clear except the fact that Duniya Zukti Hai, Zukanevala Chahiye. With the help of Media you can
project anything !
We still feel that gujarati is the best script for kutchi which is very much popular and known to all. Kutch is a
part of Gujarat and basic taching is done by teachers from Gujarat only to new students. At this point dreaming about
teaching kutchi in some new unkown scipt, transletting all history in this new script is just fantacy and is not at
all practicle thing and just fooling people.
Oveall it looks like big publicity stunt or wrong presentation of the idea guided by some cunning brains around
Rajulben at Ahmedabad. She seems to be over exicited abouy the dreams never come true.
If she really want to do something for Kutch or Kutchies then she must take guideline from welknown writers of the
language and not take advice of some foolish people who may guide her to dead end of the road.
rajiv aiya, rajaiya56@gmail.com Dated : Wednesday, August 26, 200908:10 AM
Comment (10 Comments Received)
I agree with Mr. Jagdish who has put his comments below. I have worked in the creative business of design for
many years now and I sense many problems in this script which not only we will face but even generations ahead
will be troubled with.
1. A graphologist is only a handwriting analyst and not a typeface designer. With all due respect, who gave permission
to Dr. Shah to design this?
2. This script takes us more than a years into the past instead of looking ahead. This is the way primitive man has
developed language. But over so many years mankind and our community has become very advanced. By designing a language
like this, Dr. Shah is assuming that we are all cave men.
3. How future ready is this language? How effectively can it be used in maths, science and many other subjects and most
importantly in computers. I don’t think these issues have been addressed.
4. The script is very inconvenient to write, it is neither supported by the line below nor is it hanging on the line
above which makes it unbalanced. The flow of letters is such that you can’t write fast in this language.
4. And most important point, the entire community has to vote for approval and acceptance of this language and not just
some committees which we don’t even know exist.
This script has to not only serve our current purpose but also serve the generations ahead which will be much more
intelligent and technologically advanced. I strongly think that everyone in the community look sternly into this
instead of just rejoicing. We need to initiate this project afresh with not one but many of the world’s best designers
working on it so we can choose the best by voting from a few options.
I appeal to the Kutchhi community and as a creative and knowledgeable person in this field, warn them against the
shortcomings of this script. If we agree to this, we may face trouble for years to come.
Kashyap, kashyap.joshi@gmail.com Dated : Monday, August 31, 200907:48 PM
Regards
rahul
Practically speaking, I think its going to be hard to bring any new script into this world (be it any language). Whatever was designed several hundred years back when the population was not as much has settled well with everyone.
A Script for Kutchi Language is highly needed (for all the reasons mentioned in my previous comments and probably many more) and this is the right time for it. How we do it and the details to finalise the Script is upto all of us. Using a old script is definitely a good idea since most of the major languages which exist in India like Hindi,Gujarati,Marathi,…. and their scripts have been derived from one of the oldest languages i.e Sanskrit (devnagari script). Same goes for English Script (derived from old languages like latin,greek,…)
Dr Rajul Shah has taken the bold step for taking the effort of developing the Script and has probably taken the inspiration from Dholavira and Indus valley civilisation scripts since the alphabets seem similar. She has received approvals from Central Govt and from prominent Kutchi Orgs. I hope she is wise enough to get approvals from all the other communities and i expect other communities will give their suggestions which should be considered.
I hope we aggresively and wisely engage ourselves in the development of the script (be it a modified version of Sanskrit script or Dholavira script by Dr Rajul Shah ) and ignore people who make discouraging and Sabotaging comments (thats what negative minded people do).
Wishing all the best to the team and hope we have a script soon which enables Kutchis to communicate, learn and progress effectively and which also enables us to avoid using Kutchratti(mixture of kutchi and gujrati) or kutchhindi (mixture of kutchi and hindi..) or any other combo which does nothing but corrupt the Kutchi Language and the way we communicate .