#HeritageWeek: Kutchchhi Language- Hailing since the Days of Harappa

Kutch is a diverse region with a multitude of seasons and breath-taking scenery that seems to be present in every corner. The inhabitants of ‘The White Desert’ come from a variety of cultural backgrounds. They have evolved their own distinctive language idioms over time.

History

Gujarati and Kutchi are the two primary languages spoken in the Kutch region. An ancient language known as Kutchi or Kachchhi, its earliest remnants dating back to the Indo-Aryan period. People belonging to the ancient civilizations of Mohenjo Daro, Dholavira, and the Harappa have been using this language. It was also spoken at a time when Kutch was a great kingdom of Sindh.

Sindhi vs Kachchhi

Eleven million people speak it globally. Sindhi and Kachchhi are nearly identical in every way; they share the same majority of vocabulary and syntax. It is frequently categorised as a dialect of Sindhi because of this. Given that Sindh is Kutch’s neighbour, there is no remarkable relationship between these two languages. Kachchhi, however, is more than simply a blend of one language; it also has its own distinctive features and intricate fusions of Punjabi, Gujarati, and Rajasthani.

Revival

There are many initiatives underway to revive the script, which went extinct during the British rule. Kachchhi now has a spot on the list of Indian languages that are not written. Linguists have lately returned to it in an attempt to create a written form that will assist the language become equally valued as other languages.

In addition, it is thought that Kachchhi was written in the now-extinct Khojki or Dholavira scripts. The samples of these extinct scripts are kept in the Kutch museum in Bhuj. Certain populations in Pakistan and India have opted to use Perso-Arabic script for writing their language. The region’s complicated migration history and socio-religious split are reflected in the script used by the locals.

The social angle

Any culture or area is built on its language. It facilitates interpersonal relationships and social connections. It is possible to understand the relationship between language and social order by comparing the importance of language to the importance of knowledge in society, which includes knowledge of politics, economics, and history. Some have also argued that we may be able to write Kutchchhi using the Roman alphabet since it makes writing and communicating easier in the modern world.

Where is it spoken in the present times?

The people of Abdasa, Mandvi and Bhuj speak it, while the people of Bhachau and Rapar speak it slightly differently. Because, Gujarati tinge is more visible in the dialect of people of Bhachau and Rapar. Kutchchhi language is often considered as a dialect, but it is one of the official languages ​​of India, and it has been given the status of a language and not a dialect.

These many countries have population of Kutchchhi speaking people: India, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania.