Sourashtra language
Sourashtra (alternate names and spellings: Palkar, Sowrashtra, Saurashtra, Saurashtri, Patnuli) is an
Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Southern
Indian State of
Tamil Nadu. The
Ethnologue puts the number of speakers at 310,000 (1997 IMA), although the actual number could be double this figure or even more.
Sourashtra is an
Indo-Aryan language belonging to the
Indo-Iranian branch of the
Indo-European language family.
The speakers of the Sourashtra language, known as Sourashtrians, maintain a predominant presence in
Madurai, a city, also known as 'Temple City' in the southern part of Tamil Nadu. Though official figures are hard to come by, it is believed that the Sourashtra population makes up for about one-tenth of the city's total population. They are present in significant numbers in the cities of Dindigul, Paramakudi, Erode, Palani, Rajapalayam, Nilakottai,
Salem,
Thanjavur,
Trichy,
Kumbakonam,Thiruvarur and Kottar (
Nagercoil). A sizable number is also found in
Chennai(Madras),
Bangalore and other parts of India, but this presence is largely due to small-scale migrations in the last few decades from one of the aforesaid traditional Sourashtrian settlements.
It is also believed that Sourashtra speakers exist, albeit in small numbers, in other southern states such as
Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka.
Though there is little historical evidence available to support the argument that the Sourashtrians lived in the Saurashtra region of
Gujarat in Western India, folklore, and recent linguistic and genetic researches have been able to establish that this region was indeed once the habitat of the Sourashtrians. However, their language has more similarities with
Marathi and
Konkani, both Indo-Aryan languages of Western India, than it does with Modern Gujarati, the language of present-day Gujarat. Linguists have been able to explain why it is so: Both Sourashtra and Gujarati branched off from a common parent, and have since taken completely different paths to modernity. Gujarati came under the influence of Persian, Arabic, many tribal languages and Hindi, whereas Sourashtra, taking off from Gujarat before it had made any Muslim contact, was influenced by Marathi, Konkani,
Kannada,
Telugu, and finally,
Tamil. It has been acknowledged that Persian and Arabic have had only limited influence on Marathi and Konkani, and this is why they still retain a good amount of vocabulary and grammar derived from
Sanskrit, as compared to other daughter languages of Sanskrit. It is possible that the vocabulary and grammar shared between Modern Sourashtra and Marathi is what was originally derived from Sanskrit.
The southward flight of the Sourashtrians seems to have been triggered by the frequent Muslim invasions of their homeland and the instability caused by it. No details are available as to whether it was a mass-migration and when it took place. They found the safe haven they were looking for in the
Vijayanagar Kingdom, with its capital at Hampi in present-day
Karnataka, which was then expanding southwards. They were traditionally silk traders, Who when associated with the then time weavers like
Devanga in vijaya nagara empire, also took over weaving as occupation, partially. Like others they were also able to impress upon the Emperor with their weaving skills, and soon were elevated to the position of Royal Weavers. Telugu and Kannada were the court languages, though other languages such as Sanskrit and Tamil were also in use. It was during this period that Sourashtra started absorbing Telugu and Kannada words into its lexicon.
Vijayanagar rulers had the practice of appointing Governors, known as Nayaks, to manage far-flung regions of the empire. When Madurai and Thanjavur were annexed to the empire, Governors were appointed to administer the new territories. It is believed that a part of the Sourashtra community moved to Madurai and Thanjavur to serve the Governors.
The mighty empire collapsed after more than two centuries of rule, in 1565, after the Sultans of Deccan Confederacy won the battle of Talikota, thus opening up southern India for Muslim conquest. Soon afterwards, the Governors of Madurai and Thanjavur declared themselves the new rulers of the respective territories.
The Sourashtrians had to migrate again since they no longer enjoyed the royal patronage they were used to, and so, once again, were on the move. As there were Sourashtrians already present in Madurai and Thanjavur, it was only natural that they migrated further south to join their brethren living there. The language would undergo one last alteration, this time influenced by Tamil, to bring it to its modern form. To this day, Sourashtrians are densely populated around the Royal Palace of Thirumalai Nayak, the greatest of the Nayak Rulers that ruled Madurai. I have heard that the king Thirumalai Nayak was so impressed by the sarees that sourashtrians wove and it is said that a saree woven could easily slide through a small ring without any damage. Thus was the craftsmenship of them.
Peoples in dindigul were speaking proper Sourastra and give respect all of them
The language has had its own script [
1] for centuries, and is said to have had many literary works. Unfortunately, all literary pieces barring a few modern ones have been irretrievably lost. This language is not taught in schools and hence has been confined to being merely a spoken language. Most Sourashtrians are bilingual in their mother tongue and Tamil — which displaced Telugu as the second language when they migrated to Tamil Nadu — and are more comfortable using their second language for all practical written communication.
There is an ongoing debate within the Sourashtra community on what the writing standard should be going forward. The contenders are: An adapted Tamil Script with superscript numbers and a colon to show sounds not used in Tamil, which is currently used in most Sourashtra publications, but presence of superscripts render it unsuitable for fast reading and writing;
Devanagari Script, which is by far the most suitable script given its ability to represent most Sourashtra sounds, but is sparingly used since not many Sourashtrians comprehend it; Sourashtra Script, preferred by the Purists, but whose restoration and promotion is an arduous task in itself given its disuse for centuries; and, Romanized Sourashtra Script, popular amongst
netizens and youngsters, and can be fairly accurate in its representation of Sourashtra sounds, but is frowned upon by the Traditionalists who see it as a foreign influence on their language.
Presently Sourahstrians are into all the areas of study.
Each of the
Traditional Sourashtrian settlements has its own dialect. Since there is not a central linguistic body governing the rules, and establishing what is standard and what is not, each dialect speaker considers his own the standard form. The dialects share lexical similarities varying between 77% and 96%.
Kottar, Nagercoil: Sourashtrians in Nagercoil seem to have migrated from the major sourashtra settlement around Paramakudi. They were under the patronage of the
Travancore Kings. Weaving was the main profession until the 1980s. In recent times, sourashtrians have taken up other professions. The Kodandaramaswamny temple built by the sourashtrians is very famous.
*
Tanjore*
Madurai*
Thirunelveli*
Salem*
Kumbakonam
* Trichy*
A yahoo email list devoted for the study of Sourashtra Language, culture and history*
Ethnologue Report for Sourashtra*
Sourashtra on Omniglot*
An effort to provide a platform to bring Sourashtra Friends together*
Premier Community Portal*
History of Sourashtra Community*
Another version of Sourashtra History*
Information on Sourashtra Dictionaries
