From Oral Tradition to Written Identity: Reviving Jharkhand’s Tribal Languages
Hello Everyone !! Across the forests, plateaus, and river valleys of Jharkhand, language is more than communication — it is memory, identity, and survival. Many of the state’s tribal communities continue to preserve their histories, songs, cosmologies, and ecological knowledge through oral tradition. Yet several of these languages still lack standardized scripts, making them especially vulnerable in a rapidly modernizing world. This article brings together the core issue — the absence of standardized writing systems — and practical, community-centered solutions, including the transformative role of writing and publishing books. The Core Issue: Oral Tradition Without Standard Script Several Jharkhand tribal languages are primarily oral and lack widely accepted standardized scripts. Among them are: Birhor Asuri Birjia (Birijia) Malti (Mal Paharia) Korba Sabar Parhaiya While some may use borrowed scripts such as Devanagari informally, there is no officially standardized orthography that i...