A Brief Introduction
Among the Himalayan languages from the Tibeto-Burman family, Ladakhi is the only language which has partial or symbolic recognition from Sahitya Akademi, the National Akademi of Letters, New Delhi. To date, the Akademi has conferred its prestigious Bhassa Samman Award, which carries a plaque along with an amount of 1,00,000, on three prominent Ladakhi writers for their contributions to the field of Ladakhi language and literature. It is also a fact that having recognition of a language from the Sahitya Akademi is the gateway for a language to enter in the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution. It is also a fact that as early as 1980, the General Council of Sahitya Akademi agreed in principle to grant recognition to Ladakhi along with Awadhi as Indian languages subject to availability of grants from the Government. Social-linguistic studies on Ladakhi language were also carried out by the Indian Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, for which several Ladakhi language experts were made available by the Education Department, Government of J&K. Besides the above, Ladakhi was a regional as well as a State Language as per the erstwhile Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Kushok Bakula Rinpoche was the first member from Ladakh in the Legislative Assembly of the State to deliver his historical maiden speech against Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah’s State Government on December 12, 1952, and at a later date pleaded for giving promotion to the Ladakhi language in his capacity as a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha). Under such circumstances, Ladakhi language has the potential to become the common language of the Union Territory of Ladakh, hence consensus is required from the residents of Ladakh irrespective of their region, caste, creed, or religion to make Ladakhi the language of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
I commenced my cultural and literary journey as a Research Assistant in the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture, and Languages at Leh from the year 1975. My office was located in the heart of the city in a rented building with only three rooms and five staff members headed by a Cultural Officer, Sonam Yaqub. Prior to my joining the Academy, Sonam primarily organized dance and drama in the absence of any literary staff in the office. Soon after my assumption as the lone literary staff member of the Academy, Sonam Yaqub said that we now have to take initiative to produce an academic journal since there was a standing instruction from the Central Office of the Academy at Srinagar. He handed over some papers to me, and with that, I approached several Ladakhi scholars for articles to be published in the proposed journal. In a short span of time, several prospective writers and scholars submitted their articles related to the art, culture, and language of the region.
Since my position was a Research Assistant, I was not certified to be the editor of the journal, but with the passage of time, I was promoted as Assistant Editor, Editor, and later as the Chief Editor. At the initial stage, I was assigned to hand over the collected articles to a Ladakhi language expert who would do the necessary editing and ensure that no objectionable matters went into the press. I used to read the articles, and those found valuable were sent for editing and publishing. In that way, the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture, and Languages, Leh, published its first journal in Ladakhi/Tibetan language.
For the Academy’s journal, we nominated Khanpo Konchok Stanzin, a lecturer at the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Choglamsar, as a language expert and entrusted the articles for his editing. Within a short span of time, articles written by Geshe Eshey Tondup, Kachen Lobzang Zodpa, Tashi Rabgias, Tashi Phuntsog Zomdey, Gelong Thupstan Paldan, Tsering Norboo Ayu, Rinchen Tundup, Thinlas Dorje, Tsering Wangdus, Tashi Tsomo, Dr. Lobzang Jamspal, and a play script by Thupstan Janfan were ready for publication. During that time, there was no forum dedicated to publishing a journal in Tibetan or Ladakhi language focusing on current issues or the historical aspects of the region. Hence, I think the effort we put into publishing books and journals addressing current issues acted as a humble beginning towards creating modern Ladakhi literature.
The immediate challenge we faced was that there was no press in Ladakh with a Tibetan typeface. To overcome that hurdle, the Central Office of the Academy dispatched a bundle of yellow paper on which we were to write our material in cursive hand with a special ink designed for lithographic printing. This method of printing was widely used particularly for printing Urdu books in Arabic script. Our first lithographic edition, titled Lo-khor-gi-deb, rolled out in 1976. We also adopted the same method for subsequent publications of the Academy and printed our bi-monthly journal Sheeraza Ladakhi, which hit the stands in 1979. With the success of these publications, we also produced a good number of books on Ladakhi folk songs, folk tales, and other subjects. I realized that to progress further, I needed to have a better grasp of the Tibetan language, so I approached Geshe Eshey Tundup, the eminent scholar who was the Chief Priest for Ladakh Buddhist Association at the time, to teach me Tibetan grammar and vocabulary. Geshe very kindly accepted my request and started giving lessons, which, unfortunately, had to be abandoned after some days due to my preoccupation with office work.
With time, the number of Academy publications increased, so did the responsibility upon me to find a mechanism to ensure the books reached a wider audience. I commenced by sending the Ladakhi publications to both Ladakhi and Tibetan scholars residing in other parts of the country, including well-known cultural centers like the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (Dharamshala), Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (Gangtok), The Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies (Sarnath), and universities where Tibetan language was taught. We also arranged to send books to the American Library of Congress, New Delhi. From our publication commencement in 1976 to the end of the century, the American Library of Congress bought the Academy’s publications in bulk and dispatched them to universities where Tibetan was taught.
I had previously worked to found a regional-level literary organization, Ladakh Cultural Forum, Leh, and labored tirelessly to promote literary activities in the region under the stewardship of Tashi Rabgais, a writer, cultural activist, and the Forum’s President. The main motive behind the Forum was to draw the attention of the state government to the promotion of the Ladakhi language, particularly making the teaching of Ladakhi compulsory up to 8th Standard. In my capacity as Secretary of the Forum, I submitted numerous memorandums to successive Chief Ministers of the State, but they all fell on deaf ears despite the fact that during the Dogra period, Ladakhi or Tibetan was taught in Ladakh schools, thanks to the efforts of Mahapandit Rahul Sanskrytyayan (who visited Ladakh twice, first in 1926 and then in 1930) and Tsetan Phuntsog of Saboo village, responsible for Tibetan or Ladakhi primers printed in Srinagar as early as 1934.
In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, visited Leh. Prior to his visit, a meeting between Kushok Bakula (Member, Minorities Commission) and P. Namgyal (Member of Parliament, Ladakh) took place in New Delhi to formulate a citizens’ charter of demands, prioritizing Scheduled Tribe status for Ladakhis. Other demands included restoring Leh Palace and teaching Ladakhi up to 8th Standard. Rajiv Gandhi announced funding for Leh Palace restoration and the teaching of Ladakhi up to the fifth standard, but no action followed.