Mamta Kalia
Mamta Kalia Mamta Kalia
Indian origin in Suriname too played a significant role in the promotion of Hindi in Holland. Hindi Day is celebrated on 14 th September in Holland today. On this occasion debates as well as speech and essay writing competitions are organized by different organizations. As a matter of fact, the state of Hindi language in Holland is the same as it is in Suriname. The truth is that Indian diaspora in Holland is mostly made up of Surinamese Indians. Hindi speakers here are extremely small in number and the basis of their culture and lifestyle is that of the Indian community in Suriname. Their Hindi is essentially Sarnami, even though the foundation of its structure and syntax is that of the dialects belonging to the Hindi family. Sarnami has evolved from the folk culture and conventions of the dialects of Avadhi, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Magahi and of Tulsi’s Manas and Kabir’s songs. This language is born of the dialects spoken by the farmers and labourers who had gone to Suriname from the lands of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and even today retains its original sweetness. Hindi-based linguists still consider Sarnami a dialect of the Hindi family but the Indian community of Suriname and the writers and poets who use Sarnami consider it a language on its own, and write it in the Roman script. In Holland too people of Indian origin call their language Sarnami and this is what they use for their speech 144 :: April-June 2010 and everyday transactions and for literary expression. Thus in Holland too there is today a community of writers who write in Sarnami language and there are many established writers in whose novels and poems we come across sensitive portrayals of the struggles of their ancestors. Dr Theo Damsteegt, Professor of Sarnami language at Leiden University [Netherlands] went to Mathura to do his Ph.D. there after he did his Master’s in Hindi and Sanskrit and did his research on the stone edicts there. He travelled to Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna and Ayodhya to study the relationship between Hindi and Sarnami. At Karen Institute, which is part of Leiden University, there is a separate department for Sarnami too, along with departments of Hindi and Sanskrit, where Sarnami is taught systematically. Theo Damsteegt has been able to get Sarnami the recognition of a language to be taught at the university level. Alongside with Sarnami, the work of teaching of Hindi too is making progress in the Netherlands. Several organizations are active in this area. At the Indian Institute in Amsterdam Hindi teaching and training goes on along with teaching and training of Sanskrit and Bangla under the direction of Dr Dick Plucker. They also have discussions and discourses on the Ram Charit Manas, Mahabharata, Vedas and Upanishads. Parts of these texts have been translated into the Dutch language and introductions to the texts
and some reference material are also available in Dutch, which are very helpful to those who are interested in Indology and in Indian culture and religion. Dick Plucker is engaged in the service of Hindi language and culture with the commitment of a devotee and he does this using his own personal resources and whatelse he is able to gather from others. He has also authored two books, which contain two CDs too, for teaching Hindi, particularly to Dutch students. The books are very useful and extremely popular and their fame has spread even to those students who want to learn Hindi in Suriname. Another person who is promoting Hindi in the Netherlands is Dr Anait, who does this through an organization called Samvad. From time to time, she selects groups of students interested in Hindi and teaches them. Apart from this, during important occasions celebrated by different organizations, she also gives lectures on Hindi language and Indian culture as befitting the occasion. Apart from these, a few other organizations that are basically related to Suriname are also engaged in spreading Hindi in the Netherlands. They are run by people of Indian origin from Suriname. In spite of being Sarnami speaking people, they have founded organizations for the spread of Hindi and they keep basic Hindi alive by conducting annual exams based on the syllabus of Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti of Wardha. One of these organizations is Hindi Prachar Sanstha, Netherlands [HPSN] whose President and Director was Dr Urshdev V Ramdas, a gynaecologist by profession and a supporter of Hindi. He was an advocate of pure Hindi, who wrote in his article “Pure Hindi Alone is Our National Language” published in the December 2001 issue of his periodical dedicated to the promotion of Hindi: “Indians living abroad and Indian diaspora do not understand that like Arabic, Persian and Turkish, English too is a language of conquerors and oppressors. We corrupt our language by using in it foreign vocabulary, even though there are plenty of words in Sanskrit which will add to the richness of Hindi. We must popularise such Hindi in which there is either no foreign vocabulary or very little of it. We must accept such Hindi alone as our national language. It is only when our work results in such Hindi that south India will accept it as our national language without protest. Dr Ramdas accepted Sarnami as a dialect, but did not give it the status of an independent language. Dr Ramdas had obtained the degree of Acharya from Wardha. It was under his editorship that the 32-page Hindi bilingual Hindi Prachar Patrika began appearing from time to time from July 1997. It was a foundation level magazine which gave details of the activities of the organization, news about the work of promoting Hindi, information about April-June 2010 :: 145
- Page 93 and 94: Short story CAMEL WITH SILVER WINGS
- Page 95 and 96: “No sir, you require rest.” His
- Page 97 and 98: next month.” “To marry you?”
- Page 99 and 100: from the jungle or people in their
- Page 101 and 102: They were refugees of permanent kin
- Page 103 and 104: offer it to a man! He had thought.
- Page 105 and 106: “At times they charge so much for
- Page 107 and 108: I have been in this job for a numbe
- Page 109 and 110: emembered my old friend Professor S
- Page 111 and 112: time I got home it was ten at night
- Page 113 and 114: about her school, syllabus, timing,
- Page 115 and 116: my paralysed wife from bathroom to
- Page 117 and 118: to the Oxygen mask. And then, there
- Page 119 and 120: treatment like bonded labourers, it
- Page 121 and 122: forehead. His mind wandered towards
- Page 123 and 124: in search of any senior doctor. Sin
- Page 125 and 126: The inquiry commission felt it was
- Page 127 and 128: Films GENDERING THE ‘LOOK’ IN C
- Page 129 and 130: Mumbai) was released in Iran and ci
- Page 131 and 132: early years of the revolution, the
- Page 133 and 134: of getting their scripts approved b
- Page 135 and 136: subverting the rules of modesty and
- Page 137 and 138: 9. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Isl
- Page 139 and 140: ack insulted & a loser . She was so
- Page 141 and 142: credits of the film. Jagmohan’s e
- Page 143: Language HINDI LANGUAGE AND LITERAT
- Page 147 and 148: It is for these reasons that the Ro
- Page 149 and 150: Language TRANSLATION: A QUEST OF PO
- Page 151 and 152: called words but whole languages we
- Page 153 and 154: Translation in the global village T
- Page 155 and 156: Book Review COUNTER-TELLING OF THE
- Page 157 and 158: the Victorian legal system, run on
- Page 159 and 160: The mention of Madam Ripley Bean’
- Page 161: proof Reading Words Rs. Editorial N
and some reference material are also<br />
available in Dutch, which are very helpful<br />
to those who are interested in Indology<br />
and in Indian culture and religion. Dick<br />
Plucker is engaged in the service of Hindi<br />
language and culture with the<br />
commitment of a devotee and he does<br />
this using his own personal resources<br />
and whatelse he is able to gather from<br />
others. He has also authored two books,<br />
which contain two CDs too, for teaching<br />
Hindi, particularly to Dutch students.<br />
The books are very useful and extremely<br />
popular and their fame has spread even<br />
to those students who want to learn<br />
Hindi in Suriname.<br />
Another person who is promoting<br />
Hindi in the Netherlands is Dr Anait,<br />
who does this through an organization<br />
called Samvad. From time to time, she<br />
selects groups of students interested in<br />
Hindi and teaches them. Apart from this,<br />
during important occasions celebrated<br />
by different organizations, she also gives<br />
lectures on Hindi language and Indian<br />
culture as befitting the occasion.<br />
Apart from these, a few other<br />
organizations that are basically related<br />
to Suriname are also engaged in spreading<br />
Hindi in the Netherlands. They are run<br />
by people of Indian origin from Suriname.<br />
In spite of being Sarnami speaking people,<br />
they have founded organizations for the<br />
spread of Hindi and they keep basic<br />
Hindi alive by conducting annual exams<br />
based on the syllabus of Rashtrabhasha<br />
Prachar Samiti of Wardha.<br />
One of these organizations is Hindi<br />
Prachar Sanstha, Netherlands [HPSN]<br />
whose President and Director was Dr<br />
Urshdev V Ramdas, a gynaecologist by<br />
profession and a supporter of Hindi. He<br />
was an advocate of pure Hindi, who<br />
wrote in his article “Pure Hindi Alone<br />
is Our National Language” published in<br />
the December 2001 issue of his periodical<br />
dedicated to the promotion of Hindi:<br />
“Indians living abroad and Indian<br />
diaspora do not understand that like<br />
Arabic, Persian and Turkish, English too<br />
is a language of conquerors and<br />
oppressors. We corrupt our language by<br />
using in it foreign vocabulary, even<br />
though there are plenty of words in<br />
Sanskrit which will add to the richness<br />
of Hindi. We must popularise such Hindi<br />
in which there is either no foreign<br />
vocabulary or very little of it. We must<br />
accept such Hindi alone as our national<br />
language. It is only when our work results<br />
in such Hindi that south India will accept<br />
it as our national language without<br />
protest.<br />
Dr Ramdas accepted Sarnami as a<br />
dialect, but did not give it the status<br />
of an independent language.<br />
Dr Ramdas had obtained the degree<br />
of Acharya from Wardha. It was under<br />
his editorship that the 32-page Hindi<br />
bilingual Hindi Prachar Patrika began<br />
appearing from time to time from July<br />
1997. It was a foundation level magazine<br />
which gave details of the activities of<br />
the organization, news about the work<br />
of promoting Hindi, information about<br />
April-June 2010 :: 145
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