Punjabi Language From A Perennialist Perspective
By
Ejaz Akram
Among his signs is the Heavens and the Earth, and the variations in your language and your colours: verily in that are the signs for those who know. (30: 22) The Romans in Al-Quran,
Introduction
Why is even the topic of Punjabi language a subject of discussion? Why would the Punjabis be even worried about the future of Punjabi language? And most importantly why is Punjabi so important to the Punjabis? Any reasonable person would assume that today it would be more important for the sake of material benefit to learn English rather than Punjabi. English is the language of the world cognitive elite, the preferred global lingua franca, language of science and technology, both in India and Pakistan and abroad. So any attempt to preserve Punjabi language means that it is threatened to extinction, and any attempt to revive it would mean that there is a resistance by its speakers to prevent that from happening.
If one analyzes even a remotest concern about the need to preserve Punjabi language, one finds a chain of factors like cultural preservation, identity preservation, the link to one's primordial tradition and so forth. Punjabi identity is threatened as modernity engulfs the Punjabi language, it also gobbling up all the hundreds of years old wisdom that is manifested in our custom, tradition and cosmology. Modern processes will make us which what we never were and not quite sure if we want to become like that, for it may cost us what we are, and the loss of self is undoubtedly the greatest loss. There are many theories of language and linguistic change. Phonetics explains language as the available sound while phonology sees it as organized sound. Semantics worries about the meaning and sense whereas pragmatics focuses on meaning and context. Language as a written medium is studied as text and spoken medium as conversation and interaction. Within the taxonomy of linguistics you can move a plane higher and relate the language theory to the theory of mind in form of psycho linguistics, or to neuro linguistics for the study of language inside the brain. Further yet, it is possible to use pathology of language while studying the breakdown of language. For the study of language and behaviour, the anthropological linguistics, and for the language and society the sociological linguistics, are the accepted methods.
Study of language as above has suffered from the compartmentalization of knowledge and atomistic approaches that are the very characteristic of modernism and its philosophy of logical positivism. Such methods make no attempt to study language in which its link with the divine reality is not severed. There is however the original theory of language that rests on the tenets of Philosophia Perennis, a view that holds the origin of language is sacred, just as all knowledge is sacred and so is the art. All knowledge, the languages which express it, and the art they can create has certain aesthetics and meaning and that meaning is conveyed through the use of certain symbols. Thus it is the scope of this paper to view Punjabi language as an important part of a sacred Tradition that is being radically transformed under the pressures of modernity and globalization. The crucial question is whether it will survive these pressures and sustain its primordial link to life's connection beyond the superficial materialist ideologies. It is difficult to decide when a language will die out. It may be a gradual restriction of the language's ability to function, or of the ability of speakers to use it, so it is difficult to predict whether Punjabi will die out or live.
It is important also to distinguish between modernism and modernity. Latter is a dialectical process of new over the old whereas Modernism is one of those ideologies which has unrelenting faith in a kind Modernity that arose from the "project enlightenment", and sought to undermine religion by jettisoning the divine reality and ostracizing the spiritual from the material. It was a radical break from thousands of years human history which heretofore saw the origin of man, language and knowledge as sacred.
Philosophia Perennis is a holistic way at looking at things for what they are, in their totality. Without discounting the material reality it restores what had been taken away from that reality. Modernism reduced the reality to just a physical phenomenon, while the perennialist method explains things fully, thus positive science methods have concealed more than they have revealed. By lending the perennialist perspective to the study of Punjabi tradition and its implication on the future of Punjabi language and culture, it will remove the clouds of superficial change that modernism has cast upon it and help restore its organic connection and understand its primordial link. This is the method of the Traditionalist school.
Like all other languages, the origin of Punjabi language is also sacred. This view of sanctity of language is accommodated by all major religious traditions, may that be Hinduism, Sikhism or Islam. Although these religious traditions have their own world views, they are also shaped by a Punjabi world view, which has an inherent possibility of making Punjabiyyat one of the unique platforms of commonality, understanding and interfaith dialogue. It is the Lingua Sacra and a Lingua Franca at the same time. But this function of Punjabi discourse is being rapidly replaced by English/ Urdu/ Hindi as Lingua franca and Modernist-Scientific discourse as the 'Lingua sacra'.
If you stop and ask any Muslim Punjabi as to who he is, you will most certainly get an answer that he is a Muslim first and then anything else and perhaps the same response for the Sikh or a Hindu. Thus what their religious traditions say in regards to their languages may be important to them as to how they view their language. Quran says: And among His signs is the creation of Heavens and the earth, and the variations in your language and your colours: verily in that are the signs for those who know (30: 22). Similarly the Upanishads reiterate the need for reflection on the nature of speech as it is divine: " If there were no speech, neither right nor wrong would be known, neither true nor false, neither the pleasant nor the unpleasant. Speech makes us understand all this. Meditate on Speech".
Tradition maintains the sanctity which unites all languages but it is also accommodative of difference and variation, thus despite the biological similarities in people there are considerable differences within the same dialects of a language. But when we talk of a certain tradition of speech its important to know how one deals with the issue of linguistic normativism and linguistic relativism. If you ask a Punjabi of 200 years ago to come and have a hermeneutically successful discussion with the Punjabi who learned his Punjabi in California ten years ago there may be considerable confusion.
Linguistic relativity is a concept that is used to indicate that structure of every language exercises a differential influence on the thought of every speaker in a way in which he conceives reality and the way in which he behaves in front of it. Punjabi's capacity to affect our thinking is shrinking every day and conversely our ability to conceptualize and memorize English is increasing everyday. If this approach holds ground then we will become less and less Punjabi and more and more English or 'modern'. Secondly, often about Punjabi language one comes across the problem of Asl Punjabi, Thaith Punjabi or Sahih or Khalass Punjabi, which deals with the concept of normative aspect of linguistics. In any language there are certain essentials that are embedded in the essentials of culture which are to a large extent embedded in the essentials of religion. However it is very difficult to determine what Punjabi ought to be. Punjabi may be different for different speakers of Punjabi. When we talk about this then the critical and evaluative element enters into the philosophy of language as opposed to merely the phenomenological. This ultimately leads us to the problem of linguistic validity which ultimately takes us to the notion of an idealized form of language with a certain form of expression and certain form of notation. To borrow an example from the case of USA, is Ebonics acceptable as an idealized form of language? What are the objections to it by the speakers of English language, why are they so outraged about the idea of Ebonics? There is of course a dissonance in our example as English is the state language and Global language and Punjabi is neither. Nonetheless the problem of relativity remains in Punjabi also specially when it comes to the textual Punjabi, and possibility of a median dialect to serve as the formal lingua franca. Many already feel that Pahari, Lahnda or Saraiki dialects are already outside the folds of Punjabiyyat.
Punjabi And Culture
It is important to stop and examine the nexus of language and culture. First of all, culture has a plethora of definitions in various social sciences. In materialist terms culture has been sometimes defined as a web of significance that the human animal has spun upon himself, or a realm that is exclusively socially constructed. What is meant by culture here is a medium of shared meanings and shared practices. It is not free of its divine link either, and just like the man himself, his art, his language, social class, caste and gender, it is has a metaphysical dimension to it, as well as it is socially perceived and reproduced. Secondly, before Punjabi culture can be defined one has to define what Punjab is. One can go on to define Punjab historically, ecumenically, in socio-economical terms (agriculture) or geographically. What is understood by Punjabi here is a sphere which is not restricted to geographical boundaries anymore and is rather ecumenical. There isn't anymore one Punjab or two in terms of time and space, now it may be possible to speak of a south-hall Punjab in the lap of Britain or in the Kenyan diaspora. It is problematic to ascertain whether operative ideals in California or Mianwali are the same in Amritsar or Ludhiana.
The sacred truth or the divine reality are all in a hierarchical relationship with culture. There is a two way relationship between self and one's identity, they can be mutually constituted. On a second tier one's consciousness of identity can shape the language and vice-versa. Similarly, language and culture can form each other. But above everything is the Absolute reality which only has a one way relationship with the ones below. In case of Islam for example, it is Islam that can affect the culture, whereas different cultures may interpret the divine message but cannot change it. There is a realm that is Absolute and there is a realm that is ever-changing. All religious traditions have a cosmology that reflects the message of the Absolute in their world views, whether mythological or revelational they stay messages that are of eternal significance which address the perennial problems of man and his existentialist dilemmas.
The most important thing that must never occur is the severing of the vital connection between the Absolute and the ever-changing. If that link is severed there is a disjuncture of that language with its metaphysical source of inspiration which will bring about the loss of spirit and its emotional charm. It does not mean that all modern languages (like French, German, English etc.) are all Godless languages. The ideology of materialism which is inspired by Modernism has a Tamasik or a Makru affect on the discourse of sanctity of languages, due to which their primordial charm and innocence is lost. This aroma which comes from Punjabi primordialism may now be a matter of nostalgia, as its perfume was the function of pre-modern existence. It is possible to retain the Punjabi spirit but may not and have never been possible to sustain a single form of language that will stay identical over the years. Even Arabic of Muslims today is a lot different from the original Naskh.
Central to the preservation of that primordialism is the resuscitation of the Punjabi tradition, which cannot be done without the use of language. And it cannot be done without religion: Cultures are not free of religious world view and the values, ethics and system of law which religion imparts on culture. For example the idea of 'Rab' in Punjabi discourse, in its literature and the oral tradition of Sufis is central to defining the pivotal aspect of Punjabi culture and is a key to understanding the Punjabi tradition of mysticism.
Cultures have a transcendental link through which divine reality distills itself in form of language. So language is not only a mind for the society but also a vehicle for the sustenance of its soul. Different religious traditions have a different affect on Punjabi. For the Sikhs it has a special honorific value because of their religion and the future of Punjabi language is perhaps the most secure in the Sikh tradition. Islam has a different affect on Punjabi when it comes to interplay with it. The message of Quran has been most effectively carried out by many Suffiya-i-Karam in Punjabi language, but in the long run Islam has the tendency to reduce culture to custom. It is visible most notably in the Urban middle classes and specially expatriots from the Gulf. In the Pakistani Punjabi wedding for example, the customary practices are very much those as in the rest of the Punjab but it is also possible to speak of an Islamic culture and its tradition in Punjab. As the society Islamizes it becomes increasingly important to learn and understand Arabic and although one may speak Punjabi but its formal learning as a subject has become less important. Islam compromised to many societies it came in contact with, but it also had a homogenizing effect on them. That is why it has had the ability to form sophisticated state-systems on an ideology that is based on lot more than just language. This has not been the case with Sikhism and Hinduism, although Ranjit Singh built a martial Punjabi state, its language of court remained Farsi.
Islam claims everything good as already Islamic, thus the most commonly accepted values that don't negate Islam are appropriated by Islam, and those values are embraced because they are Islamic, but not exclusively as Punjabi. The popular Islam bore a colour of Punjabi so as to make it more accessible to the Punjabi soul and wisdom. Increasingly the deepest part of contemporary Punjabi Muslim consciousness is becoming Islamic and not just Punjabi culture, although the latter by no means is reduced to the unconscious. As the society rapidly modernizes the traditional wisdom is in a recession which is often relegated as daqayanussithinking, not progressive but static. And the hegemonic homogenizers (i.e., the bulldozers of Modernism) are out there to level all tradition and differentiation into a faceless, characterless, mass produced entities, in the name of 'progress'.
Punjabi And Modernism
In the modern world religion is considered as an antithesis to modernism. It is seen as a backward form of human consciousness which is a hindrance to an idea of progress, an idea which is essentially linear. This ideology of 'progress' which goes hand in hand with modernism sees a more perfect society in the future and envisions future as the ultimate realization of human potential, while totally ignoring the origin and the importance of origin. In the light of this thinking the project of revitalization of Punjabi is a backward and non-progressive movement to begin with. For all primordial tradition the perfection of origin is important because point of origin is always closer to the source of life the divine shakti that bestows life upon us. Whereas the ideology of modernism's understanding of the present as more superior and progressive than the past, so if today is better than yesterday then tomorrow will be better than today. The seemingly glittering future is a grand illusion as portrayed by the ideology of progress, and is simply Utopian. The creed of Modernism sees societies that are closer to their origin as infant societies that lack maturation and will only become mature after they 'shed the metaphysical and superstitious baggage' and move on. It will be the annihilation of Punjabi language if Punjabi tradition is ostracized from it.
Modern world appears very appealing because of all the material comforts it has to offer, which are manifest as the fruits of modernity such as the air-conditioning, mode of travel, communication, medicine etc., however if one delves into the historical depths of this phenomenon, it becomes clearly visible that the roots of modernity are marred with subversion and bloodshed. The idea of things as sacred is replaced by profanity, social ethos is replaced by anthropocentric view of the world and so forth. Making of the modern state which promises those fruits has been no easy task, in fact it has been a process in which much has been given up. However it is very important to draw a distinction between the fruits of modernity and the roots of it, because here lies the secret of the material progress of the West and also its spiritual bankruptcy. This is also manifested by the utter misery of formerly colonized Asia and Africa in the name of modernism.
The challenge of Modernism is so strong and it is very difficult to fight against that without a matching level of homogenization and organization that is required to have a kind of state that it has produced. It seems like that to beat Modernism at its own game, you have to be more like it, and do what it has done, i.e. try to modernize yourself to the roots from outward in via Western institutions (Nehruvian direction) or in contrast, you shoot for the organicity and preservation of original and primordial reality of Punjabis until they reconcile their tradition with their modernity (Gandhian direction).
As the time goes by modern phrases, concepts, and discourse will gobble up remaining traces of Punjabi language, as finding substitutes for those outside of Physical Punjab would be futile. The fruits of modernity have transformed Punjabi already, if Punjabis embrace the ideology of Modernism then Punjabi language will become bereft of the life force that is its very characteristic. Modernism has sneaked up on Punjabi like the other rich traditions and is silently raping her of her innocence.
Secularism, Nationalism, The State And Punjabi Identity
Attached to the Modernist agenda are also the inroads that it provides for ideologies like Nationalism and Secularism. Perhaps nothing has hurt Punjabi tradition more than the ideology of Secularism. But first it must be defined: Western style secularism is primarily the devaluation of religion. With the devaluation of religion comes the devaluation of the sense of sacred and loss of tradition and its impact on culture as we see today. If secularism means respect of all religions, that is perhaps more in congruence with the natural trajectory of our society. Instead of totally eschewing religion one should comes to terms with it because as long as man faces existential dilemmas of birth, sickness and death, it will always be there. In principle this is how the Indian secularism should be like, but it is quite the contrast form its normative ideal. The western model has no solution for our society, and we need to resuscitate our own tradition of pluralism which accommodates the second type of secularism. Instead of a secularist ideology of tolerance we need to revive whatever little tradition of mutual tolerance we had, before it is completely destroyed by modernism. This potential dialogue between traditions stifled the first time due to the interjection of colonial powers, and will happen again if Punjabis fail to understand their own tradition and the affects of Modernist ideologies.
Secondly the narrow nationalist perspectives have been constructed at the expense of our primordial tradition. We all know how Pakistan's nationalist policy of language has incapacitated the Punjabis to read and write in their mother tongue, and what Indian Nationalism has done to permanently scar the Sikh identity. Nationalism has led to the suppression of local identities and in the case of Pakistan it has always downplayed the Punjabi identity.
Nationalism has also relegated these essential discourses that make up the very social fabric of being a Punjabi to a non-public sphere and many ex-Punjabi urban nationalists associate some kind of shame with one's being Punjabi as a backward and provincial consciousness, same thing that English did with other languages, that now Urdu is doing with Punjabi. They have totally discounted the ability of Punjabi language for the Purpose of Administration, speculation and as a medium of scientific-rational thinking.
If one has to demolish something to create homogeneity and sameness in the name of organizational efficiency, then in a rapidly globalizing world in which balance of power certainly doesn't favour us, one provides grounds to other languages to devour ours to create a more homogenous and a boring world society. The ideology of modernism perhaps aims at doing that anyhow under the presumption that if there is state economy, then there is a state authority and a state language. Similarly if there is a world economy, there will be a world authority and thus by this rationale a world language. Such attempt to homogenize is nothing else but the biggest form of imperialism and Modernist chauvinism.
Conclusion
Punjabi historical consciousness is primarily rural. Punjab is not going to be predominantly rural any more, how well can Punjabi and urbanity be reconciled? How much of Punjabiyyat has been lost as the society has urbanized? Punjab was never an industrial society, so how much of Punjabi tradition has been annihilated due to the nascent industrialism? How is capitalism transforming its essential values? Future will provide the answer to these questions but they will be certainly decisive in determining how much of what we regard Punjabi today may change.
In a rapidly globalizing world it may seem like that the future of Punjabi language is at stake. But it is also possible that it is the future of modernism which is at stake. The modernist discourse knows which questions to ask for development and modernization but doesn't know how, whereas Punjabi discourse which is naturally most suited to the Punjabis may be a perfect medium as to how those questions should be asked, but doesn't understand the nature of those questions. Only literacy combined with proper education will enable the Punjabis to understand and ask those questions to address their needs.
If language is merely a tool of communication then one can resort to many kinds of Esperantos. Punjabi phenomenon viewed in its totality is a living organism that continues to form and evolve through the Aryan invasion, Muslim rule, British rule and now it is just like a vehicle with no wheels that is compelled to move and its is feeling the drag and heat that the diabolical speed of modernism is subjecting it to. This organism is thousands of years old and it will create enormous convulsions before it dies. This tension may surface as religious revivalism because religion serves as the ultimate legitimizer of dissent and it will be Punjabi's innate attempt to save its divine connection from being severed at the hands of modernism. With it you will have to kill hundreds of millions of people's identity, their heritage, literature, operative ideals that are a part of their thriving traditions. Iranian revolution for example, according to many studies, has little to do with Islam and much to do with the restoration of the original path of the thousands of years old Persian culture and tradition.
The first instrumental use of Punjabi can be to serve as a platform of inter-communal understanding, and thwart the vulgar Modernist threat to the Punjabi collectivity. There should be unity in diversity because order and chaos are both the sides of the Divine reality. By that rationale not only Punjabi, but all regional languages and their dialects should be viable media of communication, literature and education, notably the endangered dialects of Punjabi language. It should also be written in more than one scripts ( Gur Mukhi, Shah Mukhi and perhaps 'Roman Mukhi') so as to make Punjabi more accessible and easy to learn for most Punjabi people, than to make it difficult, especially the Punjabi youth residing overseas. Punjabi is not a state-sponsored language anywhere, therefore it doesn't need to be homogenized. It can be spoken in different dialects and written in different scripts. It is possible to not let the states destroy our tradition by living our tradition. And also, Punjabi art should be reproduced not for museums but for our intimate relationship with it, through which the Punjabi spirit will survive. However this is an extremely difficult task to accomplish in a capitalist social set up, where art and literature is also meant for commercial consumption in supermarkets.
Punjabi has the extra-ordinary capacity to accommodate very eclectically from all different traditions, languages and there is no reason to discourage that, rather it should be fostered. Any culture or civilization that does not borrow is primarily a barbaric culture, just like humans cannot lead isolated existence, societies which come in contact with each other cannot but borrow and lend. The inferiority complex that Punjabis have is because of preference of non-Punjabi language (which has been the function of state power) over the Punjabi language, and because of that Punjabi formalism has not been permitted to come into being.
Lastly, it doesn't have to be International and national languages versus Punjabi, but English Urdu and Punjabi, as former are very rich and phenomenally important Lingua Francas. Rather it is imperative for contemporary Punjabis to learn English for global use, so that they can be participants in the sharing of global wealth, while perfectionize and textualize Punjabi as the accepted language for local use, moreover popularize the use of Punjabi as the guardian of their culture and tradition. It is very challenging to devise the course of action for the Punjabi collectivity. In a favourable form of globalization, and perhaps under a confederation of the South Asian states it still may not be possible to organize joint efforts for trade and security exclusively on the basis of being Punjabi. If there is no chance of a Punjabi nation-state, it may put Punjabi culture in a vulnerable position vis-a-vis other ideological agendas, but it also frees Punjabi to develop naturally on its own, in absence of any meddling by the state.
What must be preserved is the spirit of Punjabi culture and its primordial nexus. Languages, ethnicities and cultures cannot be preserved as they are because they are highly fluid mediums which are subject to social change. But what can be preserved is the creative spirit that keeps them alive, and this spirit comes from beyond the material level of existence.
(Ijaz Akram is a graduate student at the American University)
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