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Two Days "Reading Rajasthani Sources" Workshop on 6-7 October 2023
Title of the event: Reading Rajasthani Sources
Type of Event (Workshop/Seminar etc.): Two-Day Workshop
Date: 6-7th October 2023
Venue: A.V Hall
Name of Resource person (if any) with designation, address, email address & contact no. : Prof. V.K. Vashishtha, Former HOD, Department of History, MDS University, Ajmer, Mr. Gauri Shankar, Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner, Dr. Sumit Dahiya, Academic Consultant, NCERT, New Delhi, Dr. Manisha Choudhary, Associate Professor, Department of History,University of Delhi, North Campus, Delhi
No. of Participants/Beneficiaries (Teaching/Non-teaching/Students to be mentioned separately): 123 UG and PG students
Name of the activity Coordinators: Prof..Sharad Rathore, Head, Department of History and Indian Culture
Name of Collaborating Agency (if any) with address & contact no.: Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner
Objective of the workshop/seminar/activity: As a part of Indian Knowledge system this workshop is an endeavour to preserve and conserve Rajasthani language and its use among the young generation. This workshop is aimed at upskilling the language skills of the students of History in Rajasthani and develop their comprehension thus widening the horizon of learning. This will enable the students to develop research acumen and write research papers using these primary historical documents in Rajasthani.
Summary/Description (max 500 words):
As a part of Indian Knowledge system activity the Department of History and Indian Culture organized a Two Days "Reading Rajasthani Sources" Workshop on 6-7 October 2023. This workshop is aimed at developing and enhancing the language skills of the students of History and develop their comprehension thus widening the horizon of learning much forgotten dialects of Rajasthan.
The programme commenced with lamp lighting by, Prof. T.N. Mathur, Vice Chancellor, Prof, K.S. Sharma, Educational Advisor, Dr Raakhi Gupta, Registrar, Dr. Ila Joshi, Dean of Social Sciences, Dr. Nisha Yadav, Director, Department of Social Science. Subsequently Prof. T.N. Mathur, Vice Chancellor, addressed the audience and acquainted them with the significance of primary sources in history and also welcomed the keynote speaker Prof. V.K. Vashishtha, Former HOD, Department of History. MDS University Ajmer. He also welcomed other guest speakers -Dr. Sumit Dahiya, Academic Consultant, NCERT, New Delhi and Mr. Gauri Shankar, Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner.
Session 1 dealt with the Archival records and their handling , by Professor VK Vashishtha. He acquainted the students with an insight of the National Archives of India and how they are reflective of the political , social , economic and religious conditions of India . He also gave a background of the of the time period when the Rajputana rulers were compelled to sign the treaty of 1818 .He further mentioned about 3 types of records at NAI: 1. Foreign and Political records , 2. External records , 3. Home department records .
The Session 2 was related to Rajasthani language and its dialects by Mr. Gauri Shankar from Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner. He introduced the students with alphabets and its usage in different regions of Rajasthan. In this session many students for the first time were acquainted with the Rajasthani language in the written form . The learning was so effective that students were even able to read a few sentences in the later half of the session. The post tea break session was handled by Dr. Sumit Dahiya who discussed the intricacies of the language including the mathematics , months , days and dates . For eg. The ‘Budh’ and ‘sudh’ refers to the Shuklapaksha and Krishnapaksha . she also discussed about Naata system practiced by artisans class of Marwar while handling the Adsatta records of Marwar.. further she focused on women empowerment in medieval period with the instances of the queens who were financially sound and politically strong and administered their own Jagirs. After this a practise session was held in which all the students were engaged . At the end of the day 1 of the workshop, students were able to read the Marwari (especially Jodhpur ) script without hesitation .
Day 2 : The 2nd day of the workshop was about reading the Dhundhari script of Jaipur . The Resource person of Session 6 was Dr. Manisha Choudhary who talked about the “Dastur komwar” records of Jaipur records as a source of Socio-Cultural History. While taking about the origin of the Rajputs such as Agnivanshi ,Suryavanshi and chandravanshi. She also gave an insight about the ongoing study in Oxford University about the chromosomal patterns to identify the origin of each caste of India. Her reference to Daud Ali’s COURT CULTURE and the story of Pratap Singh Naruka was implicit. She taught the students the skills of reading manuscripts. Professor Sharad Rathore focused on the names of the Rajasthani jewellery mentioned in the manuscripts like Timaniya, Jhutna and Aad, etc. After lunch break , a group photograph was taken in order to memorise the event. A manuscript of a Nadar Mohan Ram Nadir Tiwari was read by the students and professor Choudhary pointed out the socio-cultural context of the document. The last session was taken by Dr. Sumit Dahiya in which she discussed about the Karkhana Jat records focusing on economic structure of the Rajasthan like the aana of Jaipur and taka of Jodhpur which was followed by a practise session. In the end students shared their experiences. Bhavya Sharma student of the department delivered vote of thanks.
Outcome of the activity/event/seminar/workshop:
The students were given hands-on training on reading Rajasthani for two days. They gained knowledge about Rajasthani language, primary sources and its interpretation for writing research papers. The students developed the skills and knowledge to understand the history, culture and traditions of the bygone era of the state of Jaipur and Jodhpur. This will also enable them to develop research acumen and write research papers using these primary historical documents in Rajasthani.
