Context: The Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) will be allowing both Roman and Bengali scripts of the Kokborok in the examination. Earlier only the Bengali script was allowed.
More about the news:
- Debate around the script of the Kokborok language is several decades old.
- The primary opposition TIPRA Motha party has been demanding the Roman script to be declared as the official script for the indigenous language and as one of the scripts allowed for board exams.
About Kokborok Language:
- Kokborok is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Bodo-Garo branch, spoken in the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh.
- The language is associated with the Bodo and Dimasa languages of neighbouring Assam and the Garo language spoken mainly in the state of Meghalaya is also a related language.
- The language was formerly known as Tripuri and Tipra Kok and its name was changed in the 20th century. These names refer to the inhabitants of the former Twipra Kingdom and the ethnicity of its speakers.
- From the 19th century and till the 20th century, it became a common people’s dialect during the rule of the Tripuri rulers in the Kingdom of Tipra.
- In 1979, the language was declared as an official language of the state of Tripura.
- Major tribes associated with the language: Jamatia, Noatia, Kalai, Reang, Debbarma, Kalai, Rupini, Murasing, Uchoi.
Development of the Script:
- When the historical record of Tripuri kings began to be written down, i.e., 1st century AD, the Kokborok language was documented.
- Rajratnakar (chronicle of the Tripuri kings) was originally written in Kokborok using the Koloma script by Durlobendra Chontai.
- The book was translated in Sanskrit and then in Bengali (in the 19th century) by Sukreshwar and Vaneswar.
- Koloma script fell out of use after the 14th century and eventually was lost.
- The Kingdom of Twipra, from the 19th century began using the Bengali script to write in Kokborok and with the independence of India and Tripura’s merger with Indian Union, the Roman script of the language gained promotions by NGOs.
- Merger of Tripura:
- The last ruler of the princely state of Tripura was Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur Debbarma who reigned from 1947 to 1949.
- After his death, the kingdom was merged with India on 9 September 1949, and the administration was taken over in October 1949.
- Tripura became a Union Territory on 1 July 1963, and attained the status of a full-fledged state on 21 January 1972.
- Merger of Tripura:
- Both scripts (Roman and Bengali) are now used in the state in education as well as in literary and cultural circles.
- Proposals have also been made for the adoption of scripts other than the Bengali or Roman scripts, such as Ol Chiki.
Currently, there is a demand to give the language recognition as one of the recognized official languages of India as per the 8th schedule of the Constitution:
