PU Chandigarh to introduce course in Shahmukhi script
Chandigarh, May 21, 2018: Panjab University, Chandigarh is going to introduce Shahmukhi course from the coming academic session.
Being seen as a progressive step, the 6-month certificate course will be introduced as a pilot project.
Though the course is being offered for free to the first batch of students, but it is proposed to charge Rs 2000 fee for subsequent batches, reported Hindustan Times.
On Tuesday, the draft of its syllabus will be submitted before the Vice Chancellor Prof Arun Kumar Grover who has reportedly taken personal interest in the project.
“As a student of literature, we are looking at cultural closeness through language,” Prof Yog Raj Angrish was quoted as saying in the HT report.
The Shahmukhi script is being used by about 7 crore Punjabi-speaking people in Pakistan whereas Gurmukhi script is used by 3.5 crore Punjabis in India.
Notably, diploma courses in Gurmikhi and Devnagri scripts as part of the Indian Studies have already been introduced at University of Lahore.
More about Shahmukhi
Shahmukhi (شاہ مکھی, Gurmukhi: ਸ਼ਾਹਮੁਖੀ, meaning literally "from the King's mouth") is a Perso-Arabic alphabet used by Muslims in Punjab to write the Punjabi language. It is generally written in the Nastaʿlīq calligraphic hand, which is also used for Urdu. Perso-Arabic is one of two scripts used for Punjabi, the other being Gurmukhi.
The Shahmukhi alphabet was first used by the Sufi poets of the Punjab; it became the conventional writing style for the Muslimpopulace of the Pakistani province of Punjab following the independence of Pakistan in 1947, while the largely Hindu and Sikhmodern-day state of Punjab, India adopted the Gurmukhi script to record the Punjabi language.
It is used as the main alphabet to write the Pothohari dialect in Indian Jammu and Kashmir.[1]
Shahmukhi is written from right to left, while Gurmukhi is written from left to right. Below is the comparison of the two scripts.
- Consonants are doubled with ّ (ੱ). Ex: ﷲ (ਅੱਲਾਹ) "Allāh", كَچَّا (ਕੱਚਾ) Kachchā "unripe".
- The Gurumukhi sounds ñ (ਞ), ng (ਙ), ṇ (ਣ), nh (ੰ/ં) are all written with ں nun ghunna (nun without dot). In initial and medial positions, the dot is retained.
- ے (Bari ye) is only found in the final position, when writing the sounds e (ਏ) or æ (ਐ), and in initial and medial positions, it takes the form of ی.
- There are three signs used when indicating a short vowel: َ (ਅ), ُ (ਉ), ِ (ਇ): a, u, i. Examples: قَلَم (ਕ਼ਲਮ) qalam "pen", گھُپ (ਘੁਪ) ghup "dense", لِحاظ (ਲਿਹਾਜ਼) lihāż "consideration"
- At the beginning of a word, short vowels are written with the help of ا (alif) as follows: اِ, اُ, اَ.
- Long vowels are expressed with ے, ی, ا and و as follows: ( Source Wikipedia )