बहुश्रुता देवनागरी

क्या आप के साथ कभी ये हुआ है?

- आपने दूसरे प्रांत के व्यक्ति से बात करते समय कोई अर्थ के लिये उचित इंग्लिश/हिन्दी शब्द याद नही आने पर ये कहा है 'हम तो इसे ये कहेते है' और जवाब में उसने कहा हो 'मेरी भाषा में भी यही शब्द प्रयोग होता है'.

- आप भारत के ऐसे राज्य में हो जहां की भाषा आप के लिए 'काले अक्षर भेंस बराबर' हो, आसपास के लोग क्या बोल रहे है कुछ समझ नही पा रहे हो पर उसी भाषा में जब आकाशवाणी समाचार सुनते हो तो बहोत मात्रा में उसे समझ पाये हो?

- आपने कभी अन्य भारतीय भाषा के कोइ नये शब्द को प्रथम बार सुनने पर भी उसका अर्थ सहज ही जान लिया हो?

तो आप ने भारतवर्ष के कितने ही दूर के व्यक्तिओं के बिच की स्वाभाविक निकटता को अनुभव किया है. 

बहुश्रुता देवनागरी यही निकटता को अनावृत्त करने की दिशा में एक प्रयास है.

बहुश्रुता देवनागरी एक font है जो भारत की अन्य भाषा को देवनागरी लिपि में दिखायेगा. जैसे, यह tweet जो बंगाली में है पर बहुश्रुता के उपयोग से देवनागरी में पढ़ा जा सकता है. 

अगर आप बंगाली बिलकुल नहीं जानते है तो क्या आपने कल्पना की थी के आप इस tweet के इतने सारे शब्द समझ पायेंगे?

ऐसे ही ये

सब भाषाएँ इतनी सरल न भी लगे तो जो अन्य भाषा सिखने का प्रयास कर रहा है उसके लिये यह देवनागरी में निरूपण लाभदायी हो सकता है ऐसी मेरी आशा है. 

और हां, आप सरलता से अन्य लिपि में लिख भी सकते है. बस गूगल इनपुट टूल्स में भाषा चुनिए और लिखिये - वह दिखेगा देवनागरी में पर लिखा जायेगा चुनी हुई भाषा में. जैसे मैंने बहुश्रुता के twitter account के profile header में भारत लिखा है. 

अन्य लिपि को देवनागरी में परिवर्तित करते समय कुछ त्रुटियां रहेती है जो इस समय दूर नहीं हो सकती। जैसे की कुछ लिपिओं की ह्रस्व इ की मात्रा आगे दिखाना संभव नहीं है तो उनके लिए वो पीछे ही दिखायी गयी है हलाकि उसे दीर्घ इ से अलग दिखाया गया है।

बहुश्रुता देवनागरी के कुछ अन्य उदाहरण आप यहां देख सकते है।
https://twitter.com/bahushrutaFonts/status/1195621927835987968

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बहुश्रुता का उपयोग कैसे करें?(for  desktop, chrome/IE)
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- यहाँ से ttf फाइल डाउनलोड करे:

https://github.com/Agni-EkAkinchan/Bahushruta-Fonts/blob/master/Bahushruta-Devanagari.ttf

- font download (right click -> save link as) और install करें 

- in chrome -> settings -> appearance -> select bahushruta devanagari for standard and sans serif
- For internet explorer, go to Tools, Internet options, Fonts on General Tab.

If you are updating to newer version,
Close all instances of browser (or remove Bahushruta from fonts settings) before installing new file.
if newer version is installed while older still in use (browser open), change will take effect only after computer restart.

और जानकारी या प्रश्न के लिये https://twitter.com/bahushrutaFonts/ पे जा सकते है।

How I happened to do this?

its here. https://ekakinchan.blogspot.com/2019/10/bahushruta-devanagari.html

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Notes for technically oriented people or for those who want to understand better how lipi barrier can be removed more effectively.

Note 1: Easier / less resistance step may be

Its kind of tragic that to read our scripts interchangeably, we need to make such efforts when it could be done very easily if reading one script in another was not BLOCKED. yes, you read it right. what is needed is removal of block and not additional feature per se. (okay, strictly in technical sense, it cannot be proved a block, but its still more like it).
Let me explain.

Fonts work like this.
i) They take in ISO codes,
ii) apply rules of script display (decide if matra comes before, after, above, below etc),
iii) apply symbols assigned to ISO codes
iv) apply rules to customise / manipulate actual display based on sequence of ISO codes. (say, if क् is followed by श र or क respectively, display will be  क्ष क्र क्क.)
and display.

Now a font developer has control over iii) and iv) only. and ii) is pre-specified (at OS level?) and font developer's choice is restricted. It automatically assumes which rules can be allowed based on ISO block, and restricts its assumption to only one set of rules. i.e. you can ask for application of devanagari script rule only on devanagari ISO block. Only if such restriction is lifted and if we can ask for devanagari script rule to be applied on say Malayalam, Gujarati or Bengali ISO block, most of the work (and all of the unsolvable problems) go away.


Note 2: Unifying ISO blocks - seeing varnas for what they are - uchharan and not as language units.

Probably in most non Indic languages people dont speak what they read which messes up things quite a lot. But for us, Language is association between शब्द and अर्थ while lipi is association between वर्ण / वर्ण शृङ्खला and written symbol. Which means that अ, ਅ, અ, অ, ଅ, അ, ಅ, అ all are symbols for same varn in different lipi and it has NOTHING to do with language (in current ISO system, they all are different entities). Now, because what symbol to use is anyway supplied from font file, role of ISO code is only to convey वर्ण शृङ्खला. We therefore actually need only ONE BLOCK of ISO codes ACROSS all Indic languages. Display lipi can be decided by input user's intended lipi (default) or reader's preferred lipi (override).

This would conceptually and practically simplify things greatly and also do away with a whole lot of ISO codes and would greatly reduced work for everyone. Though I am not hopeful of we having such a simple solution - for, we are not आत्मनिर्भर in any technical aspect..

Bahushruta Devanagari

Removal of bottleneck of different lipi from our languages was something I wished for long. That would instantly make us understand many languages partially, make it easy to learn remaining part if we are trying to learn. and most importantly, with opening up of windows to our other languages, our default vocabulary can become richer with more original, more meaningful words and we may be able to arrest our fall on slippery slop of losing languages to shallow vocabulary of entertainment media taught/English words and in turn losing communication ability and in turn pravrutti to truly express ourselves well and in turn our core sanskar of thinking.

but had no idea how (or if) that can be done. some three weeks back, heard about an attempt of common script (called bharati) - I was overjoyed (even while knowing how hard it might be, if not impossible to go that way, as it would require not only giving up all 'our' scripts but also that it would require putting in effort to learn new script.) I was overjoyed that people recognise this barrier and working towards eliminating it.

I immediately started learning it but process of learning didn't stay on course for long, because the way it was implemented caused me ask myself, why then we cant simply read all languages as they stand in respective scripts in our own scripts? it obviously looked easily doable, then why we don't have it? its immense utility on one hand and obvious doability on the other, combined with fact that we don't do it in reality, baffled me. I could not think of any explanation but that I am missing something completely. but I could not find that missing piece. so, thought of trying to find it 'practical' way. I may either come to know that its not doable or that its not useful.

problem now was, I could see that it was doable (because I had already seen it done for bharati), but had no idea how and that even if I find out 'how', whether it would be possible for me to do it for myself (I am not exceptionally brilliant, you know. ok, you can drop exceptionally easily). it took me two three days of clueless googleing to start getting clues of what to google. even after I fairly started, I did manage to get completely stuck with trivial problems, managed to waste time with silly mistakes but finally, I had a working draft of bahushruta devanagari. while it still had some aesthetics issues as well as there is undone work, it started meeting my own requirement. so much so that my twitter usage on mobile started becoming uncomfortable - bahushruta was there only on comp and now I did not like to see text I couldn't read (even thought I knew some of those tweets were not what I was actually very much interested in but were recently added only because I wanted other language stuff to land on my feed).

So, my 'practical' was partially over, it proved both doable and useful. for rest of the answer, I think time will answer that.

To know more about Bahushruta Devanagari see,
https://ekakinchan.blogspot.com/2019/10/blog-post.html

P.S. Managed to resolve most issues and I think for now, its at fairly working level.

Watching ISRO launches and changing emotions

"This will be very significant leap forward." commentator was speaking on DD. With huge excitement he explained how capabilities of this vehicle was three times of current vehicle. I was watching live launch telecast for the first time. What was carrying India's dream was ASLV-D4, capable of carrying 150 kg to LEO. for me, till date it remains one the most exciting launch telecast watched.

Excitement level continued to be high for some time, but with PSLV, seeing launches became more of predictable celebrations. yes, each launch carried some 'first time' feature where you were supposed to hold your breath and I did that dutifully, but still, expectation slowly settled to only happy ending. A particular success now was no longer meant that Indian dream was alive. It was alive anyway.

Then came GSLV. thankfully however for me, I didn't notice developments there initially for reasons like wonderful PSLV, cryogenic engine was anyway not indigenous, my own inability to watch launches for few years in between. but by 2010, it appeared like India dream wont stay alive if GSLV doesn't take it over. We had own cryogenic engine too with GSLV D3. Its failure was very disappointing.

We were back to non indigenous cryogenic engine in next launch - but whatever, it was still a GSLV and I took my seat in front of TV. In a minute of launch, a fire ball, shattered pieces of rocket - no, of India's dream, was on screen. that was one of the most acute shock and despair that I experienced.

Watching launches after that were exactly opposite to what I started with. Now, I didn't feel excited with success but was anxious about failure.

Fast forward to yesterday night. it was.. deviation from path? it seems to be correcting itself. Again?, no no its fine probably. Freefall? holding breath for non significant few moments and when next tick didn't appear, accepting that it was gone most probably. There was no feeling of despair even after that acceptance.

So, today ISRO has come a long way. It is not so small that one success would hugely boost its capability and its not so weak that one failure would put any question mark on India's dream. Now, one particular success or failure is just that. one particular success or failure.

We have learned from childhood that we should not get too excited in success and not despair in failure. Now I think it implies, be advanced and strong (and therefore able and confident) enough where success or failure doesn't affect path you are walking on anymore, for what you see in front of you causes those emotions.

A dream - real one this time

It was shortest dream I ever had probably (concrete part of it was exactly two words long) but before I come to that, need to give some (obviously long) background.

T - few months: I google 'Panini'. After reading/listening to few people, each one sounding fascinating (i.e. even as I didn't understand anything, I felt like THIS is something I want to understand), one among them even generated that feeling in stomach which you get during a 'free falling ride' when he pronounced tip-tas-zee-sip-thas-th- and su-au-jas-am-auT-shash without any prior warning. in fact, the way he was going about speaking anyone would only expect to hear something very obvious, familiar and reassuring and then came this - that's why a sudden free fall feeling.

Few days/weeks later: I again remember the subject, I type Ashtadhyayi in google. again many interesting pages, one of them had audio lectures. Within seconds I knew my search ends here. and so next task was to find that search which had just ended was about what.

a-e-u-n ril-ri-k.. but this time I had my seat-belt fastened, and navigator knew how to not send students in free fall. plus, I was already familiar with it due to previous searches. So, the journey started.

Sanjna-Vidhi-Paribhasha, panchami - se pare, shasti- ke sthan main, saptami - pare rahete.. it was smooth going. it-sanjna-lop. varnas disappear! strange but if Panini wants it that way, so be it.. (its a too early stage to see any utility of those disappearances. still, you soon become comfortable at making things disappear. good going.)

making sense of sutr is not THAT difficult (after someone has done padchhed, expanded samast pads, clarified vibhakti, translated to hindi etc etc. but so what?) Right?

Wrong. Why it still doesn't make sense? oh, its because not all words you need to read in it are written there. but no problem, just borrow words from the one above- you are told. and with that your confidence that was about to launch itself soaring, decides to postpone it for now.

Now you know what anuvrutti is. you even know what Adhikar is and also that anuvrutti can come from not just immediately above sutr and can travel with gaps. its a small matter that each successive learning came at exact points where your confidence was just about to soar which then had to be postponed. but anyway, now you know that you can pick up words from left right and centre and stuff into what you need to read (ok, only from above, but you get the point).

ah and did I mention, saptami is pare rahete - just as you become sure of it, you are told it can be interpreted in two other ways too. how do you know which interpretation to use? 'you just know'. (which of course must be correct, except that at this point you just do not know if YOU will ever reach that point) and few things like this. by now, your confidence has learned to wait a while before preparing to soar.

after going through the loop again and again, you know at which exact point your confidence can confidently soar. Its after finishing Ashtadhyayi fully, in few years may be. but you are sure about one thing. If Panini says it, you regard it as indisputable. As if on cue, you are told 'our Rishies didn't work that way'. on the other hand everything needs to be questioned, requestioned, challenged even attacked and one must come out of all that proving himself on the criteria of truth and logic before being accepted. and even once accepted, the moment an improvement comes in light, if it passes the same tests, is accepted enthusiastically. yes, you have hit your first Vartik.

After some time, attention then somehow shifts to other things, few months pass.. besides basic concepts, most things are forgotten.

time T: I don't know yet that its a dream. I see there is this sutr, which says 'Its proven'. 'Its proven'? what is proven? how? where? and then I 'know' that with anuvritti, adhikar, adhyahar.. it means that it is proven that a particular way of holding camera is most efficient grip. I am in complete disbelief - never heard it before. how can I be so stupid? 

I wake up. and realise that I had not doubted why Panini was talking about camera grip. I only regretted how I missed it completely so far. I guess, the dream conveyed that I was missing learning Ashtadhyayi.

I again started to learn it from the scratch. 

(P.S. Above re-start derailed in just few weeks, and 2.5 more years later, I need to exactly do the same again - need to start from the scratch.)

Sanskrit learning resources

I was searching for something in Sanskrit that meets below criteria.

1. Reliable Sanskrit (Because I don't know the language in first place, didn't want to read things that may end up teaching me incorrect things.)

2. Written in form not too difficult to read (i.e. not one pad per para) + hindi translation available to make sense of even that 'not too difficult'.

3. Doesn't suffer from limited vocabulary (this was a major concern after somewhat burning my hands.. neurons... previously elsewhere). 

4. Interesting (Reading it should be enjoyable, shouldn't feel like learning 'work')

5. Arisen/written originally in that form, not translation of something that has arisen in non-Sanskrit Sanskriti. (Language cannot be separated from culture without destroying both, No?)

6. Available in both audio and text (flexibility to slow down to understand).

Landed at Mahabharat. 

Audio: https://archive.org/details/mahAbhArata-mUla-paThanam-GP

Text: https://archive.org/details/Mahabharata04SanskritHindiPanditRamnarayanGitaPress


and regarding learning the language, here is everything from Varnucchararan to Mahabhashya.. (honestly, I am so awestruck finding all these at one place that it s yet to occur to me that I should start going through it.)

https://archive.org/details/AshtadhyayiBhashyaCollection

and if you thought I probably don't deserve above finds if I cant even start putting minimum effort to make use of it, well, even I tend to agree with that thought, but, seems there is extra concession available for very uninitiated like me..

these lecture audios...
https://archive.org/details/Ashtadhyayi-Prathamavritti 

(if you like to always know what's going on, start from lecture one, but if you are extra lazy like me, who, even when faced with something where you have no idea what's going on, can still simply close eyes and keep listening till clarity emerges on its own, I recommend - highly recommend you start with lecture numbered zero.)