manish kumar, post news network, Bhubaneswar, June 21: The Urdu Academi under the state department of culture is now all set to bring out the second volume of the Urdu to Oriya dictionary. This will facilitate easy translation of Urdu literature into Oriya.
The department will set up expert panels for the project. The department had published its maiden dictionary four years ago to build a bridge between Urdu and Oriya. However, officials from the department said the first volume has some mistakes as pointed out by the Urdu speaking people of the state.
In order to weed out the mistakes and make the first volume error-free the department has planned to set up an expert panel that will help bring out a more acceptable Urdu-Oriya dictionary.
“Around four years ago we published our first volume of the dictionary, but a few errors were reported to us by scholars and we are planning to get rid of the mistakes. Meanwhile, we will launch the second volume of our dictionary, for which two separate expert committees will be formed to undertake the painstaking and arduous work,” said Daudoor Rahaman, secretary, Orissa Urdu Academi.
The department has plans to translate quality Urdu literature into Oriya so that the Oriya-speaking people living in the state and not well versed in the language can read quality Urdu literature in their own language and get acquainted with the work of some of the best writers of the Urdu literary world. Officials said, once that happens, they will begin translating Oriya classics into Urdu.
Meanwhile the department is buoyed by the response their trimester magazine ‘Farogh-E-Adab’ has been getting from the Urdu-speaking population of the state. Rahman said, “Our magazine, which comes at an interval of three months has been garnering a very good response. We print around 1,000 copies of the Urdu magazine and successfully dispose of all copies before the printing of another one begins. Currently they are sold from our office and in the venue of events such as the Mushayras that are organised across the state from time to time. Scholars say ours is one of the best Urdu magazines available in India.”
The magazine is available at the cost of Rs15 per copy as the department has subsidised the copies to boost reading habits among the Urdu-speaking people to keep the age-old language alive.
Nevertheless, the department, in order to keep the tradition of the mushayras alive, has been planning to organise such events across the state to give these traditional cultural shows a fillip and to bring together all the interested parties under one roof.
Officials of the department said mushayras organised in the state often receive a good response. An official from the department said, “We recently organised some mushayras at Bhadrak and Cuttack and got a tremendous response from the people of the state. People still like to go to such age-old cultural shows. Many of our translation work find takers at these shows. In the coming days, more such shows are likely to come up at various parts of the state.”
