Pandit Tika Ram Joshi A Dictionary of the Pahari Dialects 1911 and A Grammar & Dictionary of Kanwari

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Preface Pandit Tika Ram Joshi, one time Private Secretary to the ruler of Bushehar State in the Westem Himalayan region was a man of great vision. His three articles which appeared in the columns of the Jour nal of Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1909 and 1911 testify his interest in the fields of lexicography and cultural anthropology. In one of the folksongs in Kinnaur area of Himachal Pradesh, he has been por trayed as great admirer of Nature who preferred to settle down in Sangla valley adjoining Kinnar Kailash mountain range.

It was mere co-incidence that in the first decade of twentieth century when Dr. Abraham Grierson and his team was busy in compiling Linguistic Survey of India, Pandit Tika Ram Joshi was compiling Kinnauri and Pahari dictionary singlehanded Grierson is today remembered as one of the greatest lexicographers in the world but people of Himachal Pradesh cannot forget the examplery work done by Pandit Tika Ram Joshi at a time when modes of communication in this State were hardly visible. The best part of the dictionary lexicographed by Pandit Tika Ram Joshi is the use diacritical marks which has made the work more scientific in approach. With the progress in phonetics some of the marks used in the dictionary today stand modified but are still clear in depicting the sound used in pronouncing the words and terms. There are certain words which have now become obsolete with the passage of time but are very important keeping in view the socio-linguistic history of the region.

Kanawari or Kinnauri is the most fascinating language having its roots with Mundari language as ascertained by Dr. Grierson in his book referred to above The author has not only collected the vocabulary of this Tibero-Barman language but devoted some pages to enlighten the reader about its grammar and folklore. Many scholars have since worked on linguistic forms of Kinnauri but this brief description given by Mr. Joshi is of immense value to us.

Himachal Academy of Arts, Culture and Language has many ambitious plans including prepration of a Pahari Hindi Dictionary which Dictionary containing about 55,000 words was released in December, 1989 by the President of the Academy, the then Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh.

With the reprint of the dictionaries complied by Pandit Tika Ram Joshi pressenting in a book formt the. Academy achieves a landmark in making available to the readers the two dictionaries within a short period of six months.

We are thankful to M/s Ess Bee Printers for their assistance in bringing out the work in a short time. Our gratitude is also due to the authorities of Asiatic Society of Bengal who not only published the material in the pages of its esteemed Journal but also allowed us to go in for the reprint of the same.