UPSC Dogri Syllabus for IAS Mains – Optional Paper

Dogri is one of the native languages of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also given a language status among the 22 languages that have formal language status in our constitution. Apart from Jammu and Kashmir, Dogri is also widely spoken in parts of Himachal Pradesh in our country and in Pakistan outside our country. We can also find small pockets of population speaking Dogri language in northern parts of Punjab as well.

Dogri Syllabus for UPSC Mains 

Paper-I

History of Dogri Language and Literature (Answers must be written in Dogri)

Section-A

History of Dogri Language

1. Dogri language: Origin and development through different stages.
2. Linguistic boundaries of Dogri and its dialects.
3. Characteristic features of Dogri language.
4. Structure of Dogri Language :
   a. Sound Structure: Segmental: Vowels and Consonants Non-Segmental: Length, Stress, Nasalization, Tone and Juncture.
   b. Morphology of Dogri :
   I.Inflection Categories: Gender, Number, Case, Person, Tense and Voice.
   Ii.Word Formation: use of prefixes, infixes and suffixes.
   iii.Vocabulary : Tatsam, tadbhav, foreign and regional.
   (c) Sentence Structure : Major Sentence – types and their constituents, agreement and concord in Dogri syntax.
5. Dogri Language and Scripts : Dogre/ Dogra Akkhar, Devanagari and Persian.

Section-B

History of Dogri Literature 

1. A brief account of Pre-independence Dogri Literature : Poetry & Prose.
2. Development of modern Dogri Poetry and main trends in Dogri Poetry.
3. Development of Dogr i shor t -story, main trends & prominent short-story writers.
4. Development of Dogri Novel, main trends & contribution of Dogri Novelists.
5. Development of Dogri Drama & contribution of prominent Playwrights.
6. Development of Dogri Prose : Essays, Memoirs & Travelogues.
7. An introduction to Dogri Folk literature – Folk songs, Folk tales & Ballads.

Paper-II

Textual Cristisim of Dogri Literature (Answers must be written in Dogri).

Section-A
Poetry

1. Azadi Paihle Di Dogri Kavita. The following poets : Devi Ditta, Lakkhu, Ganga Ram , Ramdhan, Hardutt, Pahari Gandhi Baba Kanshi Ram & Permanand Almast.
2. Modern Dogri PoetryAzadi Bad Di Dogri Kavita
   The following poets :
   Kishan Smai lpuri, Tara Smailpuri , Mohan Lal Sapolia, Yash Sharma,K.S. Madhukar, Padma Sachdev, Jitendra Udhampuri, Charan Singh and Prakash Premi.
3. Sheeraza Dogri Number 102, GhazalAnk.
   The following poets :
   Ram Lal Sharma, Ved Pal Deep, N.D. Jamwal, Shiv Ram Deep, Ashwini Magotra and Virendra Kesar.
4. Sheeraza Dogri Number 147, GhazalAnk.
   The following poets :
   R.N. Castro , Jibtendra Udhampur i , Champa Sharma and Darshan Darshi.
5. Ramayan (Epic) by Shambhu Nath Sharma (upto Ayodhya Kand).
6. Veer Gulab (Khand Kavya) by Dinoo Bhai Pant.

Section-B

Prose

1. Ajakani Dogri Kahani The following short story writers : Madan Mohan Sharma, Narendra Khajuria and B.P. Sathe.
2. Ajakani Dogri Kahani Part-II The following Short Story writters : Ved Rahi, Narsingh Dev Jamwal, Om Goswami, Chhattrapal, Lalit Magotra, Chaman Arora and Ratan Kesar.
3. Khatha Kunj Bhag II The following Story writters : Om Vidyarthi, Champa Sharma and Krishan Sharma.
4. Meel Patthar (collection of short stories) by Bandhu Sharma.
5. Kaiddi (Novel) by Desh Bandhu Dogra Nutan
6. Nanga Rukkh (Novel) by O.P. Sharma Sarathi.
7. Nayaan (Drama) by Mohan Singh.
8. Satrang (A collection of one act plays)
   The following pay wrights :
   VishwaNathKhajuria , Ram NathShastri, Jitendra Sharma, Lalit Magotra and Madan Mohan Sharma.
9. Dogri Lalit Nibandh
   The following authors :
   Vishwa Nath Khajuria , Narayan Mishra, Balkrishan Shastri, Shiv Nath, Shyam Lal Sharma, Lakshmi Narayan, D.C. Prashant, Ved Ghai, Kunwar Viyogi.

An enriched language – Dogri

It was in 1969 that Dogri was granted the status of an independent modern literary language. To get the acclaimed status, an expert panel was created which researched more on the language and based on their study and findings, the government went ahead with this decision.

The language and its script took its roots from the Takri script. It belongs to a special category of languages bundled under the Western Pahari group. In today’s modern era, the Takri script is no longer in use and hence people who converse in the Dogri language use the Devanagari script for writing purposes. In fact, the language has a blend of Prakrit, Persian and strangely, English words too. If we look at the grammatical context of the language, we can find the reflection of Sanskrit origin on the language.

Literary contributions in Dogri

The greatest contributor and literary proficiency in Dogri was claimed by Amir Khusrau. The world renowned poets has given in his art works, spell bound and magnificent forms of the language and crafted a beautiful form of the language in his creations. Dogri literature finds mention in ancient texts, some of them as early as 18th century. Not just that, many translations from Persian and Sanskrit languages can be found in this era.

Apart from the legendary Amir Khusrau, there are many more names that have worked artfully in this language. Some of the prominent names are Rajauli, Rudra Dutta, Ganga Ram, Lakkhu, Jyotishi Vishveshar etc, all dating back to the 18th and the 19th century.

Modern, contemporary contributors to the language include Professor Ram Nath Shastri, Padma Sachdev etc. Dogri as a language has emerged from the ancient art forms to varieties in the field like poems, prose writing, stories including short and long stories, novels, periodicals, articles, travel articles and a host of other areas. Philosophical journeys of great men are bundled together by the author Karan Singh as early as 1965.

Recent updates on Dogri

Dogri was recently in the news. On our currency notes, we find the languages Hindi and English apart from 15 regional languages of the country. Since Dogri was also included in the constitution as a mainstream and official language, there were recommendations to include the language too on currency notes.

The reason behind promoting this suggestion was to bring the Dogri community to the front line in terms and on par with the rest of the India. The High court ordered this particular order and instructed the Central Government and the RBI to act upon the same. The constitution guarantees equal rights to all languages and its speakers equal rights to promote and propagate their language. On this basis, arguments were placed to include the language on currency notes with 15 other languages.