Ol Chiki Script

Ol Chiki Script Latest News

Recently, the President of India attended the Centenary celebrations of the Ol Chiki script of the Santhali Language in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.

About Ol Chiki Script

• It was invented in 1925 by Pandit Raghunath Murmu, a writer and teacher from what is Mayurbhanj State (now part of Odisha) in India.
• Other names: Ol Chiki is also known as Ol Cemet’, Ol Ciki, Ol or the Santali alphabet.
• It was created as a way to promote Santali culture.
• The Ol Chiki script itself is uniquely structured to suit the Santali language.
• It consists of 30 letters and is fully phonetic, with each letter corresponding to a distinct sound.
• The script was first publicized in 1939 at the Mayurbhanj State exhibition.
• Murmu published over 150 books in Santali in the Ol Chiki script, including novels, poetry, drama, grammars, dictionaries and other information about the language and script.

Key Facts about Santali Language

• It is a member of the Munda branch of the Austroasiatic language family, which is an ancient family of languages spoken across parts of South and Southeast Asia.
• It is spoken mainly in Jharkhand and West Bengal states in northern India, and also in northwestern Bangladesh, eastern Nepal and Bhutan.
• It was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution in 2003, with Ol Chiki recognised as its official script, giving the language constitutional status.

Source: News On Air

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