The making of a shabdakosh

A dictionary is a book to work with not a book to look at Few book lovers read dictionaries or their likesmdashglossaries thesauruses encyclopaedias and gradusesPeople refer to dictionaries and wordbooks as aids and tools to grasp the potency of a living languageSince the inception of the worldrsquos first dictionarymdashsunbaked Sumerian clay tablets dating back to 2000 BCEmdashlexicographers have devoted their lives to decode words usages and connotations Samuel Johnsonrsquos Dictionary of the English Language 1755 involved a team effort of eight years The French Encyclopeacutedie has a longer history its revised editions 1751 involved several editors and translators over a century Its mission was massive enlightenment of the bourgeoisieMolesworthrsquos letter to his military bosses seeking permission to work on the dictionary He even presented to them a detailed written plan about itBut lexicographers despite their scholarly achievements are not sufficiently applauded in the popular discourse Thatrsquos precisely why Shabdaprabhu Molesworth the newly released Marathi book with original English extracts is dedicated to ldquothe unseen tears of little known and renowned lexicographers of the worldrdquoPublished by the Marathi Sanshodhan Mandal and written by Arun Nerurkar the 375page hardbound bilingual volume tells the story of James Thomas Molesworth 17951872 the passionate British lexicographer of the Marathi language who painstakingly and in collaboration with British and Maharashtrian experts birthed the first MarathiEnglish dictionary 1831 and revised it arduously in 1857 The book illustrates the significance of Molesworthrsquos dictionary through the writings of those who have celebrated and critiqued his workMolesworth was a polyglot a ldquowordworrierrdquo a lover of Sanskrit Persian Greek Hindi and Latin He came to India at 16 as a junior military officer who was soon admired for his linguistic abilities He helped Major Thomas Candy to compile a glossary of Marathi words in his Solapur home in 1822 He was a devout Christian who made no bones of his intent behind the dictionarymdashEnglish translation of the scriptures in Sanskrit for the natives of India and vice versaMarathi Sanshodhan Mandal director AK Priolkar celebrated Molesworth in his writings Shabdaprabhu Molesworth pays tribute to the British military officer serving the East India Company whose gigantic linguistic exercise remains unmatched even today Molesworthrsquos European predecessorsmdashRobert Drummond William Carey Gidion Hutchingson David Capen and Vans Kennedymdashattempted to arrest the Marathi vocabulary in earlier dictionaries but none could extend beyond 8000 to 10000 words Molesworthrsquos database of 40000 words which increased by another 20000 in the second edition was a record in itself The work inspired Protestant Christian reformer Baba Padmanjirsquos abridged compendium in 1863 Punersquos Shubhada Saraswat Prakashan printed a revised version of Molesworthrsquos second edition in 1975 Sharad Gogate the publisher who took personal interest in the reprinting process of the 1000page dictionary says the sheer physical dimensions 135 x 10 inch scared him Gogate called it a ldquogranthrajrdquomdasha heavy grand volume weighing 2 kg The dictionary remained central in public consciousness for decades Also read Mrinal Sen lsquoEccentric irresponsible adultrsquoThe book commemorates the lexicographer and underscores the respect Molesworth wields for putting the ldquoboundless chaos of a living speechrdquo in an alphabetical word order Itrsquos not just the 60000word entries in Molesworthrsquos shabdakosh priced at Rs 65 that evoke awe but the attention to every aspect of a spoken tongue that demonstrates a rare deep understanding Every entry is illustrated by the wordrsquos orthography pronunciation generalimplicit meaning etymology derivative offshoots in popular lingo gender and corrupt versionsIn the preface to the second edition Molesworth makes it amply clear that he included Marathi words spoken by the educated classes as well as the ldquoprovincialisms of the massesrdquo For him the chosen words had to be a mix of ldquothe local and the general the coarse and the neat the domiciled imports and the genuine homestockrdquo For instance veda and yeda both meaning mad are included Brahman and Biraman are represented and smaran and sumaran remembrance coexist Molesworth includes all variants and leaves it to the ardent readertranslator to decide which word should be picked up in which socialliterary context He also makes a case for inclusion of the ldquoforeignrdquo usagesmdashsecretary note file third assistant notice and handwriter He was not rigid or dogmatic about any usage be it the Sanskrit versus Prakrit or the Indian versus PersianArabicHis inclusive idea of a lexicon is as important as the project itself He factored in the geographical expanse rise progress and constitution of the Marathi language that no other native linguist ever had achieved Molesworth with Thomas Candy was entrusted with the task of the dictionary because it served the British governmentrsquos interests Marathi conversation was crucial in administration as well as business circles But the lexiconrsquos political purpose later became secondary The seminal work assumed a language appreciation function for the natives All the subsequent dictionaries in Marathi have drawn from MolesworthArun Nerurkar 78 the editortranslator retired banker known for rendering English fiction and academic works into Marathi feels Molesworthrsquos methodology sensitised Maharashtrians to the everexpanding scope of a language Molesworthrsquos military bosses were not that keen on the dictionary as they were not academically inclined But he convinced them about its utility in a detailed written plan He insisted on relocating to Bombay city and Mahabaleshwar from Kheda Gujarat during the key word entries he was ready to forego the Rs 3000 remuneration for his labour for being allowed to work on his terms and in close cooperation with panditsBrahmins of PuneNerurkar says that the indefatigable Molesworth consciously served Marathi and nonMarathi readers by working on both MarathiMarathi and MarathiEnglish dictionaries despite his poor health he worked on the second edition when he was summoned from his homeland ldquoCan there be any other lsquoMarathichi sevarsquordquo asks Nerurkar Sir Bartle Frere the governor of Bombay praised Molesworthrsquos dictionary as an aid for ldquomahratta native studentrdquo to fix a standard of hisher own language and improve the mother tongue which ldquopromises to play an important part in communicating the knowledge of the conquerorsrdquoShabdaprabhu Molesworth chronicles varied intellectuals and researchers who critiqued Molesworthrsquos dictionary especially researcher and Marathi Sanshodhan Mandal director AK Priolkar and Dr SM Pinge The latter commemorated Molesworth in his iconic book 1960 Europeanancha Marathicha Abhyas Va Seva The Mandalrsquos current director Nitin Rindhe in fact is now planning a reprint of the unavailable book priced at Rs 15 at one point ldquoMolesworth is an institution and a spirit The Mandal wants the next gen Marathi enthusiasts the sons and daughters of the soil to take inspiration from his tireless diligent workrdquo adds RindheWhen a Bombay High Court judge wishes to interpretdeconstruct a Marathi word in the current times heshe refers to Molesworthrsquos compendium Molesworth lives with the Marathi manoos in small and big ways Very few dictionaries and their makers can claim such immortalitySumedha RaikarMhatre is a culture columnist in search of the subtext You can reach her at sumedharaikarmiddaycom