The Thauri village located at Uttarganga-5 in the southern part of Surkhet Valley is also known as Raji village. But inhabitants of the village have precious little to show for the Raji identity except for their surname.
The most basic foundation of identity of any community -- language -- is also as good as dead among the Rajis. The 45 people of 12 households in the village no longer use the language even among themselves.“The other person has to understand a language for making it useful for communication. Nobody understands it now,” rues Krishna Bahadur Raji, a village elder.
He said only 18 people, all of them above 40, can speak the language. Rajis of the new generation are barely able to understand the language, and not speak it. “If this continues, not a single person who can speak the language will be left 25 years down the lane,” says Krishna Bahadur.
Last February, UNSECO put the language in its list of critically endangered mother tongues. According to the 2001 census, there are 3,976 Rajis in the country.
While people belonging to the Raji community are themselves contributing to the impending extinction of the language, there are people who want the language preserved by listing it in the new constitution.
“Texts of the Raji language have to be searched or developed and taught in schools where children of people from the Raji community study,” says Birkhalal. “We would be thankful if the government took up this responsibility. The Rajis, who work on daily wages, hardly have time for this,” he adds.
The Rajis say the existence of their language has been threatened because the community is backward economically, socially, politically and in terms of literacy.
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