Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 1.djvu/30

xxiv desires, and inspiring disgust for the customs and habits of Christians.

And here let me remark that the recognition of Panjabi as an official or optional official language in the Panjab, instead of the alien Urdu, would be a most powerful means of preserving the Sikh religion. Panjabi is the mother tongue of all natives of the Panjab, be they Sikhs, Hindus, or Muhammadans. If it were recognized as an official or optional official language, Sikhs would not have to resort to books written in foreign languages for religious instruction and consolation, and the exalted ethical instruction of the Granth Sahib would be open to all classes of His Majesty's subjects in the Panjab.

After the English occupation of the Panjab the officers sent to administer it were transferred from what were then known as the North-Western Provinces. They took with them Urdu, or what was much the same—a bastard Persian with Urdu inflec tions—the only Asiatic language they knew, and they found it more convenient to continue to use it than to learn a foreign language which had at the time no status and no literature. The vernacular writers and the officers who brought them were equally ignorant of Panjabi, and so Urdu became the official language of that province. That the officials did not understand the natives, nor the natives the officials, made no difference. The court officials gradually picked up a smattering of Panjabi, and were able to interpret for the Europeans. This state of things was allowed to continue. If the Panjabis remonstrated against neglect of their language their remonstrances were unheeded. Now the Panjab has become more enlightened, the remonstrances