Translators Tulsi Vatsal and Aban Mukherji
highlight the differences and similarities between
a quartet of 19th century tomes
Farrokh Jijina
With the contribution of Parsi poets, novelists and playwrights consistently underplayed, Gujarati language scholars have dismissed Parsi-Gujarati as a debased dialect. For instance, in his book Gujarat and its Literature: from early times to 1852, leading novelist and critic Kanhaiyalal Munshi dismissed the dialect as an inaccurate variety of Gujarati. Politician Mohandas Gandhi was more scathing in the foreword to the tome: "It is unfortunate that there is Parsi-Gujarati. It is confined to novels and stories of the shilling shocker style. They are meant merely for passing the idle hour. The language is tortured out of shape,” quoted translator, researcher,......