Ol Chiki Script : Centenary celebrations
The President of India attended the Centenary celebrations of the Ol Chiki script of the Santhali Language in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
- Ol Chiki Script was invented in 1925 by Pandit Raghunath Murmu, a writer and teacher from Mayurbhanj state (now in Odisha) in India.
- Ol Chiki is also known as Ol Cemet’, Ol Ciki, Ol or the Santali alphabet.
- 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.
- Pandit Raghunath Murmu published various books in Santali in the Ol Chiki script, including novels, poetry, drama, grammars, dictionaries and other information about the language and script.
- It was created as a way to promote Santali culture.
- Santali Language 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.
