Finally, ‘Mahan Kosh’ to be reprinted after six years

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 13

After years of wait, ‘Mahan Kosh’, an encyclopedia of Punjabi language, will be printed again and it has brought cheers among the literature lovers. The dictionary was written by Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha.

As per the officials of the department, more than 10,000 copies will get printed.

‘Mahan Kosh’, one of the prominent Punjabi language encyclopedias, is in demand for long but the officials concerned have been maintaining that the Language Department has only one copy of this encyclopedia, leaving writers and literature-lovers infuriated.

The Language Department got the encyclopedia reprinted in 2011 for the eighth time, printing over 5,000 copies.

The book has around 1,250 pages and is considered the best guide to the Punjabi language as it has old maps of India, Lahore, pictures related to history that is otherwise hard to find. According to writers and officials of the department, one can find every possible Punjabi word and its meaning in this book.

Gurusharan Kaur, director, Language Department, said the government had given the approval to reprint the ‘Mahan Kosh’ and around 10,000 copies would come this year.

“Everything has been completed and for printing, it has been sent to Printing and Stationery Department of the state,” said Kaur.

“It is valuable for us as we have only one copy left with us in Jalandhar. No other district has the Mahan Kosh,” said employees of the department. If we have 10 visitors on an average, five of them ask for ‘Mahan Kosh’, they added.

It is worth mentioning here that the Language Department of Punjab is also lying torpid. Some of the districts like Jalandhar and Kapurthala do not even have district language officers and the work the department is supposed to undertake, like organising activities related to the Punjabi language in schools, are not being done on regular basis.