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Siram Documentation
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The people and the Language
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Siram language is spoken in the village located at a distance of 80 kms from the
main town Ramban in the district Ramban of Jammu and Kashmir state. The boundary
lines of Ramban district encompass hill station Patnitop as its southern most point,
Assar on its Eastern edge, Gool to the west and Banihal to the north. It is situated
on a sloppy terrain with Muslims dwelling on the upper side of the village and Hindus
dwelling on the lower side of the village .In between is a rough road which, besides
connecting Bathini with the neighboring villages like Kabbi, Gandri, Bathili etc,
also connects it with the main town of Ramban. The overall population of Siram community
is around 2000 to 2500.People of the community live in communal harmony and peace
with each other. Siram, which belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family, is listed
as one of the endangered languages of Jammu and Kashmir State. The neighboring Languages
spoken in the area are Poguli (spoken by the Muslim population of the village),
Dogri and Punjabi spoken in the nearby areas. The language is neither having any
script of its own nor having any written record. However the language has a rich
folk lore. The language has not been documented yet and remains unexplored as far
as the linguistic description of the language is concerned
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Religion and Occupation
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Hinduism is the dominant religion of the community however there is a sizable chunk
of Muslims also present in the community. The Hindus believe in God /Goddesses/Ghosts/Evil
spirits and Moksha (salvation).They worship Lord Rama and Goddess Saraswati besides
they also believe in some local Gods and Goddesses like Raja shank Pal and Nagni
Devi. Agriculture is the main occupation of the community with rice and maize as
the main crops. Besides agriculture wood cutting, Grazing Cattle and stone work
(which includes extracting stones and using them for different purposes) are some
other occupations for men. Women also take part in farming and cattle rearing.
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Present work
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At present the documentation and description of the language is going on. It includes
providing a brief grammatical sketch of the language and compilation of the pictorial
dictionary of the language. The work to document the ethno linguistic profile of
the community is undergoing with domains like stories, narratives, folklore, transportation,
games and entertainment, religion and rituals, social customs and communicative
behavior yet to be completed. The documentation of various aspects of Siram language
and community is being done in audio and video form.
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