A Script Carved Out of Mountains

After discovering an old script used to write over 20 Pahadi languages, Aakriti Dhiman is reviving Tankri while tracing its history

- SAMIYA CHOPRA

When a child is scolded for clumsy handwriting in Himachal Pradesh, a common statement is "What Tankri have you scribbled?" In all irony, Tankri, which is now a metaphor for an illegible scribble, was once a script used to write over 20 Pahadi languages. Until the late 1940s, it was the primary script for business, revenue records, and literature in the state. But today, with fewer than ten people knowing it, the lines and curves of Tankri faded away after the standardised imposition of Devanagari following India's independence.

The script entered 28-year-old Akriti Dhiman's life not through family or cultural heritage, but through Instagram. Hailing from Mandi district's Sundernagar, she had grown up speaking Pahadi, but her first encounter with Tankri left her unsettled-the feeling of glancing at her mother tongue and not being able to read a word. It wasn't just her; even her grandparents couldn't recognise it. This moment of disorientation led her to trace the script of her mother tongue down the map of history and step out on a quest to breathe life into Tankri.