What language is this?

[RainDog]

This is the cover for a comic book. I think it might be hindi because the story looks like a Krishna or Shiva story. thank you.

[krispos42]

1. Looks like Hindi

But I'm not a linguist and, more to the point, I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. No idea, my dear RainDog...

But it sure is pretty!

Sorry...

:hi:

[sakabatou]

3. Wakaranai (Dunno)

[RainDog]

4. kick

[MrScorpio]

5. Looks like Sanskrit

[RainDog]

7. from the mouth of the Guru

which is the meaning of the word Gurmukhi, which is also, it seems, the name of this particular script. It seems to be a language from the Punjabi region (both Pakistan and India) - at least that's what I've found online so far. --and associated with a Sikh guru.

okay, so any Gurmukhi speakers around here?

thank you for the help! still have no idea what it's about, tho.

[ZombieNixon]

11. No, it's definitely Devanagari (Sanskrit).

If it was Punjabi, I wouldn't be able to read it. It's a somewhat blocky font, which is why it might look like Gurmukhi to some, but trust me, the cover clearly says "Mahabharata."

[rug]

6. This must be what it feels like to be illiterate.

[RainDog]

8. mreaebte waqwareare? u/x

[bif]

9. Looks like Sri Lankan

[ZombieNixon]

10. Sanskrit. It's the Mahabharata.

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Sanskrit

[quip]

13. If you turn it upside down, it says "go fuck yourself"

There's a little story there if anyone is interested...

:hi:

[bikebloke]

15. Something like that in Israel

There used to be a t-shirt in Israel (probably still is) printed with Hebrew lettering. Only upside down, it clearly says in English, "go fuck yourself". Israeli friends told me that in Hebrew it doesn't say anything.

[quip]

17. Yup. That is to what I was referring

I saw them when I studied in Israel back in the 80's. I'll see if I can find an image of it.... (While looking, I found this interesting derivation):

http://www.fuckoffshirts.com.nyud.net:8090/images/white_gofuckyourself_tee.jpg

[bikebloke]

18. Same time period there

I was working there in the early 80's on a kibbutz, thdn a moshav. We probably walked past each other:hi:

[RainDog]

16. do tell... n/t

[RainDog]

14. Thank you!

I'll go look for more info now with this new info. you all are the best. :hi: :hi: :hi:

[RainDog]

19. May I post a couple of pages?

the comic is in b&w. I'm going to scan a couple of pages and post them on this thread, since it's back from the lounge basement. You guys who know the language want to translate? I'm just curious about this thing.

[billyskank]

20. I've looked through my sanskrit letters and I'm 90% sure it says "Mahabharata"

though there are a couple of letters or marks I cannot find, specifically the two that look like lowercase ls.

[ZombieNixon]

26. They're just long A diacritics.

It's kind of a stylized font, which is why it looks weird.

[RainDog]

21. 1&2

hope this is readable.

[billyskank]

22. If it's in comic book form it's extremely unlikely to be sanskrit.

It will almost certainly be hindi.

[billyskank]

23. Yes, I'm now certain it's Hindi.

Look at this chart:



The letters on the front cover are:

(7th row, rightmost) - m
(8th row, rightmost) - h
(2nd row, leftmost) - aa
word break
(7th row, 2nd from right) - bh
(2nd row, leftmost) - aa
(8th row, 2nd from left) - r
(10th row, leftmost) - t

mhaa bhaart, which (trust me on this) is pronounced "mahabharat," emphasis on the second and third syllables (maHA-BHArat).

[GirlinContempt]

24. Yeah

Sanskrit is mostly now a religious language, like latin for prayer sort of.

[ZombieNixon]

25. Yeah, it's Hindi.

The man's first sentence in the first panel reads "Devi, tum kaun ho?" ("Lady, who are you?")

[RainDog]

27. this is so exciting!

I'm so happy I can post this here and find others who can read the language. I think this is sort of a storybook for children in comic format. I've also seen these for Tibetan Buddhist stories but the format is smaller. The story of Buddha, that sort of thing.

[ZombieNixon]

28. Yeah, the religious stories-as-comics market is big in India.

There's multilingual editions for local languages as well as English.

My Hindi's also really bad, so I like the opportunity to practice it. :P

[RainDog]

29. well anything you can read

is more than I can read. one of my sons took japanese his freshman yr in high school, then switched to french b/c everyone else in his family knows (at least a little bit of) French. I've never tried to study a language that doesn't have a western alphabet. I can recognize some script- like Korean vs Chinese - just because of work stuff, but I don't have to read it. I've just seen the texts side by side and they're diff. It seems like this is the same thing with various languages in India (and Pakistan).

[ZombieNixon]

31. Well, not all languages in India use the same script, either.

A chunk of languages in the north use Devanagari (Hindi script), but regional languages like Bengali, Punjabi, and languages in the south use their own specific scripts. The diversity of language is so much that after Independence and a couple of protests here and there, the Indian government decided to keep English as the nationwide lingua franca. India has 30+ official languages, 20-something of which are on the paper currency. :crazy: :P

[billyskank]

30. It's one of the two big folk stories in India.

That and the Ramayana. They're both huge.

[RainDog]

32. hey

:* :* :* :* :* :* :* :* :* :* :* :* :*

(smooches to say thanks.)

are you familiar with the story? -- as in, which part? I looked up the title before and it has sooo many parts. An epic. later in the comic it looks like Ganesh is helping out the guy on the cover. I was trying to find where, in the story, Ganesh plays a big role.

[billyskank]

33. You're welcome.

:*

I am familiar with some of the story, from when Lord Krishna is born until He speaks Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. That is Arjuna pictured on the cover, by the way, in the said battle. But I think I probably only know the highlights. The Mahabarat is quite long indeed.

[clayton]

34. definitely Hindi

It reads "MAHA BHARAT' The cover represents the battle at Kurukshetra(not sure of spelling) the Pandavs (good) against evil (Kavravs). It has Arjuna, one of the main characters, waging the final battle with the help of Lord Krishna