A Comparative Study of Shah jo Risalo Dictionaries: “Lughat-e-Latifī” and “Roshni”.
Keywords:
Lughat-e-latifi, Roshni lughat, Ghareb-ul-lughat , Dictionary Of Shah Abdul latif Bhittai’s poetry, comparative Study, Sur (chapter) , Alphabetical, lexicography. Dictionary.Abstract
This research paper Titled: “shah Jo Risalo Dictionaries: comparative study of “Lughat-e-latifi” and “Roshni” Lughat. Presents a Critical study of the lexicographical tradition associated with shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s poetic masterpiece Shah jo Risalo. It traces the evolution of sindhi lexicography, emphasizing its linguistic, historical, and cultural significance in understanding the sindhi language and classical literature. The Paper begins with a general overview of the concept of a dictionary (لغت), discussing its definition, scope and necessity in the preservation and comprehension of language. It highlights how languages evolve over time, giving rise to new words while older ones fade, and therefore, dictionaries play a vital role in documenting and safeguarding linguistic heritage.
The study particularly focuses on the development of sindhi dictionaries from the early works compiled in the 19th century. Such as Captain George Stack’s English-sindhi Dictionary (1849) and Sindhi Grammar (1855) to the specialized dictionaries prepared to eludicate shah Latif’s poetic vocabulary. Among these, Ghareb-ul-lughat by renewed scholar Bheromal Maharchand Advani, Lughat-e-latifi by Mirza Qaleech baig(1914), and Roshni lughat by Dr. Nabi Baksh Khan Baloch (2000) are studied in thoroughly. The paper compares and contrasts these Lexicons to examine their methodology, organization, and linguistic contribution.
Mirza Qaleech Beg’s Lughat-e-Latifi is acknowledged as the First Comprehensive attempt to explain the difficult words of Shah jo Risalo with refrences from the Quran, Hadith, and sindhi cultural context. However, its limitation lies in being organized according to Surs (chapters) rather than alphabetical order. In contrast, Dr. Dr.Nabi Bakhsh Baloch’s ‘Roshni’ represents a modern, alphabetically arranged lexicon that covers both simple and complex words, idioms, and expressions, offering contextual meaning with poetic citations. The study highlights how Baloch’s approach aligns with contemporary lexicographical principles, making it more accessible and academically systematic.
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