A Khas dictionary titled 'Khasiya Aakhar', written by 79-year-old Ramananda Acharya of Acharyawada, Chandannath Municipality-1, has been published. The Khas dictionary, published after nearly 17 years of study, research and writing, was unveiled by Karnali Province's Social Development Minister, Ghanashyam Bhandari.

This work of Acharya, who was sometimes stopped in search of a donor and sometimes in search of Khas words, was published by the Ministry of Social Development. While searching for words for the Khas dictionary, no one believed him, and some kept saying that this work would not be published. 

Some praised Acharya's work. But amidst criticism and praise, he published the Khas dictionary. A room was given to him in the premises of the District Coordination Committee. Hanging a board named Khasiya Akhar, he continued writing words day and night. 

Acharya said, 'The mother of the Nepali language is the Khas language of Jumla. Finally, my dream has come true.' His writing not only produced the Khas dictionary, but also broke the record of 17 years of hard work. This 1,300-page dictionary contains 40,000 words.

Only derivative words of Khas language are included in the dictionary. Modern words imported in recent days have not been included. It took him time to find a donor to publish the dictionary. ‘I thought I would just put the collected manuscripts in a drawer and sleep,’ he said, ‘My dream of publishing them before I die has been fulfilled. The effort to keep the Khas language and civilization alive has been completed. Now future generations will study and research it as a document.’

He had initiated the creation of a dictionary with many bodies, organizations, and individuals. Seeing that there would be no financial benefit, everyone backed down. But now he has made the dictionary available for reading. He has made the Karnali Provincial Government the guardian of the dictionary. Now the Ministry of Social Development has provided enough money to publish one thousand copies of the dictionary.

The local level has also promised to support. It has cost more than one thousand five hundred rupees to print just one copy of the dictionary. Earlier, money, manpower, and methods were not available. Unveiling the Khas dictionary, Social Development Minister Bhandari said that it will make a great contribution to the preservation and transmission of the Khas language. ‘The government is committed to the preservation of the Khas language and culture,’ Minister Bhandari said, ‘Khas language curricula are being developed and taught at some local levels. In which this dictionary will add fragrance to gold.'

Linguist and scholar Professor Dr. Madhav Prasad Shastri responded that the publication of the dictionary has done a great job of keeping Karnali's geography and head high. 'Karnali's chest has widened. A peak of geography has been added,' he added, 'The task of writing the dictionary was not easy. We are happy with the author Acharya for having the courage to undertake this complex task.'

The 'Khasiya Akhar' dictionary has made it easier to understand and study the Khas language of Karnali. The District Council held on Baisakh 11, 2065 BS had decided to publish the dictionary for the preservation of the Khas language. Acharya was given the responsibility of collecting and editing words.

Acharya, who was versed in the Khas language, collected Khas words with great difficulty. He reached the rural settlements of Humla, Dolpa, Kalikot, Mugu and Jumla in Karnali. Since the language style spoken in each district and region is different, it was very difficult to define the meaning of the words. Recently, he has been engaged in computer typing work. Since he cannot use a computer, he hired a typist to type the words. Some Khas words were not even found in the computer's Microsoft software. 

The then District Development Committee had started writing the dictionary by allocating 200,000 rupees in the first year. Acharya says that the dictionary was created to preserve and record the Khas language as it exists only as a spoken language in the areas where it is spoken.  

The dictionary has been divided into four dialects. The first 80 Darali dialect contains words of 80 Dara, Panchsha Dara and Sinja Dara. The second Trivikoti dialect contains words spoken in 24 Dara and Dolpa, the third Raskoti dialect contains words spoken in Kalikot, and the fourth Muhu dialect contains words spoken in Mugu and Humla.

A five-member committee was formed for the collection and writing of words. But later, neither the committee became active nor did financial support come, so he alone started collecting and writing words. The members were Ganesh Chaulagain, Harisharan Acharya, Prakash Chandra Khatri and Haribabu Chaulagain. They worked for only a short time in the beginning.

After they stopped working, Acharya would walk half an hour every day to reach the district headquarters, Khalanga Bazaar. Since it was not connected to the road network like it is now, there was no option but to walk. He would translate the words he collected alone without any service facilities. The problem of having to go to villages to collect words was the lack of budget.