Bairagi Kainla a renowned litterateur released a Kulung Rai language cassette “Aayabung” meaning beautiful flower amid a programme organised here on Saturday.

The young contributors of the cassette Sarala Rai - a popular singer, Sushma Rai, Kul Bahadur Rai and Bardan Rai were handed over the appreciation letter for their special contribution in producing such historic cassette that contributes in preserving and thriving this rare language.

There are about 34 dialects of the Rai among which Kulung is the one. President of the Kirant Rai Association Kul Bahadur Rai praised the effort for it can help contribute the ethnical identification of the their class. He urged the government to help these dialects to be preserved that otherwise could extinct. He further emphasized that even if the authority remains unconcerned the people themselves should feel responsible to preserve their precious language and culture by using them widely, producing cassettes, publishing literatures and also by reading news on the language through broadcasting medias.

Recent past executive director of National Committee for Development of Nationalities, Ananda Santoshi Rai claimed that there are only 26 languages alive among the 34 Kiranti languages. He warned to the speakers of the languages prone to extinct to use it to the fullest otherwise it would be like Sanskrit using only at the rituals.

The chief guest Bairagi Kainla said, “ We had our own identity before—own Kiranti way of building houses and own peculiar dressing styles but today we forgot all and mixed with other people,” adding that the language is the only identity and it has also been suppressed and limited by the other dominating languages in the community and so endangered.

Preserving the language by recording songs is one of the best way so as to gain prosperity in the situation when cultures ceased to be our way of life and that only live at the stage being the way of the artists artificial life performing there.

He also commented that written cultures dominated the spoken ones but spoken languages are true whereas written may be fake and artificial. He called the tireless effort of the young generation to sing in their mother tongue to be praiseworthy and asked such great measures to be continued.