Portuguese called Goa, ‘ Goa Dourada’, golden Goa . Since liberation this label has become unstable and Goans have been seeking where do they culturally belong. There was a move to merge Goa into neighboring Maharashtra due to its geographical closeness and cultural affinities. This movement took the shape of a referendum which is known as opinion poll and those that wanted to retain the distinct identity of Goa won the day. Although the merger was rejected the status of Konkani, the mother tongue of Goans became the next contentious issue and once again language spoken by every Goan was given the status of a servant of Marathi as it was thought to by a dialect of Marathi by several people ( 1985-1987). Goans had to fight for the dignity of their mother tongue and Konkani was recognized as the official language of Goa in 1987 and added to the Eight Schedule of the Constitution in 1992. But the script issue still haunts Goans since Konkani in devnagri script was made the official language forgetting the centuries old Roman script and thus, the identity of the language of Goans still remain unresolved even today.
The question of Konkani cannot be addressed with considering the colonial history of Goa which lasted for 451 years. But we still have to consider the period before the arrival of the Portuguese. It is critical that we understand what we call Goa today did not exist in the form it has today. Goa was simply the island of Tiswadi. Besides, Konkani did not come with Portuguese. Hence, the condition of Konkani before the advent of the colonizers has to be discerned. We have inscriptions on a statue dating in 11th century AD at Dodda Betta hill , ‘ Shree Chamunda Raje Karavile’ and Shree Ganraje Suttale Karaviyele’ which are considered to be in Konkani. Next, in the 16th century AD during the colonial time , it is reported about Konkani writings of Krishnadas Shama and Gyandev . We have about 300 Konkani words in Gyaneswari. It is reported that Tome Pires in his book, Summa Oriental indicates that people in Goa spoke a different language. It is also said that even Marco Polo points to fact that people who lived in what we know today as Goa spoke a very different language. This does mean that Konkani existed before the arrival of Portuguese. What is not clear is the script of Konkani. Since Marathi was written in Modi script , nagri script does not appear to be the script of Konkani. Professor Olivino Gomes tells us that before Portuguese Konkani was written in Kandvi script and he bases his argument on the records and accounts of ganvkarias ( village communes).
It has been admitted that Konkani literature was truly born with the Portuguese Missionaries. We can trace that the academic study of Konkani began with the coming of the Portuguese. We can identify three schools: The Franciscan School, The Jesuit School and the Modern School. In several ways we have to admit that Goa was the cradle of print literature of India. This is because Goa had the first printing press and has the distinction of printing the first book in Tamil and the second book in Konkani for our country. The Portuguese were invited by a Verna Brahmin Mal Pai Vernekar to free the then Goans from the atrocities of Yusuf Adhil Khan of Bijapur who was ruling what we call Goa today. The term used for Hindus of that time was those who followed Brahmanical practices even up to the 18th century this term is in vogue. These people enjoyed great patronage in the Estado de India. Portuguese Historian Pius Malekandethil tells us that commerce in Cidade de Goa, the city of Goa by 1620 was not controlled by the Portuguese but by ‘ banias , konkanis, or Jewish Merchants of which the Saraswat Brahmins were the most economically powerful. Amita Kanekar names Rama Queni ( Keni) as being the principal merchant. Mangoji Sinay of Salcete , Vituala Naique, Krishna Sinay and Nana Chati were prominent merchants, bankers and tax-farmers in the city at that time.
As the then upper caste benefited because of the Portuguese, they also seem to have collaborated in teaching Konkani to the missionaries. This is why Konkani is called lingua bramanica, lingua bramana and lingua canarim. Thus, the name Konkani applied to its speakers appears to of recent origin. The sarasvats brahmins have always claimed Konkani as their language but not without contestation by others. They claim that Sahyadri Kanda of Skanda Purana indicates that they came from Tirhotra/ Tirhut and settle in Gomanchala and Kusasthali and they belong to one of the five division of Gauda. They thinking is that they came along with Konkani. They called themselves Gaud Sarasvat Brahmins. The discovery of the names of some of these families in the Sahyadri Kanda by Dr. Gerson Da Cunha is said to have settled the dispute about the contestation of their brahmin status of Sarasvat in Mumbai and Pune by other brahmins. At the same time the lower caste scholars like Parag Parbo seems to indicate that it is the crisis of contestation of the brahminess of the Sarasvats led to the fabrication of the caste in the early 20th century. Here we are no interested about that issue. It is clear that it is the brahmins of the time of the Portuguese that taught the Portuguese missionaries Konkani and this led to the conversion of Goans to Christian faith and the flowering of Konkani literature. The forefathers of Konkani literature are some of these missionaries like Fr. Thomas Stevens.
To be continued
