Some time back I coined the word correctly.
If Hindutva is Hindu + tva – essence that must be purified of the accidental,
Konknitva is Konkani + tva – essence that must be purified of the accidental script, the accidental Catholic, the accidental plurality.
Definition: Konknitva is coined to show one language and one script that wants Nagari script as the only script of Konkani, especially against Romi script is close to Hindutva
Semantic meaning is clear: Official Language Act 1987 says Konkani in Devanagari is Official Language. Konknitva makes that administrative convenience into civilizational essence: one language = one script = Devanagari = true Goan = true India (Hindu).
Anasemia asks: what loss does that equation refuse to mourn?
It has three crypts, just like Hindutva, but smaller and closer to home.
1. Konkani: The Mother Who Swallowed Her Own Children
Konkani comes from konk – the corner, the uneven coast. A coast where language survives by having many boats, many scripts.
Historically Konkani lived in at least 5 scripts: Devanagari in Goa and Maharashtra, Romi since Thomas Stephens 1640 Arte da Lingoa Canarim, Kannada in Karwar and Mangalore, Malayalam in Kerala, Perso-Arabic by Konkani Muslims. That is not weakness. That is evidence of a mother who traveled.
Konknitva cannot mourn that mother was banned.
In 1684, Portuguese decree banned Konkani in churches and schools (to break local identity). Konkani survived because Catholics wrote it in Romi and took it to kudds in Mumbai, and Hindus later wrote it in Nagari starting in Mumbai.
That shared survival should be introjected: Both Catholics and Hindus kept mother alive in different scripts.
Instead Konknitva incorporates. It swallows the plural mother whole and preserves her alive inside as pure Nagari mother.
How do we see the crypt? In the sentence: “Konkani has always been in Devanagari.”
It has not. The first Konkani book, first grammar, first Mando, first Dekhni, were in Romi.
Shenoi Goembab the father of modern Konkani wrote in both scripts.
To say “always Devanagari” one has to cut one’s own archive. It is like cutting the limbs of our mother tongue. One thus makes one’s mother a one-handed mother.
The phantom inside Konknitva is a pure pre-Portuguese Konkani that never had a cross, never had Romi, never had Portuguese loanwords like zonell, mez , almarah. This pure Konkani never existed. Goa before Portuguese already had Arabic, Kannada influences. Arabic kabai , saib, saibin But that phantom is kept alive as essence.
2. Lipi: The Script That Hides a Grave
Lipi – script – from lip- to smear, to anoint.
Anasemic reversal: a script that should anoint many mouths, now smears one mouth shut.
Konknitva says: one language needs one script for unity, for computer, for Sahitya Akademi.
The real loss that cannot be mourned is Opinion Poll 1967 and Official Language Movement 1987.
In 1967 Goa refused merger with Maharashtra. The Marathi elite in Goa lost political home. In 1987 Konkani won official status, but won it with Devanagari. That victory was fragile because Catholic majority of Konkani speakers wrote in Romi and felt betrayed.
Instead of mourning that fragility – saying “we won official status but we lost script unity, let us mourn and live with two scripts like Sindhi and Dogri which have official recognition for two scripts” – Konknitva swallowed the loss whole.
It turned Devanagari from a script into the script, and Romi from a script into non-script, foreign script, Portuguese script.
This is classic incorporation: Romi is not banned by law – you can still use it. But it is made unconstitutional by culture. Sahitya Akademi award mostly for Devanagari Konkani. Government ads mostly in Devanagari. School textbooks only in Devanagari. Romi is allowed to exist as folklore, not as literature.
So the Goan Catholic who writes Konkani in Romi for 400 years becomes konkani-drohi in his own home. His script is viewed as foreign, invader.
For catholic Konknitva is (Un)Homing experience. Romi Konkani – which marked his civic presence in Old Goa, is renamed as foreign.
The crypt inside Konknitva: it carries a dead Goan Catholic inside itself as perpetual outsider. To keep Konkani pure Nagari, it must keep Catholic Konkani impure. It cannot mourn that Catholics preserved Konkani.
3. Tva: The -ness That Needs an Enemy
Tva makes essence stable: Goenkarponn becomes Konknitva.
But Konkani’s essence was always becoming – Konkaniponn, not Konknitva. Ponn is fluid, inclusive. Tva is frozen.
Why freeze? Because Konkani’s demographic is insecure. In Goa today, Konkani is official but not dominant in schools, commerce, jobs. Migrants don’t need Konkani. English medium grows.
Instead of introjecting that insecurity – “we are a small coast language in global world, we need many scripts, many allies” – Konknitva incorporates an enemy inside.
The enemy is Romi. If Romi is defeated, Konkani will be safe.
This is phantom logic. Romi never threatened Konkani. Romi is Konkani. In fact Romi Konkani has more readers today than Devanagari Konkani. Tiatro, kantaram, Gulf, London keep Konkani alive in Romi when Devanagari journals die.
By making Romi the villain, Konknitva creates neo-victims and neo-villains on smaller scale, same as Hindutva: neo-victim = Devanagari Konkani threatened by Portuguese, neo-villain = Goan Catholic who writes Romi.
Conclusion: From Konknitva to Konkaniponn
A crypt opens when unspeakable is spoken.
What must be spoken in Goa?
1. Konkani never had one script. That is its glory, not shame. Dogri has two official scripts. Kokborok, Santali have multiple. Official = Devanagari for administration does not mean only = Devanagari for literature.( Let Official be Devanagari, but let Sahitya be both).
2. Romi is not Portuguese. It is Goan Catholic Konkani.Thomas Stephens was English Jesuit, not Portuguese colonizer. He wrote Romi to save Konkani for us . To call Romi foreign is to cut the hand that saved our mother.
3. Konknitva must mourn its own victory. 1987 victory came by excluding its own brothers. Until it mourns that exclusion, it will keep needing Romi as enemy to feel pure.
Konkani will survive not as Konknitva – one language one script – but as Konkaniponn: one mother, many scripts, many children, one hearth where both Devanagari and Romi can offer buttermilk to the stranger.
Until then, Romi Konkani will be called illegitimate Lipi – adulterated script.
And a mother who had many hands will be forced to write with only one.
