Monthly Archives: May 2011

The Last Prabhu: A Hunt for Roots — DNA, Ancient Documents and Migration in Goa (on openlibrary.org)

Read

No readable version available.

Borrow

Physical copy, local WorldCat

Lists

You could add The Last Prabhu to alist if you log in.
About the Book

Where did the ancient ancestors of the Goans of today originate? Which routes did they take to arrive at Goa? A new book authored by a Switzerland-based Goan scientist answers these intriguing questions while searching for roots of people from here.

Titled ‘The Last Prabhu’, the book is authored by Dr. Bernardo Elvino de Sousa (65), who traces his roots to the village of Aldona and has worked as a scientist for three-and-half decades in the chemical industry.

Sousa says today it is today easy to carry out DNA tests for haplogroups which indicate one’s ancestral migration routes, starting as long back as 60,000 years ago. Common ancestors going back eight or more centuries can also be identified.

Sousa writes: “Today… my origin can be traced back … to an African, the common male ancestor of the world’s population whose descendants started migrating from northeast Africa, in the region of the Rift Valley, perhaps in present-day Ethiopia, Kenya or Tanzania, some 60,000 years ago.”

He also looks at the DNA tests of half-a-dozen other Goans, whose results are available, and what this could mean.

Sousa comments: “The first inhabitants of Western India were those of haplogroup C, the seafaring coastal people who undertook the first migration out of Africa. With its accessible coastline, Goa would certainly be an optimal candidate for them to settle.”

He says that whether the Mhars or the Kharwis better fit the description of seafarers and were therefore the first inhabitants of Goa could be resolved by determining the haplogroups of these communities.

He traces the entry of the Saraswats into Goa, and narrates how DNA testing helped him to locate a relative, Errol Pinto, from the same vangod (clan) from Aldona village, but who had migrated to Mangalore generations ago.

Sousa traces the ancestral names of some families in Aldona, and relies on 17th century comunidade meeting records to find out pre-conversion names of families now Catholic.

‘The Last Prabhu’ suggests the religious conversion process might have also been strategic. Sousa writes: “Some families chose a Solomonic path — half the family converted and the other half migrated to [what today is] Karnataka or other more welcoming destinations.”

“My ancestors chose to convert but Ramu Prabhu himself continued to resist conversion since his name can be encountered in the minutes of later meetings even after the conversion of his son e.g. meeting of 18 September 1601.”

Other surprises emerge in this book.

“Brahmins all over India belong to quite different haplogroups and share these haplogroups with other varnas and in a lesser frequency with tribal populations,” he writes.

Sousa says, “We can unambiguously conclude that there is no genetic basis whatsoever for the caste system in India and its origins must be attributed to other historical factors or possibly even just to happenstance.”

The book is published by Goa,1556 goa1556@gmail.com Its subtitle is “A Hunt for Roots: DNA, Ancient Documents and Migration in Goa”. The author studied in Aldona, Margao (Loyola), St Xavier’s College Bombay and the University of Fribourg. He has many scientific publications to his credit.

SUBJECTS
goa, migration, india, former portuguese colony, comunidade records, expat authors,bernardo elvino de sousa, DNA, ancestry, goa1556, brahmins, caste, caste in india, caste in goa, ramu prabhu, ancestors, religious conversions, ancient records, dna testing
PEOPLE
ramu prabhu, bernard elivno de sousa
PLACES
Goa, India, Africa, African Rift Valley, North Africa, Middle East, Fertile Crescent, Indus Valley,Sarasvati River, Kashmir, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Quitula, Aldona
TIMES
60, 000 years BCE to current date

Links (outside Open Library)

There is only 1 edition record, so we’ll show it here…  •  Add edition?

The Last Prabhu: A Hunt for Roots — DNA, Ancient Documents and Migration in Goa 
A Hunt for Roots — DNA, Ancient Documents and Migration in Goa

Published April 2011 by Goa,1556 in Goa, India .

Table of Contents

The African Connection 7
Fertile Crescent to River Sarasvati 15
The Peopling of Goa 25
From the Sarasvati to Goa 49
Cousin Errol, Cousin Hector 54
Ancestral Names 61
Ursula’s Descendant 94
Who was first: Adam or Eve? 97
Concluding Remarks 100
References 106
Annexures 111
Annex I DNA test report
Annex II DYS values
Annex III Subclade
Annex IV Gaunkar evidence
Annex V A meet at Aldona
Annex VI Certificate — mtDNA
Annex VII Description of Aldona
Annex VIII Church construction
Annex IX The Temple
Annex Xa Gaunkar name-changes
Annex Xb Attendance at meetings
Annex XI Migration route

The Physical Object

Format
 Paperback
Number of pages
 172
Dimensions
 8.5 x 5.5 x inches

Contributors

  • Producer
    Noronha, Frederick
  • Cover Design
    Nayak, Bina
  • Printer
    Harmalkar, Rama

ID Numbers

Open Library
 OL24643344M
ISBN 13
 9789380739151

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Some recent books from Goa…

Routinely, I scan book covers, mostly to go along with reviews of the same. Here is a collection of some of my covers. You could find many more at http://photosfromgoa.notlong.com If you find an interesting Goa-related book cover, of a rare or out-of-print book, please send me a scan. Many thanks in advance.

Sort:RelevantRecentInteresting
View: SmallMediumDetail

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Goan Catholic literature (from the Wikipedia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature_of_Goan_Catholics

  (Redirected from Literature of Goan Catholics)

Jump to: navigation, search

Goan Catholic literature is diverse.

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Missionary literature

See also: Christianization of Goa

Cover of Doutrina Christam by Fr. Thomas Stephens, published work in Konkani, and any Indian language

The indigenous population of the erstwhile overseas Portuguese colony of Goa underwent a large scale conversion to Roman Catholicism after its conquest and occupation by the Portuguese Empire, which was led by the famous voyager and adventurer Afonso de Albuquerque on 25 February 1510.[1] It was necessary for Catholic missionaries to learn the local Konkani language in order to carry out evangelic activities. Hence, during the 16th and 18th century, Catholic missionaries and priests contributed a lot for Goan Catholic literature by composing and publishing books in Konkani, as manual of devotion for converts.[2][3]

The origin of their literature dates to 1563 when the first Konkani grammar was published by Fr.Andre Vaz at St.Paulo College at Old Goa. Konkani language had its first Konkani-Portuguese dictionary in 1567. Missionary priests of Rachol Seminary compiled the first ever dictionary in any Indian language giving 15000 Konkani words and their vocables in Portuguese.[4] Konkani was known as Canarim in early Portuguese writings on Goa.[5] In 1622, Thomas Stephens (1549–1619) an English Jesuit published Doutrina Christam em lingoa Bramana Canarim, ordenada a maneira de dialogo, pera ensinar os mininos, por Thomas Estevao, Collegio de Rachol 1622 (Christian Doctrines in the Canarese Brahmin Language, arranged in dialogue to teach children, by Fr. Thomas Stephans, College of Rachol, 1622) which was the first book in Konkani and any Indian language.[6][7] Mariano Saldhana published a facsimile edition of this book entitled as Doutrina Cristâ em lingua Concani pot Tomás Estévão in 1945. Thomas Stephens also published the Arte da Lingoa Canarim (A Grammer of Konkani, 1640), with its second edition the Gramatica da Lingua Concani Composta Pelo Padre Thomas Estevão (A Grammer of Konkani language composed by Fr. Thomas Stephans) published in 1856.[8][9] and Declaraçam da Doutrina Christam (Exposition of Christian Doctrine in Konkani, 1632) in Goa.[5][10] Jesuit missionaries also produced works during the seveenteenth century in a mix of Marathi and Konkani like the Krista Purana (The Christian Purânna) in 1616, 1649, and 1654, but no copies of any of these editions are extant. The ‘Krista Purana’ (The Christian Purânna) is a Marathi-Konkani metrical composition, consisting of 10,962 strophes; divided into two parts treating of the Old and the New Testament respectively. Paixao de Cristo (Passion of Christ) known as Christi Vilapika in Marathi, written by during the 17th century in Marathi language and Roman script, based on sublime pathos of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the Chilayabal Vilapika.[11]

In 1626, Diogo Reberio (1560–1633), a Portuguese Jesuit, compailed the Vocabulario da lingoa Canarim (A Vocabulary of Konkani language) a Konkani-Portuguese and Portuguese-Konkani dictionary at Salcette, Goa, its mauscript is found at the Central Library, Panjim, Goa. It comprises 14,000 principal lexical entries.[5] It was in the form of three manuscripts, each different from the other. In 1973, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar published in Lisbon a seventeenth-century Konkani dictionary called Vocabulario da Lingoa Canarina Com versam Portugueza, which is a revised and enlarged version of Reberio’s Vocabulario.[12] A manuscript at the Ajuda library in Lisbon entitled Vocabulario (Canarim) da lingoa da Terra, Composto pelo Padre Diogo Reberio da Comphania de Jesu do uzo do Padre Amaro de Azevedo tresladado a sua custa also based on Reberio’s Vocabulario. In 1982, professor L.A. Rodrigues of Santa Cruz, Goa discovered the Vocabulario da lingoa Canarim, feito pellos Padres da Comphania de Jesus que residião da Christandade de Salcete e novamente acressentado com varios de falar pelo Padre Diogo Reberio de Comphania. Anno 1626. However it does not differ from the Central Library Vocabulario copy and hence is considered the second copy of Reberio’s Vocabulario.[12] Christovão de Jesus wrote the Grammatica da Bramana (1635).[8]

In 1857 Dr. Joaquim Heliodoró da Cunha Rivara (1800–79) published the Ensiao Historico da Lingua Concani (Historical Essay on Konkani language).[10] Mgr Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado (1855–1922) procuded works such as A Konkani-Portuguese, Philological and Etmological Dictionary (1893), A Portuguese-Konkani Dictionary (1905), A Bouquet of Konkani Proverbs (1922) and the unpublished A Grammer of Konkani language (1922),[13] with its manuscript preserved in the Central Library, Panjim.[9] Gaspar De Sam Miguel’s undated Sintaxis Copiozissima na Lingua Brahmana e Polida with its manuscript in the University of London. In Goa, Amcho Soddvonddar (Our Saviour, Jesus the Messiah, 1952) was popular.[14] In Goa, the Salesians started Aitarachem Vachop, a Konkani weekly.[15]

[edit] Other literature

Devanagari script is the official script for Koṅkaṇī, although the Roman script is used for religious and other purposes.

Goan Catholics have immensely contributed towards Media Activities in Goa, Bombay, and Karachi. In 1556, the first printing press was established in Goa and on December 22, 1821 the first periodical Gazeta de Goa (Goa Gazeteer), was published with Antonio Jose de Lima Leitao being its founder-editor. On 22 January 1900, the first Portuguese newspaper in Goa, O Heraldo was started by Prof. Messias Gomes, which was transformed into an English daily in 1987.[16] Popular Konkani periodicals published in Goa include Amcho Ganv (1930) by Luis de Menezes,[17] Amigo do Povo (People’s friend, 1916) by S.X. Vaz, Antonio V. De Cruz’s Ave Maria (1920), Amcho Sonvsar (Our World, 1928) by J.C.F de Souza, Goencho Porzoll (1982) by Joao Inacio de Souza, Goyche Xetkamoti (Goan Farmers) by J.A. Fernandes,[14] Sangatti (1934), a magazine by F.P. Martryer were published.[18] In 1911, the first Konkani novel Kristanv Ghorabo (Christian home) by Eduardo José Bruno de Souza was published.[19][20] His also produced various works such as Kristanvanchi Dotorn Goyenche Bhaxen (Christian doctrine in the language of Goa, 1897), Eva ani Mori (Eve and Mary, 1899), Piedade Saibinichim ani sabar dusrim Gaenam (Our Lady of Piety Hymns and Several Others, 1901), Primeira Cartilha do Alphabeto Mariano (First book of Marian Alphabet, 1905), Monti Saibinichim ani sabar dusrim Gaenam (Our Lady of Mount’s hymns and several others), Ressurecção do Concani (Resurrection of Konkani), Khuxalponnacho ghorabo and Ponchtis Kunvor (Happy family and thirty five princes), and Sorgacho Thevo (Treasure of Heaven).[19] According to R. Kelkar author of A Bibliography of Konkani literature in Devnargri, Roman and Kannada characters (1963) lists that there are over 1000 Goan Catholic Konkani works in Roman script.[21]

From 1892 to 1897, bilingual Konkani-Portuguese weeklies such as A Luz, O Bombaim Esse, O Luo, O Intra Jijent, O Opiniao Nacional, while Konkani-English periodicals like Goa Mail (1919) by Dr. Vasco da Gama and F.X. Afonso, Goa Times (1919), which later only Konkani were published.[22] Popular Portuguese-Konkani periodicals included Porecho Adhar (1932) by Joseph Baptist Vaz and Padre Jose Vaz by Francis Xavier D’Costa.[17] In 1919, Amigo do Povo (1916) and O Goano (1916) were combined and named O Amigo do Povo Goano.[22] Popular Konkani newspapers and magazines like Vauraddeancho Ixxt (The worker’s friend, 1933) by Fr. Arcenio Fernandes and Fr. Graciano Gomes. It was then edited by L.A. Fernandes and later by Fr.Lactancio Almedia, while it is presently ran by the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier, Pilar, Goa. Other newspapers included Konknni Bulletin by Antonio Vincente D’Cruz, Gulab and Goencho Avaz, which became a fortnightly after one and a half year, by Fr. Freddy J. da Costa.[17][23]

After Liberation of Goa, Felicio Cardoso started a weekly named Goencho Sad and later changed it to Sot. In 1963, Ameterio Pais, started a weekly Uzvadd. In 1967, two weeklies were Sot and A Vida were combanied by Felicio Cardoso to form Divtti, a daily, which he later transformed into a weelky Loksad.[23] Post-anexxion journalism flourished, through the advent of periodicals like Novo Uzvadd and Prokas by Evagrio Jorge, Goencho Avaz, and later changed to Goenchem Kirnam (1980) by Fr. Planton Faria. Currently, the Goan Review is the only Konkani-English bimonthly, operating from Mumbai, edited by Fausto V. da Costa, and the Konkan Mail started from Panjim, with Cyril D’Cunha and Jose Salvador Fernandes editing the English and Konkani sections respectively.[24] Dacho Furtad introduced two new dictionaries, the New Konkani-English Pocket Dictionary (1930) and Concanim–Inglez dicionar (Konkani-English Pocket Dictionary, 1999).

In Bombay Konkani perodials such as O Concani, a weekly by Sebastiāo Jesus Dias, Sanjechem Noketr (The Evening star) (1907) by B.F. Cabral, O Goano (1907) by Honarato Furtado and Francis Futardo, divide into three sections: Portuguese, Konkani and English, Popular Magazine by first as monthly then a forttnightly and Ave Maria (1919), a Konkani-English-Portuguese trilingual edited by Antonio D’Cruz were published.[17] On February 1899, Udentenchem Sallok (Lotus of the East), a Konkani-Portuguese bilingual by Eduardo J. Bruno de Souza, the first Konkani periodical was published as a fortnightly in Poona. In Sholapur, the first Konkani book in the Devanagri script Kristanv Doton ani Katisism (1894), by Dr. George Octaviano Pires was published.[25] Other periodicals that took birth Bombay from 1936-50 included Udentechem Nektr (The Morning star), Niz Goa, Jai Gomantak, Gomant Bharti, Voice of Goa, Azad Goem, Sot Uloi, Porjecho Avaz and Ghe Uzvadd were published. Periodicals like Mhojem Magazin, Catholic Indian, Amcho Sonvsar, Novo Jivit, Goenkaracho Ixxt, Porjecho Ulas, Golden Goa, Konkani Times, Sontos, Aitarachem Vachop, O Heraldo, Konknni Journal and Tujem Raj Amkam Ieum were circulated from Bombay.[17] In Karachi, Fr.Ludovico Pereria’s monthly Dor Mhoineachi Rotti (Monthly bread, 1915) was published.[15][18]

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ Mendonça 2002, p. 67
  2. ^ Mendonça 2002, pp. 146–147
  3. ^ Borges & Feldmann 1997, p. 188
  4. ^ “Konkani Language and Literature”. Goa Konkani Akademi. http://www.goakonkaniakademi.org/konkaniweb/language-literature.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-14. 
  5. ^ a b c Miranda 1985, p. 196
  6. ^ Saradesāya 2000, p. 40
  7. ^ Lal 1992, p. 4182
  8. ^ a b Miranda 2003, p. 764
  9. ^ a b Sardessai 1992, p. 207
  10. ^ a b Sardessai 1992, p. 206
  11. ^ Tadkodkar, S.M. (2010), Goan Christian Marathi Vilapika : During the 17th Century, B.R. Pub., ISBN 9788176464987, OCLC 460868037, https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no63413.htm .
  12. ^ a b Miranda 1985, p. 197
  13. ^ Datta 2006, p. 1479
  14. ^ a b Saradesāya 2000, p. 110
  15. ^ a b “Moreno de Souza SJ 1923-2007″. Society of Jesus, Goa. http://www.goajesuits.in/events/20071014morenodesouza.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
  16. ^ Saradesāya 2000, p. 241
  17. ^ a b c d e Noronha 2008, p. 185
  18. ^ a b Saradesāya 2000, p. 242
  19. ^ a b Saradesāya 2000, p. 102
  20. ^ Sardessai 1992, p. 208
  21. ^ Miranda 2001, p. 53
  22. ^ a b Noronha 2008, p. 184
  23. ^ a b Noronha 2008, p. 186
  24. ^ Noronha 2008, p. 187
  25. ^ Pratap Naik (2008-09-05). “Long History of Romi Konkani”. Navhind Times. http://www.navhindtimes.com/story.php?story=2008090520. Retrieved 2008-12-10. 

[edit] References

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goan_Catholic_literature“

Personal tools

Namespaces

Variants

Views

Actions

Blogged with the Flock Browser

A reader for every book May 2011 (Himal Southasia)


By  Frederick Noronha
How to connect discerning readers with discerning titles?
Photo: elycefeliz

As we hear time and again these days, the Indian book-publishing industry is booming. The numbers of books coming out is up significantly compared to previous years, and in languages offering a bigger footprint, particularly English and Hindi. Yet amidst all this, what is the state of ‘alternative’ publishing – those non-mainstream, often not-for-profit, publishers typically focusing on causes rather than money? In fact, since the beginning of India’s economic liberalisation in the early 1990s, alongside the ‘discovery’ of the Indian market by international publishing conglomerates there has been a notable parallel profusion of small-scale publishing houses. Recent years has seen massive growth in independent publishing, helped on in particular by technology having lowered costs, enabling better-quality printing and making outsourcing and tapping freelance work easier. At base, publishing has become far more accessible for all. Yet one issue in particular has continued to dog these independent operations: distribution.

‘Alternative publishers in India basically face the same challenges that publishers face everywhere – selecting content, adding value, making public,’ says Joseph Mathai of the Independent Publishers’ Distribution Alternatives (IPDA). ‘But these challenges are made more acute by the relative small size of the operations of alternative publishers.’ With the exception of some small publishers, such as Zubaan, which now has a tie-up with Penguin Books, most distributors who supply to retailers do not want to use publishers that are either not established or are publishing titles that do not seem likely to result in high sales.

Such ‘dis-economies of small scale’ work against alternative publishers. The more experienced members of a small publisher’s staff are typically forced to spend more time on administrative and financial tasks, thus taking them away from promoting the published books. As Mathai says, ‘The entry of more and more big players in the publishing field’ is taking place in a market that is quickly expanding, but in a way that is stacked the odds against the small players. ‘There has undeniably been an increase in the book-reading public,’ Mathai continues, ‘but a substantial segment of this growth is powered by an increasing demand for self-help books and “easy reads”, which really are not the kind of books that alternative publishers are interested in bringing out.’

As such, getting the types of books that small-scale publishers typically focus on into the hands of those who are interested in reading them has become a significant issue. It is one with critical implications for the survival of individual publishers and, perhaps, the overall sector of alternative publishing.

Alternative alternatives
Distribution was one of the main reasons behind the formation of the IPDA. It explains itself as being grounded in the idea that liberalisation is leading to small-scale publishers ‘being pushed to the margins by the entry of multinational corporate publishing houses’, mostly from the Western world. ‘For us, available shelf space was shrinking, as we were crowded out by mainstream publishers. We do not have such long lists of books. If we go as a collective, it has its advantages,’ says Amrita Akhil, the marketing director for IPDA. Today, IPDA includes publishers such as LeftWord, Navayana, Samskriti, Stree-Samya, Three Essays Collective, Tulika (Delhi and Chennai), Women Unlimited and Zubaan.

IPDA functions as a collaborative marketing-and-distribution initiative. Its goal is to achieve the widest possible exposure and distribution of books published by alternative publishers in the form of small presses, as well as self-publishing. More recently, these options have also begun to include print on demand (see box) and e-book formats. Put together, they publish books covering a wide range of subjects such as social sciences, gender studies, the humanities, leftist literature, development studies, international relations, politics, cultural studies, fiction, books for children and young adults, general-interest non-fiction and even some poetry. Besides the eight partner publishers, IPDA is the official distributor for other publishing houses, and is also exploring alternatives to strict copyright and ‘all rights reserved’ approaches to publishing.

In IPDA’s case, unity is strength, and the alliance is now distributing over 2000 titles. There have been some notable success stories, including some that would normally not be associated with alternative publishing. The two volumes on artist Amrita Sher Gil published by Tulika, for instance, included reproductions of 147 paintings, a select bibliography of works on the artist as well as her translated letters and other writings. It cost over INR 5000 and sold more than 1500 copies. For Tulika and other alternative presses this experience has demonstrated that small-scale publishing operations need not be restricted to low-cost books. 

A number of other models have also been tried to get past the distribution bottleneck. One is direct marketing to the customer, which particularly serves authors who are in a position to make more money from direct sales to a niche audience as opposed to bookstore sales, similar to popular speakers who sell books after their speeches. The Other India Press in Goa, for instance, prints and distributes a useful catalogue of alternative books in India, and markets these and its own publications through direct mail order rather than rely only on bookstore sales.

One of the innovations by Other Books in Kerala is based on teaming up authors and sponsors, acting as a link between them, with the objective of ensuring that themes connected with the peculiarities of a small region of Kerala actually get written about.Kerala even boasts of a state-run institution that could be seen as an alternative publisher – the Kerala State Institute for Children’s Literature, which aims to promote reading among children. Started in 1981, this remains the only state government-run project of its kind. The initiative has relied on the strong culture of libraries in Kerala to bring its books to readers, with some 6000 book-lenders spread across the state.

Still, much remains to be done. For instance, Kannan Sundaram, of Kalachuvadu publishers, suggests that more bookshops and distributors need to be set up focusing specifically on the works of small-scale presses. Until that happens, Sundaram says, book fairs are a critical component of promotion for alternative publishers. Nonetheless, the potential for growth clearly exists, and the arrival on the scene of so many small players has led many to express excitement about the new diversity of the printed word in India. While the value of these new works cannot be judged in terms of profitability alone, alternative publishing houses are trying to make available to the reader a world of new ideas – and creating space for many more voices to be heard.

A copy at a time

Goa-based Leonard Fernandes is a young engineer who, with his wife Quennie, started an online used bookstore aptly titled, as any book lover would agree, dogearsetc.com. They also offer editorial and pre-press services, such as proofreading, editing, formatting, preparing non-English text, translation and more. Not only does dogearsetc.com stock used books, but also books from alternative publishers such as Yoda Press, IPDA and Tulika, whose titles are not easily available.

Still, it is the Fernandeses’ print-on-demand service that is of interest to those who want to publish just a few copies of a new book. Unlike a normal publishing process, in which a publisher prints and then sells, under print-on-demand the book is sold first and then printed. So, authors can put up their book ondogearsetc.com (or anywhere else), and when one copy gets sold they can get just one copy printed. With this new technology, the price of printing a single copy, while high, is not prohibitive.

Print-on-demand ‘is a one-off thing,’ says Leonard. ‘The per-unit cost is higher, but you’re saving on the total cost.’ He points to one book of about 130 pages and says, ‘If you print a thousand copies via the traditional method, it might cost you 40,000 to 50,000 rupees. With print-on-demand, it might cost you just 120 rupees per copy. You can even get just one copy, if you wish.’ Rather than investing tens of thousands of rupees, an author spends just a few hundred.

With print-on-demand there are no unsold copies lying around, there is no requirement to print thousands at one go. Rather, an author can use that one published copy as ‘proof of concept’, a prototype to show to a larger publisher, who could consider a full print run. The print-on-demand option can also be used for a niche audience – for a lecturer to share his or her book, or to share one’s mother’s book of recipes with family and friends.

In short, print-on-demand seems to offer the logical extension of the ideology behind small-scale alternative presses in the first place: a continued opening of the publishing option to one and all.

~ Frederick Noronha is a Goa-based journalist.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Central Library to be shifted to Rs 32-cr, 6- storey premises at Patto (Navhind Times)

Published by THE NAVHIND TIMES on: May 11, 2011 – 01:37
More in: 

PANAJI: A repository of knowledge since 1832, the Central Library formally known as ‘Biblioteca Nacional de Goa’ will soon move to a new, Rs 32 crore state-of-the-art building at Patto, and will be rechristened as Krishnadas Shama State Central Library.

The work of transporting the books and other material from the present location of the library in the Menezes Braganza building has already started and is expected to be complete in a month’s time. The new 6-storeyed library building having an area of 13,369 sq mt is expected to be inaugurated on June 18, the Goa Revolution Day.
Meanwhile, the new library building is almost ready with an audio-visual section for children, two music rooms, one recording room, one studio room and a multi-purpose hall for 200 persons, among other facilities.
The new library building will also separate sections for Hindi, Konkani and Marathi books, besides a Braille section for blind readers. Furthermore, it will have a reference section, a photography laboratory, book scanner, binding section, microfilm reading section, and a new book-drop system, wherein if a reader arrives at the library after closing hours, he will be able to deposit the book in this system that will receive it automatically and update the records.
Presently, the new library premises is being given finishing touches as also cleaned and readied for inauguration. The Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation is expected to hand over the new library building to the directorate of art and culture by
May 15.
The highly placed GSIDC sources maintained that the entire building is air-conditioned, and special arrangements have been made to control the humidity in the premises, as favourable for the maintenance of books.
“The office of the directorate of art and culture will be set up on the ground floor of the building, while the second floor will have research and study wings,” the sources maintained, adding that the reading rooms would be made available on the third and fourth floors. It was also informed that books will be stored on the fifth and sixth floor.
The highlight of the state-of-the-art edifice will be the introduction of Lipsis System, which is a library management software connecting all government libraries in Goa to the Central Library. Any member of the library will be able to log on to the library website from home and check whether it has a particular book and whether thatbook is present in the library shelf or on circulation.
A total of 307 computers will be installed in the new Central Library building, with 60 computers to be exclusively used for internet surfing by the public – 48 computers for adults and 12 computers for children. In all, 115 closed circuit television cameras will maintain surveillance over the library premises, while other hi-tech features including an electronic de-humidifier system will maintain uniform humidity in the library, a ‘Dumb-waiter’ system will help in shifting of books from floor to floor through a lift, and a wall-sized television will entertain young readers in the children’s section.
It is expected that the Central Library in its new premises will remain open for the public from 8 a.m to 8 p.m. There are also plans to keep the library open on Saturdays, Sundays and even on holidays, in the next phase of planning.
The library, in the future will have over 5 lakh books, besides making available 200 magazines and 20 newspapers for the readers.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

A quote from… Henry Scholberg

Some years back, Henry Scholberg’s bibliography on Goa was ubiquitious and a very important work. Today, while browsing through the Goa section of books at the Golden Heart Emporium in Margao, I came across a comment made by him in his own autobiography: 

I got an AIIS grant to spend two months in Goa where I worked on my *Bibliography of Goa & The Portuguese in India* in 1975. This, when it would come out five years later, was to be my magnum opus…. My other collaborator on the Goa Project was Archana Kakodkar. She was a Hindu lady; and I found, as I compared my working relationship with her and Carmo Azavedo who is a Christian, that the Hindu behaved more like a Christian than the Christian did… – From the chapter ‘The Ames Library of South Asia’ in *That’s India: The Memoirs of An Old India Hand*. Henry Scholberg ISBN 81-85002-30-4. Biblophile South Asia/Promilla & Co 2002. p. 143

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Jose Lourenco’s short story (Selma Carvalho)

Who the Bleep cares about Jose Lourenco’s short stories? By Selma Carvalho.
In the interests of transparency, I have to disclose that I first met Jose Lourenco, a young civil-engineer and writer from Goa, in the maelstrom of Goan cyber-space and under the darkened cloak of anonymity, we glimpsed into each other’s lives. There, along with Roland Francis and another licentious, liberal who shall go unnamed, we were dubbed an unflattering sobriquet which alluded to our licentious, liberal nature by more conservative forces who hoped to reign us in; but we remained unpurged of our malaise to think freely, to shout freely and to live freely. That was almost twelve years ago, and since then, Jose, Roland and I have made several forays into the world of writing with some success.
So when my copy of Inside/Out, an anthology showcasing the fecundity of Goa’s new writing talent and some older more ripened names, finally arrived at my doorsteps, delivered by an English postman wearing what in my college days were called culottes, I knew immediately I would flee to Jose Lourenco’s offering like a meal-searching mendicant.
“When Somoni Desai,” begins the short story Fever by Jose, “felt that the heat in his lower body was getting too much, he went to Doctor Shivram. The doctor tucked up his puddvem and peered at Somoni’s tongue. He asked him to cough as he studied Somoni’s balls and watched them rise and fall.
Then, he stood him in the sunlight streaming through the window of oyster shells and stared at the floor.
“It’s a fever,” he said. “Your shadow has a fever.”
Not only are the characters, fulsome but Goa itself becomes a character in the story. The mark of good fiction is an underlying cultural truth, a human malady told with the guile of a child.
Jose Lourenco flies like a maddened Icarus, furiously flapping his wax wings with all the hubris of a young literary talent who knows his worth and yet he carries the burden of his potential like a sanyashi with the knowledge that gifts inherited from fickle Gods bear the responsibility of humility.
I hope Jose Lourenco continues to write; I hope stories spill from his pen like so many wild oats and germinate on the white pages of novellas and novels. His is the type of Goan fiction, which will mature like grapes on a languid vine, ripened to perfection by a benevolent sun beaming in exquisite adoration. He reminds me of  Nobel prize-winner Garcia Marquez, whose simple stories of pious, Church-going Andalusians and exiled Chilean Presidentes bring to us the Latin world in all its indolent misery and betrayed lusts, with rays of painful hope filtering through here and there. They are stories divinely and deliciously crafted, mad with words so thick and juicy that I could luxuriate in a bathful of them.
An array of books, including Inside/Out will be sold at the Goan Festival London July 2011. To order Inside/Out from Goa, click here:
http://goa1556.goa-india.org/index.php?page=buy-books-via-paypal

photo credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/5393494538/

SOURCE: http://selmacarvalho.blogspot.com/2011/05/jose-lourencos-short-story.html

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Folk tales, Liberation, birds, women, Gomes….

Some Goa-related books which I picked up from the Golden Heart Emporium (near GPO, Margao) just last evening, for my collection:
 

  •  Konkani Folk Tales, Retold by Olivinho Gomes.  NBT, 2007, reprint 2008. ISBN 978-81-237-5083-5. Great VFM (value for money) at Rs 75 only for a 232 page book. (Today, books in India, paperback ones, are roughly priced at one rupee a page.) Grab it if you can. Not easily available, perhaps because NBT commissions work out very low on their low-priced books!
  • Landmarks of Goa’s Liberation. A Goan Observer Tribute.  ISBN 978-81-89837-08-2. Rs 150 . Pp 82. 2010. Somehow I had not seen this book earlier, or did not know where to find it. 
  • World of Birds. By Anthony Carvalho. By Anthony Carvalho. 78pp. Rs 45. nd. Interesting listing of birds of Goa. Originally in Romi Konkani, translated. Probably have a copy of this book, but no problem in having an extra one, specially since it is a self-published book and these can soon turn hard to locate.
  • Kaleidoscope of Women in Goa. Fatima da Silva Gracias. Pp 166. ISBN 81-7022-591-4. Rs 250. “This study provides a picture of the life styles of women both Christian and non-Christian in Goa (a tiny state in the west coast of India) during Portuguese rule.” This is for a member of the Goa Book Club who requested a copy!
  • Francisco Luis Gomes. By Olivinho JF Gomes. Rs 90. ISBN 978-81-237-5801-5. Pp 260. Another interesting NBT book! Published posthumously after the untimely death of former acting Goa University vice chancellor and prolific writer Dr Olivinho Gomes. I have another reason for reading this book currently!

MEANWHILE, just to say that Goa,1556′s latest publication THE LAST PRABHU is now available at Broadway (Panjim), Varsha (Panjim), Golden Heart Emporium (Margao) and the Other India Bookstore (Mapusa). Also by mail-order via http://bit.ly/kxRUBC

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Anti-colonial cousins


Vivek Menezes recalls an Indian revolutionary’s role in the freedom struggles of East Africa.

When India celebrates its diaspora, the emphasis is always on NRIs in the West. Silvia Braganca’s newbook on her huband, Aquino de Braganca, theGoa-born advisor to a host of African leaders, offers a startling look at a barely-known thread in NRI history, peopled by anti-colonial activists who helped to steer the nationalist movements of sub-Saharan Africa.

Battles Waged, Lasting Dreams is a labour of love that was put together quite idiosyncratically, but that can be forgiven for the sheer achievement of pinning down the contours of this riveting narrative, full of excitement and energy, deeply evocative of the era of decolonisation.

If anyone knows about Indian revolutionaries in Africa, it is via the prism of South Africa, where Mahatma Gandhi found his feet as a political leader. In later years, several South Africans of Indian descent played an important role in the African National Congress.

But there was another set of anti-colonialists who streamed out of Portuguese Goa in the first half of the twentieth century and became role models for later struggles in Africa. Many of them had similar influences: nationalist Indian politics, anti-Portuguese sentiment and then further radicalisation by study in Europe and contact with Marxist revolutionaries there.

This was already happening by the 1920s, when Goa-born Tristao Braganza Cunha was studying at the Sorbonne and became the conduit for the Indian National Congress in France. His accounts greatly influenced Romain Rolland’s influential biography of Gandhi.

By the 1940s, there were several Goans (often European-educated) at the forefront of the liberation struggles in British and Portuguese colonies in Africa. They included Pio Gama Pinto, the ideologue of the Kenya African National Union, which came to power in 1961 (he was assassinated four years later by political rivals), and Fitz de Souza, who represented the Mau Mau in court during the height of the British battle to retain control of its colony. De Souza later helped to draft the Kenyan constitution. Joseph Murumbi, the son of a Goan-Masai marriage, went on to become Vice-President of Kenya.

Most influential of all was Aquino de Braganca, born into a family from Mapusa, in North Goa. Like almost all Goan boys of some means in those days, he was educated at the Lyceum in Panjim but then had to leave the territory for lack of further opportunities. In his case, a desire to study physics and mathematics led him first to Karnatak College in Dharwar and then to join the steady outflow of young Goan fortune-seekers to Mozambique, in Portuguese-held East Africa. He was changed forever by the harsh apartheid-like circumstances in the colony. Within a few months, he headed to Grenoble in France to pursue further studies.

In France, Braganca met the philosopher Frantz Fanon, and was inspired by his anti-colonial views. He founded a political party for the freedom of Goa and plotted the liberation of all the Portuguese colonies in Africa. He and other revolutionaries from across Africa gathered under the banner of CONCP – the Conference of Nationalist Organisations of the Portuguese Colonies. In the end, every one of these movements succeeded, and the Portuguese were eventually compelled to leave Africa. “Aquino de Braganca was a great revolutionary,”  Nelson Mandela said. He “prepared the ground”.

When freedom came to Mozambique in 1975, it was Aquino de Braganca who negotiated it in secret meetings between FRELIMO (the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) and the Portuguese, on behalf of his close friend, Samora Machel, who soon became president. That relationship led to Braganca’s death. He was accompanying Machel on a presidential tour in 1986 when their plane crashed in mysterious circumstances. 

But he’s still remembered as a giant of the time of decolonisation. Silvia Braganca quotes Joaquim Chissano, the ex-President of Mozambique, recounting how he’s often asked about this Goan revolutionary: “Many Presidents remember. Mugabe remembers. Kaunda certainly remembers. How many times did I not hear Nyerere talking about Aquino de Braganca? People have something that they keep and they use. I am sure that this happens with Aquino.”

Battles Waged, Lasting Dreams , Goa 1556, Rs.350.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Os Brahamanes (romance)

Francisco Luís Gomes’ novel is available online.
Incidentally, it has been seen [http://1857revolt.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/titles-in-portuguese/] as one of the three titles in Portuguese which count as a response “in Europe” to the 1857 revolt in North India. The other two are Dr Felix Maynard’s translated work De Delhi a Cawnpore : diario de uma senhora ingleza : paginas da insurreição da India, and Canto do Indio; in: Poesias de Ernesto Cibrão, 1857-1860, Paris 1861.
Gomes’ work in Portuguese is at:
Thanks to Dale Menezes for the link.

Sandra Lobo commented, via Goa-Research-Net:

That is a very interesting information Frederick. I’ve never heard of this Ernesto Cibrão, so I do think it would be worth researching about him.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

A dictionary in Konkani… five inches thick!

Frederick Noronha | GOA

You might run across Damodar K.K. Ghanekar cycling in Panjim, quite absent-mindedly and lost deep in thought. Without much ado, and spending half-a-dozen years over the task, Ghanekar recently put together Konkani’s most ambitious dictionary, one which spans over two thousand pages! To undertake a task of this scale, perhaps one needs to be lost in a world of one’s own!

But appearances can be deceptive. Ghanekar’s visiting card describes himself as a Konkani teacher, lexicographer, encyclopedist, journalist, and a legal and technical translator.

photo


Recently, he shared with the Goa Book Club what went into his most ambitious work of love, a Konkani dictionary that heavy and thick, vast and impressive.

Augusto Pinto, the Goa-based translator, book reviewer and educator called this “The Most Elaborate Konkani Dictionary So Far”.

Pinto drew our (belated) attention to the work, saying:

I purchased the Rajhans publication ‘Konkani Sachitr Ashtangi Abhyaskosh’ (roughly Konkani Illustrated Comprehensive Scholarly-Dictionary) published in 2009. It is edited by Damodar Keshav Ghanekar and its Technical Advisor is Suresh Jaywant Borkar and has 2029 pages besides another 81 pages of Introduction and Appendices.

It is by far the most elaborate Konkani-Konkani dictionary published so far. Although it is in the Devanagari script, it does indicate roots of words in the Roman script, when words are derived from Portuguese, English and foreign languages. Besides meanings, it has an Introduction which describes the development of the Konkani language, and also gives word etymologies, pronunciation, idioms and phrases, grammatical issues and other matters. The dictionary costs Rs 3700 for institutions although the price is Rs 1200 for individuals.


It is published by Rajhauns, the Panjim-based publisher with literally hundreds of titles to its credit. (Rajhauns is now more into educational texts and study aids, but has published quite a few Goa-related books in the past.)

photo

Damodar Ghanekar

Says the publishers Rajhauns about this book: “Thousands of people, both Goans and from beyond Goa, use Konkani for various purposes in education, literature, journalism, and publishing. This dictionary was created for them to get access to the needed information. It offers meanings of the words. To enhance their knowledge of vocabulary, a number of meanings have been given. Not just this, in some cases, even the opposites have been given. To understand the language’s vocabulary without trouble, the ‘samanyaroop’ and ‘kriyapads’ (verbal nouns) are also offered in quite many cases.”

Ghanekar is modest about his achievement, which has been out in the market for a couple of years now. Unfortunately, like many made-in-Goa
products, is probably not recognised adequately recognised in its own home.

“Five minutes are sufficient (to explain the concept),” says Ghanekar. He translates the tongue-twisting title of the book to mean “Konkani Illustrated Eight-Fold, Learners’ Dictionary”. Why is it called eight-fold?

“We give the head-word, then the part of speech it belongs to, its gender, the oblique form of the word (for example, mez-mezak), whether it is used singly or without a plural, then the meaning, and then the oblique form of the plural (which can change slightly in Konkani), and a few English and many Portuguese words (which are frequently used in Konkani).”

Ghanekar notes that his dictionary defines verbs as transitive or intransitive. There is a root given, and sometimes even the negative form of the word.

Portuguese missionaries created impressive and path-breaking dictionaries and grammars for Konkani centuries ago; many were firsts of their kind among Asian and South Asian languages.

Goa had the first movable-type printing press in Asia, as far back as the mid-sixteenth century. Even if things came here by accident (and early Portuguese rule), this tiny region on the west coast of India does have many firsts to its credit.

The first Konkani grammar was published by Fr.Andre Vaz at St.Paulo College at Old Goa. The Konkani language had its first Konkani-Portuguese dictionary as far back as in 1567. Missionary priests of Rachol Seminary are credited with having compiled the first ever dictionary in any Indian language giving 15000 Konkani words and their vocables in Portuguese.

The English Jesuit priest Thomas Stephens also published the Arte da Lingoa Canarim (A Grammer of Konkani, 1640), as noted on the Wikipedia page on Goan Catholic literature.

Local language skills were also needed for religious purposes. And some deployed them thoroughly. Jesuit missionaries also produced works
during the seveenteenth century in local dialects of Marathi and Konkani  like the Krista Purana (The Christian Purânna) in 1616, 1649, and 1654. No copies of these editions are extant.

The ‘Krista Purana’ (The Christian Purânna) is a  metrical composition, consisting of 10,962 strophes.

photo


But what has been the recent contribution to that field? Shripad Desai had a Konkani dictionary of four volumes, but that lacked the ‘samanya
roop’, which Ghanekar feels (the oblique form) is important.

At the recent book club meet, there was a discussion on how many ‘frequently-used words’ Konkani has and how many are needed to get a
rudimentary understanding of the language, for someone wanting to learn it. This dictionary plunges into the deep end of the pool, and has something like 50,000 entries (if I heard right!)

“All this was collated only while I was sitting in the office. If we had toured (the remote areas of) Sattari or Canacona, we would have got four more volumes,” Ghanekar adds, without a touch of irony.

He notes with pride that the dictionary has a number of illustrations too. The dictionary has illustrations of things which are not available today.

For instance, the adoli (adov), the local cutting-device which was once prominent in the Goan kitchen. Or tabulphalem, the table-based game made of wood  whose outcome depended on the way in which the long sticks it deployed fell. “Now nobody knows the rules of the game,” he laments. Then, there’s the temflam… local seeds of sort that go into what could be called the Goan version of a pea-shooter.

All in all, an ambitious and useful contribution to the world of contemporary Konkani. Ghanekar’s work, when printed, is five inches thick. One hopes it serves many advanced learners of the language, and can somehow appeal beyond the divides of script and dialect, which still constrain the growth potential of a language like Konkani.

Konkani Sachitr Ashtangi Abhyaskosh
Damodar K. Ghanekar
(Technical advisor) Suresh J. Borkar
ISBN : 978-81-7810-534-5
Price : Rs. 3700 and  Rs. 1200 (for individuals only)
Contact the reviewer 2409490 or fn@goa-india.org

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Shetty’s personal effects

[Noticed online via http://goanvoice.org.uk ]

Eunice de Souza has introduced many to the delights of the English language, writes on books, reading and writing

Shetty’s personal effects

The glow of the Goan’s poems comes from an unflinching acceptance of the changes time wrought

Eunice de Souza

Originally posted On Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 11:29:00 PM

In an early, autobiographical essay, Manohar Shetty who has just published his fourth book of poems, Personal Effects says, “I write poems because I need to. It is not an act of will, but must come, as Anne Stevenson says of love, as naturally “as a Ferris wheel to its fair.””

Born in 1953, and educated in Panchgani and Mumbai (he can’t believe he was once studying Mercantile Law and Statistics), he has edited a book of short stories from Goa, Ferry Crossing, works as a journalist and literary consultant. He lives in Goa, in Dona Paula, and his flat has a stunning view of sea, rock, and trees. Yet the first poem, Stills from Baga Beach, is a precise, venomously observed set of sketches of the kind of tourist who has made North Goa so tacky. “The German studies the Vedanta/In translation through chromax/Dark glasses, her oozing/Tattoo mobbed by/Bluebottles.”

So what happened to the Goa of “golden sunsets, opalescent seas, sinuous, silvery rivers and riotous green” that feature in the essay (along with the tackiness)? He rejects the popular idea that there is “intrinsic poetry in external beauty. The provenance of poetry lies elsewhere.” Beautiful things don’t automatically translate into poetry. Poetry lies in the poet’s ability to catch a “drifting wisp of thought and image, link such images, anchor them to a comprehensible reality tautened by language and the tug of emotion, so that they create a living identity of their own.”

Reading whatever he could get his hands on as a young man, he came across the poems of Ted Hughes and was stunned by them. “Their power and immediacy have left a lasting impression on me,” Manohar says in a recent note to me, about his extensive use of animal imagery from his very first book onwards. “His poems spoke unerringly about evil and the power and legacy of evil. In poems such as View of a Pig, Ghost Crabs, he depicts the innate savagery of modern civilisation. For me, animals and birds are extended metaphors for human behaviour, more social than primal.”

Find is about the disappearance and displacement of the last porcupine from the housing colony in which Manohar lives. “But this porcupine was a find,/Neither tame nor wild; trapped between/Root, rock and lit verandahs/And the fibreglass of steelgrey cars,/Bristling with a tough/Disregard for the human touch,/Never to be patted or leashed.” In Termite, he warns that the flattering image in the mirror is not really the person looking at it. True, the “the rakish cleft,/The ironical eyebrows—/They’re all yours./But open the door just / a fraction more (and don’t/Fly off the handle). Look/At the
arterial/Tunnels of mud./That’s you now: must/Dryrot and sawdust.”

In The Hyenas, Manohar brings together two themes about which he writes so well — his children, and animals. His little girl has a bad asthmatic attack. “Her tiny/hands are wet petals in my hand.” In contrast to this exquisite tenderness is the savagery of the attack, “the drooling/ packs converge: amidst red/Laughter, claws tear/at gizzard, sweating pigling,/Roe, soft brain, and lamb.”

One of the most moving poems in the book is called, With the children gone, an experience many will recognise. With the children gone, “rows of shoes grow/too big for our boots,/too scuffed to save./We leaf through frayed/textbooks (the stress, the distress!)/We are the small print,/the forgotten subtext/longing to be read,/longing to hear all/that’s left unsaid.”

Commenting on the poetry, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra says, “A spare richness marked his poems from the start and, over the decades, this hasn’t changed… Occasionally, the glow of Shetty’s poems comes from an unflinching acceptance of the changes wrought by the passage of time… This is poetry so naturally memorable that you don’t need to consciously memorise it.” Some of the poems have been translated into Italian, German, Finnish and Slovenian.

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/36/20110518201105182329109147fb2d8ce/Shetty%E2%80%99s-personal-effects.html

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Borkar, Balkrishna Bhagavanta (1910-1984): Poet

Happens all the time! Was searching for something else, and stumbled across this entry on the Goan poet-novelist (Marathi and Konkani) –FN
–

BORKAR, BALKRISHNA BHAGAVANTA (1910-1984) : Poet

Balkrishna Bhagavanta Borkar was an eminent Marathi and Konkani poet and novelist. Born in a family hailing from the village of Borim, he passed his Teacher’s diploma in Portuguese and Matriculation in English.

He worked as a teacher in various schools in Goa from 1930 to 1945. Soon after the Goa Liberation movement was started by Dr. Lohia, he left for Bombay where he edited the periodicals *Amha Gomantak* (Our Goa) in Marathi and *Porjecho Avaz* (People’s Voice) in Konkani, devoted to the Goan freedom struggle.

Borkar worked as a Spoken Word Producer at Poona (1955-1960) and Panjim (1961-1970) stations of All India Radio. Borkar was the Chairman of the Reception Committee, Gomantak Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (1957). He presided over the Marathi Kavi Sammelan (Solapur, 1958), was a member of the Indian Delegation of Men of Letters to Ceylon (1963), presided over the Konkani Conference (Bombay, 1967) and the second Session of the Marathi Literary Conference (Mahabaleshvar, 1970).

He was the President of Institute Menezes Braganza, Panjim (1964-1970) and was honoured with the title Padmashri (1967).

Borkar started writing poetry at an early age. ‘Pratibha’ (Talent, 1930) is his first collection of poems. His second collection of poems ‘Jivan Sangit’  (1937) contains some of his best known and most popular poems, especially ‘Tethe kar majhe julati’ (Before I fold my hands).

His other collections are ‘Dudhsagar’ (1947), ‘Anand Bhairavi’ (1950, Maharashtra State Award), ‘Chaitra Punav (1970). As a poet, he scrupulously follows the traditional pattern of rhyme and rhythm and remains the most classic of modern poets.

The metrical forms he uses are extremely varied, ranging from the ancient Shardulavikridit to the modern Padakulak and passes through the popular ‘Pavada’ and ‘Lavani’.

Though his poetry has undergone considerable change during its course, it has resolutely refused to follow short-lived fashions. Borkar’s poetry can be sung; this intense musical quality is its hall-mark. Proudly proclaiming himself as a disciple of poet Tambe, he has lifted Marathi poetry to sublime heights of lyricism.

Borkar was an optimist. Though fully aware of the selfishness and cruelty that salk the world, he has unshakable faith in the essential goodness of human nature. His poetry abounds in colourful pictures of nature, especially those of Goa. He is inimitable as a master craftsman of words which, in  his hands, become a source of aesthetic delight.

In him can also be found a happy blend of the spiritual and the sensuous. Some of his poems are highly philosophical and even mystic. The favourite themes of his poetry are: love as an all pervading novel passion, the happiness of a peaceful domestic life, nature as an eternal source of beauty and
inspiration, divine grace and the secret ways of destiny.

Borkar has left a deep impression on Marathi and Konkani poetry.

Borkar wrote a few novels, including ‘Mavalata Chandra’ (1938), ‘Andharatil Vat’ (1943) and ‘Bhavin’ (1950). His novel ‘Bhavin’ became quite popular due to its novel theme, lyrical language and racy narration. It depicts the pathos of the life of a ‘devadasi’. He wrote a biography of Rabindranath Tagore (1963) which received the Maharasthra State Award. Borkar wrote in Konkani also. He contributed significantly to the development of the Konkani language.

WORKS BY BORKAR

1945   *Jalte Rahasya’ (The Fiery Secret)
1950   *Amhi Pahilele Gandhiji* (Gandhiji We have Seen)
1951   *Kanchechi Kimaya* (The Magic of Glass)
1956   *Gita Pravachanam* (Discourses on the Gita, by Acharya Vinoba Bhave)
1957   *Bharatacho Distavo* (India of My Dreams, by Mahatma Gandhi)
1960   *Priyadarshani*
1960   *Majhi Jivan Yatra* (My Life’s Journey) Konkani: Poetry: *Gitai* (Translation of Bhagvadgita)
1961   *Pamyinam* (Anklets)
1963   *Anandayatri Rabindranath* (Rabindranath, the Traveller of Joy)
1973   *Konkanichi Vatchal, Tiji Jodnuk ani Chadnuk* (Konkani Vocabulary, Its Composition and Formation)
1973   *Paigambar* (The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran)
1975   *Sansay Kallol* (Deval’s Marathi play of the same name).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Deshpande, A.N., *Adhunik Marathi Vangmayacha Itihas*, Vols I and II, 2nd edn, 1970.

Joag, R.S., *Indian Literature Since Independence*, ed. by K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1973.

Pandit, Bhawanishankar, *Adhunik Marathi Kavita*, Suvichar Prakashan, Nagpur.

———————————————————-
SOURCE: Encyclopaedic dictionary of Marathi literature By Sunita Deshpande

Blogged with the Flock Browser