Prutha Goa

German anthropologist Alexander Henn spoke at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim, about his fascination with the existence of a cross cultural climate in Goa and its depiction in his book Hindu-Catholic Encounters in Goa: Religion, Colonialism, and Modernity . As a cultural anthropologist, his interest in the effects of the cultural differences, how they can be constructive and how they can be challenging, how they work between people and so on, is completely satisfied by the cultural diversity that is present in Goa. With its historical and cultural connections with Portugal and other European countries, and the presence of Hinduism and Catholicism existing side by side, Goa is an extremely potent region for anthropological studies. Henn’s focus while researching his book was the effect of religion on cultural diversity. He says, ‘One of my findings in the book is that I discovered over the years I was studying something surprisingly unexpected, in the sense that commo

The Museum of Christian Art is a pleasure to anyone interested in museums, artefacts and all things to do with history and culture. Located at the world heritage site which boasts of the ruins of St Augustine’s Church, the museum is housed in part of the Convent of St Monica. It is a project of the Archdiocese of Goa, Daman and Diu and was initially funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). The museum is not vast in its collection, with two floors (the ground floor is 350 square metres and the upper floor is 150 square metres) devoted to artefacts, but the items are intriguing and must be given careful study to understand their true value. The antiquities have more to do with Christianity as a religion and its observances rather than being strictly Indo-Portuguese objects of art. There are ornate priestly garments and Bibles, as well as vessels used during Holy Mass, aside from statues, paintings. Indeed, the Chur

Goa Cruti is a new addition to Victor Hugo Gomes’ increasing number of museums showcasing Goa’s history. Earlier there was Goa Chakra, highlighting the wheel and its significance in Goan culture and history. The future looks to another museum in Betul celebrating boats and the fishing community of Goa. Victor has long been driven by his passion to salvage Goan heritage and relics of the past. He believes this is essential to create and develop a sense of responsibility among the Goan youth and to whet their thirst for knowledge of the past. Goa Cruti Museum is a totally different concept from his previous endeavours and focuses entirely on the different professions of Goa’s colonial past. ‘Cruti’ means ‘work’ and some of the areas covered are medicine and law. There is ornamental furniture, exquisite crockery, bottles, priests’ vestments, musical instruments, guns and other weapons, cameras and so on. Why are the professions of medicine and law of consequence? The reason is that they w

Goa certainly has an interesting history, with significant rulers vying for control over the prosperous coastal region. Two rulers of note are Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan. Alan Machado spoke at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research on their differing policies with regard to Goans who had migrated to Kanara. When Hyder Ali came to power in 1761 as the de facto ruler of the kingdom of Mysore, Goa was reeling from 150 years of a traumatic economic downturn owing to skirmishes with the Dutch. This had led to the end of overseas trade. Goans struggled with hardships related to famine as agriculture had also collapsed. The people of Goa began to depend on Kanara for rice. To add to their woes, the Marathas constantly attempted to gain Goan territory and in 1739 Goa lost its Northern territories. Owing to all these problems the people of Goa, primarily agriculturists in search of a livelihood, began migrating to Kanara. Goa responded to this situation by building a disciplined, profe

The Deccan Heritage Foundation, a UK registered charity, is responsible for the publication of a new guidebook on the forts of Goa. Portuguese Sea Forts of Goa, with Chaul, Korlai and Vasai is a new publication in a series of books documenting various places in the Deccan region of India. As the first guidebook to describe the forts along the Arabian Sea coast, Portuguese Sea Forts of Goa, with Chaul, Korlai and Vasai aims to inspire the desire to preserve and restore heritage sites, along with providing knowledge about them. It is being hailed for being informative in an engaging manner and devoid of academic jargon. Architectural historian Amita Kanekar has researched and written the guidebook while the photographs are the handiwork of Surendra Kumar. Maps have been added to the book to encourage people to visit the forts and thus to give them an idea about military architecture and the Portuguese influence on it in Goa. These forts are mostly protected but the general public and tou

कोंकणी कोणाची? न्हय म्हजी, न्हय तुजी. कोंकणी न्हय गोयंची, गोयकारांची कोंकणी आसा आदिवासींची Dr Nandkumar M Kamat, Goa University (Ex-Chairman, Task force committee on State Cultural Policy; Member of the committee to prepare an ethnological report (2003) and a white paper (2013) on Dhangar/Goulys of Goa.) When we see the diversity of Konkani recorded by the standard methodology of the *Ethnologue, the questions remain as to which is the original one, which is more ancient and which is more authentic. Konkani has been identified by a single identifier **ISO 639.3. These six forms of Konkani are as follows recognized by a triplet code and population of speakers: ISO 639.3, Konkani, knn, population (P), 242000; ISO 639.3 Konkani, kok, P, 6057440; ISO 639.3 Konkani, Goan, gom, P, 3630000; ISO 639.3 Kukna, kex, P, 111000; ISO 639.3 Gamit, gbl, P, 284000; ISO 639.3 Mawchi, mke, P, 99500 Opening a Pandora’s box of linguistic history Kokna and Gamit are Austric people, which means their arrival

कोंकणी कोणाची? न्हय म्हजी, न्हय तुजी. कोंकणी न्हय  गोयंची, गोयकारांची कोंकणी आसा आदिवासींची Dr Nandkumar M Kamat, Goa University (Ex-Chairman, Task force committee on State Cultural Policy; Member of the committee to prepare an ethnological report (2003) and a white paper (2013) on Dhangar/Goulys of Goa.) This article challenges the popular and officially propagated myth of pre-Portuguese Goa being projected as the mulpeeth or centre of origin of the Konkani language or the proto Konkani language and puts forth the new hypothesis of the tribal origin of the Konkani language. It attempts to incorporate the definite contributions of Kukna and Gamit tribal people, the original Konkani speaking inhabitants of Konkan, as the true architects of the language. Interdisciplinary scientific efforts are advocated for rewriting a realistic history of origin, genesis and evolution of the Konkani language. Due to the complex nature of the linguistic politics of the 20th century, the real tribal arc

After the first official Goan newspaper Gazeta de Goa (1822) was stopped in 1826, Bernardo Francisco da Costa, impressed by the power of the press in Europe, launched the first private newspaper in 1859 called O Ultramar . He achieved much good through the newspaper by reducing taxes and doing away with the health tax. Since the paper was the voice of Partido Ultramarino,the party da Costa belonged to, O Partido Indiano, the opposing party, began A India Portuguesa . The mid nineteenth and early twentieth century was the era of migrations to British India. Bombay became home to many Goans at this time and consequently there rose the strong presence of the Goan press in the city. From 1831 to 1861 there appeared newspapers such as O Investigador Portuguez em Bombaim , O Indio Impartial , O Observador , A Abelha de Bombaim and others to keep the Goan immigrants abreast of political happenings, fire up nationalistic zeal and feed the need for constitutionalism. One of the longest runnin

Professor Lucio Rodrigues is another one in a long line of literary geniuses that Goa has produced. He may have long departed this world but nevertheless his legacy of literature lives on through his writing and his students. An authority on Goan folklore, Prof Lucio Rodrigues was not only a visiting professor of folklore at the Indiana University, USA in 1969; his essays in English, as well as those translated from Konkani, were published as Of Soil and Soul and Konkani Folktales after his death in 1973. It was the revised edition of this compilation, renamed Abolim , which was released at the commemoration of this exceptional son of Goa’s birth centenary (15th April, 2015) at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim. Professor Lucio Rodrigues was exactly the type of teacher students would recall with awe and affection for the profound impact he had on their lives. He had a an expansive career as a professor of English literature at Ramnarain Ruia College, Siddharth College