Cunha Rivara 200

OPINION

HERALD

Pg10 A Portuguese Orientalist to Remember

www.oheraldo.in

o= HERALD o= Vol No CIX No: 45 Saturday 14 February, 2009

V-day is D-day

V

alentine’s Day, celebrated as a festival of romantic love, is an event of recent provenance. It was first celebrated in England in the late 19th century. The day is named after two early Christian martyrs named Valentine – Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome. Interestingly, there are no associations with romantic love in the biographies of either of these saints. The Roman Catholic Church has no official Valentine’s Day. It says that apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine, except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14. So, it seems that the greeting cards and gifts industry sensed an opportunity and, like for Mother’s, Father’s, and other such days, invented a festival that would boost their business. Sending Valentines became a fashion in 19th-century Britain, and the popularity of Valentine cards in 19th-century America was possibly the precursor of commercialisation of all other holidays in the US. Valentine’s Day is now global, like the world economy. A festival that did not exist in the Indian consciousness has caught on amongst our educated youth. Starting in the ’80s, it became a commercial rage by the new millennium, as seen by the barrage of Valentine’s Day advertising in the media. But the worst sin that Valentine’s fans can be accused of is inanity. So what gives the self-appointed guardians of ‘Hindu culture’ the right to become the sole arbiters of morality and abusers of women? Their supposedly moralistic stance has acquired a strong communal tinge, as seen in the kidnapping and assault of the daughter of a Kerala MLA for travelling to college with a Muslim boy. A 15-year-old girl was harassed and humiliated by Bajrang Dal activists, resulting in her committing suicide. Clearly, someone has to stand up to these hooligans, especially since state governments – whether they are in BJP-ruled Karnataka or Congress-ruled Goa – seem reluctant to do so. A group of women led by Delhi-based journalist Nisha Susan, calling themselves the ‘Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women’, have launched a ‘pink chaddi’ campaign, asking people all over the county to send pink ‘chaddis’ to Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik on Valentine’s Day. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury has called for a ‘Pub Bharo’ campaign – irrespective of whether one drinks or not. Thoughtful critics have pointed out that the ‘pink chaddi’ campaign is giving the Sri Ram Sene exactly what it craves – the oxygen of publicity. But what is the option? When the government refuses to act, the public must react. That is what Bangalore’s college students did, coming out on the roads in thousands, and forcing the Sri Ram Sene to hurriedly exempt the city from its Valentine’s Day ‘campaign’. Apart from them, the ‘Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women’ is one of the few pushing for concrete action. It may not be strategically the best thing to do, but it is standing up in no uncertain terms to the bullying tactics of the Sri Ram Sene and other so-called moralists. In Goa, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and the Shiv Sena have “warned” young people against “pervert practices” on Valentine’s Day. The latter says it will act against couples in “typical Sena style”. This is an open threat of violence. The last time the Sena acted in its ‘typical’ style (against ‘Slumdog Millionaire’), it smashed up the Inox multiplex. The Karnataka BJP government yesterday took the Sri Ram Sene chief into preventive custody. So what is Goa’s Congress government waiting for? Or does it want a law and order problem on its hands? For, if it does not stop the self-appointed moral police, Goa’s students and young people will have to step forward and tackle them, in ‘typical student style’! Even if we consider Valentine’s Day a Western cultural import, a commercial farce, or an inane waste of time; the reality is that it has now become a battlefield. On one side is freedom, and on the other is fascism. If the Hindu Taliban succeeds in keeping women out of pubs, they may next try to shut them out of jobs and higher education, saying they are depriving ‘traditional’ Indian breadwinners – men – of their livelihoods. Today is the day. However you can, make a statement. Tell these selfappointed arbiters of the country’s morality that their word is not law. Show them that this country will run according to the Constitution of India, which gives every Indian – male or female – equal rights.

Vexed wage issue Michael Vaz, Merces It is tragic that the government is at loggerheads with the industry over the proposed hike in the daily minimum wages in the industrial sector. It was recommended that the minimum wages would be raised to Rs 150 from the existing Rs 103 per day. Whereas the decision would have been a boon to the workers it should also be appreciated that under the current global financial downturn the entire industrial sector is reeling under a severe crunch. Even under the existing rates they have expressed difficulty in sustaining their ventures. Thousands of jobs in this sector have been slashed in our own country. The Goan industries have warned that in the given circumstances if the wages are revised they would be left with no option but to shut down their units.

100 Years Ago

J H da Cunha Rivara was that rare exception, a Portuguese who encouraged Konkani, says TEOTÓNIO R DE SOUZA

J

oaquim Heliodoro da Cunha Rivara was son of a nonPortuguese lineage, a mix of Italian and Spanish fam ilies, but born in Portugal at Arraiolos, a region famous for its handicraft carpets. Cunha Rivara has there a road dedicated to him, and, since very recently and importantly, a complex of primary and secondary schools. Though trained in medicine at Coimbra, just as was his father, he started his career as a high-school teacher of philosophy, and continued as librarian of the public library of Evora. He was elected MP to the Portuguese Parliament in 1853, and ended as Secretary to the Government of Portuguese India and Commissioner of Studies at the fag end of his career before returning to Portugal in 1877. There he died two years later, in 1879, little recognized and unsung  in his home country, in keeping with the Portuguese tradition of jealousy and mutual envy which the celebrated LusoBrazillian Jesuit Antonio Vieira described in his inimitable way: “Lusitania que a ninguém deixa luzir” [Lusitania (Portugal) that does not allow anyone to shine]. This will be the first of  a series of  columns  in the course of this year to remember this historian-bureaucrat who left his imprint in Goa, combining patriotism and scholarship. Unlike most colonial-minded Portuguese, who believed and still believe that the Portuguese language can be propagated only by putting aside, if not despising, the native languages, Cunha Rivara proved to be a rare exception. He was convinced that Goans would learn Portuguese better through Konkani and Marathi as medium of public instruction. He conveyed this conviction soon after his arrival in Goa, in a lecture he delivered at the inauguration of the Primary Training School in Nova Goa (Panjim) on 1 October 1856 and published in the Boletim do Governo, n. 78. Two years later, in 1878 he produced his commendable Historical Essay on the Konkani Language [Ensaio Histórico da Língua Concani]. Unlike many other Portuguese texts that have not found translators, A K Priolkar chose to include a translation as Part II of his The Printing Press in India: Its beginnings and early development (Bombay, Marathi Samshodhana Mandala, 1958, pp. 141–236) to commemorate the centenary of its publication, and as part of the ongoing 4th centenary celebrations of the introduction of the Gutenberg press in Goa. Unfortunately, A K Priolkar sought in it the grist for his mill, to buttress his ideological claim that Konkani was a dialect or a corrupted form of Marathi. The opinions of the orientalist Robert X Murphy and the Italian

Wise Counsel

V

DIARIO

N AS

C O L O N I AS

P O RT U G E Z AS

14 February 1909 Battling the Portuguese

As part of the traditional carnival celebrations at the Vila de Mapusa, a flag will be hoisted at the fort occupied by the Bhonsles, who will enact a mock battle with the Portuguese.

Cholera in Benaulim

Cholera is raising its ugly head with more lethal cases in the village of Benaulim, with many people being afflicted.

Smallpox case in Navelim

A case of smallpox was reported from Navelim, concerning a potter who had returned home from British territory when he fell ill.

Margao quarantine hospital

The work of construction of a quarantine hospital at the foot of a hill at Marlem of the Vila de Margao is in full swing. The edifice is to accommodate individuals afflicted with pestilences.

HISTORICAL EXPLORATIONS Carmelite linguist Francis Xavier cited by Cunha Rivara fitted in well with the expectations of  Priolkar. Cunha Rivara’s linguistic background in the Iberian peninsula made him wiser, if not prudent, to respect the similarity and distinctiveness of Marathi and Konkani, drawing parallels with the Spanish and Portuguese languages. Cunha Rivara’s ‘Essay on Konkani Language’ should have been made available widely in Goa’s schools so as to make known to the common public a fairly reliable version of the vicissitudes of the Konkani language during Portuguese colonial rule. Till about 1684 the Catholic Church in Goa cherished and actively cultivated the Konkani language as an effective means of preaching Christianity and sustaining it. Repeated decrees of the five church councils held in Goa between 1567 and 1606, as well as the Constitution of the Goa Archdiocese and instructions of the religious orders to their parish priests, are insistent on the need for producing catechisms, manuals of confession, vocabularies and grammars that would enable the missionaries and the native converts to interact. Ironically, it was

It is felt that it would be better to hold the said proposal in abeyance for some time till the situation improves. Living without any job would be worse than clinging to the one in hand with lesser wages. After the situation improves the wage revision can certainly be implemented.

The meaning of love Cajetan Peter D’Souza, Mumbai The hate brigade is at it again, working towards a ban on Valentine’s Day and spreading hatred in our country. Our country, known for true love and friendship, has today become a victim of such hate brigades. It is time that these people understand the meaning of love. If they do not want to celebrate love in a loving way, let them spend time with the people who really are looking for love: the orphans in orphanages, the old and retired people in old-age homes, the sick in hospitals and terminally sick people; the prisoners in prisons who are waiting to meet people, and people who have nobody to call their own.

Reuben S, Chicalim On a recent trip to Bombay, I was appalled by some casual comments made by acquaintances. The train travellers to Goa were once ushered in by glimpses of lush greenery and fresh air. Today there are only the bare mine-ravaged strips and a thin film of permanent dusty haze to greet tourists on the Konkan Rail route. People who were holidaying in Goa during the year-end celebrations had just one question to ask me, “Where are the Goans?” It seems as if non-Goans today are the public face of the Goan tourism infrastructure. They are well represented here as food-stall owners, beggars, touts, beach hawkers, masseurs, hotel operators, guides, roadside loiters, cleaners, etc. They reckon that after the MNS-led protests in Mumbai, all the usual immigrants have gone to Goa and Mangalore. They are attracted to the considerably higher daily wages and peaceful anonymity that a tension-free atmosphere brings. While many Mumbaikars secretly support Raj Thackeray’s views, they also readily acknowledge that Mumbai itself is too multicultural and cosmopolitan to be claimed as the exclusive

during this seemingly positive phase that Konkani absorbed a large dose of Portuguese influence. While the colonialists may look at it as enrichment of Konkani, most concerned linguists (including Dalgado in the ‘Introduction’ to his Portuguese-Konkani Dictionary, Bombay, 1905, pp. xv–xvi) saw it as harmful corruption. Cunha Rivara attributes the change of missionary attitude towards the Konkani language in the 17th century to their loss of earlier zeal and adoption of easygoing ways. He, and most of the scholars till date, including Delio Mendonça in his recent published doctoral dissertation Conversions and Citizenry (2002),  have failed to see the link between the growing conflict between the white religious and the increasing number of the native clerics who clamoured for their rightful place in the hierarchy and pastoral service. The discontent of the native clergy and their demand to take over the parishes was seen as a threat to their  livelihood by the religious orders who fought tooth and nail to resist the demands of the native clergy. They stood their ground with appeals to the crown as the legitimate authority over the Church that belonged to

the Crown Patronage (Padroado) over and above the wishes of the local Archbishops, such as Fr Brandão in 1680, who was inclined to replace white religious parish priests with native ones. It is obvious in this context that the Franciscan and the Jesuit parish priests called for the anti-Konkani legislation of 1684 in order to deprive the native clerics of their advantage of linguistic bond with the parishioners. There is unpublished correspondence of the Franciscan vicars of Bardez with the Portuguese crown preserved in the National Library in Lisbon, calling the native priests drunkards and lascivious, haters of the white-skinned (truly racist language even for the present times) parish priests whom they feared for their capacity to denounce them to the authorities! The only aim of this racist discourse was to convince the king that the native priests were morally and politically unreliable and could not be entrusted with the charge of the parishes. Cunha Rivara should have known better this implication of the anti-Konkani legislation, but his patriotism often made him colour-blind. He was Secretary of the Government during the turbulent times of the Sepoy Mutiny (1857) and was worried about the flow-over of the rebels into the Portuguese jurisdiction of the Estado da Índia. Goa Archives holds correspondence he maintained with the  British Indian administration of Bombay in this regard. The telegraph link was hastily mounted to help coordination of “anti-terrorist” operations of the two colonial powers. The Portuguese in Goa also collaborated with the British in sending into exile to Timor many rebel families (including many of the Rane families). The Portuguese did not want to hand them over to the British, but the British provided a ship to ensure that the (un)wanted elements were safely deposited in distant Timor. The grateful British Indian Administration  showed interest in honouring Cunha Rivara with a decoration, but that was stalled by the Portuguese Government. It is in the context of the Mutiny and the Goans serving in the Maratha army, such as the Pintos of Candolim, that Cunha Rivara dedicated himself to the study of the conspiracy of the Goan priests a century earlier (1757) and named it Conjuração dos Pintos, although Pintos were not the main protagonists of the conspiracy. More on this and some other facets of J H da Cunha Rivara will follow. Just to end this piece, he threw a cat among pigeons when he suggested that Chardo caste of Goa could be a Catholic version of the Karadhe sub-caste of Brahmins in the Maharashtra-Karnataka region.

Make Every Day Valentine’s Day

alentine’s Day, more than any other day, draws our attention to the importance of love in our lives. However, all too often we think of ‘love’ only in a dreamy, romantic way. Much popular advice is based on this ‘romantic’ approach to love. But we need to avoid the pitfalls of this short-sighted, superficial approach because that’s actually selling love short.  We need to elevate the meaning of a loving relationship beyond just having temporary pleasure. Love is not some little fringe issue in our life. When all is said and done, having a long-term, loving relationship ranks near the top of the list of the best of what life has to offer.  We need to show more respect for love’s significance in the context of life as a whole. Love can provide a solid place to stand in the world. It can be the kind of positive force that lets you go out and face the world on a completely different basis than you could do otherwise. Suppose you have everything: a good job, good health, good reputation, good relationships and lots of money to spend. But still there is something missing from your life. Guess what? Love! It is not something which you should ignore. Life without love is just like body without soul. Love gives meaning to life. Lucky is the person who gets love and keeps the flames of love burning forever. It is not a matter of days or months. Love is for life and life is for love. Short-term love encounters are not helpful at all. Be sincere with your body and soul. Indulge in a serious lifelong loving relationship and live a healthy, happy and joyful life.

A Thackeray for Goa? PRIMEIRO

J H da Cunha Rivara (b 23 June 1809)

Falling in love is easy, but staying in love is quite another matter. Apparently it’s one of the most difficult things any of us ever attempts. Because of the high divorce rate and the large percentage of marriages in which couples don’t have a vital love relationship, you may have come to believe that it’s inevitable that love fades with time. Or perhaps you’ve already experienced the discouragement of seeing the love you once shared somehow slip away.  Don’t settle for thinking that you really can’t expect more. While no long-term love relationship is without difficulties, it is possible for love to survive and to be renewed and transformed over time. You can realistically aspire to something better. It is easy to fell in love but difficult to keep the flames of love burning. Before indulging in a serious longterm love relationships be sure that the person you love is also sincere with you. A selfish person can make your life miserable. If this is the case with you, then try to get rid of that person as soon as possible. Most people do not give as much importance to their love lives as they give to their professional lives. In most cases, people sacrifice their love lives at the cost of their professions. This is a bad choice. A sensible balance between the two is necessary in order to enjoy life in its totality. Do not deprive yourself of the love you need. People part ways after living together for years and years. Though this looks strange, it is the obvious result of ignoring the genuine complaints and grievances of the other. Sometimes a sincere apology, gentle touch, or

Arlette Azavedo

a friendly kiss is enough to put your love life on track. However, when deep differences develop between the two, then professional consultation is necessary. Do everything to bring back love to your life, if it is lost. In order to make the journey of life more exciting and enjoyable, you need a loving and caring person with whom you can share your values, dreams, fantasies, joys and jokes. In difficult times of anxiety, sorrow, distress or loss of near and dear ones this person should stand firm besides you and console you in every possible manner. Love your life and love the person who is in your life. Keep the flames of love burning to live a great, great love life. Relationships can be the source of great joy or great pain. They seldom stand still; they’re either getting better or getting worse. You deserve more out of love than just a few brief romantic interludes or an ongoing struggle simply to get along. You don’t want life to pass you by while you’re waiting and hoping for a good relationship. You’ll feel better if you’re actively doing something toward that end.  It’s not enough to focus on your relationship only on Valentine’s Day or some other ‘special’ days during the year. Love is the accumulation of the multitude of daily interactions we have with each other. By paying attention to what’s happening on a daily basis – and remembering the real importance of love in our lives – every day can be Valentine’s Day. May this Valentine’s Day be filled with love, understanding, and contentment as you journey through life with those you hold dear.

Letters to the Editor

Letter of the Day

Long live Valentine’s Day

Jerry Fernandes, Saligao

I really don’t understand why our Indian government which gives lectures on terrorism to the entire world allows its own extremist groups like the Shiv Sena, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, Shri Ram Sena, etc to terrorise Indian couples in pubs and on Valentine’s Day in the name of Indian culture and pseudo-nationalism. If at all these outfits want to defend their so-called Indian culture and earn some cheap publicity, then instead of carrying out these barbarian attacks against our modern Indian mothers, sisters and daughters in public places, why don’t they do something about the politically connected controversial people who are running the red-light areas or the directors of all the Hindi movies, the cable TV network serials, etc, who are actually exploiting and selling our Indian women as sex objects to the entire world? Or do these publicity-hungry outfits which enjoy going after defenceless couples have only one agenda in mind – namely, to suppress our Indian women and to keep them forever as bonded kitchen slaves all in the name of Indian culture and Hindutva? I think if India is really a civilised modern nation, then instead of pampering such outdated antiIndian outfits, it should immediately impose a ban on the activities of such idiotic people and their organisations. Anti-Indian and uncivilised barbarian outfits like these can never take this nation forward but only backward with their destructive caste- and religion-based communal madness in our country. They are mini-Hindutva Talibans in the making, which are just waiting to destroy this country with their destructive outdated agendas in the long run. So, let us say no to their pseudo-nationalist ‘goonda’ activities and save this country from destruction. Long live Valentine’s Day! bastion of a particular community. Amusingly they offered Mr Thackeray to Goa as here he will find viable reason for his sons-ofthe-soil policy. There is still some time before Goa’s entire demography is defined by unsolicited immigrants alien to our culture. The votebank politics, crumbling infrastructure, garbage, drug mafia and greedy policies of our ministers have isolated Goa from the must-see list of many tourists. We need a leader to listen to the voice of the dying Goenkar while there is still some beauty left in this sunny paradise. How long can we tolerate being marginalised and discriminated against?

Web of campaigns Eddie Fernandes, Goan Voice UK The usually quite thorough Frederick Noronha wrote an article, ‘Web of Campaigns’ (Herald, 11 February), in which he stated, “Some years back, expats in the UK and elsewhere lobbied and

collected around 5000 signatures voicing concern about the paedophilia in Goa…”A great many UK Goans worked very hard in the summer of 1996 to voice their concerns about the Goa Government’s denial of the paedophilia problem. The UK effort alone netted 9,338 signatures which were forwarded to Goa. Further batches, amounting to around 500 signatures, surfaced at various stages in the weeks that followed. The response from the UK Goan Diaspora is probably a record in terms of numbers and needs to be recognised. Full details can be found in “Contact: the magazine of the UK Asian Chaplaincy”, Sep 1996. The article can also be found at http://goanvoice.org.uk/supplement/ SexTourism.htm.

CCP bumblers S Kamat, Alto Betim The bumbling by the CCP over the Food Court proposed at the Maquinez Palace courtyard is

shameful. The contentious issues are believed to be firstly that the recently evicted food gaddas will come back near the proposed Food Court area, and that it will be difficult to dispose of the garbage. This is unimaginative and timid on the part of the CCP. Is it for a few people involved in the gaddas that we will not implement the Food Court decision which will benefit a larger number of people within Goa and hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to Panjim? Or is the spanner in the works being thrown by the restaurants near the Maquinez Palace who are afraid that their business will be affected? As for the garbage that will be generated by the Food Court, do we starve ourselves today for fear that we may have to shit tomorrow? If the Food Court is desired to boost tourism, then we will have to find a way to deal with the garbage. The Food Court at the Maquinez Palace courtyard is essential for Goa and will bring in the vibrancy to the night life of Panjim attracting more and more tourists to the facility and the adjacent Mandovi promenade.

Eradicating poverty Sonali Gaonkar, Quepem Poverty goes hand in hand with illiteracy. To eradicate poverty, one would first have to eradicate illiteracy in a country like India. An educated man that is a man who can read and write will never go hungry. Such a man will never be plunged into the depths of despair and degradation. Yet, to educate the people of India, a people steeped in superstition and age-old beliefs is a Herculean task. The common man refuses to change his way of life and his lifestyle, and as a result finds poverty dogging his heels. Only by spreading education far and wide in this vast country of ours can we one day hope to eradicate poverty. Letters should be 150 words or less in length, and should have the writer’s name, address and telephone number. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for size and readability, and to delete any personal attacks or libellous /objectionable matter.

Words of Wisdom

The Four Noble Truths

The Four Noble Truths are among the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering’s (or dukkha’s) nature, origin, cessation and the path leading to the cessation. They are among the truths Gautama Buddha is said to have realised during his experience of enlightenment. The story that follows illustrates teh importance that Buddha attached to these truths and why he did not teach anything else. A Handful of Leaves The Blessed One was once living at Kosambi in a wood of simsapa trees. He picked up a few leaves in his hand, and he asked the bhikkhus, ‘How do you conceive this, bhikkhus, which is more, the few leaves that I have picked up in my hand or those on the trees in the wood? ‘The leaves that the Blessed One has picked up in his hand are few, Lord; those in the wood are far more.’ Comparing what he taught to the leaves in his hand, and what he knew by direct knowledge to all the leaves in the forest, he said: “So too, the things that I have known by direct knowledge are more; the things that I have told you are only a few. Why have I not told them? Because they bring no benefit, no advancement in the Holy Life, and because they do not lead to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why I have not told them. And what have I told you? This is suffering; this is the origin of suffering; this is the cessation of suffering; this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. That is what I have told you. Why have I told it? Because it brings benefit, and advancement in the Holy Life, and because it leads to dispassion, to fading, to ceasing, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana.”

Printed and published by Vinayak Pai Bir for and on behalf of Herald Publications Pvt Ltd. Printed at Herald Publications Pvt Ltd, Plot No: L-135, Phase II, Verna Industrial Estate, Verna, Salcete, Goa. Published at PO Box 160, Rua Sao Tome, Panjim, Goa - 403001. Editor-in-chief: Mr R F Fernandes. Editor: Ashwin Tombat (Responsible under PRB Act). Regd Office: St Tome Road, Panjim, Goa. Tel: 2224202, 2228083, Fax: 2222475 (all Editorial); 2230535, Fax: 2225622 (Advertising); Margao: 2737689. Mumbai Office: 16-A, Bell Building, 2nd Floor, 19 Sir PM Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400001 (Tel: 22840702/22844908). RNI No: 43667/83. HOW TO CONTACT US: [email protected] — For press notes, general queries. [email protected] — Junior Herald. [email protected] — Sunday Mirror. [email protected] — For Reporters. [email protected] — For Business news. [email protected] — For Letters to the Editor. [email protected] — For Sports news. [email protected] — For Advertisements. [email protected] — For Herald 2day. [email protected] — For Tiatr Reviews and Reports