KOCHI:
Has anybody ever heard of a language being banned ? Konkani, spoken and kept alive by the people who scattered in different places over the centuries, perhaps, is the only language in the world ever met with such a fate, though briefly, says eminent Konkani writer Payyanur Ramesh Pai.
‘Konkani’, and the people who speaking the language, has survived after passing through severe hardships, Ramesh Pai, former Chairman, Kerala Konkani Sahitya Akademy, said here today ,while participating in the ‘ Abhimukham’ conducted by Sahapedia, an encyclopedia of Indian arts and culture at Kochi on Friday.
The talk was held to explore the rich cultural heritage of the Konkani speaking people, an ethno – linguistic community which has its origin in the Konkan coast of south – western India. He, however, noted that more efforts needed to be done to preserve the language and the culture and heritage it generated.
“Unfortunately, little efforts are being made to save the language from extinction. UNESCO has even declared Konkani language as an endangered one. Only this language can retain our culture, values and ethos, ” he pointed out.
Elaborating on the history of Konkani speaking people, he said that when a grim famine struck the sub-continent and river Saraswati dried up, the Konkani people got scattered over different regions of India as far flung as Kutch, Goa and Kashmir.
Most of the Konkani speaking people later migrated to Kerala, where they settled down and flourished and kept alive their culture and traditions.
“When the Portuguese took over Goa, they banned Konkani for they thought such coercive step could paralyse our culture as the language formed its back bone,” he observed.
But after a point of time, the Portuguese administrators realised it was essential to learn the local language to carry on with their rule and secure their colonial interests. So, they lifted the curbs on the language and started learning it, he said.
“Konkani is the first Indian language in which the Bible got translated into. Then, the Portuguese brought missionaries and built seminaries. But things did not end there and the Portuguese dictated that the Konkani people would have to become Christians if they had to live there,” he said.
Though a few people converted, many of them declined to do away with their Hindu Practices. When this was reported, the punishment meted out was death, Pai said.
“ As a result of this, umpteen number of horror stories started doing the round and this led many to flee Goa. As part of their flight, they reached places like Purakkad, Kollam , Kodungallur and all the Coastal areas of Kerala,” Pai said.
As King Zamorin of Calicut refused to give refuge to Konkani people since he was on good terms with the Portuguese, they moved further south and the Kochi ruler wholeheartedly extended them every help assuring them that they could settle down within the four borders of canals. This was how they settled mostly in Mattancherry and Cherlai, on the outskirts of Kochi, he said.
Pai pointed out that there was always a tendency to brush aside the oral history as mere hearsay. But that’s not right. “If it had been so, the administration of Chandigarh would not have come up with a separate wing to dig out the details regarding the existence of river Saraswati from where the heritage of Konkanis originated,” he added.
