It was the first, the very first, book to be published in any of the Indian languages. A grammar of Konkani language by English Jesuit priest Father Thomas Stephens in the year 1640, *Arte *de Lingoa* Canarim, *printed at Collegio Santo Inacio-what is now Rachol Seminary. Various other names for the language of Konkani were in existence, and for his own reason Fr. Stephen settled on calling "Amchi Bhas" as Canarim. Even in those days there was a great chasm and no subtle distinction between the speakers of Canarim as evidenced by* Lingua Canarim Bramana *of the educated class. Stripped of the word Bramana, and simply known as *Lingua Canarim *was the language of the masses otherwise known as plebeians.
Abhar, Voznadik Vojem.
