The Konkani School at the College of Salcete BY VICTOR FERRAO
The fourth centenary of the Rachol Seminary calls us to remember the great contribution that this enduring college in Salcete made to society in Goa. Founded by the Jesuits in 1610, from its very inception it established a Konkani school that can indeed be regarded as the cradle of our mother tongue.
The coming of print technology gave a great momentum to the study of Konkani: soon there was an array of religious books authored by some of the most brilliant minds of the era. Though most of the work was primarily in the service of the Christian faith, the systematic study of Konkani must be credited to the great fathers of Rachol, who can truly be regarded as the forefathers of the Konkani movement.
Apart from Christian literature in our mother tongue, the College of Rachol was instrumental in preserving a collection of stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, attributed to Krishnadas Shama. Prof Olivinho Gomes had said that these stories were transliterated into the Roman script by Jesuit scholars with appropriate diacritical marks, so that they could be saved from being burnt, on charges of being spurious doctrines. The Jesuit scholars of Rachol not only saved these great literary works from destruction, but preserved them for us to study the state of Konkani in those days.
The development of the basic font structure of Konkani in the Roman scnpt is attributed to Fr Thomas Stephens, who is acknowledged as the father of Konkani literature. Fr Stephens wrote his famous book. 'Doutrina Christam' (1622), which almost became a catechism text book for generations of Christians. His successors edited and elaborated it, but we can find the echo of translations devised by Fr Thomas Stephens and other luminaries of Rachol in the popular as well as liturgical faith expressions of Goan Christians even today.
The grammatical work produced by Fr Stephens is acknowledged as the first work done by any European in an Indian language. Along with these great works in Konkani, the master penned a pioneering work on the history of salvation in Marathi; the epic 'Khrist Purana'. It illustrates the theology of inculturation even in an era when such a concept was hardly acknowledged.
The great fathers of Rachol produced vocabularies in Portuguese and Konkani. These priceless works not only helped missionaries to gain some proficiency over Konkani, but enable us today to understand the state of Konkani in that era. They are preserved in Rome, Lisbon and Goa.
Among the five vocabularies preserved in Goa, four are in the Central Library and one is in the Department of Archives. Dr Jose Pereira and Pro L A Rodrigues opine that of the four vocabularies in the Central Library, two were developed by the Franciscans from St Bonaventure College of Old Goa. Some of them are also preserved in microfilms at the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendra in Porvorim.
The Konkani traditions of the College of Rachol bloomed with the passage of time. The work of stalwarts like Eteinne do la Croix. Antonio Saldanha, Miguel Almeida, Diogo Ribeiro, Ignazio Archamone and others is indeed awe inspiring. The baton of Konkani was successfully handed on to succeeding generations, which carried the work further with devotion and love. Mgr Sebastian Rudolf Dalgado, lexicographer of the highest order, produced a dictionary in Konkani that has become the pride of the language today.
With the suppression and the expulsion of the Jesuits from Rachol, the Konkani school of Rachol fell into a period of decadence. The Konkani tradition remained alive chiefly in the works of students who were working in Goa as pastors in those dark ages.
A glimmer alight came with Konkani becoming the official language of worship of the church in Goa, soon after the Vatican Council in the '60s. Carrying further the banner of Konkani, along other things, the Rachol Seminary and the Goa Konkani Academi have held live Konkani 'sammelons' called 'Amchem Daiz', for the past five years.
The fourth centenary of the seminary invites us to count the many blessings that the world of Konkani has received from this great institution. It is in this spirit that the Seminary organised 'Achem Daiz -6' on the theme 'Raiturchi Siminar: Konknnichem Ball Pallnnem (Rachol Seminary: The Cradle of Konkani on Thursday 17 February.
Dr Nelson Falcao sdb - from Nasik - an expert on Fr Thomas Stephens, delivered the keynote address. Prof Suresh Amonkar, our very own expert on the work of Thomas Stephens, was the chief guest. Students of the Seminary read four papers on the four other great fathers of the Konkani school of Rachol. Dr Madhavi Sardessai of Goa University moderated the presentation. In the evening, school children from the villages around the seminary participated in a Konkani 'desh bhakti gitam' competition, and the seminarians of Rachol presented a one act play in Konkani.
The event closed with a valedictory function and prize distribution, at which Vice President of the Goa Konkani Academy Vincent Quadros was the chief guest.
(This article is written in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Rachol Seminary)
______________________________________________________ First published in the Herald, Goa - February 22, 2011
