The Future of Konkani

The Future of Konkani

By M V Kamath ( Executive Editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India for some time and writer)

(This article was published in the souvenir released in connection with the Seventeenth Conference of All India Konkani Sahitya Parishad held in 1989 at Manipal. Thirty five years later, Konkani is alive, but we are still apprehensive of a future for the language given the changed circumstances)

Does Konkani have a future? The question, to my mind, is redundant. Most certainly, it has a future, possibly, a great future, though much depends on a large number of factors, political, economical and social. The fact that it has survived all these hundreds of years should show that it can last. Its survival against all odds is no mean thing. It has withstood the depradations of the Portugese who would not permit the language to be spoken by Christians in Goa. It has withstood the attack by protagonists of Marathi who have never ceased to preach the false theory that Konkani, at best, is a dialect of Marathi, which it is most certainly not. Konkani is a language in its own right. That is the first thing to be noted- and accepted. There cannot be- and there should not be- any doubt in this regard.. No matter how undeveloped it may sound. Konkani is a language distinct in itself. It has its own script. Writing in January 1882, more than a hundred years ago, Angelus Francis Xavier Maffei made the point that “the Konkani language was formerly written with the alphabet called balabodha or Nagar” and that “sometimes it was written with the Modi alphabet”. The truth is that Marathi and Konkani are both off-shoots of Saraswathi Balabhasha– at least that was the opinion of Ramachandra Bhikaji Gunjikar. But the fact that Konkani is a separate language has now been accepted officially the Government of India and in so far as we are concerned, the controversy is closed. The only relevant question is about Konkani’s future.

Konkani is spoken from Sawantwadi downwards to South Kanara and there are pockets of Saraswat (including Gowda Saraswat) brahmins in Kerala, stretching up to Cochin which has a substantially strong Konkani speaking population. But, except in Goa, the Konkani speaking population has no political power. Unfortunately again, even such population as speaks Konkani in Goa is divided, a few Hindus insisting that Marathi be given equal prominence to Konkani officially, on the grounds that Konkani has yet to be developed.

Whether Konkani is â developed or not is a matter, again, of opinion. What exactly is intended by the word developed? True, it does not have a lively literature. It is presently written in several scripts: Devnagari, Roman, Kannada and Malayalam. But it is spoken, albeit in different accents. The Sawantwadi accent differs, say, from Goan or Rathnagiri accent, the Rathnagiri accent from the accent of North Kanarites and so on. No matter. Rome was not built in a day and we are not going to build a unified Konkani in a decade. But there are some positive factors which give us scope to be optimistic about the future. One, Konkani is now accepted as a distinct language and not just a dialect of Marathi. That is very important. Two, Konkani has been accepted as the official language of, as of this moment, in Goa. Three, there are Konkani broadcasts from All India Radio so at least one form of Konkani accent is broadcast on a regular basis. Four, books are being written and play are being enacted in Konkani and there is at least one daily in Konkani from Goa and weeklies like Rakhno. In other words, Konkani is being actively cultivated and not shunned or pushed to the wall. It has life.

The next step is to popularize it on an extensive basis and this is not going to be an easy task. For that reason one need not despair. What is important is to recognise that the task is not going to be easy. For one thing, Konkani has literally to start from the scratch. It has to compete with other more advanced languages all the time. In northern Konkan, it has to compete with Marathi. In Karnataka zone, it has to compete with Kannada and in Kerala, it has to compete with Malayalam. A person whose mother tongue is Konkani but who lives in other linguistic zones as a minority has an uphill task to face. But look at it in another way: despite this, those speaking Konkani whether they be Hindis or Christians have preserved their mother tongue and have continues to speak the language in the privacy of their home. There is therefore no reason to despair.

The challenge to Konkani incidentally comes not so much from Marathi, Kannada or Malayalam but from English. English presents a challenge even to languages like Marathi, Hindi or Bengali which are very well advanced. The reason is obvious. English has made such tremendous advance as an international language with a fantastic vocabulary, that it is the language of business and commerce, industry and trade par excellence. Before it, even the more advanced languages in India stand a poor chance of making their presence felt. Middle class families insist on sending their children to English medium schools. If that is so, what could be the fate of children whose mother tongues is a yet to be developed Konkani?

That is a genuine danger and it has to be faced. The argument is that unless Konkani has a uniform vocabulary, a wide market for its literature and a specific attraction, it might not survive. The battle is against Time. But then consider the following fact: English is spoken in scores of accents. The accent of the West Indian is different from the accent of say, the New Yorker and both differ from the accent of the Bostonian. And all of them, of course, differ from the English spoken in Oxford or Cambridge. Hence, difference in accent is no bar for the spread and consolidation of Konkani.

There is the issue of vocabulary. This will take time to grow. What is imperative is that those who speak Konkani are not ashamed or abashed to speak to each other no matter what their accent is. There is a natural reluctance on the part of many whose mother tongue is Konkani to speak with other Konkanists out of a shyness or an inferiority complex or of a fear of not being understood. These are genuine fears and should not be minimised. Bu one must persevere.

What are the things that will help in introducing a uniformity in vocabulary and script? Constant intermingling among the Konkani speaking people. Insistence in families on speaking Konkani at home. Tragically, middle class families have a way of slipping into English on the slightest provocation. This has to be discouraged. Patronage must be given to Konkani theatre as a unifying force. Encouragement must be given to writing Konkani plays and as far as possible, characters must be introduced in the play, who speak in different accents. After all, one might as well remember that George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion did just that for English.

Intermarriage between Konkani-speaking families too must be encouraged. That should not present insuperable problems. Time was when parents sought alliances among families within a radius not exceeding forty miles. Times have changed. Travel is easy and fast. There are thousands of families in Bombay hailing from all over Konkan which speak Konkani but who are not acquainted with one another. There ought to be Konkani speaking clubs, for a starter. Nothing is beyond one’s means if we care.

What we ought to remember is that after centuries, there is a distinct Konkani consciousness. That is a major development. There is also a will to preserve the language. That too, is important. There have been several inter-state conferences down the years. In other words, the matter of Konkani is kept very much alive.

A language dies if those who speak it do not care for it any more. That is not true of Konkani at all. There are thousands upon thousands who care for it very much. The problem is to make them feel proud of their mother tongue. There is a secret pride among them. Let this be clearly understood. But it has to be fanned and encouraged to be expressed. This is a slow process, but not beyond one’s power to achieve/ this is not to say that the enemies of Konkani have been vanquished or have otherwise vanished. They are very much there. There are some Hindus in Goa, for example, who would deny their Konkani heritage in order to wreak their vengeance on Christians. This is an example of cutting one’s own nose to spite some one else’ face. But this is a temporary phenomenon. Given the historical background of Goa, it was also inevitable. The Hindus think that they have a score to settle against Christians who, in their time, would rather speak Portugese than patronise Konkani. Nut they are small minds who think on these lines. And their number is limited not only in terms of Goan Hindus, but in the context of the larger Konkani-speaking world. But this diaspora must not let the Marathi protagonists in Goa get the upper hand. Every effort must be made to support the case of Konkani in Goa, irrespective of religious and other differences. This is a task that every Konkani-speaking citizen must set for himself.

Personally, I have no fears for the future of Konkani. I am an optimist, but with sound evidence for my optimism. As I have said earlier, if Konkani can survive hundred of years of persecution, it can make progress in the years to come. Happily, there is state recognition of the language. There is a growing commitment to it. The language itself has intrinsic strength which nobody has yet succeeded in destroying. And its protagonists have already made a welcome start. Rest is a matter of time. We can make haste, but should do so according to a well-laid out plan. But plan or no plan, the language is gaining its own momentum. Yes, I can state coincidently that Konkani not only has a future but a great future. It is a language whose time, at last has come. All power to it.

(Sabha’s note: How many of the readers share the optimism expressed by Sri Kamath thirty-five years ago in the current scenario? Has Konkani come of age during this period and can hope for more profound and serious literature that can be read all over the Konkan area in spite of regional difference in accents and usage of words? Please provide us with your views and feedback)