Pre-Liberation Indo-Portuguese Literature

Carmo D'Souza

In pre-Liberation Goa, Portuguese was the official language of Goa, known as Estado da India then. As a result a large amount of writings from Goa were in Portuguese. During that period many Goans excelled as writers, poets and journalists in Portuguese.

That era ended with the Liberation of Goa in 1961. Overnight Portuguese ceased to be the language of the popular media. Indo-Porguese literature was shelved into dustry libraries and archives.

The Portuguese literature produced then was rather unique. Even if today new interest develops in the Portuguese language, the literature produced as a result of the modern interaction will not carry the tinge of the special psyche.

Goa was then the craddle of Indo-Portuguese poetry. It produced a number of poets. Using the imagery of the tropical flora and fauna, enjoying the tasty mango fruit and caju drink, under the gently swaying plams on the sandy beaches, they weaved their rhymes about beautiful Goa. While the Portuguese bard Luis de Camoes transported the Greek mythological characters viat the journey of discovery, the Goan poets rocketed eastern mythological figures onto the western canvass. This psychological response is ineed worth analysing today.

The Indo-Portuguese poets had an added advantage over their western counterparts. They were taught western classical poetry at school and Lyceum and hence had the background of Greek, Roman and French poetry. Moreover, they had easy access to the rich Indian mythological background.

Nascimento Mendonca excelled in this art and carved for himself a special niche in Indo-Portuguese poetry. Adeodato Barreto too drew inspiration from the Indian ethos. For instance, inspered with the sweet scent of zaios and mogrins, he let his poems soar above the greenhills of Chandranath and Sidanath and even the mightly Ghats. In one particular poem, he let the western angels sing in a choir with the Indian apsaras (fairies). That sort of subtle fusion was easily comprehensible to a Goan mind.

It's not surprising that several Goan poets carved a niche for themselves in Indo-Portuguese poetry. Besides Adeodato Barreto and Nascimento Mendonca, we have Paulino Dias, Floriano Pinto, Adolfo Costa and Miranda Jose Barreto among others. With Floriano Pinto one enjoys the gentle breeze from the Mandovir river in Brisas de Mandovi. His Alfinetes were truly sharp pins which pricked and hurt gently. We have poems flowing from the prolific pen of freedom fighter Telo Mascarenhas. The time has come for scholars to ponder anew on this hidden treasure.

Pre-Liberation Goa did produce excellent writers. Francisco Luis Gomes, an economist and politician besides excelling in literature, wrote on eco-agricultural aspect of Goa in A Liberdade de Terra ea Economia Rural de India Portuguesa. His romance Os Brahmanes touched the theme of social life in India. Several biographies were penned from Goa. For instance, the lives of St Francis Xavier, Marques de Pombal, Abbe Faria, Fr Jose Vaz, etc. have been referred to time and again by writers.

Journalism developed fast in Goa from mid-nineteenth century. For instance, Luis de Menezes Braganca and Jose Inacio de Loyola (Fanchu) were both political giants in the journalism of their time. In fact, Loyola was responsible for publishing a series of journals. When he was forced by the authorities to stop one publication, he would come out with a new issue. In the field of journalism, Goa produced Indo-Portuguese editors of the calibre of Antonio Maria de Cunha, Santa Rita Vaz, Luis Menezes among others. Some of them had to fight valiantly to maintain the dignity and the freedom of the press.

The rich treasure of Indo-Portuguese literature of pre-Liberation Goa needs to be re-discovered. It is a unique brand produced under special social, cultural and political circumstances. The special psyche representing that period influenced those writers. They wrote in Portuguese as fluently as their European counterparts. It is worthy analysing those works anew today.

gn