Mariano Saldanha

Mariano Jose Luis de Gonzaga Saldanha (1878–1975) of Uskai (Ucassaim) village in Goa, studied medicine and pharmacy, but went on to become a teacher of Marathi and Sanskrit at the Lyceum in Goa (1915–1959) and of Sanskrit and Konkani at Lisbon, at the University and at the Advanced School of Colonial Administration (1929–1946).[1]

Contents

Early education

Mariano Saldanha owed his linguistic education to his priest-uncles in Goa, one of whom was Gabriel Saldanha, author of Historia de Goa (Nova Goa, 1926, repr. New Delhi, 1990).[2]

Advocate of Konkani

In his Presidential Address at the 5th Conference of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal at Bombay in 1952, he held that Marathi and Konkani were independent sister languages. He also, at this early date, advocated primary education in Konkani for Goans. He also made a plea for the adoption of the Roman script in the system of transliteration invented by Thomas Stephens and followed by other writers in the 17th century in Goa.[3] However, his advocacy of Konkani did not translate into hostility to Marathi.[4]

It was Saldanha who discovered the Konkani and Marathi MS of Krishnadas Shama and others in the Public Library of Braga, around 1950.[5]

Personal Collection

Prof. Mariano Saldanha donated his large personal collection to the Xavier Centre for Historical Research Library.[6]

The Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr,[1] adjacent to the Xavier Centre of Historical Research[2] at Alto Porvorim, Goa, possesses a manuscript copy of the Khristapurana by Thomas Stephens in Roman script, with the name "M.C. Saldanha" in pencil on one of the first pages, and also on the spine of the leather binding. Besides, the volume bears a stamp indicating that it was bound in Kodialbail, Mangalore. It is known that J.L. Saldanha, who produced the 1907 edition of the Khristapurana, had borrowed a manuscript copy of the Khristapurana from a Mr. Marian Saldanha, whom he describes as "an enthusiast of Purannic literature."[7] However, more work will have to be done before the TSKK copy can be identified as having come from the collection of Mariano Saldanha. Unfortunately, the TSKK has not kept records of provenance.

Bibliography

Primary

Secondary

References

  1. ^ See J. Clement Vaz, Profiles of Eminent Goans, Past and Present, (New Delhi: Concept Publishing, 1997) 259. Also Cajetan Coelho, "Rediscovering a Lost Cultural Identity," at http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/iiasn8/south/xavier.html
  2. ^ Vaz 259.
  3. ^ Vaz 260.
  4. ^ Vaz 260.
  5. ^ Saradesaya, A History of Konkani Literature 100.
  6. ^ Cajetan Coelho, "Rediscovering a Lost Cultural Identity," at http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/iiasn8/south/xavier.html
  7. ^ Thomas Stephens, The Christian Purana of Father Thomas Stephens: A Work of the 17th Century, Reproduced from Manuscript copies and edited with a Biographical Note, an Introduction, an English Synopsis of Contents and Vocabulary, ed. Joseph L. Saldanha (Mangalore: St Aloysius' College, 1907) iii.