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Showing posts with label Bardeskars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bardeskars. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Bardeskars – The Native Goans


Se Cathedral, venue of decennial exposition of relics of St. Francis Xavier, at Old Goa. (Photo by Camil Parkhe )

Soon after appearing for the SSC examination, I left my family in Shrirampur and joined Fr. Prabhudhar at his `Snehasadan' residence in Karad as a step to become a Jesuit priest like him. This was in June 1976. This introduced me to a new Christian community. Fr. Prabhdudhar took me around to Ichalkaranji, Gadhinglaj, Ajara, Chandgad talukas of Kolhapur district and Belgaum district in neighbouring Karnataka state.

During this tours, I was introduced to the Bardeskar community, the Christians who had migrated from Bardez taluka of Goa about three centuries ago and settled in above places.
The various facets of the Bardeskar community fascinated me. The social, cultural, religious, educational and financial characteristics of this community were drastically different from the Christian community from Aurangabad, Nashik and Ahmednagar districts – a community I represented.
First of all, they spoke a different language in their family and amongst themselves – Konkani, the language of their ancestors from Goa which they had preserved for over 300 years after being cut off from their native land. At that time local Hindus referred them as Bardeskars- an identity of their migration- but gradually switched over to their original family names from Goa like D’Souza, Fernandes, Monteiro, Lobo, Mascarenhas, et al. Now many of the younger members of this community may not like to be referred to Bardeskars. They would prefer to call themselves as natives from Goa.
In addition to the language, their names and surnames, they had also preserved the faith of their ancestors – Christianity, Catholic faith to be precise. In Goa, one does call oneself as a Christian but as a Catholic. This was indeed a feat considering that there were no priests or catechists who introduced them to tenets of the Christian religion.
The strict adherence of the Bardeskars to the Roman Catholic faith - sans presence of the clergy for over a century - astonished me. The presence and role of the priests is very important in a well organised relion like Christianity, especially the Catholic Church. The priests are required to administer the seven sacraments like baptism and wedding in various stages of life of the faithful.
I had experienced how long absence of the priests led to the wiping out of the Christian faith in Marathwada region, Ahmednagar, Nashik and other districts in western Maharashtra. In those regions, people who embraced Christianity under the influence of the European Protestant and Catholic missionaries in 19th and 20th centuries later did not get the adequate pastoral care and had therefore returned to the Hinduism or embraced Buddhism. The Bardeskars community, it seemed, was strongly entrenched into the religious faith of their ancestors.
Once Fr. Prabhudhar took me to Gadhinglaj where J. B. Bardeskar had established Sadhana Vidyalaya. This made me aware of the progress the Bardekars had achieved in social and educational spheres. Bardeskar Sir to whom I met at his residence was at that time one of the tallest and most respectable figures in the Bardeskar community. The other members of the Bardeskar community had also gained a respectable status among the majority populace. Some were teachers in colleges and schools while others were employed in respectable positions in government departments and private firms.
After migrating from Goa two-three centuries ago, Bardeskars in the borderlines of Kolhapur and Belgum districts (adjoining the Western Ghats) have fully assimilated into the local populace, acquiring fluency in local Marathi and Kannada languages, and yet, maintaining their distinct identity with preservation of their mother tongue Konkani and Christian faith. While travelling to Ajara, Watangi, Hebbal, Chandgadh, Santibastwad near Belgaum and other places, I realised that the Bardeskars had also acquired land, built houses in their new, migrated land. Possession of the agricultural land helped them to be one among the other populace and also offered them gainful livelihood.
The English medium school, Rosary School Ajara, Sarvodaya Khanapur and Sadhana Vidyalaya from Gadhinglaj helped the children to acquire fluency in the language of the modern age.
Once I attended a marriage of a Bardeskar couple, perhaps in Watangi near Ajara. There I was introduced to the folklore, marriage rituals and traditions followed in this community. There were Konkani folk songs when the bridegroom and bride left their houses for the marriage ceremony. The men and women joined in singing the Konkani songs as the marriage parade went from one place to the and later reached at the church where a priest administered the wedding sacrament to the couple.
I also attended the ordination ceremony of Fr. Caridade Drago, a Jesuit, at his native place Santibastwad near Belgaum. There were similar rituals and songs prior to the ordination ceremony which was presided over by Belgaum diocese bishop. (Only a bishop or a clergy of a higher rank in the Catholic Church can preside over ordination ceremony of a priest.)
A few years before that, I had also attended the ordination ceremony of Fr. James Shelke, also a Jesuit, at his native village Umbari near Sangamner in Ahmednagar district. In both cases, the local Christian community had hosted meals for the gathered assembly on the occasion. At Fr. Shelke’s ordination ceremony, there were no typical local Christians’ rituals and tradition as Christianity in Ahmednagar district in 1970s was only 100 years old and hardly a couple of priestly ordinations had taken place in this community by that period.
These Konkani folk songs, rituals and other traditions connected to the marriage and other ceremonies were obviously brought along by the Bardeskars when they left their native villages in Bardez in Goa two centuries back. I wondered whether these songs are still sung and this kinds of marriage traditions are followed to this date back in those villages in Goa?
Same also holds true about various Konkani words, Portuguese –origin phrases as well as songs spoken by the Bardeskars now and which may have been now extinct in the vocabulary of people in Goa. Invariably, some Marathi or Kannada words too may have slipped into the vocabulary of the Bardeskars.
It is a known fact that the Konkani spoken among the Catholics, especially among in south Goa, has many Portuguese-origin words like Kadel for chair, whereas the Hindus may use the word Khurchi which is also used in Marathi. Similar other Portuguese-origin words are Kantar for song (Gayan or Gaani in Marathi) Kaajar for wedding (Lagna in Marathi), Igraj for Church, Kapel for chapel, and so on.
These migrated people however took utmost care to retain their umbilical chord with their villages in Goa. They renewed their shares or Zonne in the village Communidade - a cooperative of land holding villagers –which is only seen in Goa and no where else in India. The elders took pains to visit Goa to register the names of their children as heirs as Zonnkar in the communidade, similar to the Index 7/12 form of the British legacy in India.
During the subsequent frequent visits to various villages in Kolhapur district, I realised that the Bardeskars were not exactly a homogenous community as it seemed to outsiders. There was no tradition of marital relations among all families of Bardeskars. Some families from a village would have marital relations with only families of particular villages. This underlined the caste differences among the Catholic Bardeskar community – a legacy of their castes before their conversion to Christianity in Goa 200 or 300 years before.
People belonging to the Saraswat, Kshatriya and various other castes were converted to Christianity after the Portuguese established their political rule in Goa in early 16th century. Despite the Church’s emphatic refusal to accept existence of casteism among the Christians, the practise had nonetheless continued over the past few centuries and the Bardeskars had carried along with them this dubious legacy.
St. Francis Xavier whose relics are kept at Bom Jesu Basilica in Old Goa has also been a factor drawing the Bardeskars to their native place. Even during the Portuguese regime which ended only in 1961, the Bardeskars visited Goa to attend the feast of this Goencho Saiba, falling on December 3.
Goans are spread in different parts of India and also all over the world. What is the definition of a Goan? It is a most debatable and controversial issue just like the definition of Punekar. Books have been written on the true identity of a Goan. Bardeskars are true Goans although often those residing in Goa may scoff at them as being ‘Bhailo’, the outsider.
As a reporter of The Navhind Times English daily at Panjim in Goa in 1983, I covered the news of Fr. Prabhudhar, himself a Bardeskar, leading a team of pilgrims from Kolhapur district to participate in the annual feast of St. Francis Xavier at Old Goa. The pilgrims had covered the distance from Ajara in Kolhapur district to Old Goa on foot and our newspaper had highlighted the news with my byline and a headline ‘’Their ways of reaching Him’’.
This news aroused curiosity of these Goans settled in neighbouring states and there were a couple of letters to the editors in this regards. This further prompted me to write two articles in The Navhind Times on the prevalent social, economic, religious and linguistic situation of the Bardeskars and various theories related to the causes of their migration.
Reading these two articles, then Margao's independent State legislator (MLA) and also a Konkani writer Uday Bhembre, congratulated me on highlighting the hitherto unknown aspects of the Bardeskar community and appreciated the Bardeskars for preservation of their mother tongue in their new land despite many odds. He further added that the Bardeskar community settled outside Goa is a fine case study for researchers in various faculties of knowledge including sociologists, historians, anthropologists, linguistics and others.
There was a long felt need to conduct research on the exodus of the Christian community from Bardes taluka to neighbouring Maharashtra and Karnataka states. As Alphie Monteriro has now written a book on history and culture of the Brdeskar community, entitled ‘’The Bardeskars- The history of migration .
The book will be published today through virtual mode an online ceremony to be attended by Belgaum Bishop Derek Fernandes, Pune Bishop Thomas Dabre and Sindhudurg Bishop Allwyn Baretto. The quest for knowing the roots and origins of the Bardeskar community has led Monteiro to conduct this research. I have known the Pune-based author for the past several years and the issue of various theories about migration of the Bardeskars from Goa invariably featured in our conversation.
In his quest for the right answers, Monteiro has met several people, referred to various books and articles. As a person interested in social history of Bardeskars and also Christians in India, I am happy to be part of this journey searching the root of the Bardeskar community.
To order copy of the book, message on 09370665992 to Alphie Monteiro or 09561083773 to Philo Monteiro ..
This is Se Cathedral, the venue of decennial ex\position of relics of St. Francis Xavier, at Old Goa.

Sunday, February 21, 2021


 बार्देसकर समाजाची संस्कृती : भाग २

(फोटोमध्ये लेखक कामिल पारखे एका प्रसिद्ध बार्देस्कराबरोबर, येशूसंघीय फादर प्रभुधर, यांच्याबरोबर पुण्यातील पेपल सेमिनरीच्या आवारात)


महाराष्ट्र व कर्नाटकच्या सीमावर्ती भागात राहत असलेले गोयंकार कॅथोलिकांनी म्हणजेच बार्देसकर समाजाने आपल्या मूळ वैशिष्ठ्यपूर्ण सामाजिक, सांस्कृतिक आणि धार्मिक परंपरा दोनशे वर्षे गोव्यापासून दूर राहूनसुद्धा जपल्या आहेत. त्यांची मातृभाषा कोंकणी टिकवल्यामुळे आणि आंतरजातीय विवाह न केल्यामुळे त्यांना आपली खास ओळख कायम राखण्यात यश आलं आहे. तथापि, त्यांना स्वतःला अथवा त्यांच्या नवीन मातृभूमीतील लोकांना ते `परके’ वाटत नाहीत.

बार्देसकारांच्या गेल्या कित्येक पिढ्या नेहमी खेड्यातील एकाच भागांत राहुन देखील फक्त त्यांच्या घरातच गोवन कॅथोलिक राहिल्या आहेत. पण तरीदेखील त्यांनी इतर समाजांशी सामंजस्य राखले आहे. ते महाराष्ट्रातील कोंकण आणि कोल्हापूर भागांतील नमुनेदार मराठी आणि कर्नाटकातील बेळगांव जिल्ह्यातील वैशिष्ठ्यपूर्ण कन्नडिगा आहेत.
रोमन कॅथोलिक धर्माप्रमाणे कोंकणी भाषा हा त्यांची पूर्वसुरींच्या भूमीशी (गोव्याशी) नाळ जोडणारा एक महत्वाचा घटक आहे. साहजिकच, कालौघात म्हणजेच त्यांच्या लादलेल्या स्थलांतरपासून बार्देसकरांच्या कोंकणी भाषेत मराठी किंवा कन्नडमधील नवीन शब्द आल्यामुळे बरेच मोठे बदल झाले आहेत. तरीसुद्धा, हे शक्य आहे कि बार्देसकरांच्या कोंकणीत असे बरेच शब्द ते अजूनही वापरत असतील, जे गोव्यातील कोंकणीत कधीच नामशेष झाले आहेत. याशिवाय, कित्येक जुनी कोंकणी लोकगीतं ह्या समाजात प्रचलित आहेत, जी विविध सामाजिक प्रसंगी गायली जातात - जसे लग्न, धर्मगुरुदीक्षा आणि इतर धार्मिक सेवा. कोंकणी भाषेच्या संशोधकांना बार्देसकर बोलत असलेल्या कोंकणीत संशोधनाचे मुबलक विषय मिळू शकतील.
काळाच्या ओघात नष्ट होण्याअगोदर त्यांची कोंकणी लोकगीते पुढील पिढ्यांसाठी जपून ठेवण्याची तातडीची गरज आहे. आजदेखील बार्देसकर विविध प्रार्थना म्हणजे पवित्र मिस्सा, रोझरी किंवा पवित्र माळ आणि लितानी कोंकणी भाषेत म्हणतात. गोव्याप्रमाणे इथेही धार्मिक उपासनाविधींसाठी वापरली जाणारी अधिकृत मिस्साग्रंथ किंवा लिटर्जी रोमन लिपीत आहे..
रोजच्या जीवनात कोंकणीचा वापर हा सार्वत्रिक असला तरीदेखील वाङ्मयीन कोंकणी इथपर्यंत अजून पोहचली नाही. काही मोजक्या जेसुईट धर्मगुरुंनी मराठी साहित्यविश्वात आपले वेगळे स्थान निर्माण केले आहे. त्यांत मराठी निरोप्या मासिकाचे संपादक फादर प्रभुधर आणि फादर कारिदाद द्रागो उर्फ संदीप हळदणकर यांच्या मोजक्या साहित्यकृती आहेत.
बार्देसकरांबाबत आणखी एक रंजक गोष्ट म्हणजे त्यांचा गोव्याशी गेल्या दोन शतकात खूपच कमी संपर्क असूनसुद्धा त्यांनी त्यांच्या मूळच्या मायभूमीत असलेल्या मालमत्तांवर असलेला हक्क सोडला नाही. हे विस्मयकारक आहे कि गोव्यातील राज्यकर्ते हे नेहमीच ब्रिटिशांच्या अमलात असलेल्या भारतीय भागांतून येणाऱ्या लोकांविषयी साशंक असत, तरीसुद्धा कोंकण, कोल्हापूर आणि बेळगांव जिल्ह्यांत वाढलेल्या व तेथे बरीच वर्षे वास्तव्य असलेल्या बार्देसकरांनी पूर्वजांच्या भूमीतील मालमत्तेवर आपला हक्क आजमितीपर्यंत कायम राखला आहे.
मी माझ्या पश्चिम महाराष्ट्र व बेळगांव जिल्ह्यातील वास्तव्यात बऱ्याच बार्देसकरांना भेटलो आहे, जे स्वतःची ओळख गोवन, गोयंकार अशी करून देतात आणि ते बार्देस तालुक्यातील आल्डोना, शिवोली, पार्रा, तिव्हिम व इतर गावचे असल्याचे सांगतात. असं म्हटलं जातं कि गोव्यातील बार्देसकरांच्या पूर्वजांनी आपल्या मुलांची नांवे त्यांच्या गावातील कम्युनिदाद या पारंपारिक सहकारी संस्थांमध्ये नोंदवून ठेवली होती. कित्येक बार्देसकरांनी ते जेंव्हा-जेंव्हा गोव्याला भेट देत, तेंव्हा आपले या संस्थातील भाग, शेअर्स किंवा झोण मिळविले, मग ते कितीही छोटे असोत.
नंतरच्या काळात पोर्तुगीजांनी त्यांच्या हद्दीत प्रवेश करणाऱ्या `परकियां’विरुध्द कडक कारवाई करण्यास सुरुवात केली तेंव्हा अनेक बार्देसकर सेंट फ्रान्सिस झेविअरच्या दर्शनाच्या निमित्ताने किंवा इतर काही कामासाठी सुरक्षा नसलेल्या सीमेवरील गावांतून गोव्यात प्रवेश करत.
कालपरवापर्यंत म्हणजे कोल्हापूर आणि कोंकणातील कॅथोलिक धर्मविभाग गोवा धर्मप्रांतापासून वेगळे होईपर्यंत आणि ते पुणे धर्मप्रांताशी जोडले जाईपर्यंत या भागातील सर्व चर्चमधील बाप्तिस्मा, लग्न, मृत्य, इ. विषयीच्या नोंदी पोर्तुगीज भाषेमध्ये असत. बार्देसकारांच्या पूर्वजांविषयी नोंदी असलेली महत्त्वाची माहिती आजही कोल्हापूर जिल्हयांतील आजरा, हलकर्णी आणि इतर ठिकाणी असलेल्या धर्मग्रामातील म्हणजे पॅरिशमधील चर्चमध्ये उपलब्ध आहे. काळाला बार्देसकरांना त्यांच्या भूतकाळापासून तोडण्यात अपयश आले आहे. त्यांनी आपला हा भूतकाळ प्रामाणिकपणे तर कधी कट्टरपणे सांभाळून ठेवला आहे.
माझ्या मते बदलाला विरोध हा नव्या कालानुरूप सुसुत्रीकरणामुळे नसून केवळ रूढी टिकवण्यासाठी आहे. उदाहरणार्थ, कित्येक तरुण बार्देसकरांना त्यांच्या समाजातील काही रितीरिवाजांची कारणे माहित नाहीत तरीदेखील ते पाळण्याची इच्छा त्यांच्यात आहे. परिणामी, बार्देसकर समाजातील विविध गटांत लग्ने होत नाहीत कारण धर्मांतरापूर्वी ते वेगवेगळ्या हिंदू जातींत विभागले गेले होते.
जातीयवादाचं अरिष्ट, जरी कॅथोलिक चर्चची त्यावर अधिकृतपणे बंदी असली तरी, गोव्यात प्रचलित आहे व बार्देसकरांनी ते आपल्याबरोबर गोव्याबाहेर आणलं आहे.
बार्देसकर समाजात काही ‘आंतरजातीय’ विवाह गेल्या काही वर्षात झाले आहेत. काही बार्देसकर अजूनही बिफ खात नाहीत, जे पूर्वाश्रमीचे सवर्ण हिंदू असल्याचे दर्शवते.
त्यांच्या गोव्यातील पूर्वजांच्या परंपरेप्रमाणे आजही या भागांतील विविध चॅपेल आणि चर्चमध्ये वार्षिक सणाचा सोहळा साजरा केला जातो. त्याप्रमाणे म्हापसा शहराजवळील शिवोलीहुन आलेले आणि कोल्हापूर जिल्हातील चंदगड तालुक्यातील अडकूर गावी स्थायिक झालेले बार्देसकर सेंट अँथनीचा सण साजरा करतात. दोन वर्षांपूर्वी जेव्हा तेथे एक चॅपेल बांधले गेले तेंव्हा शिवोलीतील रिवाजाप्रमाणे ते सेंट अँथनीच्या स्मृतीस समर्पित करण्यात आले. गोव्याप्रमाणे येथेही चर्चच्या कारभारात महत्त्व असलेली सामान्य लोकांची कॉन्फ्ररिया आहे.
अशाप्रकारे महाराष्ट्र आणि कर्नाटकातील सीमेवरील गोवन समुदायाने आपली भाषा, धर्म आणि संस्कृती पोसली आणि सुरक्षितपणे टिकविल्यामुळे त्यांना आपली ओळख पुसली जाण्याची भीती ते रहात असलेल्या नवीन ठिकाणी कधीच वाटली नाही. कारण त्यांची पाळेमुळे तेथे खोलवर रुजली आहेत. बऱ्याच बार्देसकरांना पुणे, कोल्हापूर आणि मुंबई येथे नोकऱ्या मिळाल्या आहेत. तर काही मोजके लोक शिक्षक म्हणून कार्यरत आहेत किंवा किंवा आपला व्यवसाय चालवीत आहेत.
((मूळ प्रसिद्धी ३० जून,, १९८५, इंग्रजी दैनिक द नवहिंद टाइम्स, पणजी, गोवा )