http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/11704/135 km from Mumbai, a village that speaks PortugueseShare | Larger | SmallerSatish Nandgaonkar
Posted: Oct 21, 2002 at 0000 hrs IST
‘‘Akkiwei!’’ Father Vincent D’Mello yells at the noisy children playing in the courtyard of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Korlai village, beckoning them from his first floor house. It’s one of the few Portuguese terms the priest understands and uses to communicate with the 250-plus Christian families living in the area. The Portuguese may have fled to Goa in 1740, but a slice of their legacy survives in a tiny village on the Konkan coast, 135 kms from Mumbai, in the form of a language which dates back to the 1500s—Creole Portuguese.
A mixture of Portuguese and Marathi, the language continues to be the mother tongue of the Christian farmer community in upper Korlai, a village of 700 families located at the foot of the Korlai Fort. ‘‘I have been here two years, but I still can’t understand this language. It’s difficult to learn. But I understand certain words rooted in Marathi. The Korlai villagers speak Marathi fluently, but switch to Portuguese while conversing amongst themselves. I don’t even know if they are cursing me!’’ laughs Father Vincent, who manages the Mount Carmel Church and the primary and secondary Marathi-medium school attached to the chapel.
It was only when Jerome Rosario, a villager now based in Mumbai, began collecting facts and data about Korlai’s history that perspective emerged on this unique language—along with the need to preserve it. Rosario, along with a German researcher, compiled the history of the Revdanda, Korlai and Chaul forts for a book published by the University of Munich, Germany. American Professor Clancy Clements also travelled to Korlai, learnt the language and tried to compile an oral history.
According to an article written by Clements, Portuguese invaders arrived on the Konkan coast in 1505, and captured the Revdanda and Chaul forts by 1523. Conversions to Christianity were reported and Portuguese replaced Marathi in certain coastal areas. Between 1505 and 1594, the Portuguese army fought several wars with local rulers and finally established their supremacy in 1594. The Korlai Fort was captured and the village established at the foothills. The Portuguese built the St Mathews Church on the fort around 1630 for their army. Giant creepers have now taken over the dilapidated church on the fort.
According to Clements, the Portuguese were defeated in a war by the Maratha army in 1740, forcing them to flee to Goa. Nine families from the lower village then moved to the upper part of Korlai and built the Mount Carmel Church around that time. Certain Portuguese rituals are still performed in the village—the community annually celebrates the days marking the anniversaries of St Anthony and St Rock. ‘‘People believe that years ago, St Rock saved Korlai from the plague, and his anniversary on June 13 is celebrated every year with much festivity. The villagers mark the anniversary with a procession and a feast is laid out in the church courtyard. A traditional gun salute is offered to the procession as St Rock’s bust is carried through the village,’’ says 42-year-old Father Vincent. And since guns are a trifle more scarce these days, the gun salute has been replaced by fire-crackers. ‘‘We used to have 18 guns in the village. As St Rock’s procession passed through the village, each of the 18 houses fired the guns in salute, one by one. Now, youngsters use fire-crackers instead,’’ says 84-year-old Antone Vegas, Korlai’s longest serving sarpanch.
Vegas is worried that his mother-tongue would soon lose out to Marathi over the years. ‘‘Our children still speak Portuguese at home, but soon they will switch to Marathi. When I was a child, we had Marathi education only till Std IV. Now higher education in Marathi medium is available and so, Marathi is dominating,’’ says Vegas.
Marathi’s dominance can be seen from the fact that Korlai’s Portuguese is largely spoken, and relies on either Devnagri or English script when written. Father Vincent’s young associate Alex manages to find a copy of a book compiled by Prof Clement during his research a few years ago. Titled Naw Ling Su Istaur (The Story of My Language), the book is a compilation of 37 folk tales in Portuguese which have transferred from generation to generation.
‘‘One day, Prof Clements brought together village elders and made them narrate the folk stories. With the help of two local women, he compiled them into a book and distributed a few copies among the villagers,’’ says Vegas, adding that this remains the only surviving document of the Korlai Portuguese.
