Mangalore, Jul 23: Digital technology has come as a great blessing making it feasible to preserve old documents, records, photographs, books and also make them easily accessible to the general public just at the click of a mouse. Digitization also means preserving and protecting fragile and valuable documents, records and manuscripts so that they can be accessed by a vast majority to know the past events of history. 

It is in this context the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed recently between World Konkani Centre (WKC), Mangalore and Xavier Centre of Historical Research in Goa (XCHR) run by Jesuits, to digitize historical Konkani scriptures and manuscripts, assumes greater significance. The MoU is expected to accelerate the process of digitizing over 80,000 documents housed at XCHR and making them available online for free access to the general public. Director of XCHR Fr Savio Abreu SJ, who signed the MoU with Basti Vaman Shenoy of WKC, believes the efforts of XCHR and WKC will fructify enabling people of the world to access records of history online. It also means that researchers don’t have to travel all the way to Goa to get information for their research and would help them save time and money. 

The brain behind the MoU is Ramdas Kamath, Director of Infosys, who was impressed by the treasure-trove housed at XCHR pertaining to Konkani culture, language and literature when he visited the centre. He approached XCHR to work in cooperation in order to preserve this rich treasure and XCHR responded positively resulting in signing the MoU. “These documents are part of our history and we wanted to share this knowledge by preserving them. Fortunately, this offer from WKC came at an opportune time and we grabbed it. Now this working relationship brings us together in a common platform and we will work together on many projects in the near future with the singular idea of preserving this wealth of knowledge and making it available to the general public to access it from anywhere”, Fr Savio declares. 

As per the MoU, WKC has now set up an exclusive digitization centre at XCHR, Goa, thus making a formal beginning for the digitization process. The digitization process assumes significance due to the fact that the 15th and 16th century documents of Mamai Kamath family in its possession, which are in a fragile state, will be digitized and preserved. Mamai Kamath family had handed over its private collection of documents to XCHR and these records are mainly trade documents and therefore assume historical significance. Mhamai Kamath family wielded enormous influence among European traders during the Portuguese rule in Goa in the 17th and 18th century. The family was the main agent of Portuguese trade dealing with other countries on behalf of Portuguese and that also included opium trade. In 2013 XCHR also got hold of private collection of documents of German anthropologist who worked in Goa studying Portuguese history for a long period of time. 

Fr Savio stated that XCHR succeeded in getting these private collections after her death through one of the members of leading business group D Souza family, with who the lady was in close contact during her stay in Goa. “The family wanted to donate the entire set of documents to Cambridge University. But I wrote to the family saying we would safe-keep these documents in Goa so that the public can access these documents pertaining to Goan history and we succeeded in this effort. We have two full suitcases of documents which we will try to sort out at the earliest”, Fr Savio stated to daijiworld.com. 

XCHR also has other family collections in its repository. Significantly 2/3 of the documents at the centre to be digitized are in Halegannada (Old Kannada) and remaining are in Konkani, French, Italian, Portuguese and English languages. To make the entire process fruitful WKC will also create a website apart from providing infrastructure and technical assistance to digitize the documents. Plans are also afoot to recruit translators to decipher the Halegannada script. WKC also is toying with the idea of seeking the help of some experts in the field. 

XCHR was started in 1977 by the Society of Jesus with the noble idea of providing a platform for scholars, research students and others interested in research. When the Portuguese left Goa there was not much of bonhomie between India and Portuguese. But in the 70’s they realized the usefulness of having cordial relationship with India and as a result Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation , a private foundation promoting art, culture, education and science came forward to set up a centre in Goa. Initially it was only a branch of the Heras Institute of St Xavier Mumbai. Tiotonio D Souza, a Jesuit priest then and had good knowledge of Portuguese succeeded in making this an independent institute and is rightly regarded as the co-founder of XCHR. Once started he wanted it to be independent and therefore it was completely separated from Heras Institute within a short period. 

Originally it was meant to be an institute of history with specific reference to Jesuit history. But due to the strong links strengthened by the familiarity of Portuguese language by people at the helm at XCHR it became more of an Indo-Portuguese history. In 1983, the institute was shifted to the specifically constructed building located at Porvorim in Bardez, Goa. 

The Xavier Centre of Historical Research has some priceless collection of documents, records, manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, paintings and artifacts. The documents under various sections include Asia during the Portuguese presence in the East, Church in Goa/India, Jesuits in Goa/India, History of Indo-Portuguese Christian Art. Xavier museum has about 400 paintings of Indo-Portuguese Christian art such as original water colour paintings of renowned Goan painter Angelo da Fonesca. The centre serves as a platform for scholarly research in Indian history and its rich cultural heritage with special emphasis on contemporary social and cultural issues. 

“Earlier the institute was meant for only scholarly purpose. But now we feel that knowledge should be disseminated to all the sections of the society. To make it more people-oriented we aim to reach out to students by organizing various competitions so as to instill the spirit of research in the young minds. Now we are looking at history in a broader sense. We want it to be a social science library to be used by students of universities and colleges”, Fr Savio stated. 

In addition the institute is organizing quiz programmes for students, training programme for teachers and students and also educational camps for students. “We want to raise consciousness about Goan history among Goans and we have made a good beginning”, Fr Savio reveals. The centre is also concentrating on publications and research on migrations of Goans to the Ghats. Many Goans had migrated to neighboring states like Karnataka and Maharashtra about 300 years back and they are settled in Belgaum-Dharwad and Kolhapur districts. These migrated workers belonged to agrarian community and there are no historical documents about them or their plight. Now the centre is trying to study their present socio-economic status and how they have retained their cultural moors with their ancestral homes. Interestingly this community has retained its bond with their home state and every year they come to get their zone share (a kind of identity card) and strengthen their bond though this zone is no way beneficial to them. . 

Now that the work has begun on a serious note, let us hope this working relationship towards a common goal between WKC and XCHR will yield rich dividend and enrich Konkani language, art and culture.