By Marcellus D’Souza
Apr 22: Jnanpit recipient Damodar Mauzo has issued a clarification at the 15th Akhil Marathi Sammelan at Latur, Maharashtra on a debate about language. Mauzo was invited to the Sammelan as chief guest.
The clarification was issued after Kautikao Thale Patil, president of the Sammelan stated that “Marathi was the original language of Goa and Konkani was a dialect, later Konkani was adopted as the official language and spoken as an independent language”. Patil quoted the Krista Puran, an epic poem that had a mixture of Konkani and Marathi.
Mauzo sternly reacted stating that the text continued to have a Konkani tone and was not translated to Marathi post liberation as Marathi was not well understood by Goans which informs about the significance of Konkani in Goa”.
He further said, “Konkani was a restricted language as during the 600-year Portuguese rule, there was a ban on Konkani and Marathi gained in prominence. He said he considered Marathi as a ‘great language’.
Quoting the lines of Mirabai, Murzo said, “When literature is free from political interference, the leader is dumb and beggars are intellectuals”. Nations are built in the hearts of writers, they either prosper or die at the hands of politicians”, Murzo added.
Damodar Mauzo, a Konkani writer, is a Goan novelist, activist and Konkani literature's icon who writes in English. Mauzo has been a vocal critic of Hindutva extremists, pushing him into the hit-list of the Sanathan Sanstha.
He was awarded India's highest literary honour, the Jnanpith Award in 2021. The Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his novel ‘Karmelin’ and the Vimala V. Pai Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Puraskar award for his novel ‘Tsunami Simon’ in 2011.
His collection of Short stories ‘Teresa's Man and Other Stories from Goa’ was nominated for the Frank O'Connor International award in 2015.
An activist to the core, Damodar Mauzo actively participated in the historic Opinion Poll held in Goa in 1967 to decide the political status of then newly liberated Goa. Presently, he is the co-founder and co-curator of the Goa Arts and Literary Festival, an annual event started in 2010. In July 2020, on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mauzo released a book of short stories, “Tishttavni” via an online session. It was Mauzo's first-ever virtual book-launch.
Most of the stories in the book are set in Goa, but some which are set in other parts of the country. The story, "Jhel Vitalltana" (As the Ice Melts) is set against the backdrop of the warfare in Kargil. Another story "Sundarkayecho Upasaka" (The Aesthetist), is about the fallacy of a wealthy man who claims to have aesthetic wisdom. The ambiance of this story is the affluent society of Mumbai.