I read with bated breath a thread (which is now quietly dying down) on [Goanet] entitled CHRISTIANs WITH HINDU NAMES ARE COWARDS. <http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-September/183528.html>
One Jorge Dias in ringing tones thundered," Those Christians in India who are operating with Hindu names are doing this to protect their skin from Hindu fascist forces. May God give these Christians the courage that they do not hide their Christian faith." Before the embers die out I thought I'd give my char annas worth on the subject. The reason I thought I'd flog this old horse a bit more was to remind you that the relationship between one's name and one's identity was one which was one which was exploited a long time ago and much more sweetly than the currently hysterical combatants, by Anant Kakba Priolkar (who wrote the famous "The Goa Inquisition") In an essay named,"Who is a Goan?" written in 1957 Priolkar very generously conceded that "all the Catholic communities ... settled in places like Kanara, Belgaum, Khanapur, Sawantwadi and Malwan, who speak Konkani ... are most probably all Goans and our kith and kin." Then he suggested that as apart from Konkani there would be no way to establish their identity as Goans, they should revert to their original Hindu names. He pointed out how in Mangalore, Christians with names like Prabhu Coelho were common. Then he stated that there were many Catholic families which knew of their old Hindu surnames. And he suggested they revert to them and gave sources where others might locate them. And then for those who could not trace their surnames he suggested that they adopt the names of the villages they lived in like 'Lotlikar' 'Calangutkar' and so on. Of course Priolkar was subtly accusing Catholics of being as T.B.Cunha put it 'denationalised' And he did not overtly inform his readers that Hindu surnames are markers of caste: a Kamat is most probably a Saraswat; and a Lotlikar is probably a goldsmith. Anyway it was wonderful to see someone now saying that should shun one's "Hindu" names. How refreshing I thought to myself and recalled a wise D'Sa Porob, a Moidekar Bamon of the 5th vangodd, who once said, "the more the names change *** *the more they remain the same." -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal, Moira, Bardez, Goa, India E pinto...@gmail.com or ypinto...@yahoo.co.in P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350
