23 Facts About Shenoi Goembab

Waman Raghunath Shennoi Varde Valaulikar, better known as Shenoi Goembab, was a Portuguese writer and activist of the Konkani language.

Shenoi Goembab came from a notable family which boast the presence of diplomats.

Shenoi Goembab attended primary school in Marathi till 6th grade and then joined a Portuguese primary school, where he completed "Segundo Grau".

Shenoi Goembab went to the city of Bombay in 1893 and continued with his studies there, completing High School in 1898.

Shenoi Goembab was married to Shantabai in Mumbai and had two sons and two daughters.

Shenoi Goembab went to Karachi, British India and worked there for some time as a clerk in the Lahore Municipality.

Shenoi Goembab returned to Bombay where he got married and later got a job with the Italian Consulate.

Shenoi Goembab managed the company well in the absence of its management and on their return, he earned their praise.

Shenoi Goembab's wife was an illiterate but had a very good knowledge of Konkani language and folklore.

Shenoi Goembab made her recite the tales and proverbs and put them in writing which were published later.

Shenoi Goembab believed that Konkani language was awaiting a revolution and it could only be brought about by its youth.

Shenoi Goembab is most remembered for his translation of the Bhagavad Gita into Konkani: "Bhagwantalem Geet".

In that book, Shenoi Goembab indicates that he had introduced lessons covering grammatical rules, meanings of words and sentences for teaching the art of translation.

Shenoi Goembab had observed how Konkani had diminished in status among Goans and Marathi and Portuguese had taken the place of respect among the educated, upper class Hindus and Christians respectively.

Shenoi Goembab believed that no matter how many languages a person could communicate in to earn a living, he was lost if he could not communicate in his mother tongue, the "language of your soul" as he called it.

Shenoi Goembab began telling Konkanis about the sweetness of their mother tongue and of its rich past.

Shenoi Goembab saw it as a movement against Portuguese rule in Goa.

Shenoi Goembab wrote 7 books in the Roman script and 22 in Devanagari.

Perhaps, ahead of his time, Shenoi Goembab stressed on the need to eliminate caste barriers and get the lower castes educated.

Shenoi Goembab said "let's make Pandits out of Gawdes ".

Shenoi Goembab equated Santeri with the Virgin Mary to get the Goan Catholics and Hindus, two major communities of Goa, to join hands for Konkani.

Shenoi Goembab died on 9 April 1946 in the city of Bombay, and his death anniversary, is observed as Vishwa Konkani Dis.

On 9 April 2000, Shenoi Goembab was posthumously awarded the Konkani Person of the Millennium award by Mandd Sobhann, on his 54th death anniversary.