KOCHI: Has anyone ever heard of a language being banned? Konkani, spoken and kept alive by the people scattered in different places over the centuries, perhaps, is the only language in the world ever to have met with such a fate, though, briefly, says Konkani writer Payyanur Ramesh Pai.
‘Konkani’ and the people who speak the language have survived after passing through severe hardships, said Pai, Kerala Konkani Sahitya Akademy former chairman, while participating in the Abhimukham’ conducted by Sahapedia here the other day.
The talk was held to explore the rich cultural heritage of the Konkani-speaking people, an ethno - linguistic community which had its origin in the Konkan coast of south- western India.
Pai, however, noted more needs to be done to preserve the language and the culture and heritage it has spawned. “Unfortunately, very little effort is being made to save the language from extinction. UNESCO has even declared Konkani language as an endangered one. Only this language can retain our culture, values and ethos, ” he said.
Elaborating on the history of the Konkani speaking people, he said when a massive famine struck the Indian sub-continent and the Saraswati had dried up, the Konkani people got scattered over different regions of India as far flung as the Kutch, Goa and Kashmir.
Most of the Konkani- speaking people later migrated to Kerala, where they settled down and flourished and kept alive their culture and traditions.
Pai said there was always a tendency to brush aside the oral history as mere hearsay. However, this is not right. “If it had been so, the administration of Chandigarh would not have come up with a separate wing to dig out the details regarding the existence of the Saraswati from where the heritage of Konkanis originated,” he said.