Savarkar - Son of Portugal

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Sajan Venniyoor

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May 28, 2019, 9:31:10 AM5/28/19
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It was reported by the Press Trust of India – a story then picked up major newspapers – that the Congress govt in Rajasthan had offered up a major insult to V D Savarkar by captioning his photograph in a Class X textbook, “Son of Portugal”.

Savarkar, of course, is a fairly controversial figure in post-colonial India. It was reported last year that a Class X text book in Goa had replaced Nehru’s image with that of Savarkar's (though not calling him a ‘Son of Portugal’), and this was roundly condemned by the Congress. Only this morning, Savarkar’s portrait was unveiled in the Goa Assembly complex by the Chief Minister, who said, “The tortures endured by Veer Savarkar during freedom struggle in Andaman prison in 1883 have been forgotten. People should read his autobiography”

(Actually, Mr. Sawant should read Savarkar’s biography. Savarkar was born in 1883. He was imprisoned in the Cellular Jail in 1911).

Anyway, I was somewhat puzzled by the caption in the Rajasthan textbook, “Son of Portugal”. As far as I knew, Savarkar – a Chitpavan Brahmin from Nashik – had no Portuguese connections. And then it hit me.

While imprisoned in the Andaman & Nicobar islands, Savarkar had written several infamous mercy petitions to the colonial government, begging to be released. He wrote the first one within six months of becoming Convict No: 32778 in Cellular Jail. In a second petition dated 14 Nov 1913 – a fairly craven piece of work – Savarkar swore loyalty to the English government, “if the government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release me,” adding: “The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and therefore where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the Government?”

Ah, the Prodigal Son.

Or, in Hindi, the “Son of Portugal” (पुर्तगाल का पुत्र).

The translator’s is a thankless job, and I can imagine the poor chap trying to make sense of ‘prodigal’ – not a common word in Hindi – and deciding Savarkar meant ‘Portugal’. (Savarkar, incidentally, was extremely well read in several languages, and contributed many words to the Marathi vocabulary. He also popularized the term ‘Hindutva’).

Savarkar is a bogeyman to left-liberals, and a hero to the right. He was a patriot, admittedly a fairly homicidal one in the non-Gandhian tradition, but nevertheless a deshbhakt. Though he was – and is – many things to many people, I’m fairly sure Savarkar was never, in his chequered career, a son of Portugal.

I’d be very happy to be proved wrong.

Sajan

Frederick Noronha

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May 28, 2019, 9:41:00 AM5/28/19
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Someone has also claimed that Shivaji was born in Bassein and was of Portuguese descent:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25194201


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sandra lobo

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May 28, 2019, 1:48:40 PM5/28/19
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That thesis about Shivaji was a motive of waste of a lot of ink.... Regarding Savarkar, the story shared by Sajan is absolutely delicious. What many may not know is that a son of Goa played an important role in saving the manuscript of his book on the 1857 Revolt. Best wishes, Sandra

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

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De: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com <goa-bo...@googlegroups.com> em nome de Frederick Noronha <frederic...@gmail.com>
Enviado: 28 de maio de 2019 13:40
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Cc: Ashley D'Mello; Brenda Rodrigues
Assunto: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Savarkar - Son of Portugal
 

Frederick Noronha

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May 28, 2019, 2:08:22 PM5/28/19
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The introduction to the 1857 book....FN
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GIPE-013555-Contents.pdf

Sajan

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May 29, 2019, 1:41:49 AM5/29/19
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Sandra writes, "What many may not know is that a son of Goa played an important role in saving the manuscript of his book on the 1857 Revolt." That's very interesting -- who was it? 

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't read Savarkar's book which, regardless of how we view Savarkar's politics, is a significant milestone in the writing of Indian history by Indians. As Savarkar himself points out, his sources were almost entirely English writers and historians, "for whom it must have been impossible to paint the account of the other side as elaborately and as faithfully as they have done their own", which is a considerable understatement. 

Thanks for the introduction to the book, Rico. I was intrigued to come across this observation by Savarkar in the Author's Introduction: "The feeling of hatred against the Mahomedans was just and necessary in the times of Shivaji – but, such a feeling would be unjust and foolish if nursed now, simply because it was the dominant feeling of the Hindus then.” Savarkar was in his mid 20s when he wrote that, and I'm not sure how much he changed his mind about Mahomedans in his later years. 

Now that we have Savarkar's portrait in the Goa Assembly complex, his achievements written about in Goa's school textbooks, and the man himself described -- though inadvertently -- as a 'son of Portugal' in Rajasthan school books, we have to come to terms with this wily old revolutionary, whose methods, when compared with Gandhi's, were quite a departure from what we were told was the norm in the mainstream struggle for Independence. 

Sajan
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Frederick Noronha

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May 29, 2019, 1:53:52 AM5/29/19
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Savarkar in his own words. As you know, he was a radical when young, but his politics went to the other extreme later on. These are just a few (select, I guess) quotes which might not.tell the fully story. There is also an element of Maharashtra caste politics here...if one reads between the lines:

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Indian pro-independence activist,lawyer, politician, poet, writer and playwright.
Savarkar on a 1970 stamp of India

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (May 28, 1883 – February 26, 1966) was an Indian pro-independence activist, politician as well as a poet, writer and playwright. He advocated dismantling the system of caste in Hindu culture, and reconversion of the converted Hindus back to Hindu religion. Savarkar coined the term Hindutva (Hinduness) to create a collective "Hindu" identity as an "imagined nation". His political philosophy had the elements of Utilitarianism, Rationalismand Positivism, Humanism and Universalism, Pragmatism and Realism.

QuotesEdit

  • After all there is throughout this world so far as man is concerned but a single race - the human race, kept alive by one common blood, the human blood. All other talk is at best provisional, a makeshift and only relatively true. (...) Even as it is, not even the aborigines of the Andamans are without some sprinkling of the so-called Aryan blood in their veins and vice-versa. Truly speaking all that one can claim is that one has the blood of all mankind in one’s veins. The fundamental unity of man from pole to pole is true, all else only relatively so.
    • Hindutva, p. 90.
  • Every person is a Hindu who regards and owns this Bharat Bhumi, this land from the Indus to the seas, as his Fatherland as well as Holyland, i.e. the land of the origin of his religion (…) Consequently the so-called aboriginal or hill tribes also are Hindus: because India is their Fatherland as well as their Holyland of whatever form of religion or worship they follow.
    • V.D. Savarkar: Hindu Rashtra Darshan. p. 77.
  • We yield to none in our love, admiration and respect for the Buddha-the Dharma-the Sangha. They are all ours. Their glories are ours and ours their failures.
    • Hindutva, p. 12.
  • The epitaph of an RSS man will be: he was born, went to shakha, and died.
    • Quoted from Elst, Koenraad (2014). Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism. New Delhi: Rupa. p. 256
  • The name " Hindustan " must continue to be the appellation of our country. Such other names as India, Hind, etc., being derived from the same original word Sindhu may be used but only to signify the same sense—die land of the Hindus, a country which is the abode of the Hindu Nation. Aryavarta, Bharat-Bhumi and such other names are of course the ancient and the most cherished epithets of our Mother Land and will continue to appeal to the cultured elite. In this insistence that the Mother Land of the Hindus must be called but " Hindustan ", no encroachment or humiliation is implied in connection with any of our non-Hindu countrymen. Our Parsee and Christian countrymen are already too akin to us culturally and are too patriotic and the Anglo-indians too sensible to refuse to fall in line with us Hindus on so legitimate a ground.
    • V.D. Savarkar quoted from B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946)
  • "The Sanskrit shall be our " Deva Bhasha)" our sacred language and the "Sanskrit Nishtha" Hindi, the Hindi which is derived from Sanskrit and draws its nourishment from the latter, is our ' 'mr' ' (Rashtra Bhasha) 12 [f.12] our current national language—-besides being the richest and the most cultured of the ancient languages of the world, to us Hindus the Sanskrit is the holiest tongue of tongues. Our scriptures, history, philosophy and culture have their roots so deeply imbedded in the Sanskrit literature that it forms veritably the brain of our Race. Mother of the majority of our mother tongues, she has suckled the rest of them at her breast. All Hindu languages current today whether derived from Sanskrit or grafted on to it can only grow and flourish on the sap of life they imbibe from Sanskrit. The Sanskrit language therefore must ever be an indispensable constituent of the classical course for Hindu youths.
    • V.D. Savarkar quoted from B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946)
  • Religion is a mighty motive force. So is rapine. But where religion in goaded on by rapine and rapine serves as a handmaid to religion, the propelling force that is generated by these together is only equalled by the profundity of human misery and devastation they leave behind them in their march. Heaven and Hell making a common case - such were the forces, overwhelmingly furious, that took India by surprise the day that Mahmud Ghaznavi crossed the Indus and invaded her.
    • 1923. Quoted from Elst, Koenraad (1992). Negationism in India: Concealing the record of Islam.
  • “The Hindu Sanghanists Party aims to base the future constitution of Hindustan on the broad principle that all citizens should have equal rights and obligations irrespective of caste or creed, race or religion, provided they avow and owe an exclusive and devoted allegiance to the Hindustani State. The fundamental rights of liberty of speech, liberty of conscience, of worship, of association, etc., will be enjoyed by all citizens alike. Whatever restrictions will be imposed on them in the interest of the public peace and order of National emergency will not be based on any religious or racial considerations alone but on common National grounds.”... “No attitude can be more National even in the territorial sense than this and it is this attitude in general which is expressed in substance by the curt formula ‘one man one vote’. This will make it clear that the conception of a Hindu Nation is in no way inconsistent with the development of a common Indian Nation, a united Hindustani State in which all sects and sections, races and religions, castes and creeds, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Anglo-Indians, etc., could be harmoniously welded together into a political State on terms of perfect equality.”...“But as practical politics require it, and as the Hindu Sanghanists want to relieve our non-Hindu countrymen of even a ghost of suspicion, we are prepared to emphasise that the legitimate rights of minorities with regard to their religion, culture and language will be expressly guaranteed: on one condition only that the equal rights of the majority also must not in any case be encroached upon or abrogated. Every minority may have separate schools to train up their children in their own tongue, their own religious or cultural institutions and can receive Government help also for these, but always in proportion to the taxes they pay into the common Exchequer. The same principle must, of course, hold good in case of the majority too.”
  • After winning the final battle, when the Muslims rushed violently, like a stormy wind, through Sindh, they went on beheading these Buddhists even more ruthlessly than they did the Vedic Hindus. For, the Vedic Hindus were fighting in groups or individually at every place and so they struck at least a little awe and terror in the minds of the Muslims. But as there was no armed opposition in Buddhist Vihars and Buddhist localities, the Muslims cut them down as easily as they would cut vegetable.
    • V.D. Savarkar: Six glorious Epochs, p.136. (-: Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History. Veer Savarkar Prakashan, Bombay 1985 (1963).)
  • These our well-meaning but unthinking friends take their dreams for realities. That is why they are impatient of communal tangles and attribute them to communal organizations. But the solid fact is that the so-called communal questions are but a legacy handed down to us by centuries of a cultural, religious and national antagonism between the Hindus and the Moslems. When time is ripe you can solve them; but you cannot suppress them by merely refusing recognition of them. It is safer to diagnose and treat deep-seated disease than to ignore it. Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogeneous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main; the Hindus and the Moslems, in India. And as it has happened in many countries under similar situation in the world the utmost that we can do under the circumstances is to form an Indian State in which none is allowed any special weightage of representation and none is paid an extra-price to buy his loyalty to the State. Mercenaries are paid and bought off, not sons of the Motherland to fight in her defence.
    • V.D. Savarkar: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, quoted in part in Elst, Koenraad (2001). Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism. New Delhi: Rupa. p.332

About V.D. SavarkarEdit

  • Our main plank is Veer Savarkar’s message which he preached at the Calcutta session: ‘Equal rights for all citizens and protection of the culture and religion of every minority’.
  • Here, Godse denies once more that Savarkar had played a role in the assassination. Approver Digamber Badge kept on making this very allegation, possibly because he or the investigating police officers expected some reward from Pandit Nehru in exchange for catching such a big fish. HMS leader and Godse’s lawyer L.B. Bhopatkar revealed several years later, in Manohar Malgonkar’s The Men Who Killed Gandhi.., that Dr Ambedkar, the Law Minister in Nehru’s Cabinet at that time, met him secretly to inform him that Nehru was personally interested in involving Savarkar, though there was no evidence to prove Savarkar’s complicity. His mere imprisonment was successful enough in eliminating him from politics. Manohar Malgonkar, in The Men Who Killed Gandhi writes ‘The strain of the trial, and the year spent in prison while it lasted, wrecked Savarkar’s health and finished him as a force in India’s politics.’ At any rate, the prosecutor could not produce the slightest evidence connecting Savarkar with the murder. In August 1974, Badge admitted to an interviewer that his testimony against Savarkar had been false. Ever since, journalists reluctant to give up the polemical advantage of connecting the main Hindutva ideologue with the murder, glibly introduce him as ‘a co-accused in the Mahatma murder trial.’ In Nehruvian ‘secularism’, superficiality of thought is compensated for by thoroughness in dishonesty.
    • Manohar Malgonkar, in The Men Who Killed Gandhi . Quoted from Elst, Koenraad (2018). Why I killed the Mahatma: Uncovering Godse's defence. New Delhi : Rupa, 2018.

External linksEdit

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sandra lobo

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May 29, 2019, 4:46:16 AM5/29/19
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I speak a bit about that episod in my thesis. His name was Joaquim Xavier Otto de Siqueira Coutinho. You may find information about him here - http://savarkar.org/en//Encyc/2017/5/22/Associates-in-Armed-Revolution.html. As for Savarkar's views regarding Muslims we have to understand them within a vaster view of what meant to be an Indian, which led to an "Hinduinization" of a common identity, irrespectively of inscription in other religious communities. Such views became quite popular, not only amongst followers of Savarkar, and still ressonate nowadays even in academic work.

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

CHAM – Centro de Humanidades, FCSH/NOVA-UAC

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De: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com <goa-bo...@googlegroups.com> em nome de Sajan <venn...@gmail.com>
Enviado: 29 de maio de 2019 05:13
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Frederick Noronha

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May 29, 2019, 4:49:37 AM5/29/19
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Marzia Casorali discusses the complex connection between Hindutva and Fascism, how the former too converted The Other into The Enemy:
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sandra lobo

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May 29, 2019, 9:08:16 AM5/29/19
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The relations between some branches of the Indian National Movement and nazism are quite complex and still need to be addressed throughly. The conversion of the Other into the enemy was not by that time exclusive to nazism. Do you have access to free download of the paper?

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

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Enviado: 29 de maio de 2019 08:49
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Frederick Noronha

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May 29, 2019, 5:51:55 PM5/29/19
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Hi Sandra, Here is Marzia Casolari's article which you asked about... Attached. FN

On Wed, 29 May 2019 at 18:38, sandra lobo <sandr...@netcabo.pt> wrote:
The relations between some branches of the Indian National Movement and nazism are quite complex and still need to be addressed throughly. The conversion of the Other into the enemy was not by that time exclusive to nazism. Do you have access to free download of the paper?
 


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casolari.pdf

Sajan

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May 30, 2019, 2:06:59 AM5/30/19
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Dear Sandra,

 

Thanks for the link to Savarkar's associate, Dr. Joaquim Coutinho. I was fascinated to read that, for a while, Coutinho went by the name "Shrikrishna Bharadwaj", and that he later "insisted that he be allowed to embrace Hinduism and take up ‘Shrikrishna Bharadwaj’ as his real name.”

 

“But the far-sighted Savarkar met Dr. Coutinho separately and put his Hinduization in limbo." Always the practical revolutionary, Savarkar "thought that the British authorities would not suspect Dr. Coutinho as he was a Catholic subject of Portugal-ruled Goa".

 

As charming as this story is, I have reservations about its authenticity, along with the authenticity of rest of the anecdotes in Savarkar.org. The potted biography of Joaquim Coutinho is apparently adapted from a pseudonymous article in an Abhinav Bharat special issue from 1953. 

 

Regarding the original Marathi manuscript of Savarkar's "The Indian War of Independence 1857", according to the Abhinav Bharat article, sometime in 1909-10, "Savarkar handed over to Dr. Coutinho the manuscript of his book tied in silken thread." Dr. Coutinho then carried the manuscript to Lisbon, and "carefully kept this precious manuscript for 40 long years. At 7.30 am on 15 August 1947 (India’s Independence Day), Dr. Coutinho handed over this manuscript to his pupil Dr. Gohokar of the University of Lucknow."

 

The very precise (and, I assume, historically momentous) timing – 7.30am on 15 Aug 1947 – makes me suspect the narrative is rather bogus.

 

The first Indian edition of The Indian War of Independence 1857, (English translation, Phoenix Publications, 1947), makes an entirely different claim. 

 

In July 1909, after the assassination of Curzon Wylie by Madanlal Dhingra (whom Savarkar had mentored), Savarkar was so persecuted in England that he moved to Paris, where he stayed with Madam Bhikaji Cama for a while before returning to England in March 1910, where he was promptly arrested. 

 

In The Story of this History, his introduction to Savarkar's book, G M Joshi (the editor of a Marathi weekly) writes: "After the arrest of Veer Savarkar, the manuscript of the original Marathi book was handed over to Madam Cama in Paris. She kept it in her safe in the Bank of France with a view to placing it beyond the reach of the Agents of the British Intelligence Department. But the invasion of France by the Germans threw the Government of France itself into a hopeless disorder. Madam Cama, too, passed away. Consequently, when a searching enquiry was made regarding the whereabouts of the book no trace of the manuscript could be found. The great Marathi tome was lost - no hope of its recovery was left. Marathi literature had thus suffered an irreparable loss."

 

(Elsewhere, in Savarkar.org, it says "the original Marathi manuscript was kept in the safe custody of Madame Cama in Paris. This manuscript was handed over to Dr. Coutinho of the Abhinav Bharat when Paris was in turmoil during World War I. Dr. Coutinho preserved it like a holy scripture for nearly 40 years. After India became independent, he returned it to Ramlal Vajpeyee and Dr. Moonje who in turn gave it back to Savarkar."

 

So, what really happened to the original Marathi manuscript of the book? Was it lost in Paris during WW1? Was it handed over to one of several possible Indians in 1946-47 by Dr. Coutinho? Or is it still languishing in some dusty drawer in Lisbon, the first notable literary work by an unacknowledged Son of Portugal?

 

It's a mystery.

 

Sajan

 

 

sandra lobo

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May 30, 2019, 2:07:09 AM5/30/19
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Dear Fred,

Many thanks.

best wishes,

Sandra

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

CHAM – Centro de Humanidades, FCSH/NOVA-UAC

tmn. +351919214170


Enviado: 29 de maio de 2019 21:51

Para: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com
Assunto: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Savarkar - Son of Portugal
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sandra lobo

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May 30, 2019, 3:51:53 AM5/30/19
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Dear Sajan,

Of course there may be some romanticized details added to the text, but I have documentation with me that confirm at large what is told about his relations with Savarkar and the Indian national movement. I plan to write about this fascinating personality so allow me not to share at the moment such documents.

best wishes,

Sandra

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

CHAM – Centro de Humanidades, FCSH/NOVA-UAC

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Enviado: 30 de maio de 2019 03:59

Para: The Goa Book Club
Assunto: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Savarkar - Son of Portugal
 

Dear Sandra,

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Frederick Noronha

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May 30, 2019, 6:34:27 AM5/30/19
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I also noticed that the introductory note to the book doesn't talk about Dr Joaquim Coutinho at all...

Or did I miss something? FN

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Frederick Noronha

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May 30, 2019, 6:57:29 AM5/30/19
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What is interesting is the attitude of part of the Goan Catholic elite towards Hinduism (see below) and/or early Hindutva politics (as Sandra has pointed out) in India. For entirely different and political reasons, one could say this also continued in the circal 2012 to 2017 period, till the equation changed quite a bit.

Yesterday, I was reading Telo de Mascarenhas  (Publications Diviion, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India) by Shashikar Kelekar. If I'm not mistaken, Shashikar was the uncle of Samir Kelekar, who has long been active in cyberspace including Goanet and is a US-educated techie based in Bangalore. Shashikar, if I recall right, taught at St Xavier's College in Mapusa in the 1970s or 1980s...

On Page 19 of that book, Kelekar writes:

Already [in the 1920s], the nationalist yearnings of Telo and friends had blossomed forth into the oundation of the Centro Nacionalista Hindu (Hindu Nationalist Centre). Inaugurated on January 27, 1926, the CNH was more than a meeting place. It was a sounding board for the propagation of the nationalist cause.

The use of the word 'Hindu' in the designation of the Centre was deliberate. It was another way of saying 'Indian'.  But working as they did under the very nose of the colonialist it was safer to use the word "Hindu" with its cultural connotations and carry on the activities in a low key than brashly employ the term Indian with its undisguised political implication and invite trouble. Moreover, the term "Hindu" seemed to fill an acutely-felt sentimental void. The word had a refreshingly oriental ring. It exercised great fascination over Telo's generation of Goans, studying in distant Portugal. Adeodato Barreto, one of the prominent members of the group, later wrote a book on India's civilisation which he styled as "Civilizacao Hindu". Telho himself wrote a book cataloguing India's great women of yore which he titled as "A Mulher Hindu"....

Prof Dr Eufemiano Miranda has already focussed on the fasciation of Indo-Portuguese writers with Indian mythology, the 'bailadeira' ('dancing girl') etc...

FN

sandra lobo

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May 30, 2019, 12:23:33 PM5/30/19
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all depends on when in 1947 the book was published. I do not know the edition.

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

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Enviado: 30 de maio de 2019 10:34
Para: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com

Assunto: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Savarkar - Son of Portugal

Frederick Noronha

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May 30, 2019, 12:39:21 PM5/30/19
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According to Scholberg et al, Savarkar published a 232 page poem *Gomantaka (Aitihasika Kavya) in 1934 under the pseudonym 'Maharashtra Bhat'. 

They translate the title of the book as *Goa. (A historical poem)*.

Has anyone come across this book? FN
IMG_20190530_220429627.jpg

sandra lobo

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May 31, 2019, 4:42:12 AM5/31/19
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Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

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Enviado: 30 de maio de 2019 16:39

Para: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com
Assunto: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Savarkar - Son of Portugal
According to Scholberg et al, Savarkar published a 232 page poem *Gomantaka (Aitihasika Kavya) in 1934 under the pseudonym 'Maharashtra Bhat'. 

They translate the title of the book as *Goa. (A historical poem)*.

Has anyone come across this book? FN

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sandra lobo

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May 31, 2019, 4:42:12 AM5/31/19
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Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

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Enviado: 30 de maio de 2019 16:39

Para: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com
Assunto: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Savarkar - Son of Portugal
According to Scholberg et al, Savarkar published a 232 page poem *Gomantaka (Aitihasika Kavya) in 1934 under the pseudonym 'Maharashtra Bhat'. 

They translate the title of the book as *Goa. (A historical poem)*.

Has anyone come across this book? FN

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Sajan

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May 31, 2019, 4:42:12 AM5/31/19
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Dear Rico,

I couldn't find any references to a 232 page (!) poem by Savarkar, but he seems to have written a historical novel by that name, also in two parts. There is a Hindi translation of it on archive.org. I'm not sure it has been translated into English.

Sajan

Bernice Pereira

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May 31, 2019, 4:42:40 AM5/31/19
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Prodigal and Portugal - nothing to do with each other. Doesn’t our CM realise that?

Bernice Pereira

Sent from my iPhone

On 29-May-2019, at 3:46 PM, sandra lobo <sandr...@netcabo.pt> wrote:

I speak a bit about that episod in my thesis. His name was Joaquim Xavier Otto de Siqueira Coutinho. You may find information about him here - http://savarkar.org/en//Encyc/2017/5/22/Associates-in-Armed-Revolution.html. As for Savarkar's views regarding Muslims we have to understand them within a vaster view of what meant to be an Indian, which led to an "Hinduinization" of a common identity, irrespectively of inscription in other religious communities. Such views became quite popular, not only amongst followers of Savarkar, and still ressonate nowadays even in academic work.

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

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Frederick Noronha

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May 31, 2019, 10:33:29 AM5/31/19
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Hi Sandra, Sajan:

Here's a photo of Joaquim Xavier Otto de Siqueira Coutinho, his family tree and a link to a university prize in his name:

https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/554706/gu_archives_people_00073.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

The Joaquin De Siqueira Coutinho Gold Medal

This medal is awarded to the outstanding student of Portuguese in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics. The award reflects the student’s high academic performance.

https://bulletin.georgetown.edu/awards

[PS: They have a Matteo Ricci award in Chinese and a St Francis Xavier SJ award in Japanese, alongside Siqueira Coutinho's... which is a bit much perhaps?]

* * * 

Dr.Joaquim Xavier Otto Coutinho

public profile 

Joaquim Xavier Otto de Siqueira Coutinho, Dr.

Also Known As: "Otto"
Birthdate: August 04, 1885
Birthplace: Baddem,Salvador de Mundo, Goa, India Portugueza
Death: February 18, 1978 (92)
Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, United States
Immediate Family:

Son of Dr.Joao António Valeriano Coutinho and Luiza Amandina de Siqueira e Coutinho
Husband of Louise Germaine Vallet
Father of John de Siqueira Coutinho, Dr. and Helen de Siqueira Coutinho, Dr.
Brother of Regina de Siqueira Coutinho; Maria Luisa de Siqueira Coutinho and Joao Antonio de Siqueira Coutinho

Occupation: He was a professor at Georgetown University
https://www.geni.com/people/Dr-Joaquim-Xavier-Otto-Coutinho/6000000013467041807

Sajan

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May 31, 2019, 1:25:44 PM5/31/19
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Thanks, Rico.

Hard to believe a man like that could have found common cause with a Marathi Brahmin of Savarkar's particular views, but I guess nationalism acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.

Sajan

sandra lobo

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May 31, 2019, 1:25:44 PM5/31/19
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Dear Fred,

Many thanks. In fact I have it and am in contact with one of his gransons.

best wishes,

Sandra

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

CHAM – Centro de Humanidades, FCSH/NOVA-UAC

tmn. +351919214170


Enviado: 31 de maio de 2019 14:33
Para: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com

Assunto: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Savarkar - Son of Portugal
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Frederick Noronha

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May 31, 2019, 2:08:07 PM5/31/19
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Sajan, I have this theory (?) that the Goan Catholic elite -- whether Bamon or Chardo -- being mostly quite conservative, understands the language of other conservatives and vibes with them quite well for the most part. This was also seen, for instance, in the 2012 support that the BJP garnered in places like Salcete or Campal. Without which, it would have surely not have come to power.... Think Matanhy, for instance.

The only or notable dispute that the Goan Catholic conservative has with pan-Indian Hindu conservative politics, is that it's of a slightly different hue... and they end up abusing each other's religious beliefs every once in a way. The former then can't comprehend where that is coming from....

Added to this is the reality that even the limited amount of Catholic progressive politics of colonial or subsequent times (which was strongly anti-clerical and anti-Church, for understandable reasons) could quite easily be converted into pro-Hindutva politics. Whether it is a Tristao Braganca Cunha's Denationalisation of Goans or my late friend and respected senior colleague Flaviano Dias controversial VCD, for which his team wrote the script not the visualisation but still got badly skewered.

The 20th century Goan (Catholic) writing in Portuguese's fascination with India mae (Bharat Mata), Indian culture and the 'bailadeira' (probably in a 'male gaze' kind of way, but not only that) has been commented on by Dr (Fr) Eufemiano Miranda, who did his PhD on Goan writing in Portuguese in the 1990s or thereabouts. Of course, his perspective is more from a literature point of view, and not a political analysis of the stands taken.

FN

PS: I was surprised to learn some time back that the BJP's for-some-time ideological flag of "integral humanism" had been inspired by/copied from some Catholic conservative in Europe! As if to complete the circle... This reality was later changed, by renaming the name of the predecessor to Integral humanism (Maritain) and calling their own version Integral humanism (India). To my mind, and I'm open to correction, the such ideas in Europe came as a way to stave off the challenge from a growing 20th century version of secular, non-religious Humanism, while the latter was an attempt to build an ideology after or while attempting to grow concepts like the self-contradictory "Gandhian Socialism", etc. Of course, this relates to the early days of the BJP in India (1980s and soon later). Now it probably feels it doesn't need even that....


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Frederick Noronha

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Jun 16, 2019, 7:22:29 PM6/16/19
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These two books by Savarkar (on Goa) seem to be rather different. One is a novel (as Sajan mentioned), and the other is a poem (as I thought). Can anyone explain the connection?

Gomantak: a novel on Goa by Veer Savarkar

Gomantak (in verse)

FN

sandra lobo

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Jun 16, 2019, 7:32:00 PM6/16/19
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Dear Fred,

Are you able to grasp the themes of the books apart from being about Goa?

best wishes,

Frederick Noronha

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Jun 16, 2019, 7:36:02 PM6/16/19
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Hi Sandra, It would take a year of Sundays for me to do that :-)
The few lines I read seemed to match Savarkar's more widely known ideology and approach.
FN

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Bhushan Bhave

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Oct 30, 2023, 10:11:24 PM10/30/23
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Dear Frederickbab
Can you please provide details of the person who saved copy of the book on 1857 revolution by Savarkar?

Bhushan Bhave

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Oct 30, 2023, 10:11:30 PM10/30/23
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Dear Sandra, can you please provide details of the person who saved copy of Savarkar's book on 1857 revolution?


On Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at 11:18:40 PM UTC+5:30 sandra lobo wrote:
That thesis about Shivaji was a motive of waste of a lot of ink.... Regarding Savarkar, the story shared by Sajan is absolutely delicious. What many may not know is that a son of Goa played an important role in saving the manuscript of his book on the 1857 Revolt. Best wishes, Sandra

Sandra Ataíde Lobo

 

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Enviado: 28 de maio de 2019 13:40
Para: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com
Cc: Ashley D'Mello; Brenda Rodrigues
Assunto: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Savarkar - Son of Portugal
Someone has also claimed that Shivaji was born in Bassein and was of Portuguese descent:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25194201


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On Tue, 28 May 2019, 19:01 Sajan Venniyoor, <venn...@gmail.com> wrote:
It was reported by the Press Trust of India – a story then picked up major newspapers – that the Congress govt in Rajasthan had offered up a major insult to V D Savarkar by captioning his photograph in a Class X textbook, “Son of Portugal”.

Savarkar, of course, is a fairly controversial figure in post-colonial India. It was reported last year that a Class X text book in Goa had replaced Nehru’s image with that of Savarkar's (though not calling him a ‘Son of Portugal’), and this was roundly condemned by the Congress. Only this morning, Savarkar’s portrait was unveiled in the Goa Assembly complex by the Chief Minister, who said, “The tortures endured by Veer Savarkar during freedom struggle in Andaman prison in 1883 have been forgotten. People should read his autobiography”

(Actually, Mr. Sawant should read Savarkar’s biography. Savarkar was born in 1883. He was imprisoned in the Cellular Jail in 1911).

Anyway, I was somewhat puzzled by the caption in the Rajasthan textbook, “Son of Portugal”. As far as I knew, Savarkar – a Chitpavan Brahmin from Nashik – had no Portuguese connections. And then it hit me.

While imprisoned in the Andaman & Nicobar islands, Savarkar had written several infamous mercy petitions to the colonial government, begging to be released. He wrote the first one within six months of becoming Convict No: 32778 in Cellular Jail. In a second petition dated 14 Nov 1913 – a fairly craven piece of work – Savarkar swore loyalty to the English government, “if the government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release me,” adding: “The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and therefore where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the Government?”

Ah, the Prodigal Son.

Or, in Hindi, the “Son of Portugal” (पुर्तगाल का पुत्र).

The translator’s is a thankless job, and I can imagine the poor chap trying to make sense of ‘prodigal’ – not a common word in Hindi – and deciding Savarkar meant ‘Portugal’. (Savarkar, incidentally, was extremely well read in several languages, and contributed many words to the Marathi vocabulary. He also popularized the term ‘Hindutva’).

Savarkar is a bogeyman to left-liberals, and a hero to the right. He was a patriot, admittedly a fairly homicidal one in the non-Gandhian tradition, but nevertheless a deshbhakt. Though he was – and is – many things to many people, I’m fairly sure Savarkar was never, in his chequered career, a son of Portugal.

I’d be very happy to be proved wrong.

Sajan

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sandra lobo

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Nov 8, 2023, 4:46:31 PM11/8/23
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Dear Bhushan,

He was the engineer Joaquim Xavier Oto de Sequeira (sometimes expelled Siqueira) Coutinho born in Cape Verde, being the son of a Goa doctor at the Portuguese colonial military medical service (José António Valeriano Coutinho) and brother of the writer Maria Luísa de Sequeira Coutinho. I came across him when doing research for my thesis. At the moment I was searching at the archives of Portuguese parliament the candidates to the first parliamentary elections after the 1910 republican revolution and came across his name. I had never heard of him but started digging as he was described by his supporters - headed by Luis de Menezes, who by that time was part of the team of the newspaper Debate directed by Menezes Bragança - as being "a devoted and years-long republican, son of this land" residing in Lisbon. He was in addition supported by the Portuguese Republican Party. 
According to Peregrino da Costa, Sequeira Coutinho studied in Lisbon and Cambridge (in fact he studied in London and Oxford where there was a significant Indian student community).  He left to Berlin and than migrated to the USA after working for some years with the Portuguese railways and becoming involved in Portuguese politics. After the revolution, he was the secretary of Manuel de Arriaga. 
At the time of my thesis, I came across his fascinating story which has been in part reconstituted by the members of a team dedicated to study Savarkar and his network. After my thesis I was able to come into contact with his grandson in the United States who shared a biography of Otto written by his daughter - a lovely family who have facilitated me a significant number of documents. Basically, when in England, Oto came into contact with the Abhinav Bharat Society, founded by Savarkar, becoming a member or at least a sympathizer. It was when living there that he was entrusted the manuscript of the book, in a moment when Savarkar was arrested and the group, who had liaisons with Madame Cama in Paris, persecuted. As he was presented as a Portuguese with no links with India that must have been the reason for choosing him. In any case, he kept the manuscript until India's independence when he returned it to Savarkar. Along the years he kept some links with the Indian anticolonial circles. When still living in Portugal he ended being forced to leave the country due to British pressure.  
In the USA he became known as a specialist in Portuguese language and history, in addition to being a specialist in geopolitics. He was one of members of the founding team of the Foreign Service School of Georgetown University which invested in the American sphere of influence in Latin America, among other assignments he took along the years. Among other honors gathered along his life, since the eve of the Portuguese republican revolution, in the 1950s he was decorated a medal by Salazar's government for his services to Portuguese language and historiography... . 
Along the years I have gathered a significant number of documents, and I want one day to dedicate a proper study to him. 

best wishes,

Sandra



Sandra Ataíde Lobo  


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De: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com <goa-bo...@googlegroups.com> em nome de Bhushan Bhave <bhushan...@gmail.com>
Enviado: 28 de outubro de 2023 06:23
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