Goa Old Book Digitisation Project (1/2)

Published on 25 Dec 2014

Dr Ananya Chakravarthi has been working on a project to digitise old records from Goa. On December 22, 2014 she outlined the work done in this direction and what could be done ahead. A recording of the talk. Part 1 of 2. This has been taken up under the aegis of the British Library Endangered Archives Programme. It is hoped this work would prove to be a useful resource for scholars and others interested in the history of Goa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG2cI-HXaUc#t=82

Ananya Chakravarti's digitization project

Frederick Noronha, 25.12.2014, [Goanet-News] EventsInGoa: Words from the Kristapurana * Goanet meet on Dec 29 * Aparant Maand postponed * Britto OBA dance tonight * Goapex prizes

A scholar of Bengali origin Dr Ananya Chakravarti
[ananya.chakravarti at aucegypt.edu] translated and shared
via Facebook the centuries-old words of the Kristapurana:

          "To give us the wealth of your mercy, lord of
          Vaikuntha [heavenly abode of Visnu],
          you have come to take birth on this earth as a
          frail man
          Now take the wretch’s garment and cover your pure body
          and pass safely through the difficulties of winter."

          Thus did Mary speak and, taking freshly washed clothes,
          she covered the infant Jesus.
          Then, like unadulterated marble, like a precious pearl,
          she took out her lustrous breast to nurse him.
          Holding the infant Jesus to her heart, she placed
          her breast in his mouth.
          He drank: ghutughutam.
          Jesus drank Maria’s milk, while Maria did dhyana
          [meditation] of Jesus
          and received the amṛta [other-worldly nectar] of
          Vaikuntha in her heart.
          Jesus’s pure bhakti-face alone arose before the Virgin.
          Giving him amrta-milk, she gazed at her child.

[Stephens, Kristapurana, Book II, chapter 7, verses 81-88]

More about the Krista Purana on Wikipedia:

Krista Purana Krista Puranna (1654).jpg
The third edition of the Krista Purana (1654)
Author Fr. Thomas Stephans (1549-1619)
Country           India
Language          in a mix of Marathi-Konkani
Subject           Christianity
Publisher         College of Rachol, Goa
Publication date  1616
Media type        manuscript
Preceded by       Krista Purana (first edition) in 1616
Followed by       Doutrina Christam em Lingoa Bramana Canarim

Krista Purana ("The Christian Puranas") is an epic poem on
the life of Jesus Christ written in a mix of Marathi and
Konkani by Fr.Thomas Stephens, S.J.  (1549–1619).  Adopting
the literary form of the Hindu puranas it retells the entire
story of mankind, from the creation days to the time of Jesus
in lyrical verse form.  The Christian Puranas -- 11,000
stanzas of 4 verses -- were very popular in the churches of
the area where they were sung on special occasions up to the
1930s.  Although no copy of the original edition has yet been
discovered, it is believed to have been published at Rachol
(Raitur) in 1616 (while the author was still living), 1649, and 1654.

          GOANET SPECIAL: Goa Old Book Digitisation Project
          Dr Ananya Chakravarthi has been working on a
          project to digitise old records from Goa.  On
          December 22, 2014 she outlined the work done in
          this direction and what could be done ahead.  A
          recording of the talk.  Part 1 of 2.  This has been
          taken up under the aegis of the British Library
          Endangered Archives Programme.  It is hoped this
          work would prove to be a useful resource for
          scholars and others interested in the history of Goa.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG2cI-HXaUc
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3apK4-dQqgE

Stevens, the Kristapurana ... and negotiating religious
space in past centuries
Ananya Chakravarti holds a PhD in History by the University
of Chicago. Her dissertation, The Empire of Apostles: Jesuits
in Brazil and India considers the lives of six Jesuits in
Brazil and India during the sixteenth and seventeenth
century. Her research interests include the intersection of
religion and empire in the early modern Portuguese world and
cross-cultural encounters in colonial Brazil and early modern
India. Here she talks about her PhD and also Thomas Steven's
Kristapurana. The text is so rich and the poetry is
beautiful, she says.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo5PRLtxUDM

ON THE WIKIPEDIA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krista_Purana

Libraries in Goa

Maria Pia de Menezes Rodrigues. Texts, Tomes, Treasures: The Evolution of Goa's Publica Livraria (1832-2005). 

[Goanet-News] New book stresses importance of libraries, books to Goa
PANJIM: On World Book Day (April 23), a new book just published here notes
that Goa's public library is among the oldest across India.  It was set up
way back in 1832, even before Calcutta and other cities had public
libraries.
It is also well known that Goa had the first Gutenberg-type printing press
in the whole of Asia.  Private libraries, municipal libraries, and other
initiatives have taken the book to the reader in Goa, suggests this book,
which is authored by Maria Pia de Menezes Rodrigues, former Curator of the
State Central Library Goa.
It reminds us that the library can play the role of being a "people's
university", and that libraries have been in India, in various shapes and
forms, since the Indus Valley Civilisation, and during the British Raj.
Post-Independence, special efforts were made to promote the spread of
libraries.
In Goa itself, besides initiatives in the colonial state capital, there
were municipal libraries running out of Mapusa, Salcete, Ponda, Panjim, and
elsewhere.
A string of private libraries were started around the early 20th century,
some of which like the Saraswati Mandir Library in Panjim, and the Gomant
Vidya Niketan Library, Margao, continue to function even today.
But much remains to be done to spread the libraries effectively to serve
all areas of Goa, specially rural Goa.
Goa's Publica Livraria, as the institution was first known, has changed and
morphed much during its 18 decades of existence.  It now has plush new
premises at Pato, at the entrance to the Goan State capital.
This 160-page book documents the changes over time of the institution now
known as the Krishnadas Shama State Central Library.
This book also includes 14 pages of photographs of various other libraries
today -- including Mahalaxmi (Mala), Sharada Mandir's, Livraria Confidant
(Margao), NIO, Saraswati Mandir, Kala Academy, DMC Library (Assagao), the
Archbishop's Archives, and Bookworm (Taleigao).
The photos, with an essay appreciated the importance of the book, are by
Gabriella D'Cruz, a young student.  The 160-page book is priced at Rs 200
and available at Confidant (Margao) and other outlets.