José Gerson da Cunha
Encyclopedia
José Gerson da Cunha was an Indo
-Portuguese
physician who achieved international renown as an orientalist
, historian, linguist
and numismatist
.
, Salcette
on 2 February 1844, the eldest of twelve children to a Goan Catholic
couple, Francisco Caetano da Cunha and Leopoldina Maria Gonçalves. Francisco was an infantry lieutenant in the Portuguese army stationed in Goa
who had taken part in the military campaign against the Marathas
at Uspa and Rarim in Savantvadi. The family traced its descent to Balkrishna Shenoy, also known as Balsa Sinai; a 16th century Goud Saraswat Brahmin from Cortalim
in Salcette. Upon his employment by the Portuguese authorities
in 1555, Balkrishna moved to Pilerne
in Bardez
with his two nephews Mangappa and Panduranga Shenoy. There he converted to Christianity
and adopted the surname "da Cunha". He later settled down in Arpora. His conversion had been preceded by that of his nephew Mangappa who changed his name to Pero Ribeiro and earned the distinction of being the first Christian of Bardez.
da Cunha did his primary studies and study of humanities
in Panjim. He then moved to Bombay and enrolled in the Grant Medical College in order to pursue his medical studies
. While there, da Cunha distinguished himself by winning many prizes. However, he failed to obtain his licentiate in Medicine, and instead obtained the first degree of Licentiate of the University of Bombay
in 1864. He moved to London
in 1867 in order to obtain his degree and in the same year, obtained the diplomas of L.R.C.P.
Lond. and M.R.C.S
Eng. da Cunha specialised in obstetrics
at Edinburgh
and London. He returned to Bombay in 1868, where he soon acquired a large practice.
, archaeology
, linguistics
, numismatics
and Sanskritology (study of Sanskrit
). He wrote and distinguished himself more by creating works of historical value on these subjects. Besides papers, he was the author of 20 books on these subjects. His decision to write his works in English
gained him greater recognition than those Goan authors who had chosen to write on these subjects only in Portuguese
.
The life and system of Gautama Buddha (1875), Historical and Archeological Sketch of the Island of Angediva (1875), and The History and Antiquities of Chaul and Bassein (1876).
in Goa
. In 1881, he wrote a scholarly work on the language entitled The Konkani Language and Literature, wherein he discussed its origin and issues. Using the arguments of the Language theory
, he demonstrated that Konkani was an independent language in its own right with its own dialects, such as Kudali, Goadesi and the Southern. da Cunha concluded that while Konkani bears close similarities to Marathi
, it is quite distinct from, through cognate with Marathi and has a predominance of Sanskrit words and a faint Turanian or Dravidian
element. It possesses an elaborate grammar of its own and a rich vocabulary which is derived from various sources (Sanskrit, Persian
, Kannada
and Portuguese, with all the contributing elements having lost their autonomy in the course of time and becoming so fused together that only a careful analysis can discover their etymology
.
da Cunha was greatly concerned with the increasing corruption of Konkani's purity, as he felt that the incorporation of Portuguese, Persian, Kannada and Marathi loanwards were distancing the language from its original source, Sanskrit. He further had serious misgivings about the language's future. In The Konkani Language and Literature, he states:
. This catalogue was published in Bombay in 1888. He wrote a book on numismatics, Indo-Portuguese Numismatics which was published in 1956 by Agencia Geral do Ultramar in Lisbon
. This work is generally believed to be one of the few valuable studies in this field.
in 1877, and was a prominent figure at the Twelfth Congress held in Rome
in 1899. In the latter conference, da Cunha was hailed by the Count Angelo de Gubernatis
as the "leading Orientalist of the day". He served as the President of the Bombay chapters of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Anthropological Society. He was a Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy
, of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
, and of the Order of Saint James of the Sword.
, by decree of 5 September 1861, retired chief surgeon of Goa. The couple had three children; which included two daughters and one son. The eminent lawyer, jurist and orientalist Luís da Cunha Gonçalves (1875–1956) was a nephew of da Cunha, through his sister Leocadia Maria Francisca. He was a hyperpolyglot
, possessing knowledge of Konkani, Marathi, Portuguese, Italian
, French
, English, German
, Pahlavi
, Persian
, Latin
and Sanskrit.
Indian people
Indian people or Indisians constitute the Asian nation and pan-ethnic group native to India, which forms the south of Asia, containing 17.31% of the world's population. The Indian nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the rich and complex history of India...
-Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
physician who achieved international renown as an orientalist
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
, historian, linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and numismatist
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
.
Early life and medical career
José Gerson da Cunha was born in ArporaArpora
Arpora is a village close to the North Goa beach belt, in India's tourism-destination state....
, Salcette
Salcette
Salcette , is a taluka of South Goa District in the Indian state of Goa. Its administrative and economic headquarters is Margao. It is largely coterminous with a region called Sashti , which comprised, by local tradition, sixty-six villages, hence the name. However, it also includes the taluka of...
on 2 February 1844, the eldest of twelve children to a Goan Catholic
Goan Catholics
The Goan Catholics are an ethno-religious community of Roman Catholics and their descendants from the state of Goa, located on the west coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language...
couple, Francisco Caetano da Cunha and Leopoldina Maria Gonçalves. Francisco was an infantry lieutenant in the Portuguese army stationed in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
who had taken part in the military campaign against the Marathas
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was an Indian imperial power that existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire covered much of South Asia, encompassing a territory of over 2.8 million km²....
at Uspa and Rarim in Savantvadi. The family traced its descent to Balkrishna Shenoy, also known as Balsa Sinai; a 16th century Goud Saraswat Brahmin from Cortalim
Cortalim
Cortalim is a village in Saxtti , Goa, India.The original Magueshi Temple stood in this village before it was destroyed by the Portuguese. The village is today mainly Christian....
in Salcette. Upon his employment by the Portuguese authorities
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
in 1555, Balkrishna moved to Pilerne
Pilerne
Pilerne is a village situated in north Goa in the Bardez taluka of the North Goa district. The village is inhabited by Goan Catholics.-References:...
in Bardez
Bardez
Bardez is the name of a region and taluka in North Goa. The name is credited to the Brahmin immigrants who migrated to the Konkan via Magadha in Gangetic India from Aryavarta, in the north-western part of the Indian sub-continent. Bardez or more properly Bara desh means "twelve countries"...
with his two nephews Mangappa and Panduranga Shenoy. There he converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and adopted the surname "da Cunha". He later settled down in Arpora. His conversion had been preceded by that of his nephew Mangappa who changed his name to Pero Ribeiro and earned the distinction of being the first Christian of Bardez.
da Cunha did his primary studies and study of humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
in Panjim. He then moved to Bombay and enrolled in the Grant Medical College in order to pursue his medical studies
Medical humanities
Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field of medicine which includes the humanities , social science , and the arts and their application to medical education and practice...
. While there, da Cunha distinguished himself by winning many prizes. However, he failed to obtain his licentiate in Medicine, and instead obtained the first degree of Licentiate of the University of Bombay
University of Mumbai
The University of Mumbai , is a state university located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was known as the University of Bombay until 1996 when the city of Bombay was renamed as Mumbai. The affiliated colleges of the university are spread throughout the city of Mumbai and four coastal districts in...
in 1864. He moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1867 in order to obtain his degree and in the same year, obtained the diplomas of L.R.C.P.
Conjoint
The conjoint was a basic medical qualification in the United Kingdom administered by the United Examining Board. It is now no longer awarded. The Conjoint Board was superseded in 1994 by the United Examining Board, which lost its permission to hold qualifying medical examinations after 1999.Medical...
Lond. and M.R.C.S
Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons
MRCS is a professional qualification for surgeons in the UK and IrelandIt means Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. In the United Kingdom, doctors who gain this qualification traditionally no longer use the title 'Dr' but start to use the title 'Mr', 'Mrs', 'Miss' or 'Ms'.There are 4 surgical...
Eng. da Cunha specialised in obstetrics
Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...
at Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and London. He returned to Bombay in 1868, where he soon acquired a large practice.
Works
da Cunha wrote several papers on obstetrics which attracted much attention at the Medico-Physical Society of Bombay. After an epidemic of dengue in the city, he wrote an essay on dengue entitled Dengue: it’s history, symptoms and treatment. Besides medicine, da Cunha interest spanned across diverse subjects such as historyHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, numismatics
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
and Sanskritology (study of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
). He wrote and distinguished himself more by creating works of historical value on these subjects. Besides papers, he was the author of 20 books on these subjects. His decision to write his works in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
gained him greater recognition than those Goan authors who had chosen to write on these subjects only in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
.
History
da Cunha wrote the first book on the history of Bombay, The Origin of Bombay which was published posthumously by the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1900. His other best known historical works include Memoir on the history of the tooth-relic of Ceylon; with a preliminary essay on Gautama BuddhaGautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
The life and system of Gautama Buddha (1875), Historical and Archeological Sketch of the Island of Angediva (1875), and The History and Antiquities of Chaul and Bassein (1876).
Linguistics
da Cunha was inspired by the Portuguese civil servant Joaquim Heliodoró da Cunha Rivara's efforts to revive KonkaniKonkani language
KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...
in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
. In 1881, he wrote a scholarly work on the language entitled The Konkani Language and Literature, wherein he discussed its origin and issues. Using the arguments of the Language theory
Philosophy of language
Philosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins, and usage of language. As a topic, the philosophy of language for analytic philosophers is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language...
, he demonstrated that Konkani was an independent language in its own right with its own dialects, such as Kudali, Goadesi and the Southern. da Cunha concluded that while Konkani bears close similarities to Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
, it is quite distinct from, through cognate with Marathi and has a predominance of Sanskrit words and a faint Turanian or Dravidian
Dravidian languages
The Dravidian language family includes approximately 85 genetically related languages, spoken by about 217 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and...
element. It possesses an elaborate grammar of its own and a rich vocabulary which is derived from various sources (Sanskrit, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, Kannada
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
and Portuguese, with all the contributing elements having lost their autonomy in the course of time and becoming so fused together that only a careful analysis can discover their etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
.
da Cunha was greatly concerned with the increasing corruption of Konkani's purity, as he felt that the incorporation of Portuguese, Persian, Kannada and Marathi loanwards were distancing the language from its original source, Sanskrit. He further had serious misgivings about the language's future. In The Konkani Language and Literature, he states:
Numismatics
da Cunha was an avid coin collector. He began collecting coins in 1876 and in addition to his own collection, purchased the collections of James Gibbs and Bhau Dhaji. By 1888, his personal collection had expanded to include over 27,000 pieces of Gold, Silver and other baser metals. The collection of coins catalogued by da Cunha was generally believed to be among the best in the British EmpireBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. This catalogue was published in Bombay in 1888. He wrote a book on numismatics, Indo-Portuguese Numismatics which was published in 1956 by Agencia Geral do Ultramar in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. This work is generally believed to be one of the few valuable studies in this field.
Associations
In view of his work, da Cunha acquired significant fame as an Orientalist and was invited to International seminars and conferences. In addition to his affiliation with various medical associations in Bombay, his prolific contributions to Indian history and linguistics earned him the fellowship of the Instituto Vasco da Gama in Goa in 1871, and of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bombay in 1873. He received a price at the Congress of Orientalists in FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
in 1877, and was a prominent figure at the Twelfth Congress held in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1899. In the latter conference, da Cunha was hailed by the Count Angelo de Gubernatis
Angelo de Gubernatis
Count Angelo de Gubernatis , Italian man of letters, was born at Turin and educated there and at Berlin, where he studied philology....
as the "leading Orientalist of the day". He served as the President of the Bombay chapters of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Anthropological Society. He was a Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy
Order of the Crown of Italy
The Order of the Crown of Italy was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861...
, of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
, and of the Order of Saint James of the Sword.
Personal life
da Cunha was married to Anna Rita da Gama, daughter of António José da Gama, knight of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila ViçosaOrder of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa
The Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa is an dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Braganza, the former Portuguese Royal Family...
, by decree of 5 September 1861, retired chief surgeon of Goa. The couple had three children; which included two daughters and one son. The eminent lawyer, jurist and orientalist Luís da Cunha Gonçalves (1875–1956) was a nephew of da Cunha, through his sister Leocadia Maria Francisca. He was a hyperpolyglot
Polyglot (person)
A polyglot is someone with a high degree of proficiency in several languages. A bilingual person can speak two languages fluently, whereas a trilingual three; above that the term multilingual may be used.-Hyperpolyglot:...
, possessing knowledge of Konkani, Marathi, Portuguese, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, English, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Pahlavi
Middle Persian
Middle Persian , indigenously known as "Pârsig" sometimes referred to as Pahlavi or Pehlevi, is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as a...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Sanskrit.