Goans

Goans

Regions with significant populations
India      →Goa (2001) Outside India ~300,000
Languages
Konkani
Religion
Hinduism, Christianity, Islam

Goan (Konkani: गोंयकार Goenkar) is the demonym used to describe the people of the Indian state of Goa who form an ethno-linguistic group which is a result of assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian,Austro-asiatic,Scytho-Dravidian and Negrito ethnic and/or linguistic ancestries. They speak different dialects of Konkani natively. Goan Hindus proudly style themself as Konkane (Devanagari:कोंकणे), meaning, the residents of Konkan. Catholics do not describe themselves as Konkanes, and are very proud of their separate identity and Portuguese heritage, but they address the Hindus as Konkane. The Hindus are sometimes also known as Gomantakiya,(Devanagari:गोमंतकीय).Goanese is an incorrect usage for Goans, and is considered offensive by some.

Language

Goans speak the Konkani language,a Prakrit based language belonging to the Southern group of Indo-Aryan Languages.Various dialects of Konkani spoken by the Goans include Bardeskari,Sashtikari,Pednekari,Antruj bhas,whereas Konkani spoken by the Catholics is notably different from those of the Hindus, with a lot of Portuguese influence in its vocabulary.Konkani was suppressed under the Portuguese rule,and has never played a part in education of the past generations.Most of them are bi-lingual and Marathi has played a significant role in their live of the Hindus. Some Goans were educated in Portuguese in the past, similarly some Goan Catholic families belonging to the Upper Castes also spoke Portuguese,very few of them continue to speak Portuguese till date.

They use Devanagari and Roman script for education as well as communication(personal,formal,religious).In the past Goykanadi, Modi, Kannada scripts were used which later fell into disuse owing to many social,political and religious reasons.

Religion

Goans comprise a predominantly Hindu and Roman Catholic population and a small Muslim community. The majority of them follow Hinduism, and are divided into many different castes and sub-castes, known as Jatis.They use their village names to identify their clans, some of them use titles. Some even are known by the occupation their ancestors have been practicing; Nayak, Borkar, Raikar, Prabhu, Kamat, Lotlikar, Chodankar, Naik, Bhat, Tari, Gaude are few examples.

The Catholics on the other hand display a strong Portuguese influence, because of the 451 years as a Portuguese territory. Portuguese names are common among the Christians. The Caste system is still followed by Goan Catholics.Very few upper caste Catholic families also share Indo-Portuguese ancestry. The native Muslims are very few in numbers,and are popularly known as Moir(Konkani: मैर ).

Geographical distribution

Majority Goans are found in Goa,though they have been migrating all along the coast since last six centuries because of many socio-religious and economic reasons,the diaspora are commonly known as the Konkani people, residing in the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala who do no recognise themselves as Goans. Although many Goans have settled in Mumbai since last century and still identify themselves as Goans.Goan population is mainly concentrated in the mega cities of India like Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Pune.

Until the early 1970s there were substantial population of Goans in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The end of colonial rule and the subsequent waves of explusion of Indians from Kenya, and Uganda made the community migrate elsewhere. The Gulf News put the number of Goans residing outside India as approximately 300,000.

See also

• Konkani people
• Goan cuisine
• Hinduism in Goa
• Goan Catholics
• List of people from Goa