Goan writing in Portuguese has had a long and chequered history and at present is all but unknown in the region that inspired it, and by the descendants of those who produced it.

This collection, originally published as a special edition of the reputed literary magazine Muse India, gathers translations of short stories, poems and extracts of novels and sets them alongside critical articles that aim to open up this body of writing for a contemporary Anglophone reader in Goa and further afield.

Though often (but not exclusively) produced from a position of social advantage, and predominantly by Catholics, this branch of Goan literature contains many viewpoints on the history, identity and society of a territory that, while colonised by Portugal for hundreds of years, has always negotiated its place in the world in a wider Indian context. In this house of writing there are indeed many mansions.

Luís de Camões (1524-1580) was the first great European artist to cross into the Southern Hemisphere, and his poetry bears the mark of nearly two decades spent in India, north and east Africa, the Persian Gulf and Macau. His The Lusíads is world famous, but his large and equally great body of lyric poetry is almost unknown outside Portugal. From an elegy set in Morocco, to a hymn written at Cape Guardafui on the northern tip of Somalia, to the first modern European love poems addressed to a non-European woman, these lyrics reflect Camões’s encounter with radically unfamiliar places and peoples.

The bulk of those years - from 1554 to 1568 - were spent in Goa where at least half of his poetry, including The Lusíads, seems to have been composed. He arrived not as a Viceroy, Governor or Admiral, not an authority figure of any kind, but as a convict soldier, sentenced for an assault in Lisbon to military service overseas. He was jailed on three occasions (see the cover picture) and when he left he was almost certainly fleeing the Inquisition.

This book collects, with degrees of certainty from the absolute to the tentative, the lyric poems Camões wrote in Goa. They are translated from Portuguese, but they are very far from representing Portuguese colonial culture, which he at times wrote of with great scorn.

Above all, they should be enjoyed as poetry, transcending place and time but of added interest given the place and time they were written.

The choice of writers, the themes and the styles represented in this volume tell us something about Srinivas Rayaprol himself, about the mind of the creative writer-cum-translator at work. The selected texts cover a range of themes concerning man-woman relationships, women's desires, the plight of single women, the functioning of bureaucrats and politicians, among others. One cannot miss out on the preoccupation with death in many stories, nor can one ignore the ironic twist in the conclusions of some of them. The choices also seem to suggest an inclination for the unusual, rather than run-of-the-mill stories, both in terms of theme and style. The final selection of the stories seems to be purely personal. The order in which the stories have been presented too seems unique, for it defies chronology.

First published in 1988, Rumadful is a delightful collection of short stories that capture a wide range of human emotions. In this collection, the author has also experimented with the science fiction genre, a bold step to take in Indian language fiction during the time it was published.

The book records the fragmentary testimony of a prostitute working in Grand Rue in the city’s red-light district, whose life has been shattered by an event she can scarcely bring herself to name.

जो भारतीय विचार केळयत आमची कालची आनी आयची पिळगी ल्हानाची व्हड जाली तो विचार मुळासकट हुमटावन उडोवपाचें एक दुश्ट अभियान लिपचोरयां चालू आसा‐ ताका लागून पुरोगामित्वाचे दिकेन फुडें वचपाचें सोडून आमी प्रतिगामित्वाक वेंगायतात काय कितें अशे विभ्रमीत आवतिकायेंत आयज आमी वावुरतात‐ हें अशेंच उरल्यार अखंड भारताचें आमचें सपन भंगतलें आनी अभिव्यक्तीची गोमटी अंदिल्ल्यान भावी पिळगेची विज्ञाना वयली निश्ठा नश्ट जावन ती अंधश्रद्ध जातली हाचो हुसको दिसलेबगर रावना‐ भूतकाळ सांगता की अशा वेळार प्रागतीक विचारांचें भारतीय साहित्य लामणदिव्यांतले वातीवरी आमकां दिका दाखोवपाचें काम सातत्यान करीत आयलां‐ आयजूय हो राष्ट्रव्यापी भारतीय विचार कसल्याच अभिनिवेशा बगर आनी भंया विरयत फुडें व्हरपाचें काम साहित्यच चड प्रभावी तरेन करता‐ ह्या भरवंशार दक्षिणायन अभियानाचे हे उमाळे…

The novel is seen as a satire on Costa’s home town of Margão, and the Catholic bourgeoisie that lived there, narrated through the experiences of the eponymous couple.

‘द लास्ट लॅसन’. ही काणी वाचतकूच म्हज्या दोळ्यां मुखार उबी जाली ती पुर्तुगेजान गोंयचेर घाल्ली घुरी आनी उपरांत फर्मान काडून कोंकणीचेर घाल्ली कडक बंदी. कोंकणी समाजाक तेन्ना कोण हामेल मेळिल्लो म्हाका खबर ना. पूण तशे आवतिकायेंतूय ख्यास्तींची पर्वा करिनासतनां फुडलीं तीनशीं वर्सां कोंकणी भास जिबेर घोळटी दवरपी समेस्त लोकांची जिद्द आनी पुरुशार्थ येवजून म्हजें हड्डें सार्थ अभिमानान भरून येता, इतलें खरें. तेन्ना ही भास जिबेर दवरली देखून आयज ती पुस्तकांनीं मिरयता ही गजाल आमी विसरूंक फावना. हे कथेन जाणोवन दिलां तेप्रमाण खंयचेय संस्कृतायेचो मुखेल घटक म्हळ्यार त्या प्रदेशाची भास. त्या त्या प्रदेशाची भास ही त्या त्या समाजाची अस्मितायेची कुरू. ही भाशीक अस्मिताय राखुन दवरपाचे येत्न संवसारभर सगल्या राष्ट्रां कडल्यान संखेनीं वर्सां पोटतिडकीन जायत आयला. कारण भाशेचें अस्तित्व त्या त्या प्रदेशाच्या अस्तित्वा कडेन बांदिल्लें आसता…. कोंकणी समाजूय संकश्टाच्या काळार कर्नाटक-कोची-मुंबयत फापसलो तरी ताणें कोंकणी भास जिबेर सांबाळून दवरली. पूण ही परिगत सदांकाळ तिगतली काय? इंग्लीशीचें अतिक्रमण ही हुसक्याची गजाल जावन पडल्या. कोंकणीकच न्हय, हेर उदरगत केल्ल्या भासांकूय तो हुसको दिसता. अशा वेळार थोडेंशें फाटल्यान पळोवन आमच्या इतिहासीक दायजाचो, भाशे पासत वडिलांनीं केल्ल्या त्यागाचो आनी साहित्याचे उदरगतीचो माग आनी थाव घेवप गरजेचें अशें म्हाका दिसलें… हेरां कडल्यान अपेक्षा बाळगुचे परस हांवेंच हो वावर हातांत कित्याक घेवचो न्हय, असो विचार तकलेंत आयलो आनी विशयाचे खरीक हात घालपाचें थारायलें.

Between the Lines and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Ashita, one of Malayalam's finest women writers.

The Trial of Catarina de Orta by the Goa Inquisition sheds light on the workings of the Goa Inquisition (1560 - 1812) as also the social world of New Christians in Goa.