George Mark Moraes (11 May 1905 – April 1994) was a renowned historian, author, writer and professor from

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. He has over 29 historical and research works to his name which were published in 74 publications and 542 library holdings. He is considered as one of the greatest

Goan Goans ( kok, गोंयकार, Romi Konkani: , pt, Goeses) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, who form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese, an ...

intellectuals and historians. He is best known for his book, ''The Kadamba Kula'' (1931).

Early life and education

George Mark Moraes was born in 1905 at Bencleamvaddo,

Cuncolim Cuncolim is a town in South Goa district in the state of Goa, India. Etymology The name 'Cuncolim' is derived from the fact that the village was known as 'Kumkumahalli', the place where '' kumkuma '' (vermilion) is produced. Geography Cun ...

. He completed his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in English.

Career

Moraes was a professor of history at

St. Xavier's College, Mumbai St. Xavier's College is a private, Catholic, autonomous higher education institution run by the Bombay Province of the Society of Jesus in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by the Jesuits on January 2, 1869. The college is aff ...

. His book, ''The Kadamba Kula'' (1931) is his research on the Kadamba dynasty. According to

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

, his work was chosen by the scholars for being culturally important and is now part of the

conceptualisation Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). ...

. He has also authored books, ''History of Christians in India'', ''Historiography of Indian Languages'', and many other published in several editions. Moraes was also employed in top-tier institutions like,

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

and the Indian Historical Research Commission.

Legacy

Few locals tried to set-up a library bearing Moraes's name. On 18 July 2020, the locals demanded to name the newly constructed GSUDA building in his name.

Aftermath

Moraes's heritage house at Bencleamvaddo,

collapsed on 17 July 2020 due to continuous rains. It was in a run-down condition for many years and worsened with time. The ceiling of the house was crumbled last monsoons in 2019, with the remainder of the house falling apart this year. The distant relatives of Moraes were in the process of claiming the ownership of the property to sell it. However the locals of Cuncolim had made an appeal to the Cuncolim

Municipal Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

prior to the crumbling to acquire the land and the said heritage house to build a children's park in Moraes's name. The locals then questioned the authorities as to why the state administration and local government did not take any initiative in preserving Moraes's home as a historical

heritage site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

References

{{authority control 1905 births 1994 deaths Indian historians Indian writers People from South Goa district Goan people 20th-century Indian historians