or Kandavī is a

Brahmic script The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India ...

that was once used in the territory of

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 ...

to write Konkani and sometimes

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

in the

Konkan coast The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

. Similarly, it was used by the trading Saraswat and

Daivajna The Daivadnyas, (also known as Daivadnya Brahmins or Daivadnya Sonars or Konkanastha Rathakara), are a Konkani Gold-smith community, who claim to have descended from Vishwakarma, Hindu architect god and part of larger Vishwakarma community. ...

families along with the

Modi script Modi ( mr, मोडी, , ; also Mudiya) is a script used to write the Marathi language, which is the primary language spoken in the state of Maharashtra, India. There are multiple theories concerning its origin. The Modi script was used along ...

to maintain their accounts.

Overview

Goykanadi was used in Goa since the times of the Kadambas, although it lost its popularity after the 17th century. Goykanadi is very different from the Old Kannada script, with strikingly similar features. Unlike Old Kannada, Kandevi/Goykanadi letters were usually written with a distinctive horizontal bar, like the Nagari scripts. This script may have been evolved out of the

Kadamba script The Kadamba script is the first writing system devised specifically for writing Kannada and Telugu. It is a descendant of the Brahmi script. The Kadamba script is also known as ''Pre-Old-Kannada script''. The Kadamba script is one of the oldes ...

, which was extensively used in Goa and Konkan.

Usage and extinction

The inquisition of Goa is seen as a blot in the history of the Konkani language. According to the orders of the Goa inquisition it was an offence to remain in possession of books in the local languages. All books, whatever their subject matter, written in Konkani, Marathi and Sanskrit were seized by the inquisition and burnt on the suspicion that they might deal with idolatry. It is probable that valuable non-religious literature dealing with art, literature, sciences, etc., were destroyed indiscriminately as a consequence. For instance, even before the inquisition orders in a letter dated 24 November 1548, D Fr Joao de Albuquerque proudly reports his achievement in this direction. Many Konkani manuscripts which are now found in museums in Portugal are Roman transliterations of Kandavi manuscripts of Hindu epics. The earliest document written in this script is found in a petition addressed by Ravala Śeṭī, a Gaunkar of Caraim in the islands of Goa, to the king of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. This 15th-century document bears a signature in Konkani which says: Ravala Śeṭī baraha (Translation: ''writing of Ravala Sethi''). It is believed that most of the pre-Portuguese documents and books in Kandavi were burnt by the Portuguese missionaries.

References

{{list of writing systems Brahmic scripts Konkani