ಬಾಮಣ್ | Bamonn

by Na D'Souza

``ಕನ್ನಡ ಕಥೆ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬೇರೆ ಸಮುದಾಯದವರ ಬದುಕು ಬಿಚ್ಚಿಕೊಂಡಂತೆ ಕ್ರಿಶ್ಚಿಯನ್ನರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬಿಚ್ಚಿಕೊಂಡಿಲ್ಲ. ಈ ನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ರಿಶ್ಚಿಯನ್ನರು ಹೇಗೆ ಬದುಕಿದ್ದರು? ಅವರ ಬದುಕಿನ ನೆಲೆ ಸೆಲೆಗಳೇನು? ಎಂಬುದು ಇತರರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಬೇಕು ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಕ್ರಿಶ್ಚಿಯನ್ನರು ತಮ್ಮ ಬದುಕನ್ನು ವಿಮರ್ಶೆ, ವಿಶ್ಲೇಷಣೆ, ಅವಲೋಕನಕ್ಕೆ ಬಿಚ್ಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು. ತಮ್ಮ ಸುತ್ತ ಕಟ್ಟಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಸುಳ್ಳು ಕಲ್ಪನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕಳಚಿಕೊಂಡು ಅವರು ನಿಲ್ಲಬೇಕು.'' ಈ ನಿಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಡಿಸೋಜರ "ಬಾಮಣ್" ಎಂಬ ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ.

160 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2004

About the author

Na D'Souza was a novelist and writer in Kannada language. He was the President of 80th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held in Madikeri in the year 2014.

Reviews

[Surabhi Chatrapathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indian history is extremely layered and complex. Each region and it's community of people trace their story to different incidents of historical importance.
The British colonization of India often over shadows the problematic legacy of other colonizers. Along with that, the story of kings and conquerors too are distorted and the versions vary region to region.
The Portuguese as part of their expansion scheme sought cruel and manipulative methods to covert locals into Christianity, this hasty and confusing conversion led local Hindus to carry into their new religion, the problematic caste system.
While people from the lowers castes were lured into Christianity with the promise of being equals, the upper class that converted to curry favour and make money wanted to remain upper class and ensured the same.
Bamonn, meaning Brahmin in Konkani, is the story of Konkani Roman Catholics.

When Tipu Sultan was forcing converted people of Goa to convert once again into Islam, they chose to flee Goa and reached the costal region of Karnataka. Bamonn is a small gist into this community of Konkani Roman Catholics.

Bamonn (Brahmin) is a novel that revolves around Christopher Pai. A proud Catholic who is equally proud of his Brahmin ancestry. He wishes to unearth the story of his family, for he has been told that they endured the cruelty of Tipu Sultan and refused to convert to Islam. Having survived extreme torture, they returned after Sultan's death to continue to live as Christians.

While he looks through the annals of history to verify this story, his life unfolds and at every step of the way he wishes to establish that he is a Christian of Bamonn inheritance, hence blessed with superiority by birth.

[Rohan Rodrigues · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story but very poorly translated

[Anusha Nayak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average book. The translation is poor and was not engaging.