Mariano Gracias: Romantic Aesthetics and Indian heritage

JOANA PASSOS
(Universidade Do Minho)

My contribution to the current reception of Goan literature in Portuguese is framed

by a set of projects on translation from Portuguese to English. In the case of Goan
literature in Portuguese, I consider translation an important strategy to make
available for contemporary Anglophone readers a literary heritage produced by
Goan authors that bears witness to important stages in the development of Goan
history and Goan identity.

In this paper, I am particularly interested in considering Mariano Gracias (1871-1931)

as an “Indianist” poet (my definition[1]), that is to say, a poet who was committed to
revisiting Indian traditional culture, and reintegrating Goan literary self-
representation into the set of cultural heritages of the subcontinent. “Indianist
authors” also express a sense of pride in Indian legends and history as well as
respect for Hindu deities. These themes might seem obvious for contemporary
readers, but, at the time when Goa was a Portuguese colony, the circle of scholars
who had received a formal education in Portuguese was deeply influenced by
Portuguese and French culture, especially in terms of Romanticism, and early
Modernist trends. Thus, “Indianist” poets worked between two worlds, both local
and European, Eastern and Western. In a sense they were just like the Indian writers
who were writing in English at the time. They all shared a position as creative
authors that were inspired by the society and culture where they were situated
while, at the same time, because of a westernised formal education and of their
ability to read the classics of European literature (or even travel to Europe), they
became individuals with a certain cosmopolitan view of the world which they
embedded in their writing. In my view, the Goan “Indianist” poets I am referring to
could rank their work as “Twice Born,” to quote the famous 1971 essay by
Meenakshi Mukherjee (though she was referring to prose), since the situation of

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these Goan poets in terms of the appropriation of multiple cultural references is the
same.

Mariano Gracias belonged to a generation of Goan authors that was active from the
1880s to the 1930s. They form the second generation of Goan writers, that is to say,
those who consolidated and expanded the literary system inherited from the
1850s/1860s generation, the one which had actually founded Goan literature in
Portuguese. Besides Mariano Gracias, other Indianist poets of his generation were
Cristovão Aires, Nascimento Mendonça and Paulino Dias. In my comparative analysis
of their works (Passos, 2012), I have proved that it is possible to find the same
themes or literary motives in their poems, especially if one considers a specific set of
collections (Mariano Gracias, 1925, Cristovão Ayres, 1881, Nascimento Mendonça,
1913, Paulino Dias, 1935) selected from the works of these authors. Nevertheless, it
is worth noting that there are several facets to their work, and this research does not
imply in any way that the “Indianist” trend is present in all their production. It is, yet
again, a prominent shared feature of their literary voices, and it certainly was one of
the most visible literary trends of the time (1880s-1930s), together with a late
romantic interest for Gothic settings, doomed love affairs and the seductive figure of
the dancing girl. In what concerns the shared reference to Indianist subjects in their
poems, comparative literary research has shown that all of these poets write about
Indian popular legends, proud Indian warriors that fought against the British or the
Portuguese, the kidnapping of a recalcitrant widow, the dance of a devadasi,
episodes from the life of Hindu gods, events in Indian history (even if fictional), or
beautiful Indian landscapes from all over the subcontinent. These echoes and
similarities in the works by these four poets allows me to refer to them as a
“generation” in the Goan literary system in Portuguese, moreover because they
published their work around the same period of time, and all of them published in
Goa, even though Mariano Gracias and Cristovão Aires published a part of their work
in Portugal as well.

Mariano Gracias published several collection of poetry, when he started writing love
poems as a student in Portugal. He then published two collections in Porto, Portugal,

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Poemas. Primeiros Versos (Poemas. First Verses, 1892) and Missal de um Crente
(Missal of a Believer, 1898), and his first collection in Goa, adequately entitled
Regresso ao Lar, meaning, “Returning Home” in 1906. Later, he would still publish
another book in Portugal, called A Bíblia do Amor (The Bible of Love, 1913). His last
work would be Terra de Rajás (Land of Rajahs, Bombay, 1925).

The three poems translated below originally appeared in Terra de Rajás. The idea is
to offer the Anglophone reader a glimpse of Mariano Gracia's poetry, while
exemplifying what is meant by “Indianist poetry” in Goan literature in Portuguese, a
dominant trend at the beginning of the 20th century.

One of the distinctive features of Mariano Gracias' poetry is its visual appeal. Two of
the poems translated below provide evidence of his descriptive, “visual” writing,
namely, the poems “The Bath” and “The Sardessay”. The first of these poems, “The
Bath”, captures a delicious representation of the innocent, private joys of a princess
during her bath. The impact of these lines is one of elegance and sumptuous
refinement, together with the pleasure of being admitted to the domestic sphere of
a secluded world. As in many other poems about feminine characters, Mariano
Gracias's writing achieves a rare elegance, composing a scene in an atmosphere of
domestic intimacy and peace, which makes the reading of the poem such an
agreeable experience (see other examples such as “A Sesta” (“The Afternoon Nap,”
1925: 21), “O Serão” (“The evening,” 1925: 43), “A Oração” (“The Prayer,” 1925: 31),
“Moira-Encantada” (“The Muslim Lady,” 1925: 27-29). In all of these poems, the
photographic or “movie-like” quality of Mariano Gracias' poetry is clearly evident.
Likewise, in “The Sardessay” (see below), a painting is described in vivid detail. Once
again, the image inspired by the poem conveys a particular atmosphere, this time a
nostalgic, inquisitive one, as the reader imagines the poet lost in thought before
such a magnificent painting, wondering if his own forefathers had looked like that
Prince. At the same time, both poems express pride in an Indian aristocratic ancestry
and its refined, sumptuous lifestyle. Note that to write these lines in a colony where
the assimilation of Western cultural references was promoted can be considered as
an act of cultural resistance, a subtle invitation to other Goan readers to identify

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with Mother India, its lifestyles and local rulers. The subject and the politics of this
poem are a clear example of the “Indianist” themes in Mariano Gracias' work.

“The Legend of Mogra” is yet another example of Mariano Gracias's ability to invoke
vivid images through a skilful use of words, exploring the distinctive visual quality of
his poems. The novelty introduced by these poems is the use of couplets, quite rare
in canonical literature in Portuguese, where stanzas with more verses are the norm.
In terms of themes, “The Legend of Mogra” confirms the poet's commitment to
Indian subjects, invoking Indian history, the antiquity of the country, its rich heritage
of exemplary legends and even its native flora. Finally, in terms of structure, the use
of couplets to compose a narrative poem also evokes Hindu classical literatures, that
were equally written as narrative poems, precisely in couplets (consider, for example
that the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana were written in slokas). The difference is
that the subject of classical Hindu poetry, religious and philosophical, would not be
prone to dwell on such an earthly, everyday theme as a lover's kiss in the poem “The
Legend of Mogra”. On the contrary, Mariano Gracia's interest in individual emotions
and his meticulous recreation of a symbiotic relation between setting and the
emotional life of characters are in fact, instances of romantic writing techniques,
appropriated from western literatures such as the Portuguese, the British or the
French. And this is the gist of the argument proposed in this paper: that this
generation of Goan writers who wrote in Portuguese succeeded in creating a
synthesis of aesthetic and thematic influences from both worlds, the Indian and the
European, producing an amazingly cosmopolitan literature in spite of the provincial
dimension of the literary system they were contributing to.

The collection Terra de Rajáhs, from which the translated poems presented below
were selected, is the last published work by Mariano Gracias (though there is a
reference to other forthcoming works in the first page of the book). As an example
of his mature poetry, Terra de Rajáhs combines old romantic themes ever present in
his work, such as love and feminine beauty, with two new influences: the “Indianist”
and the modernist (decadent, dark[2], and highly erotic). In the concrete universe of
the anthology addressed in this paper, Romanticism and Indianist themes overlap in

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several poems that express admiration for feminine beauty (a Romantic trend), only
it is an Indian beauty (Indianist reference), and it is noticeable a certain commitment
to promote an ideal of feminine beauty solidly grounded in Indian physical features
and style of dress. There is a representation of Indian beauty (Hindu or Muslin) in all
of the abovementioned poems (“The Bath”, “The Afternoon Nap”, “The Evening”,
“The Muslim Lady” and “The Prayer) whose subject is centred on feminine beauty in
a domestic, innocent setting. However, the selected works for this collection also
include more erotic poems as for example, “A Indiana” (The Indian Lady, 1925: 23),
“A Merenda” (The Snack, 1925: 37), “Bailadeira” (The Dancing Girl, 1925: 49), “O
Saugate” (The Papaya Dish, 1925: 55), “A Dança de Bailadeiras” (The Chorus of
Dancing Girls, 1925: 62) and “Sundorém” (the title is the name of the main character
in this dramatic poem; 1925: 69-83). The eroticism present in this second group of
poems is, clearly, a Modernist influence, as I have argued elsewhere[3]. While in
Romantic poetry references to physical attributes and sexual attraction were quite
discreet and modest, references to the body and desire are more typical of a
Modernist commitment to change, shock and renovation. The 1910s and 1920s
(1925 is the date of publication of the poems analysed in this paper) were a golden
period for the consolidation of Modernist literary trends all over Europe, and,
apparently, Goan literature in Portuguese was in tune with what was happening in
the West, an aspect that reveals the cosmopolitan inspiration of the second
generation of Goan poets, who, at the same time, were reconciling themselves with
Indian Nationalism and its promotion of Indian life styles and the subcontinent's
ancient cultures.

Gracias' late poetry also embodies some Orientalist literary references. I am using
the term “Orientalism” to refer to discourses about the East, created by Western
scholars which are widely known and often repeated by several authors in different
kinds of texts, in such a way that these discourses come to pass for true, reliable
information about “the East” (meaning, India, Persia and the Arab world, but not
necessarily China or Japan). Obviously, this definition is based on the famous study
by Edward Said (1978). In order to explain this critical claim, I will consider a set of
poems from Terra de Rajáhs, which are devoted to the description of (exquisite)

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Indian landscapes, specific local climate, Indian plants and animals and even Indian
architecture. All these descriptions represent local, concrete elements. Nevertheless,
when Goan writers who had access to a “Westernised” formal education (such as
Mariano Gracias) want to invoke a rich, aristocratic, Indian world, they cannot avoid
a thin layer of Orientalism because, at least in part, their formal, literary education –
that is to say, their writing ‘know-how’– was (partially) acquired from Western
literary models (in articulation with their knowledge of Indian classic literatures).
Thus, some of the literary motifs used by Mariano Gracias sound like clichés taken
from The Arabian Nights (first English translation 1706) because of the archetypical
association of a specific constellation of elements such as fabulous wealth,
sumptuous garments, jewels, certain kinds of precious cloth associated to the ruling
classes of Indian and Arab societies.

Gracias's critical distance in relation to the assimilation of western literary influences

– one of the reasons why he turned to Indianist aesthetics – does not imply that he
decided to reject everything he had learned. Nor did Gracias ever disavow, in his
work, the creative potential of the parallel knowledge of different civilizations, such
as he had mastered. He rather synthesized the disparate, different influences he had
access to. As examples of a certain “Orientalist” suggestion in Mariano Gracias'
poetry, consider (from Terra de Rajáhs) the following poems: “A Ilha Encantada”
(The Enchanted Island, 1925: 5-8), “Cortejo Real” (The Royal Parade, 1925: 39-42),
“Goa” (1925: 85), “Noites de Maio” (Evenings in May, 1925: 91-92) and the “Epílogo
– Fragmentos de 'Regresso ao Lar” (Epilogue – Fragments from 'Returning Home,’
1925: 103-104). In these poems, the description of all the elements listed above,
sumptuous wealth, jewels and precious garments is associated to Indian aristocracy,
and it is aimed at stating a sense of pride in revisiting Indian history and legends. In
the same way, pride in India's long history, and even its pioneering antiquity in
relation to other Civilizations is usually related to references to genealogies and
lineage as in the poems “The Sardessay” and “The Rajáh from Godivara” (1925: 51-
53). In the same vein, several poems are dedicated to retelling (or imagining) ancient
Indian legends such as “A Malachyte e o coral” (The Malachyte and the Coral, 1925:
67, 68), “A lenda dos Mogarins” (The Legend of the Mogarins, 1925: 93- 95), “Mogá-

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Bay” (1925: 97) and “A Lenda dos Abolins” (The Legend of the Abolins, 1925: 99-
101). Other poems refer to Hindu Gods or express respect for Hindu philosophies
related to peace, spiritual life and penitence. I will conclude by pointing out that all
of these themes - namely, the invocation of Indian historical figures and ancient
legends, Hindu deities and philosophies (see, for example “Oração ao Súrya” (Prayer
to Súrya, 1925: 15-20), “Metempsycose” (Metempsychosis, 1925: 33-36) and “Fakirs
e Yogues” (Fakirs and Yogis, 1925: 65), as well as the description of India's particular
landscape and life styles - contribute to strengthening the visibility of Indianist
references in Mariano Gracia's poetry.

Finally, Terra de Rajáhs includes, at the end, an extensive glossary, translating and
explaining references to Hindu mythology and society for readers who are not
familiar with such culture. This glossary is, in itself, a contribution to promote a
bridge between different cultures (Glossary, 1925: 105-135). For Mariano Gracias,
the “Enchanted Island” was India (see author's note, 1925: 137), so different from
the rest of the world, that he saw the subcontinent as an island. However, he did not
imagine it as an isolated island, but as an island in touch with the rest of the world.

Terra de Rajahs has received critical attention in Goa. There was, at the time, a small,
local literary system that was coherent enough to host some literary comments in
the press. Not only did poets write about each other's work but they also dedicated
poems to several figures of the literary Goan world To conclude, I would like to
mention a later work from 1952, which stands as an example of the critical attention
Mariano Gracias received beyond the strict contemporary group of colleagues that
were active in Goa. Caetano Francisco da Costa published Mariano Gracias, Notas
sobre a sua vida e a sua poesia, (Mariano Gracias. Notes on his Life and Poetry,
1952). The work praises Mariano Gracias for his technical skills, sensitivity and depth.
However, though it is a serious attempt at a critical reviewing of Gracias' work, it is
interesting to note that C. F. da Costa turns a blind eye to the politics underlying
Mariano Gracias' later poems. To resist alienation from one's local culture was a
political gesture of self-assertion and resistance against colonialism, and that is what
Indianist poetry in a colonial context was about: the practice of non-assimilation, the

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quest for a local identity, even if one was writing in a language appropriated from
the coloniser. Maybe because the point was, precisely, to invert Orientalist
projections and make other peoples know texts by Goan poets, and the way they
represented their own world and their double historical memory as they wanted.

Bibliography:

Gracias, Mariano, Terra de Rajáhs, Bombaim (Mumbai): A Luso-indiana (Casa

Editora), 1925.
_____. Poentes. Primeiros versos, Porto: Typografia A. F. de Vasconccelos, 1892.
_____.Missal de um Crente, Porto: Joaquim Maria da Silva, 1898.
_____. Regresso ao Lar, Nova Goa: Edição da Casa Luso-Franceza, 1906.
_____. A Bíblia do Amor, Lisboa: José Fernandes, 1913.
Costa, Caetano Francisco de, Mariano Gracias, Notas sobre a sua vida e a sua poesia,
Goa: Edição de autor, 1952.
Mukherjee, Meenakshi, 1971. Twice Born Fiction, New Delhi: Heinmann, 1
Passos, Joana. 2012 Literatura Goesa em Português nos Seculos XIX e XX, Famalicão:
Húmus e Universidade do Minho.
Said, Edward W. 1978. Orientalism, New York: Pantheon Books, .
Note: The original texts below, in nineteenth century Portuguese, have been
transcribed into contemporary Portuguese.

O Banho

Despida do seu rubro pitâmbor,

Do pequenino tchole de musselina
Zayú mergulha na gazil piscina
o âmbar polido do seu corpo em flor.

Saltam peixinhos de variada cor

Na clara água da marmorea tina,

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e grossas ondas de uma essência fina
enchem o ar de delicioso olor.

Ao pé, como num rico mostruário,

Suas jóias, de brilho extraordinário,
Ao sol refulgem num efeito lindo!

E Zayú, a formosa dessayna,

Abraçada pela água da piscina,
Com os peixinhos brinca alegra e rindo...
(Terra de Rajáhs, 1925: 25)

The Bath

Stripping off her red pitambor

and other pieces of muslin cloth
Zayu dives into the elegant pool,
her young body the colour of amber

Colourful, small fishes leap out

from the clear water of the marble pool,
and thick waves of fine essences
fill the air with their scents
By the pool, as in an exhibition,
her jewels, are an extraordinary sparkle, reflecting the light of the sun

And Zayu, the beautiful dessayna, Submerged by the translucent water plays with
the little fishes, smiling...

Pitambor: precious silk garment

Dessayna: the wife of a nobleman

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(my translation)

-----------------------------------

As três lendas – A Lenda dos “Mogarins”

Ao Conselheiro Dr. António Cabral

Ora isto foi há mais de três mil anos,

Nos belos tempos aureos dos aryanos

Na Índia, país santo e encantador,

Onde a vida era sã e puro o amor,

N' esse lindo país de sonho e lenda

Em que a deusa Beleza armou a tenda,

Onde, em ilhas de luz, tão perfumadas,

Há princesas e moiras-encantadas,

E onde há aloés e sandalo e baunilhas,

Gemas de oiro, brocados, escumilhas,

Lotus ardendo em pedras-preciosas,

Beijos de amor em noites misteriosas...

Opulentos Rajáhs brilhando em oiros,

Maravilhas de luz, ricos tesoiros,

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Shácuntâlas, Rámáyânas, Mâhabháratas,
Havia um lindo par de dois maráthas.

Ele era Ráma e ela Sundorém

- A mais formosa – O nome ia-lhe bem.

Filhos de dois Rajáhs, lindos e novos,

Enquanto os pais iam regendo os povos,

Sonhavam eles, lábio sorridente,

Amando-se, felizes, mutuamente.

Era um profundo amor, doida paixão,

Decerto a maior que houve no Industão.

Ora uma vez, foi nos jardins do Paço,

Trepava um “Mogareiro” pelo terraço,

Mas sem o doce aroma que hoje exala.

(Na flor o aroma é na gente a fala).

Vivia triste a pobre trepadeira...

Era sol-posto, a hora derradeira.

O lindo par de jovens namorados,

Encontrando-se a sós, tão isolados,

Sob o docel em flor do mogareiro,

Lá trocaram o seu beijo primeiro...

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Beijo de amor, enlace do Desejo

E da volúpia! O delirante beijo!

Doce como o mel, quente como o lume!...

- Foi então que tiveram o perfume

Os doces mogarins.

A branca lua,
Em silêncio profundo, qual falua,

Ia em triunfo na amplidão do espaço

Inundando de luz o real terraço.

(Mariano Gracias, Terra de Rajáhs, 1925: 93-95)

The Three Legends – The Legend of the Mogra

It happened over three thousand years ago,

In the Golden Age of the Indo-Aryan epoch.

In India, sacred and charming country,

where life was good and pure the love,

In that lovely country of dreams and legends,

where goddess Beauty set up her home,

where, in scented islands of light,

there are princesses, enchanted Arab ladies,

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and aloe, sandal, vanilla
gold gems, brocade, lacy cloth,

lotus flowers, precious jewels,

and loving kisses on mysterious nights...

Opulent rajahs, shine in gold,

wonders of light, rich treasures,

Xacuntala, Ramayana, Mahabharatas,

and there was a lovely Maratha couple,

He was Rama and she Sundorem

- the most beautiful – the name suited her.

The children of rajahs, young and pretty,

while their parents ruled,

they dreamed, smiling lips,

loving each other, happily.

It was deep love, insane passion,

surely the biggest love in India.

Once, in the palace gardens,

there was, in the terrace, a climbing mogra

But without the sweet aroma it exhales nowadays

(in a flower, scent is as speech for people)

Sadly lived the poor climbing plant...

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And it was sunset, the last hour of light.

The young couple in love,

finding themselves alone, secluded,

under the flowery Mogra dossal

exchanged their first kiss...

a true love kiss, embracing desire

and voluptuousness! A feverish caress!

Sweet as honey, warm as fire!

-It was then that the sweet Mogra

got their perfume.

The white Moon,

In deep silence, swift as a boat

across the wide, dark sky

lit with its moonlight the royal terrace.

Mogra: Flower from South Asia, jasminum sambac

(my translation)

------------------------------------------

O Sar-Dessay
A Joaquim de Araújo Mascarenhas

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Adornava-lhe o rosto afidalgado,
Com o tic oriental de um perfil mouro,

Um Índico turbante avermelhado

De seda de Shahápur com listrões de ouro.

Ricos amblés pendentes das orelhas,

- Aros de luz mordidos de diamantes! -
De subido valor jóias tão velhas,
Eram relíquias de épocas distantes.

O seu tchógó de seda adamascada,

Bordado a ouro e prata desfiada,

Seria a tentação dos Bhounsulós!...

Um belo tipo de oriental beleza:

Opulência, vigor, graça, nobreza!...
-Deviam ser assim os meus Avós.

(Mariano Gracias, Terra de Rajáhs, 1925: 13)

The Sardessay (The Prince)

His adorned aristocratic face,

Has the eastern charm of a Muslim profile
Wearing an Indian, reddish turban
Of Shahapur silk, with golden stripes.

Priceless earrings hanging from his ears,

Flashing circles of gold bitten by diamond light,

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Ancient, exquisite pieces of jewellery,
Tokens of another legendary time

His vest, of elaborate embroidery

Unfolds patterns of silver and gold,
A prized gem of Maratha dynasties

Such a handsome, Eastern type

Opulent, vigorous, graceful, noble…
- This is how my forefathers must have been.

(My translation)

___________________
[1] “Indianist” is a general concept that means “addressing subjects, characters or
settings related to India,” taking the subcontinent as a whole. It is an abstraction, a
theoretical concept that can be applied to different texts and artistic forms of
expression.

[2] The poem “A Deusa Káli” (The Goddess Kali) (1925: 45-47) is an example of
Gothic inspiration reinterpreted through modernist, decadent codes, which
obsessively promoted fascination by horror stories, scenes of violence, decay,
insanity and morbidity.

[3] See Passos, Joana, “Poesia Goesa em português e o tema das bailadeiras:
projecções e preconceitos nas metamorfoses do romantismo”, in Goa Portuguesa e
Pós-Colonial: Literatura, Cultura e Sociedade, (orgs.) Machado, Everton V. e Duarte
D. Braga; Centro de Estudos Comparatistas da Universidade de Lisboa, ACT 27,
Ribeirão: Húmus, 2014: 179-197. See also Passos, Joana, “O ‘indianismo’ do princípio
do século XX – o movimento de redescoberta da identidade indiana dos goeses” in
Goa Passado e Presente, Lisboa: CEP, Universidade Católica, 2013: 255-271.

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