Manohar Rai Sardesai

Sardesai died in 2006.

• Name — Manohar Rai Sardessai • Born — 18 January 1925 • Language — Konkani • Education — Bombay University • Relatives — Laxmanrao Sardessai (father) • Awards — * Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques (1988) • Sahitya Akademi Award (1980)

Manohar Rai Sardesai was born on 18 January 1925. He passed his matriculation examination in 1942 from the Bhatikar Model High School in Margão. He obtained a First Class First in Bachelor of Arts from the University of Bombay in 1947. He successfully completed his Master of Arts, also with the First Class First in French and in Marathi from the same university in 1949. He obtained his Doctorat ès lettres françaises in 1958 from the University of Sorbonne, Paris and taught French in Bombay at the University of Bombay and the University of Goa. He was the son of the eminent short story writer Lakshmanrao Sardesai. Being surrounded by books, he started writing at an early age and was known for his very direct and penetrating Konkani poetry. Sardesai broadcast songs, poems, talks, plays and features on All India Radio in Panaji, Goa and Doordarshan in Bombay and Pune. He travelled all over Europe and India and wrote in Konkani, English, French, Portuguese and Marathi.

Sardesai was a member of the executive board, Sahitya Akademi, representing Konkani, and also wrote for the National Book Trust of India. Notable collections of his poems are Ayj re dholar podli bodi (1961), Goema tujya mogakhatir (1964), Jayat jage (1964), Jay punnyabhui, jai Bharat (1965), Bebyachem kazar (1965), Jayo juyo (1970) and Pisollim (1979). He also edited an anthology of poems for the Sahitya Akademi, Delhi and published several works of prose, drama and children's literature. It was also Sardessai who introduced the two line poems called ‘tikli’.

He translated many works from French into Konkani. The translations of "La Vie de Vivekananda" by Romain Rolland in 1994 (Vivekananda) and "Les Mots" by Jean-Paul Sartre in 2000 ("Utram"), comprise some of his works. He also produced the Konkani-English Dictionary in 2004 and was Chief Editor for the four-volume Konkani Encyclopedia, published by Goa University in 1999.