Jayanti Naik


Dr. Jayanti Naik, from Amona in the Quepem taluka of Goa, is a Konkani writer and folklore researcher from Goa. She is a short story writer, dramatist, children's writer, folklorist, translator and was the first person to earn a doctorate from the Goa University's Department of Konkani. She is also a Sahitya Akademi award winner. In her career of some three decades, she has produced on average, a book a year.

Konkani folklore

Dr Jayanti Naik takes care of the folklore section of the Goa Konkani Akademi, the aim of which is to "conserve and preserve rich folklore of Goa". Her work includes Ratha Tujeo Ghudio, Kanner Khunti Naari, Tlloi Ukhalli Kelliani, Manalim Gitam, Pednecho Dosro, and Lokbimb.
Naik has written 16 books on folklore. Her book on Konkani folklore, entitled Konkani Lokved, has several folk tales current among the Konkani-speaking emigrants who made their permanent home in the southern Indian States of Karnataka and Kerala in their original form with regional slant, as they were graphically recounted to her.
Naik's Amonnem Yek Lokjinn focuses on the village of Amona and its surrounding regions. It covers its history religion, social practices, festivals and folklore, among other topics. In 2019 Rajaee Prakashan published 'Gutbandh' a collection of her articles on Goan folklore which had appeared in the Marathi newspaper Lokmat.

Folk tales

She had also compiled and edited, Venchik Lok Kannio, a collection of Konkani folk tales in the Roman script, which was published by the Goa Konkani Akademi, in 2008.
It has been transliterated by Felicio Cardozo.
'Lokrang' is a collection of essays on Goan and Konkani folklore.

Konkani writing

In A History of Konkani Literature: From 1500 to 1992, the linguist and Konkani writer Manohararāya Saradesāya says of the 1962-born Naik's collection of short stories, Garjan: "Garjan means The Roar and in fact here the woman conscious of her strength and her social rights "roars." It is a roar of revolt against the mightily and the rich in favour of the poor, the weak, the oppressed. There is vigour in her style but at times her expression lags behind her thoughts." He also comments on Jayanti Naik's Nimnnem Bondd which "expresses dissatisfaction against the idea of God's justice" and adds: "It is true that the women writers are prone to a certain sentimentality but this sentimentality is hardly overdone." In 2019 Rajaee Publications published her third collectionn of short stories 'Aart'.

Women-centric

rates Jayanti Naik as the authors writing on women-centric themes in Konkani from Goa today.

Translations of her work

The Final Victory, a translation by Vidya Pai of Jayanti Naik's short story Jait. This appeared in the monthly Goa Today in October 1999.
Asaadi, a translation by Vidya Pai of Jayanti Naik's short story of the same name.
Basavo, also translated by Vidya Pai, is an English version of Naik's story of the same name. This was part of the British Council project of a website of women's writing from South Asia edited by Mini Krishnan and Rakshanda Jalil. This is not available currently.
Flowers and kumkum ----symbols of a woman's marital status is a translation of Naik's essay Phool kumkum ---ayavpanache kurvo' appeared on 3 May 2015 in Chitrangi.
The Salt of the Earth, a collection of eleven selected short stories of hers translated into English by Augusto Pinto was published in 2017 by Goa 1556 publishers. It contains a Preface by Dr Jayanti Naik and an Afterword by the translator entitled 'The Bahujan Writes Back'. The stories in this volume are 1) Biyantul: A Cinderella Story; 2) The Fulfillment of a Desire; 3) The Victory; 4) The Curse of Vozhrho; 5) An Account of Her Life; 6) Ramaa 7) Naman: The Invocations: 8) Fil'Mine Mana; 9) Life Sentence; 10) Uma and the Human Sacrifice; 11) Basvo: The Nandi Bull.

Dr Jayanti Naik’s Publications

Naik is a prolific author and besides folklore has written literature in a variety of genres including short stories, poetry, drama and children's literature. A list of her books is appended.
  1. Garjan
  2. Ratha Tujea Ghudeo
  3. Kaner Khunti Nari
  4. Talay Ukhal’li Khellyani
  5. Manalim Geetam
  6. Amonem – Ek Lokjinn
  7. Pednecho Dosro
  8. Nagsherachem Sur
  9. Lokbimb
  10. Sorpanchi Karamat
  11. Konknni Lokkanyo
  12. Vaghmamachi Fajitee
  13. Chad Shanyank Fatrachem Shith
  14. Athang
  15. Navrangi Phul
  16. Bhurgheamkhatir Lokkanyo
  17. Karlechi Banvad
  18. Sanulyanchi Kavnulam
  19. Goenchim Lokkala
  20. Ganvran
  21. Rajratna
  22. Lokrang
  23. Lokmanthan
  24. Venchik Lokkannio
  25. Kukumadevichi Deepmaal
  26. Mirgveno
  27. Visarjan
  28. Deshantaricheo Lokkatha - Bhag 1
  29. Kalmayaa
  30. Mhaji Mati, Mhaji Mansha
  31. The Salt of the Earth: Stories from Rustic Goa translated with an Afterword by Augusto Pinto
  32. Gutbandh
  33. Aart
A collection of 9 essays by various critics on her Konkani short stories are collected in Jayantichi Katha: Aswaad ani Samiksha ed. Avadhut Amonkar, Rajaee Publications, 2006. This book also contains a detailed biographical and bibliographical information about her till 2005.
Detailed interviews with Jayanti Naik appeared in Jaag monthly in September 1998, in the March -May issue of Jaag in 2005, as well as in Goa Today in March 2005.

Awards and other attainments

She is the recipient of a number of State and National level awards, most noteworthy of which are the Kala Akademi Literary Award in 2002; the Dr TMA Pai Foundation's Best Konkani Book award for Konknni Lokkanyo in 2002; Sahitya Akademi Literary Award in 2004 for her collection of short stories ‘Athang’; and the Yashadamini Puraskar in 2009. Besides English, her stories have been translated into Hindi, Marathi, Telegu and Malayalam.
She is the editor of the Konkani Akademi literary journal 'Ananya'.
Jayanti Naik features in an anthology of Konkani writing, called Katha Darpan and published to mark the 138th anniversary of the Institute Menezes Braganza, in November 2009.
Jayanti Naik was earlier with the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr, a Konkani training and research centre run out of Alto Porvorim in Goa. She became the first person to obtain a Ph.D. in Konkani, after she defended her thesis around 2005.