The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c31.128

v1.c31.128

14. The Jesuits had, moreover, earnestly studied the languages of the country; and some of them, as we have already seen in the case of Fr. de Nobili at Madura, mastered them to the general admiration of scholars. Among those who were working at the court of Venkata there were also some who became very proficient in speaking the vernaculars. "In this country of (around) Sao Thome," wrote Fr. Ricio in 1601, "two languages are spoken; one is the language of the country, the same that is spoken on the Fishery Coast and which was the first I learned; the other is the language of the Badaguas (Telugu); and since they are alike, I made quick progress in it; so much so that I was soon able to write a grammar of the same language as well as a summary of the Christian doctrine together with many mysteries of the life of Christ, all written in their own language¹. This summary of the Christian Faith was a translation of the one used in Konkani for the neophytes of the peninsula of Salsette, South of Goa, as Fr. Coutinho writes in a letter of the previous year².