Vincent John Peter Saldanha

Born: 9 June 1925

Died: 22 February 2000

• He was an Indian Konkani language littérateur, dramatist, novelist, short-story writer and poet.
• He made significant contributions to Konkani literature as a poet, dramatist, novelist, and a litterateur.
• He maintained a strong Catholic identity in his writings, and his main themes were the sufferings of 60,000 Mangalorean Catholics during their 15-year captivity at Seringapatam imposed by the Muslim ruler Tipu Sultan from 1784 to 1799, and the oppression of Goan Catholics during the Goa Inquisition.
• He was popularly referred to by his pen-name Khadap (The Rock).
• In Mangalore, he had started and edited a Kannada called the Kannadavani.
• He published his first six-page Konkani weekly Poinnari (Traveller) on 10 September 1950 in Bombay.
• Poinnari was the third Konkani weekly published by Mangalorean Catholics; the first being Konknni Dirvem (Konkani Treasure), published in 1912 by Louis Mascarenhas, and the second was Raknno (Guardian), a weekly published by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mangalore.
• He remained an editor of Poinnari till 1958.
• Upon his return to Mangalore that same year, he started a Kannada daily called Navabharatha (New India) in which he worked as the sub-editor.
• The daily later closed down due to lack of funds.
• In 1978 at the age of 53, he obtained his master’s degree in Sociology.
• He also developed an avid interest in Alternative medicine (more specifically point pressure) methods and Dr. Edward Bach’s herbal remedies.
• He co-authored a book on Naturopathy with Dr. I.G. Hukkeri. Later, he did a course in Naturopathy and obtained the ND, DHM, MD (AM) and RMP (AM) degrees.