PANAJI: “A multi-talented personality, he studied architecture, linguistics and art. A very good painter with a strong researcher’s mind, a very good scholar. His book ‘Konkanni, a Language,’ published by the Karnataka University, laid to rest the controversy about whether Konkani was a separate language or a dialect of Marathi.

If one remembers, in the 70s there was this controversy about whether Konkani was a separate language or not,” says Fr Pratap Naik, a doctor in Lexicography, a Jesuit priest and currently the joint director of the Thomas Stephens Konkkni Kendr (TSKK), a research institute working on issues related to the Konkani language, literature, culture and education, applauding the conferring of the Padma Bhushan on Dr Jose Pereira, famous all over but not so well known in his own land. 
Dr Pereira carried out research, and along with S B Kulkarni, a former head of the department of Marathi, Nagpur University, said that two lines of inscription at the foot of the huge statue of Bahubali at Sravanabelagola in Karnataka was the earliest Konkani inscription in Devnagari script.
Dr Pereira has written many books, including on Mandos. A recent one is ‘Undir Mujea Mama.’ “He was a genius, proficient in so many subjects,” Fr Naik says of the former professor, who taught theology of world religions at the Fordham University, USA, and is in the list of 27 awardees including fellow Goan, Mario Miranda, Shabana Azmi, Mira Nair and others. He has also got more than 20 books on theology, history of art, architecture, Goan culture, language, literature and music.
Born in 1931, he was a reputed Sanskrit scholar and Indologist. A fresco done by him can be seen on a vault of St Joaquim’s Chapel at Borda while another painting was unveiled at Our lady of Rosary Chapel, Fatorda.
“I am a great fan of Jose Pereira. He is one of the greats, a polygoth and an art historian,” says Apoorva, an artist and art curator. “But it is better late than never though I find it ironical that after the confusion last year after a fringe group objected to his paintings and the government did nothing, this award is being bestowed on him.” It may be recalled that the rightwing group Sanatan Saunstha took objections to Dr Pereira’s paintings exhibited at Alto Porvorim after a show at the India International Centre in New Delhi.
“He stayed with us last year when we recorded the Khel, a three-day interlude before the original Intruz, now known as Carnival,” Fr Naik said adding that he deserved the award.
“I am really very happy about the award being given to this most deserving person. We Goans do not know much about the tremendous work he has done in art and linguistics as he spent most of his time outside India. We are not aware of his work or his scholarships. He was a great scholar in theology, linguistics as well as an artist,” says Dr Suresh Amonkar, a noted Goan educationist, translator of many religious scriptures and a Padmashree awardee.
In his recent article, Dr Amonkar says of the multi-faceted personality: Dr Jose Pereira who is a great Indian, Indologist, Sanskrit scholar, a linguist who speaks and/or reads fifteen classical and modern languages, is a savant par excellence. He is Professor Emeritus at Fordham University (New York) USA. He teaches Sanskrit and lectures on theology of religions - especially Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. He is a lover of Konkani and speaks with pride and authority in Konkani, on Konkani literature and folk art. He has written numerous books on temple and church architecture. He is also an accomplished artist and Goa is fortunate to have his fresco paintings in a chapel in Margao. 
In publishing ‘Hindu Theology: A Reader,’ he has undertaken a task of major theological proportions - a single volume devoted to great schools and archetypes of Hindu theology (covering the six Darshanas - Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, Vaisesika, Nyaya, Vedanta, six Advaita schools and Dvaita Vedanta, Sonic Absolutism, Puratana Vedanta, Visistadvaita (qualified Non-Dualism), Suddhadvaita (Pure non-dualism) to Saivadvaita, Vira Saivadarshana and finally Shakta Darshan).
A reading of his book reveals his deep and extensive knowledge of Indian thinkers and theologians. He has rendered them from the original Sanskrit texts into lucid and readable English and it offers fresh insights into the impact of non-Western thought and philosophy on the Western world. ‘Knowledge of Hindu Theology,’ Dr Pereira thinks, “is particularly relevant to the theology of our times, for the Indic works contain so many of the ideas that modern Western theologians seem to believe are their discoveries.”