https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=T._B._CunhaT. B. Cunha - Revision history2026-11-03T09:50:56ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=T._B._Cunha&diff=539064&oldid=prevStephaineShrader: Stub2026-05-05T20:45:31Z<p>Stub</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Goan nationalist and activist (1891–1958)}}<br />
{{EngvarB|date=March 2014}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}<br />
{{Portuguese name|Bragança|Cunha}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = T. B. Cunha<br />
| image = T. B. Cunha in his 40s.jpg<br />
| caption = Cunha in his 40s<br />
| birth_name = Tristão de Bragança Cunha<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|4|2|df=y}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Chandor]], [[Goa]], [[Portuguese India]]<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1958|9|26|1891|4|2|df=y}}<br />
| death_place = [[Bombay]], [[Bombay State]], India<br />
| resting_place = [[Azad Maidan (monument)|Azad Maidan]]<br />
| education = Degree in [[electrical engineering]]<br />
| alma_mater = [[Sorbonne University]]<br />
| known_for = Organising the first movement to end Portuguese rule in Goa<br />
| movement = [[Goa Liberation Movement]]<br />
| party = <br />
| otherparty = <br />
| relatives = {{ubl|<br />
* [[Luís de Menezes Bragança]] (brother-in-law)<br />
* [[Berta de Menezes Bragança]] (niece)<br />
* [[Beatris de Menezes Bragança]] (niece)<br />
}}<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Tristão de Bragança Cunha'''{{efn|alternatively spelled as '''Tristao de Braganza Cunha'''}} ({{Audio|LL-Q34239 (kok)-Fredericknoronha-Tristao de Braganza Cunha.wav|pronunciation}}; 2 April 1891 – 26 September 1958), better known as '''T. B. Cunha''',<ref>{{Cite web |first=Gauree |last=Malkarnekar|date=19 December 2021 |title=T B Cunha: Rousing nationalism in 'passive' Goans|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/t-b-cunha-rousing-nationalism-in-passive-goans/articleshow/88366802.cms |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref> was a [[Goan]] nationalist and anti-colonial activist. Referred to as the "Father of Goan nationalism", he was the organiser of the first movement to end [[Portuguese India|Portuguese rule]] in [[Goa]].<br />
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== Early and personal life ==<br />
Tristão de Bragança Cunha was born on 2 April 1891 in the village [[Chandor]] in [[Portuguese Goa]].<ref name="ShirodkarWho86">{{Cite book |last=Shirodkar |first=Pandurang Purushottam |author-link=Pandurang Purushottam Shirodkar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISScyAEACAAJ |title=Who's Who of Freedom Fighters, Goa, Daman, and Diu |date=1986 |publisher=Goa Gazetteer Department, Government of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman, and Diu |volume=1 |pages=54–55}}</ref> His parents were Ligório de Cunha, a medical practitioner, and Filomena Bragança. While his mother was from Chandor, his father was from Cuelim, Cansaulim.<ref name="SushilaSisters24">{{Cite web |last=Sawant Mendes |first=Sushila |date=2024-02-24 |title=CELEBRATING THE THREE SISTERS… |url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Edit/By-invitation/CELEBRATING-THE-THREE-SISTERS%E2%80%A6/218202 |access-date=2024-09-17 |website=[[Herald Goa]]}}</ref> He completed his school education in [[Nova Goa]] and then went to [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]] to French College for his ''[[baccalauréat]]'' and then to Paris. There he studied at the [[Sorbonne University]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kamat |first=Nandkumar M |author-link=Nandkumar Kamat |date=2016-01-25 |title=Francophilic Goa's French Connections |url=https://www.navhindtimes.in/2016/01/25/opinions/opinion/francophilic-goas-french-connections/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=The Navhind Times}}</ref> and obtained a degree in electrical engineering.<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /> In Paris, Cunha shared a residence with the Vietnamese revolutionary, [[Ho Chi Minh]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-20 |title=Renewing Goa’s French Connections – 20 April 2024 {{!}} O Heraldo |url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/cafe/renewing-goas-french-connections/219027/ |access-date=2026-03-01 |language=en-US}}</ref><br />
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Cunha had two older brothers. The eldest brother, Vincent, was also an active [[nationalist]]. The other, Francisco, studied in London and later at the [[Sorbonne University]] in Paris. He translated the nationalistic views of [[Rabindranath Tagore]] into French and was later invited to teach at [[Shantiniketan]].<ref name="FaleiroGoa1961">{{Cite book |last=Faleiro |first=Valmiki |author-link=Valmiki Faleiro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYLyEAAAQBAJ |title=Goa, 1961: The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration |date=2023-07-24 |publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited |isbn=978-93-5708-175-7 |pages=12–13, 22–23, 26, 82–83, 293 |access-date=21 August 2024}}</ref> He also lived in Russia for many years, working with Russian revolutionary [[Vladimir Lenin]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=Edila |last=Gaitonde |author-link=Edila Gaitonde |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nUhPGfFg10sC |title=In Search of Tomorrow |publisher=Allied Publishers |page=19}}</ref><br />
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Cunha was described as being "suited and booted, would not have food without cutlery even in public places and knew less of Konkani."<ref name="EPWParobo2015">{{Cite journal |last=Parobo |first=Parag D |date=2015 |title=Tristão Bragança Cunha and Nationalism in Colonial Goa: Mediating Difference and Essentialising Nationhood |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24482165 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=50 |issue=31 |pages=61–68 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref><br />
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== Nationalist movement ==<br />
[[File:Statue of T. B. Cunha at T. B. Cunha Chowk Vasco, Goa.jpg|thumb|Statue of T. B. Cunha at T. B. Cunha Chowk, Vasco, Goa]]<br />
In Paris, Cunha was associated with the Anti-Imperialist League and with French dramatist [[Romain Rolland]] and his Information Bureau as part of its Pro-Indian Committee. He published a biography of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] in French, before Rolland. He also worked together with French novelist [[Henri Barbusse]]. Cunha helped publicize the [[Indian independence movement]] generally, and the case of [[Portuguese India]] in particular, in the [[French language]] newspapers, such as the ''[[:fr:L'Europe Nouvelle|L'Europe Nouvelle]]'' and ''[[:fr:Clarté (journal)|Clarté]]''.<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /><br />
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After returning to Goa in 1926, Cunha established the Goa National Congress (GNC) in [[Margão]] in 1928,<ref name="FaleiroGoa1961" /> after meeting with [[Subhash Chandra Bose]], to mobilize [[Goan]]s against Portuguese colonial rule.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 January 1998 |title=Tristao de Braganza Cunha, 1891 ~ 1958 – Father of Goan Nationalism |url=http://www.goacom.com/culture/biographies/tristao.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923182300/http://www.goacom.com/culture/biographies/tristao.html |archive-date=23 September 2009 |access-date=2024-09-19 |website=GOACOM}}</ref> The [[Indian National Congress]] (INC) invited the GNC to its [[Calcutta]] session, offering it affiliation. However, in 1934, the INC decided to derecognize the GNC, stating that it was operating in a territory that was under alien rule. Cunha, now calling it the ''Comissão do Congresso de Goa'' (Goa Congress Committee),<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /> moved its operations to 21 [[Dalal Street]] in [[Bombay]] in 1936. However, the INC did not support Cunha's initiatives.<ref name="FaleiroGoa1961" /><br />
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Cunha continued to publicize the Goan cause through several articles and books, denouncing Portuguese rule. Among his published works were the booklets ''Four Hundred Years of Foreign Rule'' and ''The Denationalisation of Goans'' (1944). He advocated for Goan identification, both politically and culturally, with greater India. A court then prosecuted him for his writings.<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /><br />
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In 1929, Cunha launched a protest against agents of British tea planters against their forced indentation of [[Gauda and Kunbi|Goan kunbis]] as labourers in [[Assam]]. He then took help from the INC and successfully got the Goans repatriated by 1940.<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /><br />
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In 1941, Cunha raised funds for people who were affected by the monsoons in Mormugao and Salcete.<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /><br />
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On 18 June 1946, [[Goa Revolution Day]], [[Ram Manohar Lohia]] had addressed what was arguably the first and largest mass gathering yet, setting in motion the [[Goa liberation movement]]. Cunha and his niece [[Berta de Menezes Bragança]] first held a meeting at the [[Margao]] bus stand on 20 June and then another on 30 June, at the same maidan in Margao where Lohia had given his speech, since then named as Lohia Maidan. Cunha was beaten up badly by the police.<ref>{{Cite book |last=de Souza |first=Teotonio R. |author-link=Teotonio R. de Souza |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ruTu9oaUgUgC |title=Essays in Goan History |date=1989 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-7022-263-7 |pages=177–178}}</ref> [[Bakibab Borkar]], who was present at this meeting, wrote the song "Dotor bos, uthun cholunk lag" ({{Translation|doctor, sit down, arise and march}}).<ref name="FaleiroGoa1961" /> Cunha was then arrested by the Portuguese authorities on 17 July. He was kept in dark damp cell at [[Fort Aguada]]. He was the first civilian to be tried by a military tribunal. He was court martialled and sentenced to eight years imprisonment in the [[Peniche Fortress]] in [[Portugal]].<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /> Conditions in the prison were poor.<ref name="FaleiroGoa1961" /><br />
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While at Peniche jail, he and the other freedom fighters, [[Rama Hegde]], [[Purushottam Kakodkar]], [[José Inácio Candido de Loyola]] and [[Laxmikant Bhembre]], hosted the newlywed [[Pundalik Gaitonde]] and [[Edila Gaitonde]] for their honeymoon. These prisoners organised a celebration in honour of Pundalik and Edila. They hosted a meal for the newly-weds.<ref name="Jeevanrekha09">{{cite book|title=डॉ. पुंडलिक गायतोंडे: जीवनरेखा |trans-title = Dr. Pundalik Gaitonde: Jeevanrekha|editor-first=Somnath |editor-last=Komarpant |date=April 2009 |publisher= Shivanand Gaitonde, Sateri Prakashan |location=Pune |language=mr}}</ref><ref name="FaleiroGoa1961" /><br />
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{{rquote|right|A Free Goa in a Free India|Slogan by T. B. Cunha<ref name="FaleiroGoa1961" />}}<br />
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Due to be released from Portugal in 1954, Cunha was left two years early in 1952 under [[Amnesty]], on account of the [[Holy Year]], but was not allowed to return to Goa. He then obtained a tourist visa to France and from there escaped to [[Bombay]] in 1953. Cunha formed and headed the Goa Action Committee, to help co-ordinate the numerous Goan organisations that had emerged by this time. He published a newspaper called ''Free Goa'',<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /> along with his niece [[Berta de Menezes Bragança]].<ref name="FestinoFreedom21">{{Cite journal |last=Festino |first=Cielo G. |date=March 2021 |title=Goa's freedom struggle |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3828/jrs.2021.2 |journal=Journal of Romance Studies |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=31–48 |doi=10.3828/jrs.2021.2 |issn=1473-3536|url-access=subscription }}</ref><br />
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== Philosophy ==<br />
Cunha believed Portugal to be a "primitive" coloniser that exploited colonies without any significant investment. While [[António de Oliveira Salazar|Salazar]] claimed that Goa was a burden on the Portuguese treasury, Cunha argued that Portugal exploited the [[Customs]] and downgraded the Indian currency, which helped Portugal with its balance of payments. Cunha further analysed Goa's separation from India at a cultural level, concluding that Goans were blindly imitating [[Western culture]]. He further argued that Christianity was used as a weapon for domination by the Portuguese.<ref name="EPWParobo2015" /><br />
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== Death ==<br />
[[File:Funeral procession of T. B. Cunha.jpg|thumb|Funeral procession of T. B. Cunha. [[Gerald Pereira]] is seen as one of the pallbearers in the front left.]]<br />
Cunha died on 26 September 1958. The [[Catholic Church]] denied permission for his funeral and for his burial in the cemetery, because of his atheism.<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /> Politician and theorist [[Jayaprakash Narayan]] was one of the pallbearers at his cremation.<ref name="FaleiroGoa1961" /><br />
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==Legacy==<br />
[[File:Tristão de Bragança Cunha 1998 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|1998 stamp of India depicting T. B. Cunha]]<br />
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Cunha is referred to as the "Father of Goan nationalism", a term first used by [[K. M. Panikkar]] in his preface to a collection of Cunha's writings.<ref name="EPWParobo2015" /><br />
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The [[World Peace Council]] at [[Stockholm]], Sweden, in 1959 posthumously awarded Cunha a gold medal for his contribution to the cause of "Peace and Friendship among People."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Das |first=Arti |date=2015-06-13 |title=T B Cunha: Life in picture |url=https://www.navhindtimes.in/2015/06/14/magazines/buzz/t-b-cunha-life-in-picture/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=The Navhind Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The [[Government of India]] issued a postage stamp in his honour.<ref name="FaleiroGoa1961" /><br />
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[[File:Azad Maidan Memorial 3.jpg|thumb|Urn housing Braganza Cunha's remains at [[Azad Maidan (monument)|Azad Maidan]]]]<br />
On 26 September 1986, Cunha's mortal remains were transferred from the Scotland cemetery at [[Sewri]], Bombay,<ref name="ShirodkarWho86" /> and are now housed in an urn at a memorial located in [[Panaji]]'s [[Azad Maidan (monument)|Azad Maidan]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/happening-in-goa/articleshow/41890164.cms |title=Happening in Goa |work=The Times of India |date= 7 September 2014|accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref> A prominent road in the city of Panaji is named as T. B. Cunha Road.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Nida |last=Sayed |date=2022-10-04 |title=Panaji: TB Cunha Road, vicinity to get facelift, lanes to be pedestrianised |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/panaji-tb-cunha-road-vicinity-to-get-facelift-lanes-to-be-pedestrianised/articleshow/94637022.cms |access-date=2024-11-05 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref> A statue of Cunha has been installed in his ancestral village of Cuelim, Cansaulim.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-15 |title=Tea gadda at Cansaulim market square poses health hazard |url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/Citizen-Herald/Tea-gadda-at-Cansaulim-market-square-poses-health-hazard/171035 |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=Herald Goa |language=en}}</ref> A school in [[Margao]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Is-T-B-Cunha-school-safe/articleshow/39319518.cms |title=Is T B Cunha school safe? |work=The Times of India |date=31 July 2014 |accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref> and a government higher secondary school in Panaji<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Doctor-T-B-Cunha-Government-High-Secondary-School-Panaji-%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80%9C-Goa-review-puturmsnmn |title=Doctor T B Cunha Government High Secondary School |publisher=MouthShut.com |date=16 April 2011 |accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref> are also named in Cunha's honour. The campus in Panaji's Altinho which houses the Goa College of Architecture and the Goa College of Music, is named as "Dr. T. B. Cunha Educational Complex".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unigoa.ac.in/affiliate_display.php?afid=41 |title=Goa University Post Graduation, PH.D, B.SC, M.SC, Research Facilities Study India programme |publisher=Unigoa.ac.in |date= |accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unigoa.ac.in/affiliate_display.php?afid=24 |title=Goa University Post Graduation, PH.D, B.SC, M.SC, Research Facilities Study India programme |publisher=Unigoa.ac.in |date= |accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref><br />
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[[File:Manmohan Singh, the Speaker, Lok Sabha, Smt. Meira Kumar and other dignitaries at the unveiling ceremony of the portrait of Dr. Tristao De Braganca Cunha, at Parliament House, in New Delhi on December 19, 2011.jpg|thumb|Unveiling ceremony of the portrait of Dr. Tristao De Braganca Cunha, at Parliament House, in New Delhi on 19 December 2011]]<br />
A sports' complex in Cansaulim, Cuelim is named after him,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/On-this-stadium-it-is-a-different-ball-game-/79633.html |title=On this stadium, it is a different ball game |publisher=The Herald |date=12 October 2014 |accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref> and his portrait was unveiled in the [[Indian Parliament]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.navhindtimes.in/t-b-cunha-s-portrait-unveiled-parliament/ |title=T B Cunha's portrait unveiled in Parliament |work=The Navhind Times |date=15 March 2010 |accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref> in 2011 to commemorate the golden jubilee of Goa's accession to India.{{fact|date=August 2025}}<br />
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The comic book, ''The Life & Times of T. B. Cunha'', by [[Nishtha Desai]], was published in 2015.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/Release-of-the-book-Life-and-Times-of-T-B-Cunha/89918.html |title=Release of the book, Life and Times of T. B. Cunha |work=The Herald |date= 19 June 2015|accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref> Illustrated by [[Ved Prabhudesai]], Desai's comic book is based on her PhD research. Near its end, the comic book reveals that, shortly before he died, Cunha expressed "disappointment with the Indian government's actions" regarding Goa, seeing the nation's interests in the region as being an extension of colonialism; this was a departure from Cunha's lifelong belief in India being able to save a supposedly "denationalised" Goa. In his review of Desai's comic book about Cunha's life, [[Dale Luis Menezes]] classifies it as a hagiography, one that "is faithful to Cunha and his views on Goan history and, as such, reproduces many of his problematical nationalist stances ... One would have expected a lot more given that Cunha’s ideas and writings show a change over a period of time – especially since he was unhappy with the manner in which India was handling the question of Goan self-emancipation."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-01-06 |title=T. B. Cunha and Goan history – 6 January 2016 {{!}} O Heraldo |url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/edit/opinions/t-b-cunha-and-goan-history/63488/ |access-date=2026-03-03 |language=en-US}}</ref><br />
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==Notes==<br />
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==References==<br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{Commons category-inline}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunha, T. B.}}<br />
[[Category:1891 births]]<br />
[[Category:1958 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Goa liberation activists]]<br />
[[Category:People from South Goa district]]<br />
[[Category:Expatriates from Portuguese India in France]]<br />
[[Category:People from Portuguese India]]</div>StephaineShrader