Story Of our journey from Goa to Mangalore.

                        Story Of our journey from Goa to Mangalore.

This will be in two parts. One about the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB’s) and other about the Mangalore Christians ( Roman Catholics).

Where to start then?

Since we have to start somewhere- Lets take the year 1510.

                                            GSB’s:

They were primarily based In Goa during those times- the temples mostly were in, what is today known as “old Goa” area.

Year 1510 : Goan part which was under Adil Shah was taken over by the Portugese

( with the help of Honnavar General -Thimmoja).

Thimmoja thought, Portugese only wanted trade and money ,and not the kingdom. But No. Portuguese planned to make Goa thier Indian Base.

Thimmoja was exiled and Afonso Albuquerque took over .

Salcete and Bardez were the first place they came to.

Year 1540: Francis Xavier: Co-founder of Society of Jesus arrives in Goa.

He noticed that the Brahmins, were the main obstacles in mass conversion. He wrote a letter to the king of Portugese saying the removal Of brahmins is a must for further progress of Christianity in Goa.

In a letter he wrote “ If there were no Brahmins in the area, all Hindus would accept conversion to our faith.”

He demanded a Inquisition( loose translation: Inquiry) to be setup in Goa.

Inquisition was already in setup in Portugal and Spain by then.

Francis Xavier himself was witness to the first Inquisition in Lisbon-where two clerics were burnt alive at the stake.

Basically, He knew what he was asking for.

The period of “Court of Inquisition” was probably the most brutal history of Portugese rule in Goa. Though as children,we heard mentions of it in the family, we never knew even the minor details of it.

Of course-it must have been mentioned as a one-line in our history school books.

Fortunately, There are many books on this Inquisition alone.

Year 1560: “Court of Inquisition “ sanctioned by the Pope was imposed In Goa and continued till 1812. It functioned for nearly 250 Years.

Inquisition basically meant the church appointed inquisitor, had the right to inquire anyone he deems fit, to be inquired about his/her religious practice.

Even the Viceroy of Goa was powerless in front of him.

The inquisitor though appointed by the pope, was answerable only to the Portuguese King.

This article will not be able to do justice in covering the complete topic on Inquisition,for lack of space. However I will post a few facts about it.

It was established in the old palace of Adil shah having cells for around 200 prisoners.

Due to fear, people only used to call it “Hodle ghar”-the Big House, when the official name for it was “Santa Casa”( House of God). It was burnt along with the records in 1812 when the inquisition was stopped.

Forget us, even most Goans may not know the location of that place.

The Open ground between Bom Jesus Basilica and St Catherine church was, where the “Hodle ghar” was located.

More about the inquisition in the next section-when we talk about Mangalore Christians.

Year 1559: It was declared that any Christian convert would automatically be guaranteed 100% of his Hindu family’s property. How many must have succumbed to this proposal?

Year 1542 -66: King of Portugal gave a order to Destroy All temples in thier territory.

According to thier own records-Nearly 300 temples in those two districts(Bardez and Salcete) were demolished in just One year.

Simultaneously the rent and the income ,which used to come to the temples were diverted to build churches there.

Most of the Old Goa churches were probably built by using these Temple wealth.

In some cases-A church was built right on that spot ,where the temple was demolished.

Example:The Church of Cortalim was erected on the same site where the temple of Mangeshi existed, according to British records.

People belonging to some of those temples managed to take the vigraha( loose translation: Idol) , cross the River Mandovi and establish temple ,in what is known as Ponda Today.

Land across River Mandovi was then controlled by the Sonde King-which was a bit safer .

Thats why you see, major temples of Saraswats are in Ponda today-Mardol,Mangeshi,kavale,Mahalsa etc etc.

Some of them went right up to  Shirali to establish thier temple ( Mahamaya Ganapathy) -Original temple was in Marcella.

There is no temple( except one) in Goa which is of pre-Portuguese era. All of them were razed to the ground. That was the kind of destruction done.

Right from 1540, Portugese targeted the Brahmins the most- because they realized that they were the most influential in the Hindu society.

They used many ways to target them.

For lack of space- I will list a few.

1. The shikha/shendi of young Brahmin boys was cut by the Portuguese Priests. Since the society was very orthodox-most families refused to accept them back.

Now, what will the Mother do then? To be with her Son, she preferred to convert to Christianity rather than be away from her son. Soon whole families converted.. ( Some of these Converted families are today part of Mangalore Christians...more on that later)

2.Jesuit priests used to walk along with Negro slaves-catch some Hindu men..cutoff the shendi,force feed piece of beef- so that he is outcasted from his family...forcing him to convert to Christianity.

3. Hindus were prohibited from having weddings and sacred thread ceremonies. In fact,even the dead were not allowed to be cremated according to Hindu traditions. They had to cross the River to do all of this.

Imagine, taking the dead body of your near one across the river,so that the final rites could be done as per traditions.

Even this wasn't possible after the fall of the sonde kingdom later.

Year 1560: Pause for a second...read what I wrote....close your eyes and imagine this....

“ You are a well settled person having a full family..having good agricultural land etc..with a established profession. Suddenly you come to know of a new Portugese law,which says – You have One Month to vacate your land and leave Goa.....or....convert to Christianity and retain it all”

This law came in 1560.

If I am Mahesh Joshi today- It’s because my ancestor had the option to “convert to Christianity” or lose all thier property/profession/place to live ,with no guarantee as to what will happen to him and his family....Despite the “easy” option, he chose the latter.....If I dont bow down to him for his conviction, "that Dharma mattered the most",it would be the worst thing on my part.

Before dissing away our culture and traditions, we should remember that ,our ancestors have paid a bigger price for it than we ever will.

Year 1684: A new Portugese Law was introduced -which prohibited anyone speaking in Konkani. Not even inside your own home.

Books in Marathi,Sanskrit and English was banned.

Punishment could be up to confiscating your property too.

Year 1669: One of the worst Portugese orders came into force.

“ All orphaned Hindu children were to be handed over to the Jesuit priests for baptizing them”

Now orphan normally meant both the parents have expired.

In reality though, even if one parent had expired...in some cases,even if one grandparent had died, the kid were taken away by the priests for baptizing.

How many families could resist such a measure and not convert?

Basically, This is how the Portugese operated.

One one hand- Reduce rights of the Hindus. Property rights/Right to practice thier religion etc.

On the other hand- Give monetary benefits to people who converted to Christianity. ( Govt jobs, lands vacated by the fleeing Hindus etc)

Majority of those Hindus preferred to leave Goa....that's why you see the konkani speaking GSB’s all the way up to Kochi.

Reference Books :

Dr Gabriel Dellon: An Account of Inquisition in Goa

Ananth priolkar-Goan Inquisition.

Delio de Mendonza: Conversions and Citizenry:Goa Under Portugal 1510-1610

Fillipo Sasetti on Goa History.

Maria Aurora Couto :Goa :A daughters Story

Dr Antonio Noronha.-Former judge of Goa.

Teotonio R. De Souza, The Portuguese in Goa,

Mangalore Christians (Roman catholics of Mangalore)

Now, you ( RC’s) may wonder after reading the above section.

“All those laws were for restricting Hindu culture and traditions. We had already converted to Christianity by then. So, these laws didnt affect us anyways,isn't it?”

Year 1540: Enter Francis Xavier. He noticed something and wrote about it to the head quarters of society of Jesus as well as the Portugese King.

Now, look at your traditions( you meaning- RC’s of Mangalore). Do you have all the following in your customs or traditions?

1. Exchanging of Veedos(beetal leaf) during marriages.

2.The ceremony of “Roce” where the bridge and groom are applied Haldi and Coconut milk – a day before the wedding.

3.You do not add salt to the rice while cooking( someone maybe thinking” what kind of question is this?”)

4. Brides wearing saree at her wedding ceremony.

5. Family surnames having kamath,Pai,Prabhu,shenoy etc.

I named just five for lack of space.

Is it a yes for any of the above?

Well, Francis Xavier found these customs of the neo-Christians( newly converted Christians in those days in Goa) to be having traces of the Hindu traditions ..

He came to the conclusion that, these neo-Christians were not “christian” enough....

His recommendation for the “court of inquisition” was primarily to tackle this issue. To make these neo-Christians drop all these practices.

That's why in Goa- if you eat in a Christian house-Most likely,you will find their rice to be salty because that was one of the conditions imposed on them, those days.( To add salt to rice while cooking)

Many Historians say that ,the Mangalore Catholics had migrated to Mangalore mainly due to the Maratha attacks on Goa and effects of “Court of Inquisition”.

The effect of Maratha attacks is likely less because, it was only for around 10 years or so....In later years,the Maratha empire itself diminished.

The effect of Inquisition was probably more because, it was run for 250 years.

So what happenned at the court of inquisition?

A list of around 50 offenses were listed as crimes. The above mentioned “five” were also among them.

Anyone could report a neo-Christian as having violated ‘one’ of those 50 offences.

The one who reported ‘didnt’ have to prove anything.

The neo-Christian would be arrested and his property confiscated.

A portion of the confiscated property given to the “witness”-rest went to the Portugese....Nice incentive to report someone whom you didnt like ,wasn't it?

Can you imagine how many must have falsely reported this crime?

They were then tortured in the “Hodle Ghar” till they confess to their “crimes”.

Two types of tortures were mainly used: By “pol” and by “potro”.

Pol torture was hanging you upside down -putting more and more weights on your head till the body gives away.

Porto torture was keeping the mouth open forcibly and pouring water into it ,till you confess or die.

As usual in any genocide- women were raped first before subjecting them to these tortures. Women had their breast torn off by some tool they had created specifically for that purpose.

It will be too sad to read, if I keep listing all the tortures etc done to them.

Thousands of them were tortured like this.

Remember, Goa’s population those days was hardly 1,5 to 2 lakhs. A few thousands arrested meant a lot.

Also Remember-the moment you were arrested-the property was confiscated by the Portuguese ,effectively putting his family on the streets.

Auto-da-Fe: This was a annual event, where some of the arrested were paraded in a open place.

Verdict was passed on them by the Inquisitors and burnt at the stake “Alive”.

There was a variation to it. He/She was asked whether he /she wanted to die as a Christian?

If he said yes-he was strangled first and then burnt there at the stake.

If he said No- he was burnt alive.

This place still exists ,where a pillar called “Hathkatro kambo” ( as the name suggests, the pillar where the hands were cut) stands there even as of today. Its near to Basilica of Bom Jesus.

The Neo-Christians who ran away from Goa and came to Mangalore were either “bammans”( Brahmins who converted) or “shirodi’s” ( kshatriyas who converted).

Point is, your ancestors ran away from there to preserve some of their traditions despite having converted to Christianity.

Doesn't it make more sense to hold on to it.?

Reference Books :

Alan Machado Prabhu:Saraswathi’s Children: History of Mangalore Christians

Pius Fidelis Pinto:History of Christians in Coastal Karnataka, 1500–1763 A.D.,

Severine Silva :The Marriage Customs of the Christians in South Canara, India 

I have tried to make this as short as possible.All the mistakes are mine....The authors of the reference books have done a extraordinary Job.

If you feel,you didn't know about this “sad” but a important part of our ancestry, do pass it on to your kids and friends etc.

The whole purpose of writing this, was not to feel bitter towards anyone.

But to know our past and recognize the sacrifices, our ancestors made,to save some traditions and culture.

After all- A part of whom you are today is because of the actions of your ancestors, Isn't it?