Goan Literature 

Culture, Colonialism Over The Centuries

HERALD, Sunday Magazine

Japan encountered Portugal in Goa. Polyphony was introduced into India through Goa. And sections of Goans -- probably regardless of religion -- also profited from the Portuguese colonial venture. But, on the other hand, in the seventeenth century itself, there were some 30,000 Goans in Kanara. These facts come out from a just-published historical book on Goa. Titled Goa and Portugal: Their Cultural Links it was edited jointly by Helmut Feldmann of Germany and Dr. Charles J. Borges. It brings together papers presented at a seminar held in May 1996 in Germany.

FREDERICK NORONHA discusses the new book with its co-editor Dr. Charles Borges, s.j., just before the Jesuit-historian left for the US on a three-month teaching assignment. Borges says this is an "interesting topic... and the papers are of a high standard." Below, he offers some interesting insights:

FN: One of the points which caught my attention was that in the 16th century, Goa served Japan as a passage to the Portuguese and Catholic world, acting the part of intermediary for both in various ways, as pointed out by University of Tokyo history professor Takashi Gonoi.

That's a fact. Goa was then the Estado da India, the main capital of the Portuguese (in the East), for that whole area. It was not only a governmental capital, but a kind of religious capital. It also was a cultural capital. It was an iridescence point. So, if at all Portugal had to make contact with Japan, at that time it would be through Goa. People coming here, going from here, embassies coming and the like.

FN: From quite another part of the world -- Mozambique and Africa -- the study by Manfred F. Prinz of the University of Cologne, says the community of Prazeiros, in the eighteenth century, was largely of Indian decent. Including Asians of Goa. So how far back would historians date Goan presence in Africa?

Prinz is trying to show how much contact there is between Africans and Goans, or other Indians -- maybe from places like Gujarat. Some moved to Mozambique and consolidated themselves. It's interesting. He says they became part of the place. Prinz speaks of a Pereira family, who almost became (almost African themselves). They went into sorcery and all sorts of things, which are considered very African. They virtually merged themselves. Prinz's time-span goes back about two hundred years. From the way he puts it, he suggests that the Goan population (was half the entire Indian population which migrated). Earliest references are to the Gujaratis who went to Africa. But Goans in Africa find references in history perhaps at least from the beginning of the seventeenth century.

FN: University of Calgary professor of music history Victor A. Coelho says the practice of polyphony was cultivated in Goan churches since the 1540s. (Polyphony is music whose texture is formed by the harmonic-interweaving of several independent melodic lines.) Today this has even reached the Hindi films. Was Goa again the entry point?

True. Goa turned into a place which offered a very receptive audience for this kind of music. Not only did the people accept it, but there were religious orders who were popularising it in a very big way. Largely because of the (existence of Asia's first printing press in Goa) some of this could be copied, and could be widely read. Also there was the fact that so many foreigners would be coming here.

FN: What is underlined in this book is that Cochin was the first seat of Portuguese government in the East. Don't we today tend to forget that apart from Goa, other major cities on the west coast -- like Bombay and Kochi -- were influenced by the Portuguese?

That's because Kochi was the point where the Portuguese originally entered India. It continued for many years, till Goa was captured, and perhaps by 1533 Goa really became the central point. But it was in Goa that the Portuguese could really consolidate, because here was where they conquered the land. In other places, they didn't own the land, apart from maybe bits of it. In Bombay, some of the villages they held on to were lost. In Kochi, some of it came under the various rajahs.

FN: Antonio Nunes Pereira from Germany's Aachen Technical Institute calls for a deeper study of the sixteenth century transfer of European architecture to the East, so as to understand the origins of some of Goa's architectural traditions. Has this been inadequately studied so far?

Scholars do study something, and they don't find enough evidence, and they say it should be.... The point is true. Everything can be studied at greater depth. Pereira says many of these churches are replicas of other ones in other parts of Portugal. If one studies in great details, you see how this particular basilica, that particular church in Old Goa is a model of another one in Portugal. Not only from Lisbon, but from other parts of Portugal.

FN: Percival Noronha says that the City of Goa assumed great commercial importance under the Portuguese because of its geographical situation and stable government, which gave a big impetus to trade and commerce. Were there some other factors?

Old Goa did develop into this big emporium of trade. Perhaps the role of the religious too should not be underplayed, because they were the ones that were consolidating fine arts, music, travel. These were the big things also. Trade was one component. There were other things too....

FN: But then, the religious also played a big negative role. Your own essay points out that conversions led to divisions among the people of Goa themselves. That a tension-ridden relationship existed between the Jesuits and the local clergy on the one hand, and with sections of the local population on the other.

This was a fallout of the whole process. If they were trying to do things in a very dramatic way, they were bound to cause tensions. All changes have to be a slow process, and have to take into account the dynamics of how things work (locally). Many religious ignored, or were not aware of, such things. Resultantly, there were tensions between religious themselves. And between the religious and sections of the local population. Those undercurrents remained.

FN: Your predecessor in the Xavier Centre, Dr Teotonio R. de Souza says Portuguese missionary campaigns were perceived in varied ways by sections of the locals. For many Goans of the higher castes, as he puts it, it was an opportunity to collaborate profitably with the new rulers. Though more conservative elements among them found the demand for a change in religion and tradition not acceptable.

Things were probably difficult for the people. They had to choose, about being on one side or another. These trends were there, of certain groups aligning themselves with the Establishment or opposing it. Sometimes it meant not just individuals, but whole groups like a village settlement making a decision.

From records we find that those trying to rise up also gave it a try. People realised there were economic benefits to various positions you accept.

FN: Now, it's become fashionable to blame the Portuguese for whatever went wrong. But, as pointed out in the book, not all the problems of the Goans were caused by the Portuguese. Your comment?

In any society, there would be internal problems. I suppose each century would have brought out its own problems. But the fact of the Portuguese coming, moved that society in its own way. Some legislation, particularly in the earlier part (of Portuguese rule), also really went against the people.

FN: As you co-editor Helmut Feldmann puts it, Francis Xavier was shown by some Portuguese authors as being a direct heir and successor to apostle Thomas, thus giving a higher legitimacy to the presence of the Portuguese and the Jesuits in Asia generally, and particularly in Japan. Would you agree that the political misuse of religion has been very strong during our Portuguese past?

True. Those who wrote history were often asked to write in a particular way. In one case, a book was not allowed to go ahead because the author was not veering towards the Portuguese cause. Yet, it is always the hallmark of epic literature to highlight certain grandeur of each country. So, the argument was at times stretched, to show that Xavier was a direct heir of Apostle Thomas to say that it was so-many years later. But the idea was to show the greatness...

FN: Regarding the methods used to spread Portuguese culture, there's still much debate.. Dr. Fatima da Silva Gracias' talks about marriages, force and incentives. Today's its fashionable to say it was all force that was used. How would you judge the mixture between force and "incentives"?

Mainly in the sixteenth century, for some decades, there was a very rigorous implementation of the Portuguese methodology. But afterwards there was a greater leniency. As in anything, you cannot impose a rigour for too long. People resent it. The whole economy goes out of gear. So there has to be a kind of carrot and stick approach.

FN: In the view of Goa archives director Dr. P.P.Shirodkar no other section of Indian society must have suffered as much for sticking to assert their rights during European expansion in India.

That's a point of view. It was not only give. It was give-and- take. So there must have been some take in the giving. We need really hard evidence to back our arguments.