On Mon, 24 Jan 2005, Dominic Fernandes wrote:
Such a hue and cry for a bunch of crooks , who didn't hesitate to murder Jesuit Priests in cold blood .
Armstrong Vaz , you and whoever supports you should be ashamed of your selves. You seem to have no idea of what to be proud of and what to be ashamed of.
Some recent interpretations of history seek to show just about any protest in colonial times as linked to 'nationalism', 'patriotism', 'fighting-for-freedom', etc.
This obviously is an exaggeration, and maybe a politically-convenient one at that.
Likewise, Dominic Fernandes' interpretation hardly does justice to understanding the issue.
Here's an interesting interpretation of Cuncolim: http://www.goacom.com/culture/history/cuncolim.html
Excerpts:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHY CUNCOLIM MARTYRS?
An historical re-assessment By: Teotonio R. de Souza
... It is in this context that I thought of analysing the
background and implications of The "martyrdom" of the Jesuits and
their native collaborators in Cuncolim in 1583. My analysis
suggests that both The Portuguese rulers and the native dominant
class of Cuncolim were using religion for their own vested
interests. Religious beliefs were not the main issue, but the
economic and political implications of conversion were seen as a
threat. The religious feelings of the ordinary people were
excited to obfuscate these main implications and to kill the
missionaries. There is no reason To believe that the native
exploiting class of Cuncolim were doing Devil's and the
Portuguese colonial exploiters supporting the missionaries were
doing God's work.THE CASE OF CUNCOLIM
I have discussed the process of the disintegration of village economy as having been more marked in the areas subject to market influences of the city. However, Cuncolim was experiencing a similar process at work though it was far from the city of Goa, and not to close to the provincial town of Margao. We need to examine the other factors at work in the interior. If Cuncolim led the revolt against the Portuguese in association with its neighbouring villages, this fact needs perhaps to be understood against the background of its own economic development and interests that were affected by the new tax impositions and administrative-religious controls of the Portuguese. The Portuguese chronicler Diogo do Couto describes Cuculi (sic) as "The leader of rebellions" and its people as "The worst of all villages of Salcete". (17) The prosperity of this village seems to have been derived from its fertile land that had abundant and fresh waters from rivers descending from the New Conquests and crossing it before they became brackish in the neighbouring villages nearing the coast. (18) Surplus agricultural production had enabled this village to develop crafts of a very skilled order. Cuncolim is still known for its skilled metal works. But already in the letters of Afonso de Albuquerque one reads that guns of good quality were manufactured in Cuncolim, and he finds them comparable to those made in Germany. (19) A century later the viceroy D. Jeronimo d'Azevedo was banning the manufacture of guns in Cuncolim under penalty of four years in the galleys and even gallows! (20) This kind of developed crafts can give us some idea of the economic interests that had developed in Cuncolim when the Jesuits arrived. The village also had other important economic resources. One of these was its permanent bazar at the end of more than one caravan routes connecting it with the mainland through the Ghats of the Ashthagrahar province. One of these cut through the Donkorpem Ghat and another through the Kundal Ghat, leading to Netarli and Naiquini respectively. Besides these two Ghat passages there was another coming from Dighi Ghat to Veroda via Talvarda. It was frequented by caravans bringing cloth and other provisions. (21)
Cuncolim bazar needs to be considered as an important factor in its socio-econornic development. In keeping with the traditional fairs connected with temple and religious festivities, also the bazar economy of Cuncolirn depended upon its temple and religious celebrations. One should analyse against this background the reaction of the dominant class of Cuncolim to the destruction of its temples and to the attempts of the Jesuits who sought to establish Christianity in Cuncolim and its satellite villages of Assolna, Velim and Ambelim in 1583.....
