Wonder whether Goanetters would agree with the contention below. It is fairly widely acknowledged that:
* The 20th century Goan society, particularly the first half of the century, saw among the most intense jockeying for power by the two dominant caste groupings of Catholic society (and, by extension, of Goan society) of that time -- the Brahmins and Chardos. * As far as Goa's Hindu population (nearly half the state by that time) goes, Robert S Newman writes (in 'Traditional Colonial to Bourgeois Capitalist, 'The Transforming of Goa', edited by Norman Dantas): "The founding of the Portuguese Republic in 1910 liberated the Hindus of Goa from centuries of discrimination and repression. Immediately, they flooded into the schools, joined associations, established journals, started libraries, and began to take an active role in public life -- as teachers, members of government councils, and administration officials." (Also refer to Antonio de Noronha, 'Os Indus de Goa e a Republica Portuguesa', in A India Portuguesa, Vol II Nova Goa, 1923, p 351). * Also, "over the course of two centuries (roughly 1700 to 1910), Goan society stagnated, its trade in decline and its politics unchanged." (Newman, ibid). * As far as the Muslim population goes, after being gleefully smashed to the smithereens in the early days of Portuguese rule, Goa is one part of India which, unlike the rest of even colonial British India, does respect the family laws of this community. So much so, that even the bigoted Hindutva lobby is today eager to uphold the Portuguese model as a "uniform" code for all citizens (though it is far from uniform in terms of its adoption laws, or allowing Hindu males to marry more than once in certain conditions etc). So, what are we talking about? Just wishful thinking? FN On 16/07/06, Jose Colaco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > WRT your second point (quoted above) It is also true that Hindus, Muslims > and Christians lived together peacefully during the last 2 centuries of the > Portuguese administration of Goa. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ---------------------------------------------------------- 2248 copylefted photos from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/ _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
