Kudos to Jason Pinto for the article“Reviewing its Historical Accuracy”
regarding the migration of Konkani peoplein the early part of the colonial
rule. The issues not only apply toMangaloreans but also East Indians (E-I).
Both these groups are Indo-Lusitaniansas reflected by their history, religion,
names, culture, diet, attire etc. Yetas one encounters them, many disown their
Portuguese connection and some evenblame St Francis Xavier for their plight a
few centuries after the saint died. Jason Pinto discusses the disconnect well
and points out the links to the educated Mangaloreans.
Yet the issue why and how did thesegroups lose sight of their history and their
fidelity to Portuguese? Close refection would tend to place the faultat the
feet of the British colonial masters to whom (in full disclosure) boththese
groups owe much.
As colonists in a distant land, theBritish had a demanding time relying on the
loyalty of their subjects due totheir different ruler and catholic faith. Latin
Catholics were derogatorily called “Papists.” To garner the total loyaltyof the
Mangaloreans and E-Is, the colonial government with their insidious
methodologysowed seeds of discontent with the foreign power. In India it was
easy to plantthe seed of the “Evil of Inquisition” and bring pressure on the
Pope to end thePadroado system in British territories, thus indirectly giving
the civilian governmentthe ability to cut off any link the people may have to a
foreign ruler, and tobring its own pressures to bear on the bishops and the
faithful. The E-Iformerly called Portuguese Christians even changed their
community's name to honorthe East India Company.
Feedback welcome!
Regards, GL
Co-author: Insights into ColonialGoa
Published by Amazon
On Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 04:01:17 AM EDT, Goanet Reader
<goanetreader.goa...@gmail.com> wrote:
ØSMITAY -- Reviewing its historical accuracy
Jason J. Pinto
+91 75070 44269 (WhatsApp)
Mandd Sobhann productions' 'Øsmitay' is the latest portrayal
of a wide array of events and cultural traits of the Konkani
people who inhabit the Konkani coast, right from Ratnagiri in
Maharashtra to Cochin in Kerala. The display of subaltern
Konkani groups like the Siddis, Kharvis, Kudumbis/Kunbis, and
Navayats is fascinating and helps the viewer to appreciate
Konkani culture in a more composite way. Kudos to Bab Eric
Ozario and his team of Mandd Sobhann.
While the movie title claims to depict the Konkani
identity, the subtitle -- "in search for a Konkani
identity" misleads the viewer since it deals
primarily with the Kanara Konkani Catholics with a
few snippets from other Konkani communities.
Further, the names Baltu Pai, Albuquerque Pai,
Peres Bhat suggest it to be an upper caste Catholic
project. Attributing the origin of Konkani
peoples, language and traditions to the banks of
river Saraswati is questionable as modern
scientific, genetic, linguistic and related
research offer different explanations.
A few scenes and events portrayed in the movie are not only
misleading but are also historically and sociologically
inaccurate. Mangalorean Catholics of the upper castes,
namely Bamons and Chardos, like their Konkani Saraswat
brethren, have always preferred the
colonization-conversion-destruction-migration narrative to
showcase their identity aka øsmitay. The movie is a
pictorial representation of the same.
Historians like Pius Fidelis Pinto, Kranti Farias, V.K.
Kudva have often used this narrative to fit in their
historical findings on the Konkani people. Migration, due to
Inquisition and the captivity under Tipu Sultan tops the
list. They convert a complex history into a simple, tired
narrative by citing religion as the main factor which led to
displacement of the Konkani people from their original
homeland, Goa.
The continuing unravelling of this complex history
based on the study of evidence-based research
methodology, and not reliance on tradition oral
narratives, suggests that upper caste groups,
irrespective of their religious affiliations, have
always aligned themselves with dominant powers,
domestic and foreign, to further their own
interests, for trade and commerce, and to maintain
their dominant status in caste-based hierarchy intact.
What are the historical inaccuracies in the movie which need
rectification? Which are those events that are ignored and
what are its sources?
The distinguished Goan historian Panduraga Pissurlencar, who
worked for the Goan Archives, offers us a glimpse in his
books 'Portuguese Marhatta relations' and 'Agentes da
Diplomacia Portuguesa Na India - Hindus, Muculmanos, Judeus e
Parses'. They vividly document historical events which are
often ignored by the general public.
Moreover, the Ph.D. dissertations of Urmila Patil on the
origin of the Saraswat identity, and Parag Porbo on caste,
the findings of Alan Machado (Prabhu) in the 'Goa's
Inquisition: Facts, fiction, factoids' and 'Slaves of
Sultans' are some invaluable reference sources for relating
to the history of the Konkani people. Any historical
narrative of the Portuguese era in Goa that does not talk of
the collaborative role played by leading Hindus -- in fact,
at that time there were no Goan Christians -- in helping
Albuquerque capture Tiswadi, falls short of the truth. Mhal
Pai, sardesai of Verna and Timmaya Naik, a Vijayanagar
subject stationed at Honnavar, were instrumental in this
episode.
This collaboration continued throughout the Portuguese
presence in Goa. As early as 1540, Krishna Sinai (Shenoy)
was sent to Lisbon, where he was knighted for his invaluable
support to the Portuguese in many ways. Goan Brahmans served
the Portuguese administration as diplomats, translators,
ambassadors, tax-collectors (responsible for a reported 80%
of the taxes collected), traders and merchant, money lenders,
and other ways vital to sustain a regime. They even had
working relations with the Inquisition; the entire ground
floor of the Inquisition's headquarters in Goa was rented to
them to carry out their business. The portrayal of the
execution of Laxman Shirodi Pai is historically false. We
have about 12,000 case histories of those judged by the
Inquisition. There is not one Hindu who was burnt at the
stake.
A most serious falsification by the film is citing
religious conversions as the cause of migration,
and the Inquisition as an instrument of conversion.
The Inquisition's role in Goa is clearly documented
in Machado's 'Goa's Inquisition'. It had no role
whatsoever in conversions. It's role was to ensure
converts did not deviate from Christianity, and to
isolate them to the extent possible from
non-Christian religious practices. A majority of
the punishments meted out by it are spiritual in
nature, including religious instruction. Available
statistics for the period 1650-1806 CE reveal 8,250
persons were sentenced by the Inquisition. Of
these, there were 94 executions, no Hindus. Such
statistics show that the image of a harsh
Inquisition many of us have needs a serious review.
Similarly, the image of religious bigotry of the Portuguese
regime in Goa gets diluted when viewed in the context of the
acquisition of the provinces beyond Bardes, Tiswadi, and
Salcette (the Old Conquests) from 1763 to 1788 CE.
The 'New Conquests' areas comprising territories ruled by the
Sawant (a vassal of the Maratha empire) and the Saundekar
king (a vassal of the Wodeyar dynasty) were practically
gifted to the Portuguese, with the latter taking residence in
Goa and accepting an annual remittance from the Portuguese
king. Saundekar and his dynasty have remained Hindu since then.
Does that suggest religious persecution? Interestingly, the
transfer of these territories took place while the
Inquisition was still active in Goa. Moreover, it is only in
Goa that the Temple Regulations (Regulamento das Mazans),
which were composed by the Brahmins and approved by the
Portuguese, are still followed. How is it that the persecuted
sought the help of the persecutors to frame such laws?
Portuguese rule did change the temple-centred economy,
encouraged conversions to Christianity, but kept the caste
system intact. In a way, we would be right in saying that
all Goans took the road to conversion to varying distances
during the Portuguese presence in Goa: in diet (potatoes,
tomatoes, chillies, etc.), attire (pants, shirts), siting on
chairs and at tables, etc. Christians went one step further
in adopting a new religion. But they did not give up caste
and many traditional cultural and ritual practices. This is
where the Inquisition focused on. In sentencing penitents,
inquisitors were instructed to be lenient towards them in
order not to drive them away. The sentences imposed on them
confirm this. I have been assured that this database will be
made available to all to access online in the next few
months.
The database should dispel all misconceptions about
the Inquisition being responsible for the en masse
migration of Konkani Catholics from Goa to the
Kanara coast. Machado shows with statistics that
there is no correlation between the timing of these
migrations and the Inquisition's activities. In
fact, during the main period of migration from Goa,
around 1684 to 1739 CE, the Inquisition's focus was
mainly on the Estado da India's Province of the
North, a stretch of coastal land stretching from
Daman to Mumbai. During this period, emigrations
were mainly from Bardes which was then undergoing
great agricultural and economic stress, and
political instability due to repeated militarily
incursions by the Sawants and Bhosle Maratha chiefs.
The government responded by increasing taxation to build
fortified defences, and taking young men who would otherwise
be working in the fields to build and man them. The result
was, Bardes produced food that could feed its people for only
four months in a year.
Economic crisis, not religious persecution, was the cause of
migrations to Kanara. This was also followed by plagues and
famines which hit Goa from time to time. The other subaltern
castes also followed them. A typical case is that of the
Kudumbi (Kunbi) community in the Kerala region who continued
to serve their Brahmin masters even today, or the Sonar-Shet
community (Daivajna Brahmins now) who were summoned by temple
authorities in Kanara to adorn their deities. The later
claimed a Brahmanical status as well.
Why would Catholics cross borders, that too river Kali
(Cuncolim being the border, not Karwar), and enter a
predominantly Hindu territory to escape the Portuguese? Or
why would Brahmins of Goa migrate to the Mangalore and Cochin
port cities which still had a Portuguese influence to flee
religious persecution? As a matter of fact, the Konkani
settlement at Cochin is just outside the Cochin Fort, a fort
which was once under the Portuguese.
The nomenclature GSB (Gauda Saraswat Brahmin) is a recent
development of the 20th century. And hence, to call all such
Konkani Brahmins, including Catholics Brahmins, as
descendants of GSBs would be erroneous as well. However,
efforts to state that both Konkani Catholics (atleast a
handful) and Konkani Saraswats share a common ancestry, which
is attested even in recent DNA findings, needs to be
appreciated. But a Mangalorean Catholic being an owner of a
large plot of land in Goa, whose ancestors were GSBs, would
be highly implausible, since the comunidade or gauncaris held
the land.
Movies could be a good source of entertainment, as well as
learning if based on proper research. However, care should
be taken not to distort history in their production. It can
open possibilities for vested interests for using them in
motivated and targeted campaigns, especially as elections
draw near. Otherwise, the movie is a must watch for all
Konkani people. Well done, Mandd Sobhann.
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