In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Goan catholics were mostly farmers, artisans and general servicemen. In villages, petty traders were mostly Hindu possorcars. However, if there was one trading community among catholics it was the poder. As Selma (Feb 19 ) has rightly pointed out :*Poders were held in high regard .........because a lot of them managed to make a lucrative earning.. *Some village traditional stories during the colonial era, as told by cabai wearing forfathers, would have us believe that poders who had surplus cash, instead of depositing with Banco Nacional Ultramarino , opted instead to pay land taxes that were badly needed by the half empty government treasury. In two or three generations these lands/paddy fields became properties of tax payers and poor illiterate farmers who had resided and tilled land for many generations ultimately became mundkars. Thus a generation of bhatkars was born.
Antonio
