------------------------------------------------------------------------ * G * O * A * N * E * T *** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sangath, www.sangath.com, is looking to build a centre for services, training and research and seeks to buy approx 1500 to 2000 sq mtrs land betweeen Mapusa and Bambolim and surrounding rural areas. Please contact: [email protected] or [email protected] or ph+91-9881499458 http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-July/180028.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are quite a few well-written history books REFERRING TO the Goa Inquisition written during or just after the Inquisition, describing this period of Goa. A few years ago, Fred had posted on Goanet as an e-book, what was a research account written by a Bombay-based British historian. He was, I think the editor of the British Gazetteer in India. Another book is by JN Fonseca whose book (An Historical and Archaeological sketch of the city of Goa) was written in 1878 and recently posted on Goanet. Such books have the advantage that the authors had access to the hard official data, some of which I am told is no longer accessible, because it got burnt or shipped to Brazil. It is not rocket science to separate fact from fiction when looking at an (in-depth / monogram) article on a topic. Look at the bibliography (referencing the factual statements) on each page or at the end of the chapter. If one looks at the published bibliography there is as much as one can know about the Goa Inquisition - its goals, workings, numbers indicted, the fanfare of the occasion (with effigy burnings); and the documented and not so obvious rationale and goals of the powers that ruled Goa at the time a.k.a. regional geo-politics. That is of course if one wants to look at the period in its entirety - the big picture. So some who say, "not much hard information is known about Goa's Inquisition" are not being honest or have failed to peruse this topic with focus, relying instead on fictional and embellished novels. Using anecdotal writings of an author (as a victim or as a tourist) has a place. But this is like knowing about prostate cancer by reading the patients' account of his cancer. There is role for this, but it is obliviously limited given the narrow experience of it's author and scholarship of the writer. One who reads and quotes any work, by merely referring to opinions and conclusions without quoting the hard facts to support those opinions cannot be serious. How many scientific papers writing on a disease, quotes the patients' account, unless as a passing comment? And if not, Why not? Answer: Because there are better / more quantifiable sources of information to quote. What one references mainly is someone elses' corroborating data, NOT merely repeating their conclusions and commentary. Prof Higgs from the University of Toronto appears to have done an extensive 'research of the research'. I have not read his book but would love to do so, together with Priolkar's. I wish rather that quote opinions of these and other authors, one would post the factual numbers of those indicted, the type of offenses they were charged with, and their punishment; and contrast that with the author's conclusions, either defending the author or pointing to his / her contradictions. Personally the only indictment one can make of the Goa Inquisition is 'Legal Malpractice'. The individuals to make and substantiate that charge would be lawyers. They would compare the workings of the Inquisition with the legal practice of the time. If non-physicians were to look back at medical practice of the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, they would RIGHTLY call that as Medical Malpractice ... by today's standard. I was curious to see Fred's conclusions of "Prof Higgs' insights" (see below). Now was not this what the suprulo goenkar was saying all along? And all I got was / and keep getting is "tho kitem zano?" :-)) Regards, GL --------------- On Tue, 8/4/09, Frederick Noronha We can split hairs till the cows come home. The question is just whether the depiction of the Inquisition in Goa also suffers from a Black Legend and whether those who did such a good job of spreading its story across centuries and across countries did it with vested interests or not. After believing the likes of Priolkar and Dellon ("after all, he is a Catholic himself") for long, the more one digs-up the more one gets convinced that the answer to both the queries above is an unambiguous yes. Even Prof Higgs from Toronto gives us interesting insights to believe that the Inquisition was more about power and class, rather than religion and communalism (as made out to be in contemporary India). FN
