Hi Frederick, I'm all confused now :-) Certainly there is a debate to be had as to why Salcete came be dominated by Da Costas, Dias, Furtado -all patrician chardos. And certainly there was much interaction between Bamons and Chardos at the high end, just as there was interaction between sudhirs and chardos at the lower end. All these corridors of interaction inevitably did much to level the playing field and create a more egalitarian society. That's my hypothesis anyway. Take care, selma
From: Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا <[email protected]> To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 7:45 PM Subject: Re: [Goanet] Caste and Assolna On 12 April 2012 14:15, Carvalho <[email protected]> wrote: Dear members, >I was wondering if anyone would be able to comment on this. In Salcete large >areas do not have bamons. Would Assolna of Salcete have had bamons. What would >be the possibility of a man who set up a school in Assolna being bamon? > >Any comments and speculation would be appreciated. >Best, >selma > Selma, to stoke up a debate... * When you say "large areas do not have bamons", I guess you're referring to the fact that they're not gaonkars (and dominant landholders). This is particularly true of areas of coastal Salcete (except Benaulim), and some other areas too. But would this imply that they were totally absent from the locality, or didn't even live there? I souvr ir. * In Catholic Goa in the last century, bamons and chardos were the two contestants for power and influence. Yet, there was some degree of interaction among them too. * I would think that a school run by a person from one dominant caste in a village dominante by another caste would be a possibility. For that matter, I could point to a "chardo"-run school in a "bamon-dominated" village too. Probably parents would judge by the quality of education offered. FN
