India-Portugal past inspires researchers:
Panaji (Goa) | June 20, 2005 10:42:58 AM IST
Commerce and travel may not be contributing much to relations between India and Portugal, but studies of their past could act as a bridge between the two countries in the future, say researchers.
One such attempt was made recently through a conference in Lisbon where Mariam Dossal Panjwani, a professor of history at the University of Mumbai, delivered a talk on 19th century surveys of Bombay.
Bombay - now called Mumbai - was a former Portuguese territory till it was handed over to the British as dowry in a royal marriage. Panjwani specialises in Indian urban and maritime history.
Titled "Illuminating The City", the conference was organised by the Centre for Overseas History, Universadade Nova de Lisboa, and the Centre for the Study of the History of Architecture, Universidade de Coimbra.
The presentation took stock of what is known about "different localities and what remains to be explored in Portuguese and British Bombay".
Panjwani says the colours, patterns and social textures of cities are "most vividly brought out by locality and community histories".
"Cadastral surveys and census information as well as community newspapers and family records bring to light the distinctive features of neighbourhoods, wards, boroughs and districts - the many parts that make up a city," she says.
Panjwani has studied the Dickinson-Tate cadastral survey of Bombay Town and Island (1811-1827) with its detailed information of Bombay's localities accompanied by maps, census and survey reports.
"It illuminates the fundamental changes taking place at a critical moment in Bombay's history, when feudal tenures and land rights dating from the mid-16th century gave way to a market in land and capitalist land relations," she says.
Portugal was the first European power to encounter Asia, via India, in the late 15th century. The Portugese colonised Goa till 1961.
Former Portuguese ambassador in India Marcello Duarte Mathias, who recently penned "Indian Diary 1993-1997: In a Slow Hurry of Time", is convinced that India is impossible to understand satisfactorily.
From a family of Portuguese diplomats, Mathias has published several diaries of his diplomatic postings since 1962.
One of the themes recurring in the diary is India "backing out" of the fifth centenary commemorations of Vasco da Gama's arrival in India.
But the author also recalls attacks of the press in India in 1997 against the visit of Britain's Queen Elizabeth to mark the 50th anniversary of India's independence.
"Indo-Portuguese History: Global Trends", another book published here, looks at issues such as the Portuguese-Dutch rivalry in past centuries in Asia - including around Goa - the role of interpreters in colonial history and the Indo-Portuguese relations in textiles. (IANS)
Panaji (Goa) | June 20, 2005 10:42:58 AM IST
Commerce and travel may not be contributing much to relations between India and Portugal, but studies of their past could act as a bridge between the two countries in the future, say researchers.
One such attempt was made recently through a conference in Lisbon where Mariam Dossal Panjwani, a professor of history at the University of Mumbai, delivered a talk on 19th century surveys of Bombay.
Bombay - now called Mumbai - was a former Portuguese territory till it was handed over to the British as dowry in a royal marriage. Panjwani specialises in Indian urban and maritime history.
Titled "Illuminating The City", the conference was organised by the Centre for Overseas History, Universadade Nova de Lisboa, and the Centre for the Study of the History of Architecture, Universidade de Coimbra.
The presentation took stock of what is known about "different localities and what remains to be explored in Portuguese and British Bombay".
Panjwani says the colours, patterns and social textures of cities are "most vividly brought out by locality and community histories".
"Cadastral surveys and census information as well as community newspapers and family records bring to light the distinctive features of neighbourhoods, wards, boroughs and districts - the many parts that make up a city," she says.
Panjwani has studied the Dickinson-Tate cadastral survey of Bombay Town and Island (1811-1827) with its detailed information of Bombay's localities accompanied by maps, census and survey reports.
"It illuminates the fundamental changes taking place at a critical moment in Bombay's history, when feudal tenures and land rights dating from the mid-16th century gave way to a market in land and capitalist land relations," she says.
Portugal was the first European power to encounter Asia, via India, in the late 15th century. The Portugese colonised Goa till 1961.
Former Portuguese ambassador in India Marcello Duarte Mathias, who recently penned "Indian Diary 1993-1997: In a Slow Hurry of Time", is convinced that India is impossible to understand satisfactorily.
From a family of Portuguese diplomats, Mathias has published several diaries of his diplomatic postings since 1962.
One of the themes recurring in the diary is India "backing out" of the fifth centenary commemorations of Vasco da Gama's arrival in India.
But the author also recalls attacks of the press in India in 1997 against the visit of Britain's Queen Elizabeth to mark the 50th anniversary of India's independence.
"Indo-Portuguese History: Global Trends", another book published here, looks at issues such as the Portuguese-Dutch rivalry in past centuries in Asia - including around Goa - the role of interpreters in colonial history and the Indo-Portuguese relations in textiles. (IANS)
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