Comunidades de Goa<http://www.saligaoserenade.com/2010/04/25/comunidades-de-goa/>
April 25th, 2010 at 6:08 pm (Customs<http://www.saligaoserenade.com/category/customs/>, History <http://www.saligaoserenade.com/category/history/>) by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas “Whether to abolish or reorganise *comunidades* has been a subject of much discussion. These are otherwise known as agricultural associations. Let us try and focus attention on this extremely old institution activity. The exact date of organising *comunidades* is not known, but Portuguese historian Joao de Barros, in his publication *Decade II*, Fr. Francisco de Sousa in his book *Oriente Conquistado, *and Afonso Mexia, in his book *Foral de Usos e Costumes, *establish the date as 1526. It is known that centuries earlier, a few people from across the Ghats came to Goa. They were agriculturists, in Cape Canar( Karnataka), and not having good lands for cultivation, were attracted by the freshness and beauty of Goa. The first people to live in Goa divided themselves into families called *Vangores, *each *vangor* representing a family. In order of preferences, these were again classified and called first, second, third, etc, *vangor. *The territory was again divided into *malos*, meaning provinces, and each of the *malos* into *gaos,* or village. A certain number of *vangores *were transformed into *ganvponn *or *comunidade.* It is clear that the term *gaos *led to the formation of the term *comunidade.* Which in the early days was the most elevated form of family control in respect to religion, economics and society. The *gauncares* of each village divided the plots, a part being determined for religious service another for the maintenance of its employee, and the third for the barber and other mediums. The *comunidade *got its income from fields, fishing, in the lakes and rivers, which income was distributed between the *Ganvcares.* The ancient Hindu and Muslims princes who established themselves much later over the Konkan dominion, maintained the *comunidades *in the village, extracting a nominal tax known as *foro.* When Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa (1510) he respected the religious norms, which were administered through effective laws. He allowed the customs and traditions to continue, and did not increase the taxes already existent. On 16 September 1526, Afonso Mexia, organiser of the vendor of Royal Treasury, in the name of King Joao III of Portugal, published a decree ‘*Foral dos Usos e Costumes’* to regulate the rural economy of village *Comunidades *and bring them under civil administration. With this, the *comunidades *came under the direct tutorship of the government. The new constitution regime in Portugal, whilst determining new ways of public administration, did not alter the working of *comunidades. *A decree dated 15 September 1880 gave *comunidades *the new name of *associacoes Agricolas, *which brought immense benefits to the cultivator, and allowed him to hold onto land for three years at a time, on a nominal *foro *(tax). A law in 1886 translated the existing legislation into a more efficient administration of the *comunidades.* In October 1929, to improve the working of the agricultural department, a new workshop called inspection of *comunidades* was established. On more than one occasion the Portuguese thought of reorganising and even making * comunidades* extinct.” [Reference: “Goa those bygone days” by Antonio Menezes in *Mirror*, 29 December 1996]*.* *Comunidade de Saligao * The village was administered by the *Comunidade**, *an institution of village administration retained by the Portuguese and which stands till our present times. Under it, the common land of the village was vested on the * Ganvponn*, the corporate entity of the village. There were village helpers, the carpenter (*thovoi*) or *mesta*, the barber (*mhalo*), the shoe-maker (* mochi*), the washerman (*modvoll*), the crier (*parpoti*) and blacksmith (* vinani*). Some of them had their own *namoshins* or cultivable lands. On questions affecting the interests of the whole village, the *Ganvponn *decided by vote. The 12 Christian Brahmin Vangors (clans) of Saligao Comunidade had one vote each. The members of the 12 “*vangodd”* enrolled themselves as follows: 1st Vangodd: *CRUZ, FURTADO* 2nd Vangodd: *GAMA, COSTA, MELO, SEQUEIRA* 3rd Vangodd: *SOUZA* 4th Vangodd: *REMEDIOS, SOUZA, DANTAS* 5th Vangodd: *MELO, SOUZA* 6th Vangodd: *CORDEIRO, FIGUEREDO, MELO, MACHADO, NUNES, PAIS, RAMOS, SALDANHA, SOUZA * 7th Vangodd: *SEQUEIRA* *8*th Vangodd: *ALMEIDA, ABREU, MENDONCA, NORONHA, SOUSA* 9th Vangodd: *COUTINHO, LOBO, MONIZ, DIAS, MASCARENHAS, MATIAS, MENEZES, PINTO, SERRAO, SOUSA* 10th Vangodd: *COSTA, COELHO, CARVALHO, CAMPOS, FERNANDES, GOMES, MONIZ, MARQUES, SOUZA* 11th Vangodd: *MASCARENHAS, CARNEIRO* 12th Vangodd: *AZAVEDO, FERNANDES, VAZ* The above are all Brahmin *ganvkar* and their primary enrolment as members of the Comunidade to receive *zon* (dividend) was after having completed the age of 12 years. They were known as *joneiros gauncares.* *Kulcharins* There are others who receive *zon* only. They are called *Paustes* and * Taikilles* or *Kulcharins*. They are outsiders established in Saligao, working for the Community and receiving *zon* a little less than the * ganvkar*. Their primary enrolment is after completing the age of fifteen and are of the following surnames: *ALMEIDA, DIAS, MONTEIRO, SEQUEIRA, VAZ, SOUZA, FERNANDES. *They are only *joneiros* but not *ganvkar*. *Some Peculiarities:* - The Fernandes and Marques of the 10th Vangodd of Saligao Communidade are *dodde-zonnkar *(double zonkar), that of Saligao as *joneiros-ganvkar * and of the Comunidade de Chorao. In the Communidade of Chorao they are known as Brahmin-Kulacharins*.* (vide, *Livro de Comunidade de Chorao*, Ilhas, Goa) - In the Comunidade de Saligao, the alimony corresponding to one *zon* is paid to the only son of a deceased *ganvkar*. When male children are more than one, the eldest received the *zon* in full and the others received one-half each. This alimony was extended to the sons of Kulacharins in Saligao Comunidade (vide, Gomes Pereira, Rui, *Goa Gaunkari, The Old Village Associations*, Vol. II, p. 59). - A few members of the first five *vangodd* of the Comunidade de Saligao had, to the exclusion of the other members, the right to celebrate the feast of Novidade* *(vide, Gomes Pereira, Rui, *Gaunkari*…, Vol II, p. 116). In my younger days at least two of my friends, the late Caetano Antonio dos Remedios from Tabravaddo and Mel D’Souza from Arrarim were presidents of the ‘*Festa de Novidades’* which was celebrated on August 6. It is celebrated now too but without a president and at a changed date in the month of August. - Every Comunidade member of Saligao has to register his name by himself or through proxy (*ganvkar*) annually in the Book of the Comunidade in order to receive the *zon** *of that particular year in May. All these enrolments ( primary or yearly) are done by the *Escrivao*. The member will not receive the *zon* for the particular year if he has not registered his name in the book. http://www.saligaoserenade.com/2010/04/25/comunidades-de-goa/ Frederick Noronha :: +91-9822122436 :: +91-832-2409490 -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active!
