Dear Frederick,
I was glad to receive my article on Communidades de Goa sent by you via
saligaonet. I am also happy to know you are collecting the best articles for
the Saligao Book as Valmiki said. Keep it up. Please be in contact. Loves to u
and yrs.fr. nascimento mascarenhas
----- Original Message -----
From: Frederick Noronha
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 2:53 AM
Subject: [SALIGAONET] Comunidades de Goa
http://www.saligaoserenade.com/2010/04/25/comunidades-de-goa/
Comunidades de Goa
April 25th, 2010 at 6:08 pm (Customs, 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
8th 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:
a.. 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)
b.. 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).
c.. 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.
d.. 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
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