[Goa Research Net] More on the Tantric deity Sharvani from the village
of giresal rice Inbox
Dr. Nandakumar Kamat
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Saligao was known to produce abundant crops of a delicious and highly
prized variety of a very tasty , easy to cook rice-the giresal paddy.
So the village name is derived from (gire) sal+gao (village) or a
"village which produces giresal paddy". Marathi literature sings the
glories of "giresal bhat' our equivalent to scented Basmati. This wild
and later (about 3500 years before present) domesticated strain of
Gondwana rice (about 55 million years old) is now disappearing from
Goa alongwith 50 other wild rice strains. Naturally Salgaonkars today
prefer the hybrid varieties of rice if at all they step in the fields.
In case anyone still cultivates Giresal variety in SALIGAO then he/she
deserves national felicitation. Because the lineage of the seed
germplasm would be very old. It is not easy to maintain it aginst
pests.
Saligao falls on the ancient horse trade route linking Chapora-Anjuna
ancient port area to Mapusa where Dr. Gune had discovered a Roman
amphora indicating Roman trade contacts through the then deep and
navigable Mapusa river. The pre-Portuguese history of this beautiful
and scenic village needs to be scientifically and objectively
documented. Saligao must have been a much parger and prosperous
village in 8-12 th century to host a tantric goddess from bengal.
The Goddess Sharvani ( a fierce form of Durga, similar to Goddess Kali)
was probably imported by the traders or tantriks during the period of
Badami chalukyas/Shilaharas or Early Goa Kadambas in Goa ( alongwith
Kamakshi of shiroda and Chamunda of Goa velha). This period ( A.D.
700-1200) was marked by intense intracoastal trade and commerce.
Inscriptions of Badami Chalukya Vinayaditya have been found in south
east Asia. Jaikeshi's 11 th century copeer plate clearly mentions-
Bengal (ancient "vanga/banga'). K.D. Naik, (grandfather of Sahitya
akademi award winner for literature-2006, Konkani writer D.D. Naik
from Margao) , has shed adequate light on Bengali influence in Goa in
his two Marathi books.
Goddess Sharvani certainly originates from Bengal. The original temple
of Sharvani in Goa was located at Saligao-bardez. The deity was moved
during 16 th century to Ajarem in Savantavadi taluka. Then she was
established at Advalpale in Bicholim taluka. Adv. Gomes Pereira
mentions about her in his talukawise list. If I remember correctly
More information is given by late Vinanyak Narain Shenvai dhume in his
Marathi Publications-'Devbhumi Gomanatak' nd 'Punyabhumi Gomanatak".
In fact for any researcher on Goan Hindu temples the sources in
Marathi are indispensable and these are found at Panaji's central
library, Sarswati Mandir library, Goa University (esp. Pissurelencar
and Kundaikar collections) and Margao's Gomant Vidhya niketan library.
The 'bharatmitra' monthly published from Rivona by N.B. Naik used to
caary a series of articles on Hindu temples. N.B. Nayak also wrote-
"gomantakatil devalaye". Now it is out of print. Generally
researchers exahust English and Portuguese sources only and then
declare that they have no information on such subjects.
Some useful weblinks:
http://www.goa-travel.com/sightseeing-in-goa/religious-places/sharvani-devasthan.html
Is there any such goddess or is it a misspelling of some other real
designation? We are familiar with sherwani as a dress piece! Would it
be a pop variant of SINHAVAHINI (designation that is also given to
goddess Durga mounting a lion)? A Portuguese anthropologist working in Goa and
surrounding region during the past three years or so mentioned that hardly
anyone in Goa could provide him with any published info about this goddess from
Saligão!
Would any Saligãocar on GRN or anyone else let us know about the pre-Portuguese
social and religious background? Perhaps Fr. Nascimento
Mascarenhas who has been active in researching about his native village?
Teotonio R. de Souza
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Teotonio R. de Souza [Moderator-GRN]
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18:35 (6 hours ago)
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Thank you so much dear friend Nandakumar. You have been a perennial
source of light to me on such issues.
If I understood right the young Portuguese anthropologist during our
first and cursory meeting, he may have sensed rightly a conflict
between rival mahajans of the goddess Sharvani and those of Betal
whose cult is also active in the same temple.
The bengali «tantric» origin of the deity seems to me a clue for this
conflict. Tantrism tried to do away «ritually» the caste reality, but
how far it succeeded in changing the reality is a moot question. What
our anthropologist is trying to investigate may provide us an answer
to this question.
Teotonio R. de Souza
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William Robert Da Silva
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18:57 (6 hours ago)
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Dear Nandakumar,
I have worked on this issue long ago. Sal and gao. Sal by itself is
rice. Shali means rice. So Saligao could have been rice bowl of Goa.
Dir sal or gir sal or, perhaps better, jirsal, is long corn rice like
basumati or basmati with an aroma of it sown.
In Kanara all those who grown dir- or jirsal traditionally claimed
that they migrated from Saligao. I have a lot of documentation of oral
attestment. This category does not exist among Tulu speaking people.
Even now there are a dozen families who grow this variety of rice,
three of them were encouraged by me in the seventies, when I was
parish priest of their area, and they continue in spite of all odds,
because they love the aroma of the rice.
I do not know how dir or jir came to be. Has jir to do with jirem
which i slong is shape and rice was named after it or is there
something about dir-which I do not know?
With regards,
William
PS: What was intrigueing was that when asked some said that Saligao is
from sal, kollyo, or porcupine and gao. I wonder at popular etymology.
W
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