On Mon, 24 Jan 2005, Dominic Fernandes wrote:
Such a hue and cry for a bunch of crooks , who didn't hesitate to
murder Jesuit Priests in cold blood .
Armstrong Vaz , you and whoever supports you should be ashamed of your
selves. You seem to have no idea of what to be proud of and what to be
ashamed of.
Some recent interpretations of history seek to show just about any protest
in colonial times as linked to 'nationalism', 'patriotism',
'fighting-for-freedom', etc.
This obviously is an exaggeration, and maybe a politically-convenient one
at that.
Likewise, Dominic Fernandes' interpretation hardly does justice to
understanding the issue.
Here's an interesting interpretation of Cuncolim:
http://www.goacom.com/culture/history/cuncolim.html
Excerpts:
--
WHY CUNCOLIM MARTYRS?
An historical re-assessment By: Teotonio R. de Souza
... It is in this context that I thought of analysing the
background and implications of The martyrdom of the Jesuits and
their native collaborators in Cuncolim in 1583. My analysis
suggests that both The Portuguese rulers and the native dominant
class of Cuncolim were using religion for their own vested
interests. Religious beliefs were not the main issue, but the
economic and political implications of conversion were seen as a
threat. The religious feelings of the ordinary people were
excited to obfuscate these main implications and to kill the
missionaries. There is no reason To believe that the native
exploiting class of Cuncolim were doing Devil's and the
Portuguese colonial exploiters supporting the missionaries were
doing God's work.
THE CASE OF CUNCOLIM
I have discussed the process of the disintegration of village economy as
having been more marked in the areas subject to market influences of the
city. However, Cuncolim was experiencing a similar process at work though it
was far from the city of Goa, and not to close to the provincial town of
Margao. We need to examine the other factors at work in the interior. If
Cuncolim led the revolt against the Portuguese in association with its
neighbouring villages, this fact needs perhaps to be understood against the
background of its own economic development and interests that were affected
by the new tax impositions and administrative-religious controls of the
Portuguese. The Portuguese chronicler Diogo do Couto describes Cuculi (sic)
as The leader of rebellions and its people as The worst of all villages
of Salcete. (17) The prosperity of this village seems to have been derived
from its fertile land that had abundant and fresh waters from rivers
descending from the New Conquests and crossing it before they became
brackish in the neighbouring villages nearing the coast. (18) Surplus
agricultural production had enabled this village to develop crafts of a very
skilled order. Cuncolim is still known for its skilled metal works. But
already in the letters of Afonso de Albuquerque one reads that guns of good
quality were manufactured in Cuncolim, and he finds them comparable to those
made in Germany. (19) A century later the viceroy D. Jeronimo d'Azevedo was
banning the manufacture of guns in Cuncolim under penalty of four years in
the galleys and even gallows! (20) This kind of developed crafts can give us
some idea of the economic interests that had developed in Cuncolim when the
Jesuits arrived. The village also had other important economic resources.
One of these was its permanent bazar at the end of more than one caravan
routes connecting it with the mainland through the Ghats of the Ashthagrahar
province. One of these cut through the Donkorpem Ghat and another through
the Kundal Ghat, leading to Netarli and Naiquini respectively. Besides these
two Ghat passages there was another coming from Dighi Ghat to Veroda via
Talvarda. It was frequented by caravans bringing cloth and other provisions.
(21)
Cuncolim bazar needs to be considered as an important factor in its
socio-econornic development. In keeping with the traditional fairs connected
with temple and religious festivities, also the bazar economy of Cuncolirn
depended upon its temple and religious celebrations. One should analyse
against this background the reaction of the dominant class of Cuncolim to
the destruction of its temples and to the attempts of the Jesuits who sought
to establish Christianity in Cuncolim and its satellite villages of Assolna,
Velim and Ambelim in 1583.
