Dears, There are some persons in Goa who do not know history and attempt to sell a version that says that the whole of GOA was under PORTUGUESE rule for 451 uninterupted years. The atrocities committed by INDIAN rulers are conveniently forgotten or pushed under the carpet[or xendri]. The Indian Rulers were not always Muslims. In fact, the muslim rulers were often more tolerant, perhaps out of necessity as their subjects were not.
The Earth or Sateri [ or Kelbai, Laraiee, Tulzai, et al] and Rashtroli/ Rakhondar/Devchar worshipping Bhandari Samaj is not really what it is made out to be by the Hindu umbrella organisations. Vishnu [or his incarnations as Rama, Krishna, Narasimha, Mohini, etc] or Shiva have not been a part of the Bhandari heavens, mythology or religious practice. There was hardly ever a Goa-centred dynasty. Even the Kadambas ruled from Banavasi, near Sirsi in North Kanara district of Karnataka. To this day Mr.Ananta Kumar, the BJP MP from Sirsi, runs the Kadamba Foundation. In Goa, the local BJP unit call the people of North Kanara 'Bhaile" or "outsiders" while claiming to be more-Bharatiya-than-thou and proud of the pre-Portuguese history of Goa that includes the Kadamba Kingdom. The fact is that GOA to the Poruguese of the early 16th century was only Velha Goa, Later it included Reis Magos and Aguada. It was even later that their attention went to Mormugao and Vasco da Gama or further South to Salcete. Till the 18th century they hardly had a grip on the Velhas Conquistas of Ilhas, Bardez, Salcet-Mormugao. Whether they had any direct control over Bicholim, Sattari and Pernem is very doubtful, even in 1961. Farar-far is the story of what happened. Yet, today the Portuguese are said to be the cause of all our misery. Even if that were to be so, we have only Timmaji Vago Camotim and Mhal Pai Vernekar to blame for inviting Afonso de Albuquerque to Goa and for collaborating him in the first treachery and murder of brave Indian soldiers [who had driven away the Portuguese after their first attempt in March 1510 and fought to defend Goa upto 25 November, 1510 ]. The duo was responsible for the conversion of the muslim women and their marriage to the Portuguese sailors in 1510-1511. Today, there are attempts to whitewash this graveyard of patriotism for the sake of profit and to make the victims of the betrayal appear like the traitors. It is time to expose who are the real beneficiaries of the Portuguese colonialism and largesse from 1510 to 1961 and from the vestigial benefits of the Estado da India mining concessions, Mokaso/Village Proprietorship, Viscountage and other benefits to this day in 2006. It is time to put Nationalism to the ECONOMIC BENEFITS test. No prizes for guessing the correct answers. ................................................ ----- Original Message ----- Ryan da Piedade Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Vasco-da-gama was called Sambhaji? When? Well in general most of these 'renaming' exercises are usually rooted in an extremely misplaced, overzealous, sense of patriotism, no doubt in an effort to appeal to a vote bank, and may be even an attempt to 'erase' history by denying it. It's quite crazy. In Mumbai every thing is being named after Chattrapati Shivaji. First the domestic and international terminals of the Airport, then the Victoria Terminus. The last I heard, there was an attempt in 2004 to name to the Prince of Wales Museum after Shivaji. What next, Azad Maidan, Nariman Point, Churchgate, Gateway of India, .... Who knows, may be Mumbai (ex ante known as Bombay), will have to be called Shivajinagar 'cause every landmark and structure in it is named after the Maratha warrior .... Ryan . --- "Daniel F.de Souza" wrote: The attempt to change the name of the Port city from Vasco da gama, to Sambhaji Nagar was done during the reign of the erstwhile MGP Rule in the mid-seventies. It did make some impact in the first few months, but, then it died down the way it came and the MGP did not succeed in their stupid designs. Daniel. ----------- According to the late Indo-Portuguese historian Dr P. Pissurlenkar, in the dead of a night in December1683, the forces of Shivaji's son Sambhaji advanced into Goa. The sudden, ominous blare of the trumpets froze the Portuguese force in the fort. The Marathas held the fort in a pincergrip and brought the defending soldiers to their knees by poisoning the well from which they brought water when the fort supply dried up. Sambhaji's army prevailed over Bardez for 26 days from January 2 to January 25, 1684, and in the booty they carted away were 46 heavy cannons from the forts of Bardez. On March 5, 1739, Khem Sawant (Bhosle) scaled the walls of Colvale fort and captured it. A more terrible fate awaited the military officials at the Tivim Fort, which the Bhosle army captured in October 1739 in a bloody battle. The Bhosle army massacred several military officials, and it was only after the signing of a Treaty by the demoralized Portuguese with the Marathas on September 18, 1740, that the problem was bottled like the proverbial evil spirit. Of course, peace eventually ensured when the Portuguese captured Pernem in 1838. http://www.goacom.com/tours.php?sub_sec=villages&file=tivim&smid=20 ------------- http://www.indiacatholic.com/historyofgoa.htm 1683 - Attack on Goa by Marathas under Sambhaji. ------------- ============================================================ The Ranes, the Deshparabhus, mine owners, traders and all the great bureaucrats in the Portuguese administration were not necessarily 'catholic', though quislings are quite universal. Those who do not remember their history are condemned to see it repeat. Viva Goa. Miguel
