Anant Priolkar Quotes

One of the provisions of the law passed by king D. Sebastifo on December 4, 1567 was to the effect that in his dominions there should not exist any Muslim hajis or Hindu preachers, Joshis, Joguis, Sorcerers, Gurous of temples or any other person who held a religious office among the Hindus or were the heads or supporters of the religions of the Hindus; he ordered that they should leave his dominions within one month ; failing which they would be held as captives for service in the docks.

In the present volume scrupulous care has been taken to eschew bias and present a dispassionate and objective account of the working of the Goa Inquisition. Inspite of this, the picture which emerges is undoubtedly grim. But this could not be helped as truth had to be told.

Repeated attempts were made to make it impossible for the Hindus to live in the Portuguese territories by depriving them of the means of subsistence. The following order in the name of king D. Jo’o was published by the governor Francisco Barreto on June 25, 1557: “IT make it known to those who sec this letter, that having regard to the great disadvantage to the service of God and my service which can result and to the inconvenience which can arise, from my officers in these parts, those of justice as well as of revenue, utilising the services of Brahmins and other Hindus , and being desirous of taking steps in that regard I hereby order that, as from the notification hereof, no officials of mine, controllers of revenues, commissioners of customs, treasurers, receivers of customs, accountants, lessees of my customs or other revenues, judges, scriveners and notaries and other officials of revenue and justice should utilise the services in any way whatsoever of any Brahmin or other infidel in matters of his office ; and any of such officials who do the contrary shall incur the penalty of losing his office, and the said Brahmins shall become captive, and lose all their property one half to me and the other to the person who denounces them, and this should be so understood in my city of Goa as well as other cities and forts of those parts. Also as I hold it a great disservice to God and to me that in the said cities and fortresses the said Brahmins and Hindus should exercise the offices which are given them by my governors, captains and officials, 1 hereby order that from now onwards they should not serve in those offices and that such offices should not be given them ; and that all the offices which it is customary to give to the natives of the land should be given to the Christians and not to the Hindus, as stated above; and I also order that all Mucadams of all offices in the land shall be Christians and this work should be given to Christians and not to any Hindus or infidels.’’

In the present chapter it is proposed to review in brief various measures taken by the Portuguese rulers in India with the object of converting the natives to Christianity. The measures tall into two broad categories. Firstly, there were those the object of which was to make it difficult for the natives to continue to retain their old religion. The temples and shrines of the Hindus were destroyed and they were forbidden to erect or maintain new ones even outside the Portuguese territories; practice of Hindu rites and ceremonies such as the marriage ceremony, the ceremony of wearing the sacred thread, ceremony performed at the birth of a child, was banned ; priests and teachers of the Hindus were banished ; Hindus whose presence was considered as undesirable from the point of view of propagation of Christianity were sent into exile ; those who remained were deprived of their means of subsistence and ancestral rights in village communities; they were also subjected to various humiliations, indignities and disabilities ; ‘‘ orphan” children of the Hindus were snatched away from their families for being baptised ; and men and women were compelled to listen to the preaching of Christian doctrine. In the second category can be classed the measures intended to provide positive incentives for conversion to Christianity, such as, those which sought to give the Christians a monopoly of public posts, altered the laws of inheritance in favour of persons who changed their religion, discriminated in favour of Christian converts in the matter of the rights and privileges in the village community. As would be expected, the Inquisition played a prominent role both in bringing pressure on the secular authorities to pass discriminatory legislation and in enforcing the measures with characteristic sternness and severity.

On the other hand, the story of the Inquisition is a dismal record of callousness and cruelty, tyranny and injustice, espionage and blackmail, avarice and corruption, repression of thought and culture and promotion of obscurantism and an Indian writer who undertakes to tell it can easily be accused of being inspired by ulterior motives. From this point of view, it would have been appropriate if the task had been undertaken by a Portuguese historian...

I have always felt it a pity that there should be no authentic account’ of the Inquisition in India and have given some thought to the problem of filling up this lacuna in our history....From information which became available later, there is reason to believe that these records were deliberately burnt.

The campaign of the destruction of the Hindu temples existing in the Portuguese territories did not entirely succeed in its object as they were soon replaced by new temples in neighbouring territories. Whenever possible, the images of Gods worshipped in the temples which had been destroyed were smuggled outside the Portuguese territories and installed in new temples ; where this was not possible, new images were made and installed. For instance, Mangesh from Cortalim and Mhalasé from Vernem were installed at Priol; Shantadurga from Cavelossim at Queula and Ramnath of Loutulim and Mahalakshmi of Colvé at Bandora. Hindus who had migrated to neighbouring territories also built new temples to their family Gods in those territories and many such temples are found to this day in the coastal districts up to South Kanara and Kerala. The Portuguese missionaries soon discovered that erection and maintenance of new temples out- side Goa was being financed by the Hindu citizens in Portuguese territories and many new converts continued to remain attached to their old Gods. To put a stop to this, the third Concilio Provincial held in Goa in 1585 requested the King of Portugal by a resolution to pass a decree forbidding the Hindus from financing the erection and maintenance of temples in neighbouring territories. ‘This resolution ran as follows : ‘“‘ It is known for certain that the Brahmins and other infidel subjects of Your Majesty have erected and are erecting in the lands of the neighbouring infidel chiefs, almost all the temples which in our territories had been pulled down and under the same names and titles as they previously had. The construction and maintenance of these temples as well as of the staff thereof are supported by moneys which are earned in our territories and taken out. This is a great offence against the laws of God and also has a deleterious effect on the New Christian converts as it weakens them in their faith, apart from the fact that it results in large sums being exported to foreign territories for being spent towards such idolatrous purposes. This Council prays Your Majesty to order under pain of grave punishments that no infidel subject of Your Majesty build temples or cause them to be built, nor reconstruct them nor finance at his cost their upkeep or maintenance of the staff therein nor give any assistance or gift for such purpose. Since Your Majesty prohibits the infidels from going on pilgrimage to or attending festivals held at such temples under pain of exile and fines, it is a much worse offence to build or maintain such temples at their cost. The Concilio begs Your Majesty that fines be imposed on such infidels, and such part thereof as he may consider appropriate be applied towards new Christian churches which may be erected in future or might already have been erected in the villages in which the said infidels reside, in case there is need for such assistance ; and in case the churches do not need the same, towards any other purpose which the Prelate may consider appropriate.’’

Records of the missionary activities of the Franciscans which are available are not as full and complete as those of the missionary activities of the Jcsuits. In a report of the activities of the Franciscans which has been published under the title ‘‘ Noticta que obravdo os frades de S. Francisco,” it is stated that they “destroyed 800 Hindu temples where false Gods were worshipped.

As marriages were forbidden in Portuguese territories, Hindus had to go to neighbouring territories under Muslim rule for celebrating them and the marriage parties were frequently waylaid by robbers. The viceroy D. Pedro de Almeida in 1679 permitted the Hindus to celebrate marriages in their houses behind closed doors, provided outside the houses were present an armed guard appointed by appropriate authorities who would prevent Bottos (Hindu priests) and other ministers of the Hindu temples from entering the houses for performing sacrifices or other Hindu rites and ceremonies as was customary. The Inquisition took over the duty of policing such marriages by sending parties of the notorious Naiques of the Holy Office. It was, however, pointed out that ‘the order made performance of marriages totally impossible, because, according to the custom of the Hindus, marriages could not be valid without the presence of Bottos and performance of Hindu ceremonies, and if performed otherwise they would be null and void, the wives taken by such marriages only concubines and the children born of such marriages illegitimate and deprived of the social status of their fathers.” The order was accordingly revoked and replaced by the decree of king D. Pedro dated August 29, 1679 which permitted the Hindus to perform marriages in ships or barges in the rivers which separate the Portuguese territories from the territories ruled by Muslims, provided no Christians were present.

The records of the Inquisition should have formed the most important source of information for writing an account of its working. Unfortunately, they are not available either in Goa or in Portugal and there is reason to believe that they were destroyed.

In a report submitted by Irmao Gomes Vaz to the king on December 12, 1567, he gives extracts from some letters sent by the Captain of Rachol in which the latter gives particulars of his campaign of destruction of temples. In this we find a reference to ‘‘Malsa devi.’”’ In one of the extracts it is stated that on the preceding day the captain of Rachol broke the principal image of the temple of “‘ Alardol ’’ (Mardol ?) into pieces.*4 It is also stated that on March 15, 1567 the temples of Doro, Mando, Narana, Baguaonte and Hesporo (Ishwar) of Sancuale were burnt down and the images found therein destroyed. There is also a reference to the destruction of the temples of Cuncolim, Chinchinim and Ambelim. It is also stated that the images found in the destroyed temples were thrown into the rivers in the vicinity or melted to make candlesticks and other objects for use in the local churches.

On March 13, 1613 the viceroy D. Hyeronimo de Azevedo issued an order that no infidel should marry during the times forbidden by the Church and during other times of the year they could do so only outside their villages and observing all that the Concilio Provincial had laid down and other relevant laws, under pain of a fine of 1000 Xerafins, of which one-third would be paid to the accuser and two-thirds applied towards the expenses of the High Court.® A still more draconian order promulgated on January 81, 1620 ran as follows : “In the name of His Majesty I order that as from the date of publication of this order, no Hindu, of whatever nationality or status he may be, can or shall perform marriages in this city of Goa, nor in the islands or adjacent territories of His Majesty, under pain of a fine of 1000 Xerafins, one-third of which would be paid to the accuser and two-thirds applied towards the expenses of His Majesty’s navy .

On April, 3, 1582, the following royal decree was issued : “ Being informed that Brahminsand Hindus of these parts of India are collectors and contractors of my revenues and also serve my Officials in matters relating to their offices, which is greatly detrimental to Christianity and contrary to canonical law, and although the governor had provided against this by his order of the year 1557 the same was not being executed, and being desirous of providing in this matter in pursuance of my duty to propagate our Holy Catholic Faith in the said parts, I hereby order that from now onwards no Hindu, whatever be his status or condition, should hold public office.’’2?

All books written in Sanskrit and Marathi, whatever their subject matter, were seized by the Inquisition and burnt on the suspicion that they might deal with idolatry. It is probable that valuable non-religious literature dealing with art, literature, sciences, etc., was destroyed indiscriminately, as a consequence. These activities had been initiated in Goa even before the establishment of the Inquisition. For instance, there is a letter dated November 28, 1548, in which D. Fr. Joao de Albuquerque proudly reports his achievements in that direction.”

Scholars are generally agreed that the Inquisition of Goa had earned ‘‘a sinister renown as the most pitiless in Christendom.” From the foregoing account of the use of torture by its counterparts in Europe it should be possible to imagine the cruel excesses which the Inquisition of Goa must have practised to have merited such notoriety.