What was Goa before Portuguese came? Did Portuguese develop Goa as the major trading hubs? And If So, Why they failed to expand and let Dutch and English run the show in the Indian Ocean(IO), what role does Jesuits Played? Read about Goa's history <Gaud Saraswat Brahmins-18th C.>
Aryans in the form of GSB reached here when they cut themselves off from their group near Saraswati River, as they compromised their vegetarian Dharm by eating fish to tide over a 12-year famine. Place where Ram spent time during his exile days <We have a Cabo de Rama Fort>
Goa's excellent waterways made it a strategic post. Hindu and Muslim dynasties battled for long. Sea Ventures soon spotted it, Sumerians called it Gubi. Persians & Arabs also came. Muslim rulers decided to make the port the centre for Haj. Kadamba ruler made Gopakapattana.
Kadambas were of impeccable pedigree, ~decent from a 3-eyed, 4-armed warrior that came from the sweat of the god Shiva under a Kadamba tree. Under them, ships sailed up to the African and Arabian coasts. Cotton goods, diamonds, precious stones & spices were exported from here.
Arabs were the ruling power of Indian Ocean. Hindu ruler of Vijayanagar used Goa’s port was for the Arab horses for wars. Soon they lost Goa to Bijapur. And, Ella near Mandovi was now the Muslim-dominated capital of Goa. Adil Shah laid the template for 'Golden Goa'.
Back to Europe, a new aristocracy arose in Portugal (~12th C.), rewarded for their roles during the Reconquista <Christian re-conquest in the Muslim kingdoms>. Prince Henry, the Navigator, had produced improved types of Ships <Caravels: swift & light>in his, shipyard by 14th C.
The caravel was used for his Atlantic ventures. And, by Christmas 1497 Vasco da Gama used it for the first European expedition in IO < financed by the Portuguese crown>. He rounded the Cape of Good Hope – Africa’s southern tip – and reached the Indian port of Calicut in 1498.
By 1510 Portuguese defeat Adil Shah to establish a colony in Goa, and make it as the capital of their Estado da Índia (Indian Ocean empire). Trade was organised by the Carreira da India. It was the first European Company to trade with Asia, and served as a model for the later.
Soon they were the connector between India, China and Europe. It was their trader who will introduce Tea in Europe. They introduce and named Orange and Mango and brought Potato and Chilli in India. Pao and many more.
Expansion of trade brought adventurers and fortune hunters from various parts of Europe to Goan shores. Plus crusading character of the earliest Portuguese overseas campaigns meant that they attracted religiously motivated foreign volunteers.
Soon they started their religious drive: Muslim <spread of Islam had horrified their missionaries as they felt it is impossible to convert them> and their Masjid been destroyed. Persecuted large numbers of Syrian Christians in Malabar and Hindus in Goa <trying to convert them>
1542 a new dimension was added with Francis Xavier ('Goencho Saib'), a Jesuit <schoolmasters of Europe> priest. He had been sent by the Catholic Church in Rome to train & employ native clergy to help with further missions to convert the native populace.
Once Marathas were once very close to capture part of Goa, all the Portuguese viceroy could think of: drag out relic of FX and Pray. But, it did work for them and Maratha dashed off to combat a sudden attack from Aurangzeb (FX = Legend). In 1961, this was done again <in-vain>!!
They will also destroy Mahalsa's older temple. Mahalasa = Mohini avatar of lord Vishnu. Most of the idol were buried under the Paddy field in Devar Island and Ponda.
Anyways, Goa was going through it’s commercial prosperity: ’Golden Goa’. Profits from the entrepot trade had made it to rivalled Lisbon. Goa get the oldest hospital in Asia and was also fortified. But by 1588 English defeated Spanish and Portuguese Armada. Soon Dutch also emerged
Soon they lost to Ottoman navy also. All this made them to Just Focus on Goa. misadventures in the Bay of Bengal also played no small part in it. English and the Dutch East India Companies had entrenched themselves on the western IO. Gave away Bombay
Thus by 17th C. they have lost Jaffna, Malacca, Mangalore, Quilon, Cochin and Bombay to the Calvinist Dutch and Protestant British. And Mahim to Marathas. Part of all this was their religious drive, same reason why they were in India.
Dutch & English were the traders first and territorial rulers next. Force was to play only a very carefully calculated role in their overall strategy. EIC developed Surat as a cosmopolitan port (Hindu Baniyas, Parsees, Jains, GSB). End Goal =maximisation of commercial profits.
Till 16th, their army in India was hardly sophisticated, with no real ‘regiments’ of foot soldiers. It was volunteers or degredados – with a fidalgo, <little training, no uniforms and no standardized weaponry>. Unit would disband in Monsoon & soldiers were often left to beg.
Portuguese almost got bankrupt by corruption, by the Inquisition and intermittent epidemics. When invaded by Napoleon army, Portuguese monarch had to fled Brazil in 1808 and EIC occupied Goa to counter, the Napoleonic onward march to Asia.
Goa’s fortunes changed with the declining influence of the Estado da India , but it remained a port connecting the Portuguese communities at both ends of the Portuguese network of commerce. (Xerafim or ashrafi was their silver currency)
Today, you will still find Goan raving about the old Golden Goa while ignoring that Catholic as state religion only ceased in 1910 with the establishment of Republic of Portugal. Banned in the mid-17th century, the Goan's own language, Konkam, was never the language of power.
Yet their legacy in architecture, music and way of life in Goa is unique, the more so because it is concentrated in a small community living in a territory which is tiny when compared with the rest of India.
Written by Siddharth Misra on Twitter
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