Query about European cemeteries in India

[Frederick Noronha]

A friend sent me this query. Would you have an answer?

I am researching European cemeteries in India. The Portuguese were the first major European in India or Goa. Naturally they were the earliest to establish an organised place for burial or, cemetery, long before the British did. I am looking for information on the oldest Portuguese cemeteries in Goa in general. I have been unable to find anything useful on the internet, apart from the few scattered mention of Goa's cemeteries. But I would like to know more. Like, what their tombs look like, the inscriptions and stuff. Any books or sources regarding the same will also be useful. English will be better. So, could you help? 

So far my research tells me that back since the middle ages, it was normal custom to inter vip bodies beneath church, and common folks in the adjacent churchyard. That is why there are tablets or plaques on the floor. I have read that The Portuguese were the first to introduce separate burial grounds in India, but the author does not exactly say that, " this is the cemetery opened in that year, and this is the first ever Christian cemetery in India". 

While the Roman Catholic cemetery at Agra survives from 1611, Portuguese examples should date from the 1500s. Perhaps nothing survived. Some Portuguese cultural website told me those cemeteries used to be covered with a roof (a novelty) and a chapel used to be there. Perhaps nothing survived. 

Portuguese Goa fascinates me. But there aren't many books on that (I may be wrong). In fact, in my opinion, cemeteries are generally seen as a morbid thing and something to be avoided. That is why perhaps there aren't many books on cemeteries.

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Sender notified by Mailtrack

12/09/22, 03:18:20 pm

[Dr Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes]

Hi

 

So sorry can’t help with this query  as I have no knowledge in this area.

 

BW

 

Dr. Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes

Director, Stellar Consultancy Services

Social Research, Evaluation and Training

Tel: 00 44 7913901776

 

Community Organising for Inclusive Industrial Policy: A Case study of Citizens UK Birmingham and migrant micro-enterprises (nesta.org.uk) 

 

(PDF) The Role of Portuguese and British Colonialism in the Migration and Settlement of Goans in Britain (researchgate.net)

 

Colonialism, Migration and the International Catholic Goan Community https://archive.org/details/cmicgc-smk

Sender notified by Mailtrack

12/09/22, 03:18:20 pm

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[Roland Francis]

In Amboli, a suburb of Bombay and a former East Indian (Portuguese influenced local Marathi speaking Christian resident) dominated ‘village’, the St Blaise RC church has cemeteries both inside the Church and outside (at the entrance).

The gravestones are all in Portuguese with the latest one being from the mid 1940s. Churches such as these were part of the Padroado rather than the Bombay Diocese as they came under the old Portuguese tutelage of Baçaim (Bassein/Vasai). So if you’re looking for the oldest Portuguese cemetery or graves, you will have to include old Bombay suburbs in your search.

Roland Francis

416-453-3371

On Sep 12, 2022, at 5:58 AM, Frederick Noronha <frederic...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Selma Carvalho]

If the person querying hasn't already checked out Indo-Portuguese forum on FB, they can do so, I've put up several cemetery posts and photos.

All best,

Selma

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-book-club/AS1P195MB1421E22D63F8F21F4CD0CCDEA9449%40AS1P195MB1421.EURP195.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM

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[fredericknoronha2]

Here are some of the answers picked up online:

Floyd Almeida
Not Goa, but in Bassein now Vasai inside the fort there are many grave stones with Portuguese symbols, names etc

Pramod Kolambkar
We used to visit Anjadev island, when we're in school for picnics, here there were old cemeteries, presently what is the state I didn't know. the Church of Our Lady of Springs, was built in 1505. The Chapel of St Francis D’Assissi is also located here but it is in ruins.

Cliff Pereira
The first Portuguese capital of the Eastern Imperio was at Cochin (Kochi), so quizá you could check that. Besides there were other Christians in India prior to the Portuguese arrival and they too would have had burial sites.

Zé Teixeira de Queiroz
when the portuguese arrived in India there were no cemeteries, bodies were buried inside the churches, in tombs or in the soil. Cemeteries started for hygienic reasons in the beginning of the XIX siglo, usually on the grounds of the recently (XIX ...)

Received via the Indo-Portuguese History Group on Facebook. FN

[Cibele Aldrovandi]

Hi Frederick,

There is a cemetery inside the Sao Jeronimo Fort in Daman. I have a few pictures from it from 2018. Most graves are recent but I remember seeing some ancient ones. Not sure how old though.

I also have photos from graves inside churches from Daman and from the Bassain fort. I took them for a friend from Mumbai who was doing his PhD on Portuguese inscriptions.

If your friend would like to take a look at them, I’d be glad to share those with him/her.

I just need sometime to look for them in my files. Please let me know.

Best wishes,

Cibele Aldrovandi

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-book-club/e40d990d-77c2-47fb-926a-9fa13846d714n%40googlegroups.com

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