22,000 families fled Goa due to Portuguese conversions
Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا
http://www.goanews.com/news_disp.php?newsid=5479
22,000 families fled Goa due to Portuguese conversions
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 07 December 2014 20:04 IST
Swapn Saraswat, a Kannada novel written on the first exodus of Goans in 1560 as a result of religious conversions by the Portuguese has turned out to be the bestseller in Karnataka and is being now translated into five different languages.
Describing the whole history of this horrific exodus, Gopalkrishna Pai, the author and a retired bank employee, says he never thought that the novel would be such a great success.
While narrating the whole story at the Goa Art and Literary Festival, Pai said the historic religious exodus took place in two years while there were 48 families from Verne and surrounding areas migrated to Karnataka in one day.
Dr Kiran Budkuley, a Konkani writer and head of the English faculty and Goa University, was in conversation with Pai at the Festival.
Around 22,000 Hindu families fled from Goa in in 1560 after Portuguese started conversions, said Pai, most of which settled in Karnataka and prospered there.
He travelled 60 times from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to Kochi in Kerala to get his facts right.
A screenplay writer for Girish Kasarvali and Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Pai has gathered all possible information to make the novel most factual and equally dramatic.
“Hindus in Goa were converted even during the Muslim rule but this conversion was ‘invited’ by Goan Hindus, who brought Portuguese to Goa to eliminate the Muslims and got trapped into their religious aggression and exodus.
“There is even a photograph available of the Hindus handing over keys to the Portuguese”, he said.
The novel describes the struggles the migrated Goans went through after the exodus and how bravely they fought the circumstances to prosper.
The religious conversion compelled Goans to flee towards North and East of Goa while most of them travelled to the South, mainly to Karnataka and also up to Kochi in Kerala.
“Not only Saraswat Brahmins but also other communities like Kunbis had migrated along with them”, said Pai.
‘Swapn Saraswat’ tries to profile almost 40 generations of the migrants, who got adapted to Kannada culture and their language.
“But they loved their own Konkani language, speak Konkani at home even today and have preserved their folk culture”, says Konkani-speaking Pai, himself belonging to the migrant family.
His novel, the second edition of which was published within three months, was appreciated even by a veteran writer like late U R Ananthmurthy.
“I really don’t know what made it so popular among the Kannadigas, may be it was the only religious exodus the South India has witnessed”, feels Pai.
Incidentally, the novel remained unpublished for five long years in search of a publisher while Pai himself revised it six times.
The novel is now getting translated into Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani and English.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/i-was-apprehensive-initially/article2741059.ece
‘I was apprehensive initially'
MURALIDHARA KHAJANE
Gopalakrishna Pai on his monumental novel that won the Kendra Sahita Akademi Award
Swapna Saraswata, P. Gopalakrishna Pai's monumental novel, has won the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award, the H. Shantaram Literary Award and now the prestigious Central Sahitya Akademi Award.
The novel narrates the Gowda Saraswat community's diaspora along the west coast of India from the early 16th Century to late 18th Century, from Goa right down to Kerala. The author put in years of research, delving into written histories and oral narrations, covering a huge time span and the social dynamics within the community in the perspective of historical events.
The book has been translated into English, Marathi, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil. Gopalakrishna Pai has written several short stories and wrote the script for Kanasemba Kudureyaneri, a film by Girish Kasaravalli, for which he got the National Award. Excerpts from an interview with the author who is now engrossed in another ambitious novel.
What prompted you to write the novel?
When I was as bank officer in Gorur, people who were displaced following construction of the Gorur dam used to narrate their stories to me. Disturbed by their plight, I planned to write a short story, but it grew beyond my expectation. Meanwhile, Na. D Souza's novel Mulugade came outand I gave up the idea. Then it struck me that the Gowda Saraswat community, to which I belong, migrated from the distant shores of Goa. It has had a traumatic past and is steeped in painful memories of persecution and torture. I decided to chronicle its travails.
Can you explain the process of writing this monumental novel?
I worked for nearly 20 years and sourced 4,000 books, manuscripts and documents. I travelled from Goa to Kochi to meet people and studied their lifestyle. I worked for nearly five years and revised the draft six times.
What was the initial reaction, both from the readers and critics?
It is significant that Swapna Saraswata, published two years ago, has already seen four editions. Though I was apprehensive initially, the response was overwhelming. Within three months, the publisher brought out the second edition. Appreciation started pouring in from litterateurs, U.R. Ananthamurthy, G.S. Shivarudrappa, H.S. Raghavendra Rao and T.P. Ashok. They opined that the work should be translated to other Indian languages, as it has a pan-Indian character. I'd be happy if more people read the novel because of the Akademi Award: that will be the real reward.
Keywords: Kendra Sahita Akademi Award, Swapna Saraswata
augusto pinto
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Tensing Rodrigues
Swapn Saraswat, a Kannada novel written on the first exodus of Goans in 1560 as a result of religious conversions by the Portuguese has turned out to be the bestseller in Karnataka and is being now translated into five different languages.
Describing the whole history of this horrific exodus, Gopalkrishna Pai, the author and a retired bank employee, says he never thought that the novel would be such a great success.
While narrating the whole story at the Goa Art and Literary Festival, Pai said the historic religious exodus took place in two years while there were 48 families from Verne and surrounding areas migrated to Karnataka in one day.
Dr Kiran Budkuley, a Konkani writer and head of the English faculty and Goa University, was in conversation with Pai at the Festival.
Around 22,000 Hindu families fled from Goa in in 1560 after Portuguese started conversions, said Pai, most of which settled in Karnataka and prospered there.
He travelled 60 times from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to Kochi in Kerala to get his facts right.
A screenplay writer for Girish Kasarvali and Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Pai has gathered all possible information to make the novel most factual and equally dramatic.
“Hindus in Goa were converted even during the Muslim rule but this conversion was ‘invited’ by Goan Hindus, who brought Portuguese to Goa to eliminate the Muslims and got trapped into their religious aggression and exodus.
“There is even a photograph available of the Hindus handing over keys to the Portuguese”, he said.
Really ? A photograph in 16th century ?
"Around the year 1800, Thomas Wedgwood made the first known attempt to capture the image in a camera obscura by means of a light-sensitive substance." says Wikipedia.
The novel describes the struggles the migrated Goans went through after the exodus and how bravely they fought the circumstances to prosper.
The religious conversion compelled Goans to flee towards North and East of Goa while most of them travelled to the South, mainly to Karnataka and also up to Kochi in Kerala.
“Not only Saraswat Brahmins but also other communities like Kunbis had migrated along with them”, said Pai.
‘Swapn Saraswat’ tries to profile almost 40 generations of the migrants, who got adapted to Kannada culture and their language.
“But they loved their own Konkani language, speak Konkani at home even today and have preserved their folk culture”, says Konkani-speaking Pai, himself belonging to the migrant family.
His novel, the second edition of which was published within three months, was appreciated even by a veteran writer like late U R Ananthmurthy.
“I really don’t know what made it so popular among the Kannadigas, may be it was the only religious exodus the South India has witnessed”, feels Pai.
Incidentally, the novel remained unpublished for five long years in search of a publisher while Pai himself revised it six times.
The novel is now getting translated into Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani and English.
Jose Colaco
alan machado
--
alan machado
augusto pinto
Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا
Santosh Helekar
at more informed guesses are commendable. We have to recognize that
there are two forces of revisionism in operation here. On one extreme
are the Hindu chauvinists, Saraswat navel-gazers and casteists who
want to exaggerate all the negative historical facts of our colonial
history. On the other end are the colonial sympathizers and Christian
apologists who want to whitewash this history and the history of the
inquisition. It is therefore very important that we ascertain
historical facts from multiple independent sources, and use reason to
arrive at conclusions as dispassionately as possible.
Cheers,
Santosh
On Sun, Dec 14, 2014 at 9:12 AM, Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक
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No offense meant. But let the chips fall where they may.
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augusto pinto
).augusto pinto
Santosh Helekar
augusto pinto
Dear Augusto,
Most of the "letters" I have written to Goan forums before and after BJP came to power in Goa would make people who are interested in science, historical facts, and rational skepticism happy. I do not know whether there are more of these kinds of people in the BJP, Congress party, RSS or the Church, because I have never followed Indian politics closely and never voted in India. In America, however, there are more of these people in the Democratic and Libertarian parties than in the Republican party. I also know that in India most of the rational skeptics tend to be communists, which I am most certainly not. I am against both Red and Saffron. I am also against the wild excesses of Green. There are some things that are black and white for me, such as scientific and mathematical facts, but most are simply shades of gray. I also like the gay rainbow which most of you part-time apologists for your own religion hate or ignore.
But why talk about me? What about you? You are a more important person in Goan forums.
Which party do you belong to and why?
alan machado
alan machado
Tensing Rodrigues
dale luis menezes
Thanks for taking the time for writing this brief, but nuanced post. May I share it elsewhere as well?
Regards,
Dale
Tensing Rodrigues
Santosh Helekar
history tells us that there indeed are historical facts. That history
is not always simply a collection of biased opinions - a tired old
platitude that you hear from regulars in Goan forums all the time. The
fact that the inquisition was not against Hindus, but against the
newly converted Christians is well known among reasonable people who
have read history. The same is true of the fact that SFX was not
directly responsible for its excesses. The people who perpetuate the
related myths are religious extremists and political hacks, or those
who are simply ignorant. This is now well known as well. But what is
not well known is that there is a new breed of people of otherwise
liberal persuasion who want to sanitize the history and discredit
eyewitness accounts and travelogues of historical figures - something
that was previously true only of the staunch adherents of the
concerned faith.
Cheers,
Santosh
Tensing Rodrigues
Damodar Ghanekar
Tensing Rodrigues
Leonard Fernandes
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Tensing Rodrigues
augusto pinto
Dear Dam-bab:
While the travails of those castes which reinvented themselves as Sarawats (and which include their Christian cousins 5 times removed) as late as the 19 C must certainly be mythologized - who is to mythologize peoples such the Mundari and other tribes, whose descendants are today identified as Gawdas Velips Dhangars Mhars Chamars and others? (These are the SC / ST people of today.)
And who is to mythologize the Sudras now called OBCs formerly known as the Kharvis Renders and so on who for millennia were oppressed by the Savarnas?
If only their stories could be known not only one's hair but even one's dick would stand (if I may be allowed to be politically correct for a second) because the story of their and especially their women's exploitation could be turned into not one but several erotic classics.
From where are we to find the Coutos and Pais of the downtrodden?
Wonderingly yours,
Augusto.
Jose
augusto pinto
Tensing Rodrigues
Alito Siqueira
augusto pinto
Well, once again, the matter of 'mul-nivasi' versus 'invaders', or to use typical Goan tertms, 'ganvkar' versus 'morador', is more complex than it is made to be. It is definitely not co-terminous with 'higher caste' versus 'lower caste'. Goan community has as many layers overlaid - like bebinca - as its soil has. By no means we are an ethnically homogeneous community. Not even a simple A + B + C type community; like Red Indians + Whites + Blacks. Much more complex than in most parts of continental India even. Partly because our land just did not exist some time back. So none of us can claim to be 'mul-nivasi' in the sense of having evolved from the apes right here; we are all 'morador' ! Difficult to believe, many of the geo changes have occurred in historical time.
Tensing Rodrigues
augusto pinto
Tensing Rodrigues
augusto pinto
augusto pinto
I'm Not Here
R. Benedito Ferrao
splits his time between North London and Northern California, but is still a citizen of the global south. He straddles those divides by writing about diaspora, postcolonialism, and Goan identity.
At the recently concluded fifth edition of the Goa Arts and Literary Festival, I was compelled to attend a panel with the intriguing title of “Goa’s First Diaspora.” What followed, however, was a perplexing display of cultural hubris and the obfuscation between fact and fiction. In conversation with Dr. Kiran Budkuley, the head of Goa University’s English Department, writer Gopalkrishna Pai discussed his Kannada novel Swapn Saraswat which chronicles the alleged sixteenth century exodus of 22,000 Hindu families from what we now know as Goa; this, it was averred, was due to the conversions that ensued with the arrival of the Portuguese. To be clear, there is little historical doubt that conversions occurred and people were displaced. Nonetheless, what is less certain in Pai’s version of events is the questionable reality in which these claims are grounded. What follows, then, in Pai’s project, is the remaking of events in order to claim a history of persecution for a contemporary community of religiously and culturally elite, namely the Saraswats.
In turning a critical eye to the way in which Pai translates assumed fact into fiction, my purpose is not to deny the Saraswats their identity, although others have successfully argued that the very category of the Saraswat is not one that emerged till recently.Rather, what is up for examination is the manner in which Pai uses fiction to establish a Saraswat past. Operating from his own standpoint as a descendent of the diasporic community he fictionalises, Pai – a heritage Konkani-speaker – claims evidence of the persistent existence of this tongue,despite exile, as proof of origin. What is notable here is the equation formed between language, geography, and persecution, which the writer melds together to explicate origin.
Not only does this origin-story rely on the postcolonial idea of language-based states that are the hallmark of Nehru’s vision of modern India, but this linguistic basis of nationalist Goan origin is remade in Pai’s reclamation of a past Goan geography for the Saraswats of his novel as an undisputable homeland. This is curious, because “Goa” of the early modern period at the time of the Portuguese conquest was only the Velhas Conquistas, and one would be hard-pressed to believe that any one language was spoken exclusively in any region. Apart from geographic closeness, if the exiles chose Karnataka, it would also have been because of pre-existing kinship networks and linguistic familiarity. In other words, while colonisation may have caused exile, its routes were pre-ordained.
What this also speaks to is a power-base that extended beyond any one location; so, if such linkages can be traced through language, as Pai does, then they must also be traced through caste. During his panel presentation, neither was Pai questioned about how he dubiously arrived at the figure of 22,000 exiled families from a Goa that would have been far smaller than the region we know now, but also what it meant for such a group to continue to exercise power as an upper caste elite group. It would appear that the panel was more interested in foregrounding Saraswat identity as one of the community having been victims. In such an uncritical mode, no room was left to enquire into the possibility that the purpose of the migration might have been to maintain hierarchical caste power, especially with the advent of a new political force in the shape of the Portuguese. History is replete with examples of power operations shifting to other locations in moments of crisis and the elite continuing to function in such capacity even when in exile.
Pai did make some passing reference to the colonial displacement of other communities, such as the Kunbis. But as is common in all considerations of Goa’s First Peoples, that community is given short shrift in Pai’s evocation of diasporic Goanness, and were mentioned only as an afterthought. One wonders what Pai would make of the fact that African-descended slaves also escaped Portuguese India into Karnataka. Surely they too should be accounted for as being part of “Goa’s first diaspora” if they found themselves in the same region as the Saraswats and in the same general timeframe. Yet, what passes for research in Pai’s mythification of a community is not overly concerned with accounting for “facts” that have little to do with destabilising the ethno-racial and religious supremacy of the people he chooses to centre.
What is one to make of Pai’s strange assertion that he is in possession of a photograph that shows the Hindus of Goa handing over keys to the Portuguese in the sixteenth century? Later during his talk, he corrected himself and said he meant a painting, instead; but at any rate, whatever the alleged visually symbolic proof of the handover of power, that this serves as research evidence for his novel should raise eyebrows. In lieu of this, Budkuley asked Pai why he felt his novel had received so much acclaim. Pai basked in the moment. Perhaps the answer is that people love stories of the resilience of the persecuted, especially ones that traverse fact and fiction as if they were one and the same.
Tensing Rodrigues
augusto pinto
Tensing Rodrigues
augusto pinto
Thank you.Now, let me put it in point form. Please correct me if i am wrong, misinterpreting Benedito's contention.So what Benedito wishes to say is this :1. That Saraswats were 'persecuted' by the Portuguese is a myth.
2. That Konkani was not the language of Goa when Potuguese arrived in Goa, or before that. 'Many' languages were spoken in Goa during this time.
3. That Konkani is a language of only the Saraswats.
Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا
2. That Konkani was not the language of Goa when Potuguese arrived in Goa, or before that. 'Many' languages were spoken in Goa during this time.On the contrary, a version of 'Konkani' was a language that was spoiken much before the Aryans came into Goa among whom were the caste groups that became the Saraswats during c. Nineteenth Century. Later the language of the Mundaris and others (refer to Dhume) was no doubt influenced by the Aryan castes.
augusto pinto
Just for debate, to discuss something that has long puzzled me:
qu
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Tensing Rodrigues
--
Tensing Rodrigues
Vijay Pai
On Sunday, December 14, 2014 at 1:31:55 AM UTC-5, Alan Machado wrote:
A few comments:1. The figure of 22,000 families is highly exaggerated. Teotonio in Medieval Goa considers a family to consist of 5 persons, which would mean 110,000 persons fled Goa in 1560. Goa then consisted of Tiswadi, and newly acquired Salcete and Bardez. The intensity of Christianisation commenced only with the rigour de misericordia in 1541, and the expelling of influential brahmans began under Braganca's term in 1560. It must be noted that only a few were finally expelled; others left for other reasons. Teotonio advises that population statistics for these periods are to be treated with caution. Estimates for the 16th and 17th centuries for the three territories are 30,000, 80,000 and 70,000. Of course this refers to those who remained behind. So from where did these 22,000 families come? How was this census taken? Where the under privileged considered?2. In mid-17th century, a Jesuit Themundo observed that Kanara had a population of 30,000 Goans, mainly non-Christians. Around the same time padre Sebastiani of the Propaganda observed that there were 6,000 Christians. So a fair estimate for mid-1600s would be about 24,000 non Christians.3. Note that not all emigrated due to religious reasons. In Bhatkal, of instance, there are many temples built by Sarawats dating to pre-1560. It costs a lot of money to build temples, so these patrons would have been very rich. It was the trade link with Kanara that made them so. Evidently some of the 24,000 would have emigrated for trade reasons, and also as a means to keep their riches safe from the Portuguese.I met Gopalakrishna Pai some months ago and obtained an English translation from him. It is a computer generated copy. I advised him not to publish it in its present form as its English is of a very poor standard. The book however has a good story with realistic characters. Most of it deals with the life of emigrants in Kanara. Only the early chapter is about Goa. Pai makes Xavier an ascetic saint performing miracles, even raising the dead. His villains are Portuguese soldiers and civilians who exploit the situation created by government policies. We seemed to agree on a number of issues. Unfortunately we did not meet after that. I will contact him again.Pai told me of his numerous visits to places of interest in searching for material but confessed that it was all lost now. I have no doubt that he made efforts to investigate the migrations. But as often happens, information gets distorted in presentation by those with lesser knowledge, and perhaps with other agendas; sometimes by authors themselves.Alan (Machado)On Sun, Dec 14, 2014 at 9:33 AM, Jose Colaco <col...@gmail.com> wrote:Dear Tensing,--Quite often, I am advised that Novels about historical events are 'evidence' of history.I do NOT buy that.Novels have a license and usually can duck a challenge as in the Da Vinci Code.That is why I submit that to make a firm assessment: One has to have ALL the facts of the case and Facts which withstand cross-examination techniques.Besides, if one wishes to have one's book used as a historical reference, one should write a book of history with the relevant references, NOT a part fact part fiction work aka novel which is hardly subject to peer review by expert historians.What if I wrote a novel about The expulsion of the native Kunbis from their land by the invading Bhaille aka "brahmins et al'. Would the Saraswats use that as a history reference book?BTW Tensing: the term 'photograph' could mean ....a drawingjcOn 9 December 2014 at 08:56, Tensing Rodrigues <ten...@gmail.com> wrote:Swapn Saraswat, a Kannada novel written on the first exodus of Goans in 1560 as a result of religious conversions by the Portuguese has turned out to be the bestseller in Karnataka and is being now translated into five different languages.
Describing the whole history of this horrific exodus, Gopalkrishna Pai, the author and a retired bank employee, says he never thought that the novel would be such a great success.
While narrating the whole story at the Goa Art and Literary Festival, Pai said the historic religious exodus took place in two years while there were 48 families from Verne and surrounding areas migrated to Karnataka in one day.
Dr Kiran Budkuley, a Konkani writer and head of the English faculty and Goa University, was in conversation with Pai at the Festival.
Around 22,000 Hindu families fled from Goa in in 1560 after Portuguese started conversions, said Pai, most of which settled in Karnataka and prospered there.
He travelled 60 times from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to Kochi in Kerala to get his facts right.
A screenplay writer for Girish Kasarvali and Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Pai has gathered all possible information to make the novel most factual and equally dramatic.
“Hindus in Goa were converted even during the Muslim rule but this conversion was ‘invited’ by Goan Hindus, who brought Portuguese to Goa to eliminate the Muslims and got trapped into their religious aggression and exodus.
“There is even a photograph available of the Hindus handing over keys to the Portuguese”, he said.
Really ? A photograph in 16th century ?
"Around the year 1800, Thomas Wedgwood made the first known attempt to capture the image in a camera obscura by means of a light-sensitive substance." says Wikipedia.
The novel describes the struggles the migrated Goans went through after the exodus and how bravely they fought the circumstances to prosper.
The religious conversion compelled Goans to flee towards North and East of Goa while most of them travelled to the South, mainly to Karnataka and also up to Kochi in Kerala.
“Not only Saraswat Brahmins but also other communities like Kunbis had migrated along with them”, said Pai.
‘Swapn Saraswat’ tries to profile almost 40 generations of the migrants, who got adapted to Kannada culture and their language.
“But they loved their own Konkani language, speak Konkani at home even today and have preserved their folk culture”, says Konkani-speaking Pai, himself belonging to the migrant family.
His novel, the second edition of which was published within three months, was appreciated even by a veteran writer like late U R Ananthmurthy.
“I really don’t know what made it so popular among the Kannadigas, may be it was the only religious exodus the South India has witnessed”, feels Pai.
Incidentally, the novel remained unpublished for five long years in search of a publisher while Pai himself revised it six times.
The novel is now getting translated into Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani and English.
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