Review of The Portuguese Empire buttressed from Within

[Carvalho]

Dear members,

I ordered this book from the link given in the review and within 8 days it had arrived in London. There is no reason at all for readers worldwide not to enjoy books published in Goa.

TikTok reels may lie but the archives don’t. The truth has been right under our noses residing at the Historical Archives of Goa department, Panjim, which Pais investigates with great scholarly rigour. Right from the onset the Hindu brahmin hand is evident. As Afonso de Albuquerque, after laying siege to Calicut, nears Honavar, the Admiral of the Honavar fleet Timoja lies in wait—not to confront the aggressor but to present him with tribute. In the bounty he will lay at Albuquerque’s feet are “sheep, cows, chicken and refreshments”. Then Timoja soothingly assures Albuquerque that “he would lead him to a city that could easily be taken with the strength of his fleet.” These are not Pais’ words, they form part of a speech by Marquis of Vallad in 1873 exulting Timoja nearly two centuries later.  Timoja had knowledge of Portuguese. He described himself as a brahmin and a “vassal of the King of Portugal”. The complicity is not restricted to Timoja, there were others involved, their names live on, perhaps not commonly known to us Goans because we like to bury inconvenient truths, but their names are evidenced in the archives as Malurau, Menaique, Mang, Dolvi, Raulu Camotim from Divar—all richly rewarded by the Portuguese with distinguished positions. The letters of Albuquerque reveal at least sixteen other upper-caste Hindu names who rendered invaluable service in the opening decades of Portugal’s imperial ambitions in Goa. Thereby began a dance between the Hindu elite and the Portuguese which endured through the centuries.

Read full review here:

Religion, lies and videotape — Joao-Roque Literary Journal est. 2017

Religion, lies and videotape — Joao-Roque Literary Journal est. 2017 Review by Selma Carvalho The tragedy of human societies is that we are only capable of accessing recent memory ...

Selma Carvalho

Author of Guts, Glory & Empire: The Epic Story of Goans in Zanzibar, 1865-1910 published by Speaking Tiger. 

[John de Figueiredo]



Hi Selma,

To say that Timoja (Timayya) and the Goans (at the time all Hindus) who welcomed Albuquerque and took him in triumph were “traitors,” immediately raises the question: “Traitors to whom?” India was not a nation then. They probably felt that Goa was much better off under Vijayanagara than under Bijapur. They had Goa’s best interest in mind. This being said, the Portuguese misunderstood the rivalry between Vijayanagara and Bijapur as based on religion. It was not. After all, Yusuf Adil Khan himself was married to a Hindu, his only wife. It was based on political and economic dominance.

John M. de Figueiredo 

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[John de Figueiredo]

Selma,

This has all been well documented by Panduronga Pissurlencar using original sources. Timoja and the Goan leaders invited Albuquerque to take over Goa and get rid of Bijapur. When Albuquerque succeeded at occupying Goa after one failed attempt, he was taken in triumph by the Goans. We should not use our contemporary ideas on nationalism and colonialism to call the Goans who supported Albuquerque “traitors.” They were trying to get rid of Bijapur and Goa was a crucial spot because it was the only opening to the ocean to the Empire of Vijayanagara. After that, many Goan Hindus continued to cooperate with Portuguese for many years and the Portuguese rewarded them handsomely. 

[Carvalho]

Dear John,

I searched for the word traitor in my review, I couldn't find it. I have not used the word traitor nor has Sharmila Pais. This is a story of collusion and collaboration. 

I have not read what Pissurlencar has written about this using original sources. Although Pais uses secondarly sources extensively throughout the book, in this respect she has used primary sources and since I have not read Pissurlencar, I can not compare who has used them more effectively but in any case such a comparison is not necessary from my end.

All best,

Selma Carvalho

Author of Guts, Glory & Empire: The Epic Story of Goans in Zanzibar, 1865-1910 published by Speaking Tiger. 

On Tuesday, 28 July 2026 at 18:20:40 BST, John de Figueiredo <john...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

 Selma,

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[John de Figueiredo]

Dear Selma,

Actually I enjoyed reading your review. It is an excellent review and the book is an important addition to the literature on this topic.

I probably read too much into the word “complicity.” Sounded like Timoja and others were committing some kind of crime.

It is now well established that the Portuguese Empire would not have survived for as long as it did had it not been for the willing and active collaboration of the Goans, particularly Goan Hindus (collaboration with the Portuguese from day one). This was well established by Pissurlencar.

Again, thank you for your excellent Review and to Sharmila for her excellent book.

John

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On Jul 28, 2026, at 1:24 PM, 'Carvalho' via Goa-Research-Net <goa-rese...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[alan machado]

My book 1510: The Taking of Goa is under publication by Frederick. It lists a number of Indians who allied with the Portuguese in various capacities. It uses original sources.

Hope it will be out soon

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[John de Figueiredo]

Dear Alan,

I look forward to reading it.

Best regards,

John

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On Jul 28, 2026, at 6:08 PM, alan machado <alan.m...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Pedro Mascarenhas]

"A Forgotten Empire" is a very interesting book written by Robert Sewell (Historian, 1845–1925): A British civil servant in colonial India known for his archaeological work and book about the Vijayanagara Empire.

An excerpt from the book. ( ……………….His despatch is interesting as containing information regarding Vijayanagar and the Sultan of Bijapur, part of which is certainly accurate, while part tells us of Krishna Deva Raya’s proceedings at this period, regarding which we know nothing from any other source. Fr. Luis wrote to Albuquerque that the Adil Shah had attacked Bijapur, and had taken it after a siege of two months, while four lords had risen against him “since the latter had carried off the king of Decan as a prisoner.” This king was the Bahmani king, while the Adil Shah and the “four lords” were the revolting Muhammadan princes. He added that the people of Belgaum had revolted from the Adil Shah and submitted to the Hindu sovereign. As to Vijayanagar, he said that the king was getting ready a small expedition of seven thousand men to send against one of his vassals, who had risen up in rebellion and seized the city of Pergunda (? Pennakonda), saying that it belonged to himself by right; and that after he had taken the rebel the king would proceed to certain places on the sea-coast. Fr. Luis professed himself unable to understand the drift of this latter design, but warned Albuquerque to be careful. He advised him to keep up friendly communications with the king, and by no means to place any reliance on the man on whom, of all others, the Portuguese had pinned their faith — one Timoja,[198] a Hindu who had befriended the new-comers. The priest declared that Timoja was a traitor to them, and had, in conjunction with the king of Garsopa, promised Krishna Deva Raya that he would deliver Goa to him before the Portuguese could fortify their possessions therein, if he should send a fully equipped army to seize the place.)

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[Carvalho]

Since we are on the topic of original sources, this review of my book on Asian Review of Books, by Mahitosh Gopal, lecturer in history and research, Odisha, talks of the use of original sources in my work.

“Guts, Glory and Empire” by Selma Carvalho

“Guts, Glory and Empire” by Selma Carvalho Mahitosh Gopal Selma Carvalho's new work is a compelling and unprecedented work of history set against the backdrop of Europe’s...

Selma Carvalho

Author of Guts, Glory & Empire: The Epic Story of Goans in Zanzibar, 1865-1910 published by Speaking Tiger. 

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[Frederick Noronha]

The challenge with Goa is that one needs to be working in multiple languages (which mostly doesn't happen), and the influence or dominance of these keeps shifting all the time. For instance, as argued elsewhere (From Text to Print), in the 20th century itself, the preferred languages have changed from Portuguese and Romi Konkani to English, Marathi and later Devanagari Konkani, with some changes in between. Not to mention some of the earlier languages and scripts that were once used here (recently, classes in the largely-lost Modi script were initiated in Goa). Mostly, we are falling short. FN

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[William Robert Da Silva]

While at Hampi Kannada University for long years I worked on Vijayanagara. The MS was in my library, probably now lost. The two issues of open to the trading sea, and import of horses which needed to be 'harnessed' not so much for daily transport, Jatka, but for for war. These issues are discussed there. 

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