Goa and Portugal: Their Cultural Links

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Goa and Portugal: Their Cultural Links is a collection of twenty-one papers presented at an international symposium on the theme "Inter- cultural Relations: Portugal and Goa" (Relações Interculturais Portugal- Goa) held at the University of Cologne (Germany) between 29 May and 1 June 1996. It was organized by the Centro Mundo Lusófono and the Instituto de Fstudos Portugueses e Brasileiros (University of Cologne) and those who took part in it included delegates from Germany, Portugal, India, the United States and Canada. The proceedings were conducted in English and Portuguese.

The papers in this book have been grouped together under four main themes; Goa and Portugal and their various cultural relations; Goa in its contacts with Japan and Mozambique; Art, architecture, music and numismatics and Goa-Portugal ties as reflected in literature. These offer a rich fare on how Portugal has had a deep influence on the culture of Goa in particular and how through Goa it moved further afield in Asia.

This book was made possible by a special financial grant by the Fundação Oriente (Lisbon).

Rev. Dr. Charles J. Borges, S.J. has been with the Xavier Centre of Historical Research (Goa) since 1981. Besides his own publications, he has edited or co- edited books including Jesuits in India: In Historical Perspective and Goa and the Revolt of 1787.

Prof. Helmut Feldmann is Director, Instituto de Fstudos Portugueses e Brasileiros and Vice-Director, Centro Mundo Lusófono (University of Cologne). He has lectured at universities in Europe and Brazil and has a special interest in Portuguese and Goan studies.

The need for a deep understanding of Goa, capital of the Estado da India and headquarters of the Viceroys of the Portuguese in Asia, was felt at the Instituto de Estudos Portugueses e Brasileiros of the University of Cologne, during its decade-long Luso-Oriental research. This resulted in the international seminar on the theme "Portugal and Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries: A Nanban culture" (Cologne, 30 January-2 February, 1992). One of the first objectives of the Centro Mundo Lusófono, an institute at the University of Cologne, since its inception in 1992 with its multidisciplinary orientation and openness to all Portuguese- speaking countries and enclaves, was to satisfy that need.

I visited as Director of the Instituto de Estudos Portugueses e Brasileiros and of the Centro Mundo Lusófono in 1993 Goa where the well-known specialist in the cultural history of Goa, Prof. Dr. Teotónio de Souza as Director of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, offered his services to me in the scientific planning of the international symposium on the theme "Cultural Relations between Portugal and Goa" at the University at Cologne (29 May to 2 June 1996). The realization of this project went ahead with the valuable assistance of Fr. Charles J. Borges, S.J., present director, Xavier Centre of Historical Research, of Dr. Shirodkar, director, Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museum, Goa, of the late Dr. Joseph Barros, secretary, Instituto Menezes Braganza, who passed away in Lisbon a few weeks preceding the symposium, of Mr. Percival Noronha, an authority on Old Goa, of Prof. D. B. Kapp, director of the Institute of Indology at the University of Cologne, of Prof. Dr. Michael Jansen, director of the faculty of architecture at the Technical University at Aachen, and of Dr. Helmut Siepmann, professor of Portuguese and Brazilian literature at the University of Aachen and director of the Portuguese department at the Centro Mundo Lusofono. I owe much also to my friends Dr. Manfred Prinz, professor at the University of Giessen and member of the diretoria of the Centro Mundo Lusófono, and to Dr. Oscar Pereira, Goan doctoral student at the faculty of education at the University of Cologne. We were able to solve the financial problems involved thanks to the help of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses, the Fundação Oriente, the Municipal Council of Cologne and the University of Cologne, respectively. The ambassadors of India and Portugal offered their services and honoured us with their greetings at the solemn inauguration of the symposium. To all these honoured professors, my sincerest thanks.

Goa and Portugal: Their Cultural Links is a collection of twenty- one papers presented at the international symposium on the theme "Intercultural Relations: Portugal and Goa" (Relações Interculturais Portugal Goa) held at the University of Cologne (Germany) between the 29 May to 1 June 1996, and organized by the Centro Mundo Lusófono and the Instituto de Estudos Portugueses e Brasileiros. Those who took part in it included delegates from Germany, Portugal, India, the United States and Canada. The proceedings were conducted in English and Portuguese.

The papers have been grouped together under four main themes: Goa and Portugal and their various cultural relations; Goa in its contacts with Japan and Mozambique; Art, architecture, music and numismatics; and Goa-Portugal ties as reflected in literature.

PART 1: P.P. Shirodkar writes on "Socio-Cultural Life in Goa during the 16th century"; Fátima Gracias on "The Impact of Portuguese Culture on Goa-A myth or a reality?"; Charles Borges on "A lasting cultural legacy: the role of the Society of Jesus in reforming Goan society"; Maria Lopes on "Conversion as a means of cultural adaptation: the catechumens of Betim in the 18th century"; and Oscar Pereira on "Present-Day Goa: Reflecting various legacies."

P.P. Shirodkar begins with 1510 and tells us about Goa and the early life, about the Portuguese who tried to control revenue administration against traditional rights and customs, and about the Afonso Mexia Charter which gave a "twist to the socio-religious life of the Goans besides making revolutionary changes in the village administration". Religious life of the Goans was "totally disrupted and ruined on account of the terrible onslaught on Hinduism and the Hindus" and the introduction of the "most unholy pitiless Holy Inquisition in 1560 was the greatest blow, the Goans could ever imagine", he informs us.

F. Gracias tells us that the pre-Portuguese culture of Goa was a product of a fusion of Jain, Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu influences. It was different from the western culture and in some ways superseded the culture of the West. Portuguese culture left its impress on the attitude and general lifestyle of the Goans, seen in different fields and more prominently in architecture, arts and crafts, education, music, religion and cuisine.

C. Borges believes that the Jesuits rank as one important group that has left an indelible Portuguese mark on Goa. The memory of their presence in Goa since their arrival in 1542 in the person of Francis Xavier and companions has come to stay. All through the centuries in Goa they succeeded in doing many things, one of which was to reform Goan society of the times they lived in. Being the most dominant missionary group then in Goa and having more Portuguese men in their ranks, by their educational methods, popularizing of devotions and art forms, they gave Goan Christianity a dominant Portuguese flavour.

M. Lopes informs us about the institution of the Pai dos Cristãos (Father of Christians) which had as its main objectives, the conversion of the population, the teaching of the Christian creed and the protection of the new Christians. The conversion to the Catholic faith, the acceptance of Christian names, marriages with Portuguese men, the granting of public offices to new converts, led to a cultural adaptation expressed in clothing, food and manner of living.

O. Pereira believes that the heritage left behind by the Portuguese and Indian rulers led to an Indo-Portuguese culture in Goa. New cultural changes are taking place in Goa today and there is need for a "psychological liberation", the "pledging oneself to the new constitutional order in which Indianness and indigenisation are priorities, encouraging the obtaining of cultural features for a proper Goan society". He refers to cultural identity showing how people often see themselves in danger of being assimilated by other cultures and offers the examples of Goans in Portugal and Germany and their attendant problems.

**Contents and Sample Pages**