Flight of the Deities: Hindu Resistance in Portuguese Goa

Abstract

As the capital of theEstado da India, the Portuguese colonial empire in Asia and East Africa, Goa was subjected to a blizzard of policies designed at once to transform and fossilize life there. Desiring to preserve much of the precolonial village economic structure, yet determined to force their Goan subjects to total conversion to Catholicism, the Portuguese created policies that had a dramatic impact on Goan culture and identity. The focus of this article will be on the Hindu resistance to the policies that were appiled by the colonial regime and its role in the shaping of the regional culture: in the face of over-whelming physical force, direct defiance revealed itself primarily in the religious life of Hindu Goa as archival records of the Portuguese rule and temple histories demonstrate. Even formsof religious syncretism that are pervasive in Catholic Goa and might initially be perceived as indications of the success of Portuguese repressive and discriminatory policies represent a subtle pattern of ‘everday resistnce’ and are not simply the blending of Portuguese Catholic and Hindu cultures.

Development and Application of Genomic Resources in an Endangered Palaeoendemic Tree, Parrotia subaequalis (Hamamelidaceae) From Eastern China

“…In line with the first assumption, the estimated speciation time of around 7.5 Mya for the two extant species of Parrotia qualifies them as Tertiary relicts (Li and Tredici, 2008 ), indicating a long period of time for which both species have evolved separately in different glacial refugia. In fact, Eastern China has never been directly impacted by Pleistocene glaciations (Axelrod and Fuerch, 1996 ) and served as one of the most important ancient relict areas for temperate biota throughout the Quaternary (Deng et al, 1992 ). Therefore, P. subaequalis likely persisted in this long-term refuge, allowing for the maintenance of considerable genetic variation.…”

Histories, Identities and the Subaltern Resistance in Goa

“…How does one locate resistance? Going by the scholarly works, one is persuaded to see resistance as an action fixed against the colonial state (Ali, 1986; Axelrod & Fuerch, 1996; Borges, 1989; Kamat, 1999). In terms of categorization, it is Hindu where the deities were shifted, and it is Catholic where the Lusitanian (Portuguese culture) cross being ‘axed’ through syncretic practices of the converts and nationalists is seen as an attempt to resist the colonizers.…”

Common Ground: Risk, Scarcity, and Shared Resources in Goan Agriculture

“…The different histories notwithstanding, the region is united symbolically today by the Konkani language, the legacy of Portuguese colonialism, a common mythical past that is still marked in many rituals, and full membership in the modern Indian union as a state (Axelrod and Fuerch, 1995). The communal system of ownership is also seen as part of that legacy.…”