The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s8.43

c7.s8.43

In 1560 Goa was made an archbishopric, and Inquisitors were sent out from Europe, and from this time the work of the Church was carried on with great vigour. The power of the ecclesiastics in the State was well shown soon afterwards, when the tooth of Buddha having come into the possession of the Portuguese during their wars in Pegu they were offered an enormous sum if they would return it. This the Viceroy was anxious to do, but the Archbishop opposing the ransom as an encouragement of idolatry, not only carried his point, but also persuaded the Viceroy to join in a great auto-da-fé, in the course of which the Archbishop publicly pounded up the tooth in a mortar. Not long after this the Franciscan Fathers took possession of the caves of Kánheri and Mandapeshvar,⁵ expelled the jogis who occupied them, and did their best to destroy the sculptures, as at Elphanta, on account of the superstitious feelings of the natives with respect to them.⁶ Over the caves at Mandapeshvar were built a church and the Royal College of Sálsette for the education of the children of the converts, and this received from the King all the endowments which the caves had enjoyed.⁷