History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.326

v7.c91.326

It would be instructive to read what the state of Hindus was under Portuguese rule in Goa, where the infamous Inquisition was established in 1560 A D. and continued its intolerant and inhuman work for about 250 years more. Those interested may consult 'A India Portuguesa', vol. II. published by the Portuguese Government in 1923, particularly the paper by Antonio de Noronha, a former judge of the High Court of Goa, on 'Os Indus de Goa' pp. 211-355. A brief passage from a paper on 'Historical essay on the Konkani Language' by J H. de Cunha Rivara, who was General Secretary to the Portuguese Governor General in India from 1855 to 1870 A D., is very illuminating. It runs (original in Portuguese) 'we shall now endeavour to investigate the causes, which under the Portuguese regime, were either favourable or contrary to the culture of the Konkani language. In the first ardour of conquest temples were demolished, all the emblems of the Hindu cult were destroyed and books written in the vernacular tongue, containing or suspected of containing idolatrous precepts and doctrines, were burnt There was even the desire to exterminate all that part of the population which could not be quickly converted; this was the desire not only during that period, but there was also at least one person who, after a lapse of two centuries, advised the Government, with magisterial gravity, to make use of such a policy.' The writer further notes that the long distance of Goa from Portugal, the invincible resistance offered by a numerous population amongst whom the principal castes had reached a very high degree of civilization, obliged the conquerors to abstain from open violence and to prefer indirect, though not gentle, means to achieve the same end 1650a.