Goa Inquisition

St. Francis Xavier

The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting in the Indian state of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. Established in 1560, the ensuing massacres were aimed primarily at Hindus with inquisitions against Indian Muslims, Indian Jews, and wayward new converts. By the time it was suppressed in 1774, the inquisition had had thousands of people executed and tortured.

Christian missionary St. Francis Xavier, in a 1545 letter to John III, requested that an Inquisition to be installed in Goa.

St. Francis Xavier made it a point not only to convert the people but also destroy the idols and ancient places of worship."

However, it was not installed until eight years later after Francis Xavier's death in 1552.

Beginning

The first inquisitors, Aleixo Dias Falcão and Francisco Marques, established themselves in what was formerly the raja of Goa's palace, forcing the Portuguese viceroy to relocate to a smaller residence. The inquisitor's first act was forbidding Hindus from practising their faith through fear of death. Sephardic Jews living in Goa, many of whom had fled the Iberian Peninsula to escape the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition to begin with, were also persecuted. The narrative of Da Fonseca describes the violence and brutality of the inquisition.The records speak of the necessity for hundreds of prison cells to accommodate fresh victims. Seventy-one "autos da fe" were recorded. In the first few years alone, over 4000 people were arrested, with 121 people burnt alive at the stake.

Persecution of Hindus

The Hindus of Goa were one of the most affected by the pogrom. The condemned Hindus were publicly burned at the stake in the square outside the Sé Cathedral in batches during ceremonies known as auto da fé (Portuguese: act of faith). Those who confessed to their accused heresy would be strangled prior to the burning. In this case, heresy was to practice a faith other than Christianity.Historian R.N. Sakshena writes ".. in the name of the religion of peace and love, the tribunal(s) practiced cruelties to the extent that every word of theirs was a sentence of death".

Brahmins were nailed to crosses and beheaded by the Portuguese to spread fear into the local populations. Hindus were slaughtered by the dozens by the marauding Portuguese armies and Catholic priests.

Laws were passed banning Christians from keeping Hindus in their employ, and the public worship of Hindus were deemed unlawful.

A large number of restrictive religious laws were enacted, including the banning of Hindu musical instruments, dhoti, betel leaves and cholis. Many Hindu temples were converted or destroyed, and Christian churches built in their place, often from the materials of the temples they replaced. Throughout this period several important Hindu texts were burned in an effort to saturate the area with Christian religious texts. Most notably, the Kama Sutra increased in infamy with its "lewd" alternatives to the endorsed Missionary position.

The Portuguese let out their Negro slaves into the streets and as soon as they found a Hindu, they smeared the person's mouth with beef, making them untouchable in the eyes of other Hindus. Then they forcefully converted them.[1]

People who were accused of heresy (not all of these were Hindus, though they were the majority) were subjected to gruesome punishment generally done in secret. "Pagans" were flogged, interrogated, and dismembered in front of relatives. The Portugueses studies in anatomy enabled them to chop off limbs from people while they were still alive, even if all that was remaining was the torso attached to the head.

The inquisition guaranteed "protection" to Hindus who converted to Christianity. Thus, they initiated a new wave of baptisms to Hindus who were intimidated by their brutality into converting.

The inquisition supplied the ecclesiastic Jesuit priests with a strong state-sanctioned weapon to use against the Hindu population of the region. Moderate catholics who tried to build bridges with Hindus were also persecuted. Even the governor of Goa from 1588-1591 was investigated when he consulted Hindu clerics about the auspicious dates concerning the arrival of ships. The adverse effects of the inquisition were tempered somewhat by the fact that Hindus were able to escape Portuguese hegemony by migrating to other parts of the subcontinent.

Persecution of Christians (non-Catholic)

In 1599 under Aleixo de Menezes the Synod of Diamper converted the Syriac Saint Thomas Christians to the Roman Catholic Church. The synod enforced severe restrictions on their faith and the practice of using Syriac/Aramaic. The Kerala Christians of Malabar were independent of Rome. What resulted in it was the persecution of the Syrian Christians of Malabar. They were first made politically insignificant and their Metropolitanate status was discontinued by blocking bishops from the Middle East. There were assassination attempts against Archdeacon George so as to subjugate the entire church under Rome. The first martyr of consequence was Mar Ahathalla who was the bishop from Syria, who was staked by the Goan Inquisition. What followed was the literary holocaust of the St. Thomas Christian history and faith. Even the common prayer book was not spared. Every known item of literature was burnt and any priest professing independence was imprisoned. Some altars were pulled down to make way for altars conforming to Catholic criteria. St. Thomas Christians resentful over these acts later swore the Coonan Cross Oath, severing relations with the Catholic Church.They swore that from that day they nor their children would have any relations with the church of Rome thereby raising the first freedom movement against the western powers in india.

In addition, non-Portuguese Christian missionaries who were in competition with the inquisition were often persecuted even though they were outside the sphere of influence of the inquisition. When the local clergy became jealous of a French priest operating in Madras, they lured him to Goa, then had him arrested and sent to the inquisition. He was saved when the Hindu King of Carnatica interceded on his behalf, laid seige to St. Thome and demanded the releasse of the priest.

Persecution of Muslims

The large Muslim population of Goa, was massacred and decimated by the Jesuits.

Persecution of Jews

The Jews in the region were rounded up, together with the Hindus. Both groups were charged with "paganism", but the Jews were doubly charged with "Judaism".

The anti-semitic aspect of the inquisition ran parallel to the contemporaneous inquisitions in Spain and Portugal, working its havoc in Goa, among other places in the Iberian sphere of influence. There was a large population of Jews in the Konkan region. The inquisition mandated that celebrating the Jewish Sabbath in Goa was enough to get an Indian Jew burned at the stake. The Indian Jews were shackled in irons and imprisoned in filthy prisons for long periods of time before they were tried and executed.

The Jewish presence in the South Indian state of Kerala has been notable. In the 16th century, the Portuguese massacre of South Indian Jewry led to a significant decline in Jewish settlements in the region. Eventually, they sought refuge with the Hindu King of Cochin. In a letter written by the Portuguese to their king in 1513 permission is sought for their extermination. The Portuguese destroyed the remnants of the Jewish population in Kodungallore. They also destroyed the Jewish settlement in Cochin and damaged the Jewish synagogue as well as their historical documents.

In 1662 CE the Dutch attacked Cochin but were driven out. The Jews were severely punished by the Portuguese for allegedly aiding the Dutch. In 1663 CE the Dutch returned and defeated the Portuguese. The Jews were treated more tolerantly by the Dutch rulers. The Cochin Jews reestablished their links with European Jews. In 1687 a Jewish delegation from Amsterdam arrived under the leadership of Mr. Thomas Perera. His report published in 1687 under the name "NOTSIAS DOS JUDEOS DE COCHIM " details the history of Cochin Jews.

End of the Inquisition

Though officially repressed in 1774, it was reinstated by the Queen Maria I in 1778. The last vestiges of the Goa Inquisition were finally swept away when the British occupied the city in 1812.

Prohibitions

• Yajnopaveetam ceremony (initiation ceremony for Hindu boys) and other Hindu ceremonies are banned.
• The instruments for Hindu songs cannot be played.
• While giving dowry the relatives of the bride and groom must not be invited to the dwelling.
• At the time of marriage, betel leaf packages (pan) may not be distributed either publicly or in private to the persons present.
• Flowers, or fried puris; betel nuts and leaves cannot be sent to the heads of the houses of the bride or groom.
• Gotrah ceremony of the family God must not be performed.
• On the day prior to a wedding, rice must not be husked, spices must not be pounded, grains must not be ground and Hindu recipes marriage feast must not be cooked.
• Pandals and festoons must not be used.
• Pithi may not be applied.
• The bride will be accorded ceremonial welcome. The bride and groom will not sit under the pandal to convey blessings and best wishes to them.
• The poor must not be fed or ceremonial meals must not be served for the peace of the souls of the dead.
• There should be no fasting on ekadashi day.
• Fasting can only be done according to the Christian principles.
• No rituals should be performed on the twelfth day after death, on moonless and full moon dates.
• No fasting should be done during lunar eclipse.
• Nobody shall bear Hindu names or surnames.

Footnotes

References

• Streatfeidl-James, Douglas and Thomas, Bryn. Lonely Planet - Goa. Lonely Planet Publications, 1998.
• Henry James Coleridge, ed. The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier. 2d Ed., 2 Vols. London: Burns & Oates, 1890.

External links

• http://www.atributetohinduism.com/European_Imperialism.htm
• Inquisition of Goa
• Recall the Goa Inquisition to stop the Church from crying foul
• Details of the Goa Inquisition by Christian historian, Dr. T. R. de Souza
• Inquisition Goa
• St. Francis Xavier
• Inquisition Goa