Head of the department of history, Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, the Lisbon-based De Souza who has published 10 books spoke to Devika Sequeira of Deccan Herald. Excerpts:
1543 இல் எழுதிய கடிதத்தில் அந்தணர்கள் தாம் தமது மதமாற்றத்திற்கு பெரிய தடை எனவும் அவர்கள் இங்குள்ள மக்களை ஏமாற்றுகிறார்கள் என்றும், ஆனால் அவர்களுக்கு என்று ஒரு இரகசிய கல்விச்சாலை இருப்பதாகவும் அங்கு அவர்கள் மட்டும் கடவுள் ஒருவனே என படித்துக்கொள்வதாகவும் அதனை ஒரு அந்தணரே இவரிடம் ஒத்துக் கொண்டதாகவும் அந்தணர்களின் அறிவு என்பது ஒரு சிறிய துளிதான் என்றும் எழுதிய மிசிநரி சவேரியார், 1549 இல் ஒட்டுமொத்தமாக இந்தியர்களின் குணக்கேடுதான் அவர்கள் கிறிஸ்தவத்தை ஏற்க தடையாக இருப்பதாக பிரகடனம் செய்துவிட்டார். (மிசிநரி சேவியரின் கடிதங்கள் எடுக்கப்பட்ட நூல்: ஆக்ஸ்போர்டு யூனிவர்ஸிட்டி பிரஸ் வெளியிட்ட "Modern Asia and Africa, Readings in World History" பாகம் 9 பக். 4-13 தொகுப்பாசிரியர்கள் வில்லியம் மெக்நெயில் மற்றும் மிட்ஸுகோ இரியி, 1971. அந்தணர்களைக் குறித்து சேவியர் கூறியதற்கு ஒப்ப மத்திய கால ஐரோப்பாவில் யூதர்கள் குறித்தும் கட்டுக்கதைகள் இருந்தன என்பது குறிப்பிடத் தக்கது. அதாவது உண்மையில் யூதர்கள் ஏசுவே வாக்களிக்கப்பட்ட மெசையா என அறிவார்கள் என்றும் ஆனால் அதனை அவர்கள் வேண்டுமென்றே மறைத்துவிடுவதாகவும் கூறப்பட்டுவந்தது,)
கோவாவில் இன்க்விசிசன் சேவியர் கேட்டுகொண்ட காலத்திலேயே கோவாவில் நிறுவப்பட முடியாமல் போனது. என்ற போதிலும், சேவியர் கோவா வந்து சேர்ந்த காலகட்டத்திலேயே
ஹிந்துக்களுக்கு எதிரான வன்முறை ஆரம்பித்துவிட்டது. "குறைந்த பட்சம் 1540 முதல், கோவாவில் அனைத்து இந்து விக்கிரகங்களும் உடைக்கப்படலாயின. கோவில்கள்
உடைக்கப்பட்டு அந்த கட்டுமான பொருட்களால் சர்ச்சுகள் கட்டப்பட்டன. இந்து ஆராதனைகள் தடைப்படுத்தப்பட்டன. இந்து பூசாரிகள் போர்த்துகீசிய பிரதேசங்களிலிருந்து
துரத்தப்பட்டனர்." என்கிறார் முனைவர் டிஸோஸா. (Western Colonialism in Asia and Christianity, பக். 85, தொகுப்பாசிரியர் எம்.டி.டேவிட், Himalaya Publishing House,Bombay,1988.)
The Hindu custom of growing the sacred Tulsi plant in front of the house was outlawed by the Inquisition.
Missionaries of the newly founded Society of Jesus were sent to Goa, and the Portuguese colonial government supported the mission with incentives for baptised Christians. They offered rice donations for the poor, good positions in the Portuguese colonies for the middle class, and military support for local rulers.[9] Many newly converted Indians were opportunistic Rice Christians, who still practised their old religion. Priests considered this a threat to the purity of Christian belief. St. Francis Xavier, in a 1545 letter to John III of Portugal, requested an Inquisition to be installed in Goa.
The inquisitor's first act was to forbid any open practice of the Hindu faith on pain 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.[11] 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 the accused.[11]
From 1560 to 1774, a total of 16,172 persons were tried and condemned or acquitted by the tribunals of the Inquisition.[12]While it also included individuals of different nationalities, the overwhelming majority—nearly three fourths were natives, almost equally represented by Christians and non-Christians. Many of these were hauled up merely for crossing the border and cultivating lands there.[13]
Seventy-one autos de fé were recorded. In the first few years alone, over 4000 people were arrested.[11] In the first hundred years, the Inquisition burnt at stake 57 alive and 64 in effigy, 105 of them being men and 16 women. Others sentenced to various punishments totalled 4,046, out of whom 3,034 were men and 1,012 were women.[14] According to theChronista de Tissuary (Chronicles of Tiswadi), the last auto de fé was held in Goa on 7 February 1773.
The Inquisition guaranteed "protection" to Hindus who converted to Christianity. Thus, they initiated a new wave of baptisms to Hindus who were motivated by social coercion into converting.[19]
The adverse effects of the inquisition were tempered somewhat by the fact that Hindus were able to escape Portuguesehegemony by migrating to other parts of the subcontinent[20] including to Muslim territory.
Persecution of Hindus[edit]
According to Indo-Portuguese historian Teotonio R. de Souza, grave abuses were practised in Goa.[24] The inquisition was set as a tribunal, headed by a judge, sent to Goa from Portugal.
Fr. Diogo da Borba and his advisor Vicar General, Miguel Vaz had made plans for converting the Hindus. Under this plan Viceroy António de Noronha issued in 1566, an order applicable to the entire area under Portuguese rule:
I hereby order that in any area owned by my master, the king, nobody should construct a Hindu temple and such temples already constructed should not be repaired without my permission. If this order is transgressed, such temples shall be, destroyed and the goods in them shall be used to meet expenses of holy deeds, as punishment of such transgression.
In 1567, the campaign of destroying temples in Bardez met with success. At the end of it 300 Hindu temples were destroyed. Enacting laws, prohibition was laid from 4 December 1567 on rituals of Hindu marriages, sacred thread wearing and cremation. All the persons above 15 years of age were compelled to listen to Christian preaching, failing which they were punished. In 1583 Hindu temples at Assolna and Cuncolim were destroyed through army action.
"The fathers of the Church forbade the Hindus under terrible penalties the use of their own sacred books, and prevented them from all exercise of their religion. They destroyed their temples, and so harassed and interfered with the people that they abandoned the city in large numbers, refusing to remain any longer in a place where they had no liberty, and were liable to imprisonment, torture and death if they worshipped after their own fashion the gods of their fathers." wrote Filippo Sassetti, who was in India from 1578 to 1588.
In 1620, an order was passed to prohibit the Hindus from performing their marriage rituals.[25] An order was issued in June 1684 for suppressing the Konkani language and making it compulsory to speak the Portuguese language. The law provided for dealing toughly with anyone using the local language. Following that law all the non-Christian cultural symbols and the books written in local languages were sought to be destroyed.[26] Charles Dellon experienced first hand the cruelty of the Inquisition's agents.[27] He published a book in 1687 describing his experiences in Goa. L'Inquisition de Goa (The Inquisition of Goa).[27]
