The Role of Purity and Pollution Rituals in Religious Conversions of Goa During Portuguese Colonization: A Probe Through Select Goan Novels

Abstract

The Colonial period of Goa, a small southwestern state of India, colonized by Portugal for over 450 years, is often considered a period of pollution and impurity. This essay seeks to understand the role of purity and pollution rituals in the religious conversions of sixteenth-century Goa. We undertake to closely analyze the fictionalized instances of conversions in the select novels and draw references from historical documents. The essay combines socio-literary and historical approaches to the subject to present a broader tapestry of the religious upheavals in Goa, mainly in the sixteenth century.

Keywords:

• Goan inquisition
• Goan literature
• Portuguese colonization
• purity rituals
• religious conversions
• sacred vs. profane

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Notes

1 Velhas Conquistas or “Old Conquests” refers to the province of Goa (Tiswadi, Bardez, Mormugao, and Salcette) that came under Portuguese dominion in the sixteenth century. The remaining territories of the present state of Goa annexed to the Portuguese by the eighteenth century were known as “New Conquests” or Nova Conquista. Together they were known as Estado da India Portuguesa (Portuguese State of India).

2 The Shudra community was considered one of the lowest of the four varnas of the Hindu caste system.

3 M. N. Srinivas (Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India [Oxford, 1952]), Franz Steiner (Taboo [Cohen & West, 1956]), and Mary Douglas (Purity and Danger [Routledge, 1966]) have shown how diverse societies subscribe to the ideas of purity and pollution.

4 Tulsi (holy basil), considered sacred by Hindus, is found in the courtyard of most houses. Traditional Hindus worship the plant every day in the morning and at sunset.

5 Ketkar sheds more light on how dissolution of caste was objected to also because it led to discontinuance of oblations (1909, 123).

6 This fictional episode is inspired by an incident recorded in Documenta Indica, 12 Vols and cited by Robinson (1993, 77).

7 Also xenddi, a hair tuft left on top of the shaved head of a male Hindu, particularly priests. The extra tax imposed on Hindus who refused to convert to Christianity was called Xenddi Tax, which showed the religious intolerance of the Portuguese administration (see De Souza 1970, 447–463).

8 Betel leaf and areca nut are regarded as auspicious symbols of hospitality and are part of religious offerings. Exchange of betel leaves also solemnizes a marriage pledge.

9 Alan Machado, writer and historian, is a Mangalorean Catholic who has extensively researched the community’s roots. He traces his ancestry to the landlords of Aldona, a village in Goa, and now prefers to suffix his name with “Prabhu,” his pre-conversion family name.