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Remembering to forget
Frederick Noronha
Vasco da Gama's
500th anniversary touches a raw nerve in Goa.
Suddenly, the Portuguese
are big news in their former colony of Goa, now better known as a
tourist destination and a one-time hippy hangout. But Lisbon is
unlikely to be flattered. The very thought of commemorating the
fifth centenary of Vasco da Gama's arrival on India's west coast has
had people agitated. Swaths of newsprint have been consumed by the
subject.
India's youngest ex-colony
is looking over its shoulder at its long, and often uneasy,
Portuguese past. In the process, Vasco da Gama's 1998 quincentennial
is taking on shades of the Columbus controversy which engulfed North
and South America in 1992.
Like any historical figure,
Vasco da Gama is understood (and misunderstood) in diverse ways.
Lionised by his countrymen, he has his skeptics elsewhere. Did he
undertake pioneering "discoveries", as Portugal would have it even
today, or was Vasco da Gama merely the "first European to travel by
sea to India", which is how he is described in the US-published
Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, which goes on: "He established
Portuguese power in India and Africa. His methods were harsh, and he
was not a good administrator. He was sent back to India as a viceroy
in 1524, but soon died."
Historian Sanjay
Subramanyam is rather severe in his evaluation of the Portuguese
explorer in a timely book that is just out (see following review).
This obscure nobleman from the Alentejo was transformed into the
Great Argonaut mainly through the creation of legend, writes
Subramanyam. Vasco da Gama, who today is known as part of the
generation of great discoverers along with Magellan, Cabral and
Columbus, was one thing in real life and quite another in the myth
that survives.
Not that there are no mixed
feelings in Goa. While some insist on his greatness, others point
out that the sea trade in the Indian Ocean was there centuries
before the arrival of the Portuguese navigator. While some Goans say
Vasco da Gama is a "historical personage" who cannot be wished away,
there are others who deride him as someone sent East to loot and
extend the empire. Most displeased are the freedom-fighters who
helped free Goa from the Portuguese (the territory joined India in
1962); the planned quincentennial celebration, they maintain,
questions the very bona fide of their activism against colonialism.
While it is not hard to
understand why the memory of Vasco da Gama evokes strong emotions in
Goa (as in pockets of Portuguese-influenced Asia, including Kerala
and Sri Lanka), the debate has got bogged down in clichés,
sloganeering and polarisation. This has left little ground for a
sober re-evaluation of the impact of the first European colony in
Asia.
Past to
present
Goa's leading
English-language daily The Navhind Times kicked off the
controversy a few months ago by offering its columns to those on
both sides of the debate. It soon became clear that the two sides
had simply studied different history texts. The Deshpremi Nagrik
Samiti (Patriotic Citizens' Committee), with stalwarts of the
anti-colonial struggle in it, bring up one phalanx. Others, like the
former MP Erasmo Sequeira, maintain that the celebration should be
accepted "in the right perspective". The good that came from this
meeting - some might call it clash - of cultures must be noted, is
Sequeira's view. Says he, "The Taj Mahal was built by the Moghuls
and today we take pride in it as a great Indian monument, instead of
thinking of destroying it as a vestige of colonialism."
There were those who began
to pronounce anything Portuguese as suspect, and even a seminar on
Portuguese laws became the target for protest. It was seen as an
insidious attempt to glorify "anything and everything Portuguese".
The Fundacao Oriente, a private cultural foundation which has been
running its Indian delegation from Panjim for the past couple of
years, faced more questions than it cared to answer.
The you-versus-me tone of
the controversy reflected the polarisation that has afflicted many
aspects of Goan society in recent years. Those with sympathies for
the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh see
Portugal-bashing as a Catholic versus Hindu thing. The subtle
insinuation is made that those who follow an imported religion are
anti-national. The result of this has been that the minority
Catholic community of Goa has had to go on the defensive.
"da Gama
epoch"
There is no denying that
Vasco da Gama's legacy touches all of Asia, including the
Subcontinent. Statesman scholar K.M. Pannikar argues that a clear
epoch of Indian history began with the arrival of Vasco da Gama in
Calicut in 1498 and lasted till the British pullout in 1947. This "da
Gama epoch", in his view, brought far-reaching changes which were
overwhelmingly negative.
Among those who see a more
benign, if not positive, legacy is microbiologist Nandkumar Kamat,
who points out that the explorer "was an instrument of
history" who catalysised "cataclysmic changes in India's agrarian
economy". Without Vasco da Gama, there would have been no
Portuguese trade pockets, no maritime trade, no import of foreign
plants and hence no diverse resource base which presently is the
mainstay of the Indian village economy.
American and African plants
spread in India via Portuguese sea routes. Grafting techniques came
to Goa first in the 16th century, and so did what are today among
India's most useful plants. "The
Portuguese imported about 300 species of useful plants to India,
and Goa was their chief emporium," says Kamat. "Before Vasco da
Gama, India did not cultivate sweet potatoes, tapioca, tomatoes or
pumpkins. Think of it, the potato comes from the Andes mountains
of South America. But India produces the largest potato crop in the
world today, surpassing Europe." Cashew, chikoo, papaya, tobacco,
guavas and pineapples entered India through Goa. Chillies - hard
to think of Indian food without them - arrived on Portuguese
galleons.
All this notwithstanding,
the Portuguese legacy is probably even more crucial for a little
outpost like Goa, which has had a unique experience even by the
global standards of colonialism. It is often forgotten that Goa's
colonial rulers were the first to come and virtually the last to
leave. The toe-hold achieved in India in 1510 remained a toe-hold,
but the Portuguese remained till 1961.
The impact of this long
spell of alien rule left its mark in this state of a mere 3702 sq km
area, and current population of 1.3 million. If Goa is considered
'different' today - and attracts so many tourists as a result - it
is clearly due to its unusual past. The Portuguese touch is evident
in the cuisine (including feni, the distinctive liquor), in
the architecture, and the Goan identity itself.
Lisbon's rule opened the
local population to international forces, which explains the
adaptability of Goans worldwide, says noted Indo-Portuguese
historian Teotonio R. de Souza, a Jesuit priest till recently.
"They do not feel estranged anywhere." Adds de Souza, "Goa was the
hub of Portugal's entire Estado da India. All their military, trade
and missionary activities were routed via Goa, and this could not
but leave a deep impress upon the local populations."
Peter Nazareth, a noted
Goan writer based at Iowa University, also underlines this aspect. "Goans
are cultural brokers, mediating between cultures. From the dawn of
Portuguese colonialism, West met East in Goans; and after that,
others could also meet this mix in Goans," he writes. At the same
time, Nazareth believes that Goans have lost some of their creative
energy due to the long stint with colonialism. As for the self
perception of Goans, he believes that it is a weakness "when we
don't know who we are and don't try to find out".
Colonial
collaborators
Historians critical of
Lisbon point out that anything the Portuguese want to disown is
today ascribed to various "aberrations" in the country's past.
The scholar de Souza also decries what he sees as the tendency to
perpetuate the myth about the Portuguese being "good colonialists".
In a study comparing
British and Portuguese colonialism, anthropologist Paul Axelrod
writes that Britain made a conscious effort to transform the village
economy for colonial ends - with canals and plantations - and also
believed in indirect rule. On the other hand, Portuguese colonialism
was oriented towards mercantilism. This consisted of owning small
chunks of land from Mozambique to Timor, controlling trade, and
extracting resources from the interiors. Goa happened to be the hub
of Portugal's colonial network, and was one of its largest
landholdings east of Africa.
For his part, de Souza says
that unlike the British the Portuguese placed excessive emphasis on
missionary activity. Lisbon's failure to keep pace with the
industrial revolution meant that they had to follow a different tack
than the British in the colonies. Says de Souza "This was why
Portuguese colonialism was more 'homely' and church and
kitchen-based, less machine-dominated."
Some hard facts have had to
be faced, too. Delhi-based Jesuit priest Walter Fernandes points out
that, in most cases, foreign domination was made possible by
collaboration between local elites and the invaders. "Colonialism
may be a thing of the past, but the collaboration continues;
globalisation is an offshoot of the colonial age," he says.
"Some Goans, particularly
from the upper strata, internalised (and accepted) colonial values.
This has become so natural for them, that they don't even question
it as something alien or out of place. It has become almost like a
part of our own body," says Charles Camara, a Goan scholar doing
research at Stockholm University.
But can the colonial ruler
be blamed for everything going wrong today? One local paper
suggested that instead of wasting their energy decrying the planned
quincentennial celebrations, freedom fighters should bring "to the
gallows" Indian politicians "whose corrupt practices are destroying
India and Indians more than all the atrocities committed by the
colonisers."
Clearly, blaming only the
'outsider' is not very helpful, and there is still scope for a
critical re-evaluation of the region's past. "I doubt Goans would
have been better off under some local (rulers like) sultans or
nayaks, if the Portuguese had not taken over the place in the
16th century," says de Souza.
That is a point of view,
but one that would be vociferously denied by all those keen on
burying the Portuguese legacy. The debate is leading nowhere. East
is east and west is west, said Kipling, and on taking stock of the
legacy of a long-dead mariner, the twain do not seem about to meet.
Fredrick Noronha
January 1, 1998
TGF
addendum: The
historian mentioned in the above article, Dr. Teotonio de Souza has
been severely criticized for using the "opportunity" of
re-confirming his Portuguese nationality and migrating to Portugal,
a country and people he has severely castigated, and that too, on so
many occasions.
To his credit, it
must be noted that Dr. de Souza
(TRS)
appears to have recently modified his position. Apparently, living and making
a living in Portugal has changed Dr. Teotonio de Souza's view of
Portugal and the Portuguese. There is nothing like "Seeing is
Believing and Knowing".
This is what Dr. Teotonio de Souza writes in his updated
autobiography:
I
do, however, owe an open apology to our former Portuguese
colonizers. My early writings were too harsh on them and I
tended to attribute to them more evils than those for which they may
have been responsible. My feelings of hostility directed against the
present-day descendants of the colonizers were certainly misplaced.
However, I wish that they will understand it as my over-reaction
to my own past and not entirely to theirs.
In
the process of two decades of research and closer personal contacts
with the Portuguese helped me to realise that there were our
well-wishers among them, while many enemies of our people
came also from within. This continues to be the reality till
date. Some of my writings, including a couple of essays in this
book, illustrate this point.
Positively, we owe it to the Portuguese to have exposed us to the
wider world much earlier than many other people of our country and
subcontinent. This does not apply only to the Christians of Goa,
though these are at times mistakenly and maliciously regarded by
some communally-biased political interests as the chief
beneficiaries and even collaborators of the former colonial masters.
Many of my writings, starting with Medieval Goa have thoroughly
proved the contrary had often been true.
http://www.goacom.com/culture/biographies/tdesbio.html
TGF
is pleasantly surprised that TRS has finally seen the
light of the day. At least, he was man enough to admit his error in
past absolute judgment. Good for him!
It
must be noted however that TRS played a key role in whipping up
anti-Portuguese & anti-Vasco da Gama
'500' sentiment in Goa, in 1998.
TRS set the proverbial ball rolling with his letter to the Goan
press.
WHY ? ............. hmmmm!
Was
it because Professor Subramaniam's version of Vasco da Gama
was preferred for publication by the Portuguese Discoveries
Commission?
That TRS letter (from Portugal) to the Goa Press makes zero sense
unless it was meant to stir up anti Portuguese demonstrations in Goa.
That is exactly what happened, & Goa lost an important opportunity
to accept her forebears - for better or for worse........and move
on.
It
is always good to see a change of heart, but TGF is reminded that
Words
spoken are like Egg Shells broken - they cannot really be repaired.
TGF
April 27, 2003
Professor Sanjay Subramaniam:
people who have NOT 'grown up' beyond
silly nationalistic reactions(1997)
José Colaço:
VASCO DA GAMA - the maritime explorer 1469 - 1524 |
