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The Great Goan
"Siddhi Controversy"
Introduction:
[
Goa is that uniquely positioned Luso-influenced state on the
West coast of India. The Portuguese were 'invited' to leave and they
did so in 1961. Since then much development has taken place in Goa; some
of it has been very good, some just the opposite.
Over the last few
years, there has been a serious effort to label the Portuguese influence
in Goa as something terrible. Every effort is also being made try
extinguish any form of Portuguese influence in Goa.
It has now become a
fashion to bad-mouth the Portuguese at every turn. This is not to say that
the Portuguese 450 years in Goa were all hunky dory. They were not.
However, as with most times, that era had its glorious and its ugly times.
I suggest that the
most prudent thing to do, is to acknowledge the good with the bad, and
move forwards.
The latest
controversy starts with an ostensibly innocuous article written in the
State's premier newspaper, the Navhind Times by an unidentified
journalist. That would have passed quite unnoticed but for the fact that
the story-as-written is challenged for its accuracy.
You read the details
and judge for yourself. Are we unashamed revisionists, convenient
distortionists or just plain old ignorant folk. The story starts in
the Navhind Times and moves on to the other newspaper the Heraldo.
( Konkani is the
language of the Konkan / Malabar Coast)]
============================================
400 YEARS LATER SIDDHIS STILL KEEP KONKANI CLOSE TO HEART
Unidentified author
NAVHIND TIMES February 11, 2002 Page 3
Nearly 400 years ago, when the British had abolished slavery, the Africans
were brought to Goa by the Portuguese for various types of work, but they
left Goa and settled at the Yellapur district in Karwar out of sheer fear
of torture from Portuguese. When the Siddhis left Goa they took Konkani
language on their tongue, which is still preserved in their community.
This was stated by the leader of the Yellapur Siddhi Sanskritik Mand, Mr
Mingual Anton Siddhi, who presented a Siddhi dance at the Konkani Sangeet
Sammelan, at Fatorda this afternoon. He said Konkani is on their tongue
and they speak Konkani at home. He said that there is a 12,000 strong
Siddhi population in Yellapur district and their major occupation is
farming.
Though their relation with Goa was only because they were transported from
Africa, they carried Konkani at their heart since last four centuries,
opined Mr Mingual.
He said that though they consider themselves as Kannadigas, they follow
Konkani culture at home. He said the community could not get proper
educational facilities in the past, but with the change in the time they
are now surging ahead and are taking up various professions. He also
proudly, said that his son has become a Christian priest and settled in
Bangalore.
Mr Siddhi, who was also the member of Central Sahitya Academy for a long
time representing the Karnataka Konkani Academy, said the members of
community follow Chistianity and Islam but they have remained united.
The Siddhi troupe presented five dances, which included fugdi' intruz on
the beat of ghumbot and dhavat, which looks like pakhwaj. The language of
the
songs and the beats were similar to those of Goan folk music.
Mr Siddhi said he and his group members were thrilled to participate in
the first Konkani Sangeet Sammelan and that they would continue the
tradition.
He also said the Karnataka government is now trying to promote the younger
members of the community in the field of sport and other activities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Origin of
Siddhis; a disputed issue
By
SÉRGIO MASCARENHAS
DE ALMEIDA of Fundação Oriente
Navhind Times of 14Feb2002:
I am a regular reader of The Navhind Times ever since I settled in
Goa, due to the high standards of professionalism that your newspaper
displays.
Yet, I was profoundly deceived when I read the article 400 years latter
Siddhis still keep Konkani close to heart in The Navhind Times,
on Monday, February 11. My sense of deception comes from the first
paragraph that can only be read as an unfounded and malicious attack
on Portugal and the Portuguese.
Now,
let us see why:
Your staff reporter mentions that "The Africans were brought to Goa
by the Portuguese". Furthermore, your Staff Reporter highlights his
point by comparing the Portuguese to the British that "nearly 400
years ago... abolished slavery".
Your Staff Reporter further attributes these affirmations to Mr
Mingual Anton Siddhi, leader of the `Yellapur Siddhi Sanskritik Mand'.
I have reasons to believe that these statements cannot be attributed to Mr
Mingual Siddhi. In fact, if we compare yours Staff Reporter's
article with one published in another Goan newspaper, the named journalist
quotes Mr Mingual Siddhi in a proper way by reproducing Mr Siddhi's
statements within inverted comas. This means that he is attempting to
faithfully present the views of Mr Siddhi. Your Staff Reporter may have
spoken with Mr Siddhi, yet, by not quoting him directly, shows that he
'embellished' what was told to him.
It just happens that according to the other newspaper, there's no mention
to the Portuguese (or the British for that matter) in Mr Siddhi
declarations. Neither are there mentions of certainties about the origins
of his tribe. According to it, Mr Siddhi shared with their journalist some
divergent views about the Siddhi tribe's origins, views that came into
existence according to oral traditions and that have not been grounded in
well founded historical studies.
The conclusion we have to reach is that Mr Siddhi never mentioned the
Portuguese in his statements and that, what was written by your Staff
Reporter are inferences of his own making.
In fact, it is not difficult to see that what your Staff Reporter says
is false. For instance, take the contention that the British abolished
slavery 400 years ago. This is so obviously false that it becomes
ridiculous. Everybody knows that the British only abolished the
slave trade (a different concept from the abolition of slavery) by the end
of the 18th century. And even then they only abolished that trade in the
North Atlantic. The reason is simple: the British did not do this out of a
will to defend human rights. They did it to hit economically their former
colonies of the United States of America that had just got their
independence against the will of the British Crown.
Interestingly, by that time, the Portuguese had abolished slavery in
Portugal. Yes, they kept slavery in their colonies. But the important fact
is that the Portuguese started the slow movement towards full abolition of
slavery well before the British.
On what concerns African slaves in India, it is true that the Portuguese
had African slaves in India in the 16th century. But these were in small
numbers and never to an extent that they could constitute an independent
community. The reason is simple: it was un-economical to extensively use
imported slave work in India. The Portuguese (and European) African slave
trade was directed to America, not to Asia. This is not to say that there
was no large scale slave trade from Africa to India. It existed, but it
was in the hands of the Muslims, not the Portuguese, and directed at the
regions of India under Muslim rule, not in the Portuguese possessions.
This slave trade existed before the arrival of the Portuguese and
continued after it (Since Goa was in Muslim hands before its conquest by
Afonso de Albuquerque, it may happen that there was a slave community
here, and that that community was driven off after 1510. This is
only a supposition, though).
The question remains:
why did your Staff Reporter invent statements that
were not there and try to present history this way? Why his need to
attribute to the Portuguese the constitution of an African slave community
in India? Why describe the history of that community as one of
emancipation from slavery and torture on the part of the Portuguese? Why
the insidious comparison between the `good' British colonialists and the
`bad' Portuguese ones?
I can only attribute this to a strong anti-Portuguese bias on the part of
your Staff Reporter. As a Portuguese citizen currently settled in Goa, I
feel deeply offended by this behaviour.
By behaving this way, your Staff Reporter does betrays everything good
journalism stands for. I hope that this does not reflect the thinking of
The Navhind Times and that the trust I got used to put in your newspaper
is not at stake. I sincerely desire that this is just an exception to the
rule of independent and professional reporting that I got used to
appreciate in your pages.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
400 YEARS LATER
Goan JOURNOS are inventing facts!
jose
colaco
Navhind Times Feb 14, 2002
In response to 400 YEARS LATER SIDDHIS STILL KEEP KONKANI CLOSE TO HEART
article by ? in the Goa Navhind Times Gabriel de Figueiredo wrote:
"gdefigueiredo" <DeFigueiredoG@l...> wrote:
[ The above article seems to be
a mischievous bit of journalism, aimed at belittling the good works the
Portuguese left behind. Following is another article, written by a
delegate of Fundação Oriente, on Navhind Times of 14Feb2002:
Origin of Siddhis; a disputed issue
By SÉRGIO MASCARENHAS DE ALMEIDA
]
Dear GF,
I am not so sure if this is Mischief or plain Ignorance on the part of
this so-called nameless "journalist" from the Navhind Times. One thing is
certain: It sure is rather fashionable these days, for Goans to bad mouth
the Portuguese.
In the middle of 2001, Fernando do Rego stood up and corrected NT for
another report on the "nothing the Portuguese had done for Goa's
Agriculture".
You know what they say, if a lie is told often enough, even you, who knows
different, might start believing it. That is what Hitler's SS had
perfected and that is what the Revisionists i.e. the modern day SS are
trying to do.
I believe Sergio's article is right on target.
A good reading of history will reveal that the Arabs took pepper from
India and sold horses and African slaves to the various maharajas.
On another note...just imagine WHO is talking about slavery....We!,
the people who have a history of "dasas" (slaves) and Human Bondage.
We, the people who have the largest child labour force in the world!
Good, isn't it? And we bad mouth the politicians for being two faced
hypocrites.
This NT staff reporter writes: [Nearly
400 years ago, when the
British had abolished slavery,
the Africans were brought to Goa by the Portuguese for various types of
work, but they left Goa and settled at the Yellapur district in Karwar out
of sheer fear of torture from Portuguese.]
Never mind the sheer ignorance of this NT reporter re: the fact that the
British came to Africa several years after the Portuguese "led" the way,
but if one calculates as per NT reporter, WHEN the British ABOLISHED
slavery....it must be around 1602! SURE!!!!
My question : Then WHO were these people who created the MASS and ENFORCED
transfer of African Slaves to North America until 1865, rather at least
until the American War of Independence in 1776?
NOT the Brits? Really ?
regards
jc
Never mind our own "slaves"!
For assistance to the no-name NT reporter is the following:
Chronology Of The History Of Slavery: 1619-1789
1440's
Portuguese begin to capture Africans off the coast of Mauritania and the
Sengambia region.
1619
the first twenty "Negar" slaves had arrived from the West Indies in a
Dutch vessel and were sold to the governor and a merchant in Jamestown in
late August of 1619, as reported by John Rolfe to John Smith back in
London.
1638
The first public slave auction of 23 individuals was held in Jamestown
square itself in 1638. The price tag for an African male was around $27.
1660
Slavery spread quickly in the American colonies. At first the legal status
of Africans in America was poorly defined, and some, like European
indentured servants, managed to become free after several years of
service. From the 1660s, however, the colonies began enacting laws that
defined and regulated slave relations. Central to these laws was the
provision that black slaves, and the children of slave women, would serve
for life.
1662
The first known Virginia statute punishing interracial sexual relations
was enacted in 1662. Racial Purity and Interracial Sex in the Law of
Colonial and Antebellum Virginia. Virginia had enacted a statute punishing
interracial marriage. The antimiscegenation laws and prohibitions were the
legal manifestations of an often violently enforced taboo against sexual
relations between white women and black men. The punishment in 1691 for
marriage between an English or white individual and a black, mulatto, or
Indian was banishment and removal from Virginia forever.
The Bight of Biafra was one of the most important sources of enslaved
Africans sent to the Americas in the eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries. Indeed, the forced transport of considerable numbers of
Igbo-speaking slaves and others from the interior of the Bight of Biafra
across the Atlantic was a central development in the emergence of
relatively cohesive ethnic groups in the African diaspora. Igbo, "Moko", "Bibi"
and other ethnic groups have been identified in many parts of the
Americas, most especially in
Jamaica, the tidewater areas of Maryland and Virginia, and other
anglophone colonies.
1857
On March 6, the Supreme Court decides that an African-American cannot be a
citizen of the U.S., and has no rights of citizenship.
1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th President on November 6.
1863
The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect January 1, legally freeing
slaves in areas of the South in rebellion.
1865
On January 31, Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing
slavery in the United States.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Slavery In Portuguese India
Shrikant Y Ramani
O Heraldo, 10 April 2002
In an interview during the first Konkani Sangeet Sammelan, M Mingul Anton
Siddi had stated that the Siddis left Goa and settled at the Yellapur
district in Karwar out of sheer fear of torture from Portuguese, and that
they took Konkani language on their tongue which is still preserved.
However Sergio Mascarenhas de Almeida, Delegate of Fundacao Oriente in
India disputed that the Africans were brought to Goa by the Portuguese and
that whatever slave trade existed was in the hands of Muslims not the
Portuguese and that it was directed at the regions of India under Muslim
rule, not in the Portuguese possessions. Jose Colaco also expressing his
views on the subject said that it was fashionable these days, for Goans to
bad mouth the Portuguese and that these people are using Gobbellian
tactics. Further he advised that the people having a history of dasas and
having the largest child labour force in the world should not talk about
slavery at all.
Obviously the words “Nearly- 400 years ago, when the British had abolished
slavery” are incorrect. However the fact remains that the slaves and slave
market existed in Goa till the slavery was abolished by the Treaty for the
Complete Abolishment of the Traffic of Slavery by Her Majesty the Queen of
Portugal and Algarves and Her Majesty the Queen of Britain and Ireland,
signed in Lisbon by the respective plenipotentiaries on July 3, 1842.
What happened to the slaves after the Manumission or setting them free
from bondage? The study made by Cyprian Lobo (Siddis in Karnataka) says
that these people must have run away from Goa and its neighbourhood after
being released from their bondage and taken refuge in the forests which
for many many years have become their homeland. So the ancestry of the
Siddis may be traced to the fugitives or liberated slaves of Goa, who took
refuge in the backwoods and forests out of fear or to keep out of public
attention.
The mother tongue of the Siddis in Karnataka is Konkani. As the language
of the people of Goa is Konkani, the African slaves in Goa must have
picked the language of the place. There are Hindu, Christian and Muslim
Siddis. A matter of interest is that those who are christened have names
like Pedro, Salu, Robert, Joana, Jose, and what is more interesting is
that they have surnames like Fernand, Soza etc. This certainly reveals
Portuguese influence.
The African or Negro slavery started about 1510. Most of the African
slaves were used as domestic servants, agricultural labourers or in
unskilled occupations. The slave trade undeniably was a big black spot on
mankind.
The Portuguese in their navigation came upon islands of Africa took the
advantage of the simplicity of the inhabitants and took them away as
slaves. The history records that every year between, 1416 and 1441 Prince
Henry sent out two or three ships along the West Coast of Africa. These
expeditions succeeded in establishing a flourishing slave’ trade along the
West coast of Africa. In 1498 they built a fort at Elmina on the Gold
Coast, the present day Ghana. This was the foundation stone of a great and
terrible edifice, the Atlantic slave trade.
Coming to slaves in Portuguese India, one has to read what different
travelers have recorded. Goa had become a showpiece of exquisite homes,
retinues of servants, elegant churches, and flower bedecked pracas
(squares). Supposedly Portuguese contempt for manual labour required that
the other work be relegated to a vast number of African, Indian or foreign
born slaves or servants.
Careri in the description of Goa refers to the presence of the Kafris
Linschoten noted that there are many Abyssinians in Goa as slaves and
captives both men and women which are brought out of Aehtheopia. He
further records that from Mozambique great numbers of these Caffres are
carried into India, and many are sold for two or three ducats.
Pyrard de Laval in his descriptions has noted of one of the central
squares that “in this plaza are sold all sorts’ of merchandise, and among
other things quantities of slaves”. The sellers first performed a through
examination of the merchandise “all their endowment skills, strength, and
health, and the buyers question and examine them with curiosity, from head
to foot, the same with them men as with the women.”
The Italian doctor who visited Goa, in 1695, says that African slaves were
numerous throughout Portuguese India and records that “there are also an
abundance of Cafres and Blacks; for there are that keep thirty or forty
and the least six or twelve; to carry their umbrella, and other mean
employments, nor are they at any other charge to keep them, but a dish of
rice at noon, and another at night; for they have no other garments but
what they brought out of their mothers wombs.
It was also customary for convents and monasteries to have slaves perform
varied jobs. The Monastery of Santa Monica had about thirty servants and
slaves (one female slave is allowed to assist each nun in the monastery).
The three houses of Misericordia of the Hospitals included servants and
slaves numbering two hundred. Even these large numbers did not satisfy
these institutions. The residents of convent of Santa Monica complained
that 120 slaves to them were insufficient pointing that others had over
300. The maintenance of large number of slaves was considered as matter of
social status and personal prestige.
The Portuguese also depended increasingly on Negro slaves to make up their
crews. The Estado da India’s military establishments also depend on
African slaves in all its territories. There was active slave trade
between Mozambique and Goa and the Portuguese found it very profitable.
Many are the records which reveal that African natives were imported, with
number of males being equal to that of females. Of Habshis, the greater
number was of females, in the proportion of two to one. It is believed
that the Habshi females were much prized for their beauty and symmetry of
figure.
Slaves that were brought into India, belonged to different nationalities.
Most of the slaves were brought from Africa by the Portuguese and taken to
their colonies. The native agents captured people from the interior and
sold them to the Portuguese traders who visited these regions. It is very
important to refer to Mhamai Kamat House Records to get the real picture
about the movement of Negro slaves through Goa. In the last decade of the
eighteenth century and the first decade of the nineteenth century, the
service of the Mhamais was much used for procuring slaves from Africa for
their clients.
About 1683, the slave traffic-was concentrated in East Africa, and there
was active trade with Goa. One single frigate that had come from
Mozambique to Goa in 1683 had brought 207 Negro slaves. They were
purchased by different persons in Goa. Some belonged to the crew members
of the frigate who enjoyed the privilege of bringing a fixed number of
slaves duly free, while others had to pay a freight charge of five
xerafins per slave.
The Mhamai House Records contain a letter from one Couronat to Naiayani
Camotim dated October15, 1777. He acknowledges receipt of a letter dated
August 26. It states a promise to send within four or five days, a person
of confidence with Rs 20,000 for the purchase of slaves and ivory. The
letter also gives specifications of the goods required: “young and strong
Negroes, of which half the number should be adult males, one fourth
females and the remaining young males all in good health and with no
defects. Whatever their cost I want two male slaves and two graceful
females. ”More interesting is the reply of N Camotim. “Has began taking
care of the slave purchase and is awaiting the man with money as
promised.” It also informs that “a month back Galinern had come with his
vessel (Chalupa) from Mauritius and taken 160 Negroes. Presently there is
another vessel of Larochet whose agent has arranged about 140 slaves for
him. The ship from Mozambique had arrived in Goa on September 28 and must
have brought about 700 slaves.”
We get a deeper insight into the nature of this trade from the following
letter.
“To use the proceeds of these goods to buy a young black kaffir of the
very best type. Age about nineteen or twenty, knowing a little Portuguese,
intelligent and having already if possible done some cooking for which
work he is intended. It is important that he does not have an unpleasant
appearance and specially that he does not smell unbearably. Although I’m
not putting any limit on price, I would not like it to go beyond 150
roupies. I do not need to observe I think it is absolutely necessary that
he is good fellow, that is to say obedient faithful as a kaffir can be. As
for the rest of the funds you may use them for other slaves, kaffirs all
from fifteen to twenty yeas of age, well built and having had small pox.
These are the only two qualities required of them.”
What was plight of the slaves in Goa? They were sold and purchased in the
auction or leiloes taking place every day except Sundays and holidays, in
the principal street called Rua Direita (Straight Street).
Pyrard relates that “the more pitiable were the slave auctions where
pretty and elegant girls being sold. Female slaves were actually displayed
in the nude so that they’d bring a better price and the kaffir girls from
Mozambique were actually the most in demand”. Even the Casa da Misercordia
(House of Mercy) bought slaves for the institution without a thought that
there was anything wrong about it. The Portuguese had a general rule of
treatment, and it was that the slaves who subjected to the regulation of 3
P’s, viz, Pau ( whip ), pao (bread ),and pano (cloth ). Essential
requirements of food and clothing were given to the slaves but it is clear
that the whip was freely used. Whipping was the easiest and most customary
form of punishment. In fact many were the slaves who were forced to
survive on meagre meals, and their diminutive stature and squalid
appearance showed evidence of the want of adequate nourishment. It is
evident from narrations of several’ authors that there was slavery in
Portuguese India till it was officially abolished. The fact remains that
the freed slaves ran away from Goa and hid themselves in the wooded areas
and jungles in the adjoining Karnataka then Under British rule. One can
understand the reaction of Sergio Mascarenhas de Almeida though it is not
corroborated by historical facts as he must have felt his duty to defend
his countrymen but one fails to understand the fulminations the of Jose
Colaco. Though the slavery was abolished long back the Portuguese have
been successful in enslaving the minds of many people like Colaco!
responses from Sergio Mascarenhas de Almeida & Jose Colaco
overleaf
who
are the Siddhis?
overleaf
India's Caste System: the world's first system of Apartheid [read]
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