Hindu Genocide in Goa Inquisition

I stood beside him; on the torturing cross No pain assailed his unterrestrial sense; And yet he groaned. Indignantly I summed The massacres and miseries which his name Had sanctioned in my country, and I cried “Go! Go!” in mockery. – Shelley’s The Christ

1541: Francis Xavier landed in Goa – sent there by Ignatius Loyola of Jesuit order under the direction of the King João III of Portugal.

1545: Francis Xavier comes to the following conclusions that Hindus are an “unholy race” that they are “They are liars and cheats to the very backbone.”. that”the Indians being black themselves, consider their own color the best” and also that “they believe that their gods are black. On this account the great majority of their idols are as black as black can be, and moreover are generally so rubbed over with oil as to smell detestably, and seem to be as dirty as they are ugly and horrible to look at.” He writes to Rome to install inquisition in Goa immediately.

1560: Viceroy’s building modified to become the palace of inquisition with 200 cells with residence of the first inquisitor, house of secret, house of doctrine, any number of cells, and other special ones: of secret, of penitence; of perpetual confinement; of the tortures etc. Inquisition installed with powers higher than those of viceroys.

Apr-2 1560: Viceroy D Constantine de Braganca orders that all Brahmins should be thrown out of Goa and other areas under Portuguese control.

Feb-7 1575: Governor Antonio Morez Barreto,issues orders that the properties of those Hindus whose “presence was prejudicial to Christianity” wouldbe confiscated.

1585 : The Third Concilio Provincial adopts a resolution asking the king of Portugal to banish from Goa ‘the Brahmins, physicians and other infidels’ who the Church finds as an obstacle to convert the ‘the heathens’ to the ‘only true faith’.

Jan-31, 1620: Portuguese government orders that “…no Hindu, of whatever nationality or status he may be, can or shall perform marriages in this city of Goa, nor in the islands or adjacent territories of His Majesty…”

1625: Governor Francisco Barreto, issues orders that ‘bar Hindus from seeking employment’ in the Portuguese held Indian territory and Portuguese officials were ordered not to ‘use the services of any infidel in matters of his office anyway’

Historian Alfredo DeMello describes the performers of Goan inquisition as “nefarious, fiendish, lustful, corrupt religious orders which pounced on Goa for the purpose of destroying paganism and introducing the true religion of Christ”

The Goan inquisition is regarded by all contemporary portrayals as the most violent inquisition ever executed by the Portuguese Catholic Church. It lasted from 1560 to 1812 though in Europe it ended by 1774. (briefly restarted in 1778)

Given below are some of the eye-witness accounts of this genocidal Holy office:

Eye-witness accounts of Goan inquistion:

“…The inquisition of Goa, distinguished itself on account of the greater rigors than those of the tribunals of the metropolis; thousands of victims died at the stake in flames.

-Joao Felix Pereira(19th century) in Historia de Portugal, 3rd edition, page 235

“..The inquisition, this tribunal of fire, thrown on the surface of the globe for the scourge of humanity, this horrible institution, which will eternally cover with shame its authors, fixed its brutal domicile in the fertile plains of the Hindustan. On seeing the monster everyone fled and disappeared, Moguls, Arabs, Persians, Armenians, and Jews. The Indians even, more tolerant and pacific, were astounded to see the God of Christianism more cruel than that of Mohammed, deserted the territory of the Portuguese…”

-Memoirs of JudgesMagalhães and Lousada: (Vol 2,Annaes Marítimos e Coloniais,page 59)

“…The terrors inflicted on pregnant women made them abort….Neither the beauty or decorousness of the flower of youth, nor the old age, so worthy of compassion in a woman, exempted the weaker sex from the brutal ferocity of the supposed defenders of the religion.. ..There were days when seven or eight were submitted to torture. These scenes were reserved for the inquisitors after dinner. It was a post-prandial entertainment. Many a time during those acts, the inquisitors compared notes in the appreciation of the beauty of the human form. While the unlucky damsel twisted in the intolerable pains of torture, or fainted in the intensity of the agony, one inquisitor applauded the angelic touches of her face, another the brightness of her eyes, another, the voluptuous contours of her breast, another the shape of her hands. In this conjuncture, men of blood transformed themselves into real artists !!

-Alexandre Herculano Famous writer of 19th century in his Fragment about the Inquisition

Mechanism of Inquisition as recorded by Dellon a French Roman Catholic – ‘a very mild account of inquisition’: The cells:a fetid cell, provided with a hole for relieving himself. But it overflowed, and there were faeces all over, an abominable smell, practically no light, save for slits on the wall, well above the reach of one’s hands.

No honour even in death:

Those who died in the jail were buried inside the building, and as they were going to be judged, the bodies were exhumed, and the bones were kept to be burnt on the next auto da fé.

Condemning the accused:

Seven witnesses were required to condemn a person. But the witnesses were never brought face to face with the hapless accused. The inquisition admitted the testimony of all kinds of people, even of those who were interested in the utter condemnation of the accused. Among the seven witnesses, was included the victim himself, who under torture had admitted the heresies that he had (not) committed.

Tortures:Three kinds of torture were practiced:1) The rope or the pulley,2) Water and3) Fire.

The torture by rope consisted of the arms being tied backwards and then raised by a pulley, leaving the victim hanging for some time, and then let the victim drop down to half a foot above the floor, then raised again. These continued up-and-down movement dislocated the joints and made the prisoner emit horrible cries of pain. This torture went on for an hour.

The torture by water was as follows: the victim was made to lie across an iron bar, and was forced to imbibe water without stopping. The iron bar broke the vertebrae and caused horrible pains, whereas the water treatment provoked vomits and asphyxia.

The torture by fire was definitely the worst: the victim was hung above a fire, which warmed the soles of the feet, and the jailers rubbed bacon and other combustible materials on the feet. The feet were burned until the victim confessed. These last two tortures lasted for about an hour, and sometimes more. The house of torments was a subterranean grotto, so that other might not hear the cries of the wretched. Many a time, the victims died under torture; their bodies were interred within the compound, and the bones were exhumed for the auto da fe, and burnt in public.

Showing them mercy by burning at stake:By daylight, each convict was ordered to march alongside a godfather, one of the officials assigned to each victim. It was a great honor to be appointed godfather for these

ceremonies. The procession was led through the long streets of the city, so that the multitudes could watch the ugly pageant. Finally, covered with shame and confusion, tired of the long march, the condemned reached the church of St. Francis, which was decked with great pomp and circumstance. The altar was covered with black cloth on which stood six silver candleholders. On both sides of the altar there were two kinds of thrones: the right side for the inquisitor and his councilors, and the left side for the viceroy and his court.

The convicts and godfathers were seated on benches. Next, four man-sized statues were brought, accompanied by four men who carried boxes full of bones of the victims who had died by tortures: these statues, wearing the Samarra and representing the dead victims would be tried too. Once the sermon was concluded, two officials went up to the pulpit to read publicly the proceedings of all the guilty, and to declare the sentences upon them.

The condemned to be burnt at the stake were delivered to the secular arm, to which the Inquisition begged to use clemency and mercy with these wretched, and to impose the death penalty without effusion of blood – by burning them at stake!

Remarks of a historian:The words Auto da fé reverberated throughout Goa, reminiscent of the furies of Hell, which concept, incidentally does not exist in the Hindu pantheon. On April 1st 1650 for instance, four people were burnt to death, the next auto da fé was on December 14, 1653, when 18 were put to the flames, accused of the crime of heresy. And from the 8th April 1666 until the end of 1679 – during which period Dellon was tried – there were eight autos da fé, in which 1208 victims were sentenced. In November 22, 1711 another auto da fé took place involving 41 persons. Another milestone was on December 20, 1736, when the Inquisition burnt an entire family of Raaim, Salcete, destroying their house, putting salt on their land, and placing a stone padrao, which still existed in the place (at least in 1866)

-Alfredo De Mello (‘Memoirs of Goa’ Chapter 21)

It was the time when Vasco Da Gama, a Portuguese wanderer searching foe new trade routes, discovered a sea route to Bharat in 1498. He reached the shores of Goa for the purpose of trade[?]. Portuguese traders took about 4 decades to convince local populace that their intent is trading and not proselytizing. Whereas their masters in Portugal, the Catholic Church, were anxious and forcing them to start proselytize(forcible conversion)

The conversion of Jews to Christianity was a marriage decree signed between Portugal King and Spain Princess…

…Many of these New Christians publicly followed Catholic rituals but maintained some Jewish religious and cultural practices in the privacy of their own homes. These ‘Conversos‘ or crypto-Jews were also known as Marranos, a pejorative term meaning ‘pigs’; the Court of the Holy Office often accused them of apostasy….

Catholic Church in Portugal threatened the traders that they will open the routes to Asia for all catholics. And under the fear of losing trade benefits those Portuguese trader here in Goa started proselytizing. So the Catholic Church formed Archdiocese of Goa, an administrative body to administer Goan Island under archbishop, in 1534. The Catholic bishops were giving rice to the poor, good jobs in colonies and military support to local rulers in lieu of conversion.

In 1542 Francis Xavier, co-founder of Society of Jesus, landed in Goa to look after proselytizing activities.

Francis Xavier’s Letter of 1543

“These children[converts], I trust heartily, by the grace of God, will be much better than their fathers. They show an ardent love for the Divine law, and an extraordinary zeal for learning our holy religion and imparting it to others[idolaters]. Their hatred for idolatry is marvellous. They get into feuds with the heathen about it, and whenever their own parents practise it, they reproach them and come off to tell me at once. Whenever I hear of any act of idolatrous worship, I go to the place with a large band of these children, who very soon load the devil [idolator] with a greater amount of insult and abuse than he has lately received of honor and worship from their parents, relations, and acquaintances. The children run at the idols, upset them, dash them down, break them to pieces, spit on them, trample on them, kick them about, and in short heap on them every possible outrage”

In 1545 Xavier sent request letter to Portugal King “about the converts not following Christianity but are following old rituals at home and thought that they are the threat to purity of his belief, Christianity“. So he requested for Goa Inquisition.

Inquisition Chamber

The inquisition simply mean the rigorous investigation. But here by “Inquisition” Xavier was requesting for Spanish Inquisition which accepted by Portugal in a marriage decree. His intent was to exterminate native faith believers in Goa i.e. Hindus using Goa Inquisition. And Hindus today go to see his unburied remains at Basilica of Bom Jesus in Gao from all over the Bharat, and not just that they even attend the prayer. If Hitler's name gets banned in Germany by his own for brutality on Jews how come we go and worship a venom spewing missionary who ushered havoc in barbarian ways on us?

Some argue that the inquisition was not installed in Xavier’s life but they easily forget that the Co-Founder of Society of Jesus had requested Goa Inquisition. And the same Society of Jesus is involved in Evangelization and apostolic ministry worldwide since formation.

In his letter he says “The second necessity for the Christians is that Your Majesty establish the Holy Inquisition in Goa because there are many who live according to the Jewish Law and according to the Mohammedan Sect, without any fear of God or shame

of the World. And since there are many Hindus who are spread all over the fortresses, there is the need of the Holy Inquisition, and of many preachers. Your Majesty should provide such necessary things for your loyal and faithful subjects in the Indies.”

Portuguese Catholic Christians in Goa were blinded by their love for Christianity and were committing heinous crimes one after another soon after conquering Goa in 1510. As mentioned in first 2 parts of this series Christians tortured Hindus, burnt their houses, killed near ones, raped women, destroyed temples, broke idols.

Upon installing the Inquisition in Goa in 1560 the Jesuits under Viceroy Dom Constantino started their conversion work bravely in Sashti(Salcete) in order to create small Christendom. But villagers of Sasthi region did not pay heed and attacked the Jesuits and their assistants throughout the region. They attacked their horses too. Christians called this as indecent reception of fathers and decided to avenge. So under the encouragement of Viceroy Don Antano De Noronha, in 1567, they started destroying temples in Sashti and elesewhere too. This led to destruction of 300 temples. Which included the most socia-economic-spiritual place of Cancolim too. But devout Hindus rebuilt the burnt temple(the temple was burnt in the fire dedicate in the ‘name of Jesus’ – as per Gomes Vaz) upon returning back.

In this period Sultan of Bijapur upon invitation from the local populace led siege on Goa for 10 months in 1570. But he could not succeed in capturing Goa since the supplies couldn’t be stopped. Finally Sultan gave up the battle since could not hold on to the siege for any longer.

There was first violent revolt against atrocities of Christians in Goa. In 1583, in the Cuncolim village 20 Christian priests got the dues:

In 1583 five priests got orders to intensify conversions in Sasthi (Salcete) region. So these priests decided to start with Cuncolim. Since Cuncolim had been resisting all possible attempts of conversion for long time. Natives were so deep-rooted that they constructed the destroyed temple even after orders not to do so from Portuguese authority. This was good enough reason for these Catholic minds to start their work in Cuncolim.

On 15 July 1983 these 5 Jesuits (members of Society of Jesus) gathered and progressed towards Concolim. They had decided to erect a cross and select a ground for building Church. Villagers upon getting this information reached the spot where the 5 Jesuits and 15 other converts were. Here the villagers, must have, warned Jesuit about consequences, but one of priests attempted to confront crowd with Gun and that led to killing all the Jesuits and converts there. 20 of them were killed there.

This incident did not go well, as expected, with Captain-major of Portuguese Army stationed at Assolna fort. He decided to avenge the death of all Jesuits. He ordered army to raid and destroy orchards of village. He unleashed series of atrocities on the Hindu villagers by torturing them in all means possible.

The Captain invited the 16 Goankar (owners, caretakers of the village) leaders for the discussion at he Assolna fort on the river Sal. Here the Portuguese killed the leaders treacherously even after promising safe measures before invitation. One of the leaders escaped through toilet into Karwar of Karnataka.

Upon receiving the news of treacherous killing of leaders by Catholics the villagers of Cuncolim, Velim, Assolna, Ambelim and Veroda refused to pay taxes. As a result their lands were confiscated and entrusted to Condado. Conversions started in full swing with more brutal force now. Some villagers shifted to other parts along with their places of worship too.

In 1603 and 1640 Dutch had given tough naval fights which cost Portuguese the spice trade route. Dutch took over the spice trade and as an alternative Portuguese found Brazil as new spice trade base. Which eased the influx of Jesuits in Goa substantially reducing their religious fanaticism in Goa since they got one more place to proselytize.

King Shivaji: In 1660-61 he attacked Portuguese for primary reasons of*. There was need to have control over coastal area for defending the attacks from sea and controlling the trade.*. To relieve the oppressed Hindus under Portuguese territory.

It was known to King Shivaji that under Goa Inquisition Christians are torturing Hindus brutally to accept Christianity. And King Shivaji could not stand by the brutality against his own people in their own land. So he decided to retaliate.

Catholic christians were against any sort of agreement with Hindu King since it was considered apostasy in Inquisition. So failed to reach agreement Chatrapati Shivaji launched attack on Dicholi(Bicholin). Where in Vathadeo they had possession for some time which led to agreement between Marathas and Portuguese. And here Portuguese agreed to treat Hindus at par with Christians without any bias. Portuguese or Marathas never declared it as state of war. Some Goans were unhappy that they couldn’t be part of Maratha empire whereas some were satisfied that at least they wouldn’t be treated unfairly after peace. But Portuguese kept on facing uprising every now and then against inquisitors.

Chatrapati Sambhaji:

After Chatrapati Shivaji his son Chatrapti Sambhaji too attacked Portuguese at various times from 1681 to 1683 in order to keep them under control. Mughals supported Portuguese when Chatrapati Sambhaji had almost claimed all Goan territory in 1683. In December 1683 Ch Sambhaji conquered the Chapora Fort by defeating the Portuguese without firing a single bullet and made this place base camp for Maratha forces and it became the northern outpost of the Old conquests. The win was so close that the ruler Count De Alwor and his ministers were praying for their safety to St. Xavier by taking out his body from church. And then surprisingly Aurangzeb sent 100000 troops to attack

on Maratha Kingdom which made Marathas leave Goa by signing treaty with Portuguese. Which Portuguese never maintained. Thereafter too Chatrapati Sambhaji kept on attacking Portuguese with Goan’s support. In 1717 won back the Chapora Fort from Maratha forces and renovated it. Portuguese lost the fort again to Marathas in 1739 after 2 years bitter fight by Portuguese.

In 1741 Marathas almost took over the Goa city but an unexpected re-enforcement from Viceroy Marquis of Lourical and defeated Marathas in this battle. But it made them lose some territory. But by this time Portuguese were facing constant attacks and that left them with the choice of reducing the conversion efforts in order maintain civil unrest. Because all these attacks were possible because locals never supported these barbaric Inquisitors.

After Losing the war of Panipat Maratha Peshwas lost control over Goa. Later Portuguese added many more cities to its ambit but by that time Portuguese had expunged Jesuits in 1749 since they felt Jesuits are puppets of Pope of Rome. This eased the religious tension in Goa since Jesuits were the Inquisitors in Goa; Jesuits (Catholic Christians) were behind all brutalities.

In 1797 British army occupied Goa and started acting against Inquisitors sternly. Finally in 1812 inquisition was abolished in Goa and soon after that in 1813 British withdrew their army from Goa.

It is after committing such horrendous crimes that Christians now preach love to Indians today.