Hi Santosh: Thanks for your polite and intellectual response. I think we are getting somewhere. If it is alright with you, I will analyze your quote and your sources. Kind Regards, GL
Santosh Helekar: Please note that neither Alfredo nor I claimed that Orta was brought before the Inquisition while he was alive. All relevant articles that I have read mention that his bones were disinterred and burned by the inquisition because he was a crypto-Jew. I will give you the pertinent quotes from two articles that give the most extensive descriptions on him. GL: I never claimed that Dr. d'Orta was brought to the inquisition when he was alive. In fact my statement said, "His luck ran out after he died". And the first statement of the quote below substantiates those "lucky" connections when he was alive. The issues I raise are not the events. It is the interpretation of the events. D'Cruz IA. Garcia da Orta in Goa: pioneering tropical medicine. BMJ. 1991 Dec 21-28;303(6817):1593-4. As personal physician to people high in Portuguese governmental and ecclesiastical hierarchies in Goa, da Orta remained protected from the clutches of the Goan branch of the Inquisition, which was as suspicious and predatory toward "new Christians" as was its Iberian counterparts. GL responds: This is from the British Medical Journal. Where is there substantiation to the above statement - that what went on in Goa was what went on in Iberia? Do we assume that Goan converts were not victims of the inquisition, since they did not exist in Ibeira? In fact this statement, coroborates my often repeated comment that most writers of the Goan Inquisition transplant and replace Goan inquisition with European Inquisition and D'Cruz is no different. If "new Christians" were suspect in Goa, (and there is no statistics on them in Goa about that) why was Dr. d'Orta SO SUCCESSFUL in Goa when he was alive? (as the above statement attests). D'Cruz: However, a year after Garcia da Orta's death his sister Catarina was burnt at the stake "as an impenitent Jewess", and in 1580 da Orta's own remains were exhumed and burnt in an auto-da-fe at Goa as posthumous punishment for being a crypto-Jew during life". GL: This author as well as Alfred DeMello do not tell us the charges she an he were accused. And further the "punishment for being a crypto-Jew during life" was speculation. It well known that Dr. d'Orta was a crypto-Jew when he was alive. In spite of that he was favored by the Portuguese courts with wealth, his own island at Bombay, his own sailing ship and permission to visit the neighboring Nizams. FROM: Pandya SK. Medicine in Goa--a former Portuguese territory. J Postgrad Med. 1982 Jul;28(3):123-48. Contrary to the glowing account of his last days by Gerson da Cunha, [11] d'Orta probably suffered shame and penury shortly before his death in Goa in 1568.[8] His wife had to borrow a clean sheet from the neighbors to wrap his corpse. On December 4, 1580 the final insult was provided by the Tribunal which condemned him, disinterred his bones and publicly burnt them at an auto-da-fe at the cathedral in Goa as a posthumous punishment inflicted on those Jews who had escaped the stake in their lifetime." GL responds: This author just recycles the same that has been written by others. Not only did Dr. d'Orta "escaped the stake in his lifetime", he was highly rewarded by the Portuguese authorities in Portugal (professor at Coimbra at a young age) and social and economic success in Goa during his lifetime. Once again this article like the previous was more to do with Dr. d'Orta medical practice and not on his inquisition. Please note that Pandya has made Dr. d'Orta a Jew, which he was not. Summary of my views: It is clear, that all the three sources you refer to, including DeMello, did not see the Inquisition documents about Dr. d'Orta. It is very likely that their references (quoted sources) also did not see those documents (of the 16th century) either. So the references likely have little substance and less corroboration. This theory about "new Christian" or "Jew" being persecuted for living their religion IN GOA is one of those Goenchi Kanni that keeps getting regurgitated again and again, but to me, it does not add up. If Dr. d'Orta was brought to the Inquisition because he was a crypto-Jew, why did they need his sister's testimony (to bring him to justice)? The doctor's crypto-Jewish heritage was well known when he was alive. And during this time, he was highly regarded and extremely well rewarded by the Portuguese authorities - Military, Civilian and Religious. It is very likely, IMHO that Dr. d'Orta's sister spilled the beans on him and revealed "skeletons in his closet". These skeletons Dr. d'Orta, during his life, managed to conceal with his successful charm and intellect about things Portugal, Goan, herbal medicine and semi-precious stones. But could these account for him living so lavishly in his own villa with his own ship on the Island of Bombay? Or does this suggest he had other sources of income? Was Dr. d'Orta packaging his semi-precious stones at the Nizams' places in a nice box or was there a lot of other (verbal) packaging of "Portuguese secrets" for which the Nizams paid d'Orta a premium price for the stones? Why did Dr. d'Orta's wife punish him by burying him as a pauper in just a white sheet (long before the Inquisitionists got to him)? Why has a Jewish literary source on Dr. Garcia d'Orta say, "He lived a 'double life'"? IMHO, the sister's testimony led the inquisition to the incriminating evidence. Her testimony was NOT the evidence, as alluded by DeMello. The sister's testimony could be verified by many other sources inlcuding Dr. d'Orta's wife, the sailors of the ship who ferried Dr. d'Orta from the Island of Bombay to Surat or across "Mahim creek" to the mainland and then to the several Nizams' palaces. I find it preposterous that Dr. d'Orta was an inquisition victim just because his sister said, "He is a crypto-Jew and his wife did not give him a decent burial." Did his own wife punish this very very rich man, by burying him as a pauper, long before the inquisitionists? Was it pay-back for the venereal disease and other double dealings"? So even while Portuguese society in Goa (including Camoes) considered Dr. d'Orta great and enjoyed his largess, his wife and his sister likely knew him better. So if you remove your "sondanchem inquisition blinders" and look at the reported facts in Dr. d'Orta life, there is a lot more there to prove and disprove the various theories about his inquisition saga. Regards, GL -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
