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http://www.jpgmonline.com/article.asp?issn=0022-3859;year=1982;volume=28;issue=3;spage=123;epage=48;aulast=Pandya
Year : 1982 | Volume : 28 | Issue : 3 | Page : 123-48
Medicine in Goa--a former Portuguese territory.
Pandya SK
How to cite this article:
Pandya SK. Medicine in Goa--a former Portuguese territory. J Postgrad
Med 1982;28:123-48
How to cite this URL:
Pandya SK. Medicine in Goa--a former Portuguese territory. J Postgrad
Med [serial online] 1982 [cited 2006 Aug 30];28:123-48. Available
from:
http://www.jpgmonline.com/article.asp?issn=0022-3859;year=1982;volume=28;issue=3;spage=123;epage=48;aulast=Pandya
:: Introduction
The history of the development of medicine in Goa forms an important
chapter in the medical history of our subcontinent. In my admittedly
short and incomplete study of this topic I have been fascinated by the
ups and downs of personal and institutional fortunes; the tales of
romance, bravery and rebellion against unjust authority; and the
biographies of pioneering geniuses such as Garcia da Orta. I hope to
pass on some of the thrill I experienced to you....
Medical, education and practice in ancient and pre-Portuguese Goa is
poorly documented. Research in this field is woefully poor. In the 75
pages dealing with Goan society prior to the 16th century, for
instance, D'Souza[21] makes no reference to medical education,
practice or health care. We do know that the Hindu culture
predominated before Albuquerque's arrival and that his acquisition of
Goa was, in fact, prompted by the general desire in Goa to avoid
Muslim rule.[10], [21] We also know that whilst the priestly class
dealt with matters spiritual, the vaidyas looked to the ailments of
the body and sometimes of the mind as well. It is interesting to see a
memorial unto one of the latter tribe in the main square of Ponda even
today and witness the continuation of the role of healer, albeit in
modern form, in the practice of Dr. Sharad Vaidya....
Linschoten also made some observations on local ailments.[5] "...The
sicknesses and diseases of Goa and throughout India which are common
come most with the change of the times and the weather. There reigneth
a sickness called mordexijn which stealeth upon men that it weakneth a
man and maketh him cast out all that he hath in his bodie and many
times his life withall....
Linschoten noted that poisoning as a weapon of court intrigue was
widely used by the Goans. (He did not recall that almost 50 years
earlier, Afonso de Albuquerque, unable to defeat the Zamorin of
.Calicut at war, had set an example. In his letter to the king of
Portugal, Albuquerque had stated: "I hold it for certain that the
Nambiadiri slew the Zamorin with poison, because in all my letters I
bid him do so and that in a peace treaty I will come to an agreement
with him. .. ."[10]).
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Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org 9822122436 +91-832-240-9490
http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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