In a recent post Selma identifies poder with chardo caste. Several poder families in Bardez came from Majorda in Salcete and I have known at least one that was of Shudra caste.
But Selma and Antonio will know the old saying: *Te firangi gele and te undde kabar zale.* Even today one tastes good bread in Portugal. Many bakeries are run by Portuguese emigrants all over Europe, Canada and USA. This tradition was preceded in Goa and elsewhere in India, including Bombay. In Bandra there was a Lusitania bakery just outside St. Andrew's. Hence, we need much more evidence to substantiate the conclusions of Antonio and Selma. I found it very interesting to know that poders preferred paying land taxes and gain control of lands to become bhatkars instead of placing their gains in the BNU. Any concrete evidence for this? Teotonio > From: Antonio Menezes <ac.mene...@gmail.com> > Subject: [Goanet] Poios, poders & bhatkars > To: goa...@goanet.org > Date: Friday, February 20, 2009, 12:04 AM > In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Goan catholics were mostly farmers, artisans and general servicemen. In villages, petty traders were mostly Hindu possorcars. However, if there was one trading community among catholics it was the poder. As Selma (Feb 19 ) has rightly pointed out :*Poders were held in high regard .........because a lot of them managed to make a lucrative earning.. *Some village traditional stories during the colonial era, as told by cabai wearing forfathers, would have us believe that poders who had surplus cash, instead of depositing with Banco Nacional Ultramarino , opted instead to pay land taxes that were badly needed by the half empty government treasury. In two or three generations these lands/paddy fields became properties of tax payers and poor illiterate farmers who had resided and tilled landfor many generations ultimately became mundkars. Thus a generation of bhatkars was born. > http://tinyurl.com/5ke3zo