Dear Augusto, As usual, you have missed the point. It is clear from my post that I am not sure what Fr. Rev. Dr. Prof. Ferrao's motives are. He makes one of his motives clear in his statements, but not the other. It would be obvious to most people other than you why I did not ask him to present his evidence on Goanet. As far as I can tell, he is not a member of Goanet.
Now if you, on the other hand, based on your statement below, have newly uncovered evidence that what the Konknne of Goa practiced in the 16th century were "cults" and "religions", entirely different from the practices that the English speaking world calls Hinduism today, please provide that evidence. I am really curious to know what new discoveries have led to the "recent scholarship" that will keep me from discrediting the father's contention, and questioning your and his motives some more. As far as what these 16th century Konknne were called, and what their religion(s) was/were called then, as opposed to the 19th or 21st century, I couldn't care less. I am not interested in communal (in the Indian sense of the word) or casteist semantic games and labels on any side. As for "recent scholarship of history", the following quotes should make it obvious what type of scholarship it is: QUOTE In fact even the word Hindu does not exist in the entire sixteenth century Indo-Portuguese historiography. UNQUOTE .........Fr. Victor Ferrao, 2013 (doing his "recent scholarship of history" in Augusto's words) QUOTE "...........moreover if people of Arabia or Persia would ask of the men of this country whether they are Moors or Gentoos, they ask in these words: 'Art thou Mosalman or Indu?' UNQUOTE ........Dr. Garcia de Orta, 1563 (translated from original Portuguese, published in the city of Goa in 1563) Cheers, Santosh ----- Original Message ----- From: augusto pinto <pinto...@gmail.com> > > Dear Santosh, > > I notice that you have abandoned your usual knee jerk reaction of asking > for evidence when confronted with something you are uncomfortable with. > Instead, you choose to question the motives of Rev. Dr. Victor Ferrao. > > I think that recent scholarship of history proves that the contention of > Ferrao is quite difficult to discredit. Did you know that there was no such > thing as a Saraswat Brahmin until well into the 19th century? > > Regards > Augusto > From: Santosh Helekar <chimbel...@yahoo.com> > > I am not sure whether the purpose of this attempt at historical?revisionism > is purely political in order to counteract against the?Hindu zealots or it > is some new form of religious or colonial?apologism concocted by the latest > breed of theologians. >