[Goanet] speculation on corona virus
SPECULATION ON CORONA VIRUS Speculation is ripe over the corona virus scare and endemic nature. The virus originated in Wuhan in China. Rumours latched on to spread from bats and Pangoline and strange taste of food habits by the Chineese. The foreign Nations are giving a new twist and rumour mongers are agog that is an accidental leaked cloned virus fuelling biological warfare engineering The strain of Corona Virus has potently enhanced capacity .It is less lethal and more contagious, which does augur well for biological weapon.It is also showing decline of spreading, and may be also because of seclusion and containment steps. There are doubts of period of isolation of 14 days, instead of safer period of 48 days. The cases reported outside geographical boundaries are not in contrast with those fatalities reported in China. It therefore scientifically correct to state that China is fudging and lying on number of fatalities The weapon laboratories are not set up in heavily residential localities but often far away, isolated locations and even underground . Wuhan does not fit these parameters, but there are rumours that it spread from that laboratory and Wuhan food market became a scapegoat It is also true that there is a research and development laboratory and funded by the Chineese Govt. Specialist agree that biological weapon engineering first concentrate on vaccine and antidote The effective vaccine as an antidote can take anything from nine months .The inclusion of molecules that latch on are courted as proof of syntheisis 1. The isolation of China is hitting its economy the most. It has taken very swift action to control its spread and treatment There is sudden decline in its contagiousness and fatalities .The world is concerned and alarmed at spread and precautionary measures 2. Nelson Lopes Chinchinim
Re: [Goanet] SFX and Inquisition
I see discussed here about SFX, the Inquisition (in Goa) and he conversion process in Goa. I have read several books about the conversion of Goa to Christianity. The whole issue is far more complex than meets the eye. I would like to share a work-in-process I have written on the subject: Goan history is difficult. The stories are not well-known and sometimes there are competing alternatives to choose from. Plus there is little understanding of the historical background pertaining to ruling parties in the Indian subcontinent. I have at least 40 books of Goan history and anthropology from which I am slowly getting a better understanding of what went on in the 450 years of Portuguese rule. One of the books entitled “Globalising Goa (1660-1820) – Change and exchange in a former capital of the empire” by Ernestine Carreira, brought out by Frederick’s Goa1556, changed my understanding of colonialism. It was at the same time one of the most boring books and most valuable books I have read on Goan history. Boring because it was pedantic, but valuable because there was so much that helped one understand the times. Let me give a variety of points of interest. Eventually, I will tie them all to form a logical narrative: • After reading Globalizing Goa I do not characterize the Portuguese rule in Goan as colonialism the way we understand it today. Britain created that paradigm around 1850. The Portuguese venture could be compared to the Moguls, Marathas, and others who were competing in the area in the 1500s to 1800s. • We may think that Goans were converted from Hinduism to Christianity. The problem was that Hinduism wasn’t defined as such at the time (early 1500s). The Hindu ethos was not a single religion – it was multitude of unnamed religions that shared a style and some gods among the hundreds. The British defined Hinduism and named it. (By coincidence, I found a paper just now saying much the same thing by Fr. Victor Ferrao, a dean at Rachol Roman Catholic seminary.) • Understanding the conversion process to Christianity is complex. I have several books on it. There was bribery, trickery, economic incentives, and the selflessness of people like St. Francis Xavier. But the process of “conversion” didn’t just start with Christianity. It would be carried out by each of the incoming ruling forces (Marathas, Kadambas, Mauryas…) that conquered a region. Each conquering force would pressure (force?) the locals to change to the select Gods of the ruler. So people were used to changing deities or manners of worship when a new conqueror came to town. Until Christianity came along they didn’t consider this process as “conversion”. I would suggest that if Christianity were not such a well-defined religion both in terms of literature and organization, it would have been absorbed into the Indian pantheon. (I was reading about religion in state of Karela. There 20% of the population is Christian. And 20% of the Hindus declare Jesus as their “master”. Keralite Christianity came from St Thomas. It kind-off exemplifies my point.) • Back to St. F X. (He gets a bum rap for bringing in the Inquisition. He may have called for it - which he did because the Portuguese were a very bad example to converts. But he was in Goa for only 2 years and the Inquisition came in many, many years later.) One needs to read the letters of St FX. (I have 2 volumes of them.) They give almost an eyewitness report’s view of how conversions took place. Unfortunately St. FX became a prolific letter writer after he left Goa for other parts of India. However, it shows his methods well. It shows, for example, that some Indian princes were sympathetic to St. FX’s teachings and in their realms this encouraged their subjects to become Christians. In Goa he was well-known for teaching catechism to children in the form of hymns. He would walk the streets and ring a bell – and children would come running to him to learn. The children in turn taught their parents. • (Incidentally I heard a Hindu comedian on CBC Radio’s “Big City Small World” in Toronto. He stated that Hinduism and Judaism were the only religions that didn’t try to convert people to their religions. As a Hindu he said “I am always skeptical when someone wanted to become a Hindu. We have hundreds of gods. How can they understand them – even we can’t understand them.” It kind of explains my point above.) • In 2003 when my wife and I was passing through Mumbai on my way to Goa, I read in the papers of this Indian Holy Man who had embraced evangelical Christianity. He insisted that he was still a Hindu. He claimed that Hinduism was an ethos rather than a specific religion. • These narratives don’t explain the impact of the people of Divar (one of the islands of Tiswadi) whose Hindus were highly respected in the whole of Goa. When they chose to become Christians that influenced a lot of people. •
[Goanet] New Life in Old Goa (GQ, February 2020)
https://www.gqindia.com/live-well/content/the-coolest-things-to-do-in-old-goa-if-youre-visiting-in-february-march-2020 An enduring mystery abides in Old Goa, the district of 16th-18th century architectural masterpieces spilling down to the Mandovi riverside, including the largest church and convent in Asia. Of the state’s 5 million annual visitors, only around 10% of them venture to this UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. But even they tend to restrict themselves to two important churches – the Basilica of Bom Jesus (where the body of St. Francis Xavier resides) and the Sé Cathedral. Venture to the other monuments, each one more interesting and beautiful than the next, and you are quite likely to find yourself entirely alone. This paradoxical situation makes no sense. The stunning buildings that constitute Old Goa bear vivid testimony to the explosive 16th and 17th centuries, when this location dominated trade routes criss-crossing the Indian Ocean, as the capital of Portugal’s Estado da India maritime empire, extending from Mozambique all the way to Japan. All through those years, the city functioned as an early crucible of East-West globalization on an epic, unprecedented scale, seething with money and traders from every known corner of the world. It was double the size of contemporary London and Paris combined. Immediately afterwards came decline – as steep and dramatic as the initial boom had been – but still leaving behind an extraordinary legacy of built heritage, that’s entirely unique in the world. >From the austere Church of Our Lady of the Rosary – the oldest Old Goan church still standing – to the jaw-droppingly ornate mouldings of the 17th century St Cajetan’s, the interiors and facades of this glorious array showcase a barely appreciated dimension of Indian architectural history. The late historian Paulo Varela Gomes states the case succinctly. These “were not buildings imposed on Goans, or buildings negotiated between Goans and foreign authorities.’ Instead, they are “native” buildings, “unique in world history”, and “to anyone with architectural and artistic sensitivity, these churches don’t seem to be the end-result of a compromise, but the affirmative artistic statement of a cultural position.” When I emailed to ask his opinion, the poet, critic and curator Ranjit Hoskote told me, “Old Goa is a globally important site associated with a particular genre of religious imagination, that of Iberian Catholicism, and its aesthetic expressions through the Manueline and Baroque idioms. We all know this. What is less well recognized is the transcultural confluence of visions, techniques and practices that Old Goa incarnates, from the grand scale to the intimate. Consider the triple-corded girdle that St Francis Xavier wears, with its distinctive knot. Turn your gaze to East Asia, where the saint carried forward his ministry, and you will find that girdle worn by Bodhisattvas in Japan and Korea, its origins traceable back to Persia. Look at the fine *azulejo*, the blue-glazed tilework. This art travelled from Persia to the Mediterranean, to Italy and al-Andalus, and came to Goa with Iberian priests, administrators and artisans, some of whom may well have been descended from Muslims and Jews forced to convert after the Reconquista. There is nothing flat or monolithic or predictable about Old Goa's Catholic atmosphere – it is richly nourished by diverse cultural sources. It is not difficult to harp on historic wrongs, on narratives of invasion, conquest, conversion and diaspora. It is more difficult to embrace the richness of the cultural encounters generated by these processes.” Hoskote pointed to the consistently overlooked Museum of Christian Art (scheduled to reopen in March, after substantial renovation) in its tucked-away location in the giant 16th-century Convent of Santa Monica, as “an extraordinary collection of religious art and sacred objects. It is a unique institution, mediating as it does between the world of belief and the world of secular attitudes, relaying the significance of its objects to its visitors in many ways, historic, aesthetic as well as contextual. Its collection – which I have been privileged to work with – allows us to trace an arc of cultural dialogue and confluence, in the way in which European Christian iconography was reinterpreted, adapted, and gradually Indianised. Their little ivory icon of 'Nirmala Mata', the Madonna in a sari, which I showed as part of my Serendipity Arts Festival exhibition, The Sacred Everyday, in 2019, embodies this process beautifully.” In addition to this excellent small institution – and the Archaeological Survey of India’s rather more indifferently curated premises next to the Cathedral – two brilliant music festivals offer visitors an opportunity to experience the marvelous settings of Old Goa. Both focus on classical music from India and the West. The 18-year-old Monte Music Festival takes place in February each year in one of
