Frederick Noronha f...@goa-india.org Alan Machado (Prabhu)'s work intrigued me since many years back when I hurriedly glanced through the pages of his book 'Sarasvati's Children' [http://amzn.to/rtBMpi] at the Thomas Stevens Konknni Kendra library in Alto Porvorim. This book gets described on Amazon.com as "a history of Mangalore's Christians".
The mutual rivalry between Goans and Mangaloreans is sometimes more than obvious. But as a boy attending high school camps outside Goa, the closeness of the two communities was striking to me. Of course the language, though called Konkani in both areas, was mutually somewhat unintelligible -- having "strange" words on both sides. Maybe that could be explained away due to the gaps in geography and history. Yet, some young Mangaloreans students had me quite puzzled me with their confident comments suggesting that they had nothing to do with Goa. Bangalore-based Alan Machado [alan.macha...@gmail.com] graduated in electrical engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He worked in India and abroad, including in the UK and Sydney, Australia. But as he recently put it: "My three children are all abroad and I now have enough time for myself and writing." We -- Alan and me -- kept in touch over the years, aided perhaps with my dogged persistence over some issues which sometimes even surprises me. And our contacts and links peaked when Alan came out with his new book, a novel set amidst, you guessed it right, the Mangalore Christians. Making the most of this opportunity, I asked him how his writing was relevant to Goa, and in understanding our own past. Excerpts from an interview. While the interview starts discussing his novel, the historian in Alan quickly emerges -- so don't be led into believing that much of what follows is from the realm of fiction! * * * FN: What is this book about? How would you describe your earlier non-fiction book 'Sarasvati's Children' briefly to someone who has not read it? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: 'Shades within Shadows' is first of all about real people, of Goan descent, who migrated to the Mangalore region due to deteriorating living conditions and other pressures in Goa in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1784 they were all arrested and deported to Srirangapatna [19 km from Mysore city and the de facto capital of Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan] by Tipu Sultan. Younger males were converted to Islam and forced into Tipu's military slave battalion, the Ahmedy Corps, and women and children taken into government service. Perhaps 40% survived what is known as the Captivity. In the Second Anglo Mysore war, the English had taken much of Kanara immediately after Hyder's death. Tipu's counter-attack was halted before Mangalore fort, when the news of the peace between England and France in Europe reached Mangalore. Tipu's French forces left him and, as an ally of France, Tipu was forced to sign an armistice. He then starved the fort into surrender and signed a peace treaty with the English on 11 March 1784. The arrest of the Christians occurred shortly after in a secret operation. [Background information: The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1779–1784) was a conflict in Mughal India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the Franco-British conflict raging on account of the American Revolutionary War helped spark Anglo-Mysorean hostilities in India.] Tipu spent almost 10 months in Mangalore and this time frame is used [in the novel] as a canvas on which to paint details of the life of the community, their culture, their work, their festivals and interaction with Kanara's traditions. Most of all it is a very human story which weaves around individuals: little Paulu and Chiku, the home-grown pig, his restless brother Foka, aging Natalami and drunken Bastiao, floundering Konngi, Padre Miranda of Talaulim, Goa, who founded the seminary of Monte Mariano near Mangalore. It handles birth and love, relationships and death, and attempts to weave little stories around humourous incidents and latent fears, of ghosts and spirits and other things. And then the axe falls with their arrest on Ash Wednesday, and then the deaths multiply on the road to exile and in Srirangapatna and in Tipu's wars. Only Joao survives and returns. Shades with Shadows is a story of life and death and survival, of the destruction of the unique culture of a community, how one man's actions, whatever his motivation, nearly destroyed a community and left the traumatic events of the Captivity forever imprinted on its psyche. On the other hand, 'Sarasvati's Children' is a history of the Mangalorean Catholic community, divided into three major epochs that define it: the pre-conversion era or the Aryan inheritance, the process of conversion in Goa or the Lusitanian legacy, and the Mangalore period ending with the Captivity and their release. The first two eras is therefore common to both Goans and Mangaloreans. The book was written 12 years ago. If I were to rewrite it today, I would include references and updated information, perhaps with oral histories, and also cover some other details which would make it more complete. FN: Do you see your current novel as being relevant to Goa too? If so, why? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: Most certainly. The characters in the novel, though living in Kanara, were Goans, many of them first generation. Their language was, and still remains, Konkani. Their customs and traditions, music, cuisine and attire are all derived from Goa. Most of them earned a living in agriculture, having learned their skills on the ganvkari (commonly-held) lands. They are credited with the introduction of more scientific coconut cultivation, something learned from the Jesuits in Goa. Some in fact continued to receive their annual zonn [share from the village community in Goa] and this is mentioned in some family histories. Their priests were all Goan. In fact Goa was referred to as the malgado ganv [literally = elder home]. The Mangalorean identity came very much later, evolving slowly after their return from Srirangapatna and life under a British government. The Padroado-Propaganda Fide [within Catholicism] conflict tore the community apart and with most of Kanara coming under the jurisdiction of the Propaganda Fide towards the end of the 19th century, the influence of the Goan priests came to an end. The Mangalorean identity firmed up with the arrival of the Italian Jesuits. FN: In our earlier talks, you've argued out that Goa mostly fails to recognize its diaspora along the south west coast. How would you see this and the reasons why it happens? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: Goans emigrated from Goa in those troubled times in all directions, north, east and mainly south. Estimates place Goa's Catholic population in 1722 at 181,565 when in the same year Kanara's Catholic population was 24,000. This number increases when you add those who settled beyond the jurisdiction of Goan priests, in places like Karwar, Sunkery, and in isolated places. In the Maratha troubles of 1739 alone, another 5,000 emigrated. As to why Goans today fail to recognize this, I don't know. Has it anything to do with separately evolving identities as the years pass under different governments and the need to adapt and conform? Lack of information? Disinterest? As the Maratha attacks on Goa increased, the Inquisition attempted to 'protect' its Catholic population by isolating them from the Hindu influences. In 1684, an attempt was made to ban Konkani. The edict of 1736 placed severe restrictions on the practice of long-established traditions and customs. Many Goans today do not seem to remember their pre-conversion family names, but many Mangaloreans do, because in emigrating they escaped the control of the Inquisition. There are significant differences within Kanara's Catholic population itself, between urban and rural communities. Again separation forces us to evolve separate identities and eventually we forget though there always remains some distant memory of our collective past. We need to search and find them. FN: Of the Mangalore Catholics today, how many (as a percentage) would you guesstimate to have a Goa connection? Did local conversions not happen? How relevant was that to shaping the community as it exists today? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: Goan reports of mid-17th century unambiguously state that there were negligible conversions among locals, the effort of a century of Goan presence in Kanara. In fact Padre Cinnami, the 17th century missionary, left Kanara for Mysore since he found it so difficult to convert anyone. There were, however, rare individual cases, and today there are some sections of the community which derive from local conversions. It is difficult to estimate numbers, but perhaps 80 to 90% have Goan origins, Bamon, Charodi and other. This is in stark contrast to the conversions which Cinnami made in Mysore, numbers almost equal to Kanara's but entirely local. While the religion is still the same, the culture and language of Kanara's Catholics has originated in Goa, and this created a measure of isolation from other local communities. FN: Could you give some figures of the size of the Mangalore Catholic and Hindu community, which has links to Goa? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: I don't have present day statistics, but can give you figures for 1800 when Collector Ravenshaw compiled them for South Kanara. Out of a total population 396,672, Christians (cultivators and merchants) numbered 10,877, Konkani-speaking Hindus (bankers, shopkeepers, traders) 13,074, and other Konkani-speakers 5,541. North Kanara had 476 Christian households. My estimate is that in the year of the Captivity 1784, Christians of Goan origin numbered about 40,000 in Kanara, with perhaps another 10,000 in other parts of Mysore. FN: Tell us more about The Captivity? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: In 1784, in a secret operation, Tipu Sultan ordered the arrest and deportation of Kanara's Christian population to Srirangapatna and the confiscation of their properties. Popular tradition says the event occurred on Ash Wednesday but there is very good evidence to believe that in took place in mid-March. Kanara's churches were destroyed. This operation was extended to Mysore and other parts of Tipu's dominions and orders were issued to officials to arrest and send to Srirangapatna Christians who continued to live in their jurisdiction. Younger males were circumcised and converted to Islam. From their numbers, a chela or military slave corps, the Ahmedies, was formed. Young women and children, probably family, also received a salary. Those who were too old for the Ahmedy Corps were given lands to cultivate. Those who escaped were rounded up in further operations in 1787 and later. The chelas fought in Tipu's wars, suffering heavy casualties. Many escaped in 1792 to Kodagu and some of the survivors returned to their previous homes after Tipu's death in 1799, deprived of the families and property. FN: What do you see as the causes of The Captivity? Religious, communal, economic, political or a mix of this and more? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: It is a complicated issue and much misunderstood. Religion and politics of medieval South India were inextricably linked. The ruling government supported major religions in their territory and in turn expected their support. In times of war, idols and other religious emblems supported by an enemy ruler were often captured and displayed in the victor's capital. Chalukya idols have been found in deep southern Chola territory. So too Buddhist images from Sri Lanka. It was an accepted way to demonstrate a ruler's military superiority to his subjects and others. Tipu had just signed a treaty of peace with the English, forcing English negotiators to travel from Madras to Mangalore. He had starved Mangalore fort into surrender and interpreted the treaty as his victory. In those times Indian rulers paid nominal allegiance to the Mogul Emperor in Delhi, even though he was virtually a prisoner of the Marathas. Tipu attempted to distance himself from this nominal allegiance and forge his own independent identity by seeking a direct link with the Sultan in Constantinople, then the nominal head of the Islamic kingdoms. He portrayed himself as a champion of Islam against the European Christians, and these included the Portuguese in Goa. Unfortunately the Kanara Christians got clubbed in this 'ferangi mazhab'. With the English shown defeated, it was the turn of Goa. Tipu's troops moved north to his Goan border and the Kanara Christians, known also as 'ferangi', paid the price. FN: What is the reason for your deep interest in history, despite being an engineer? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: I do have other interests but at some time you need to focus if you want to make some headway. What better area to do that than in your own past? Understanding one's past is fundamental to knowing who you are and that helps in determining your future. So in the years I have left to me I want to document as much as I can before it is lost forever. There are still youngsters out there who seek that knowledge and are unable to find it due to access to material and other personal reasons. Dad had a varied and extensive library which inculcated in us the reading habit. There was no TV and no computers then, few interesting radio programs, few movies, no money to waste; little to distract us in those days. History, of events and individuals, is fascinating. To write a history is even more so as it involves being a detective, analyzer, and interpreter. And there are always new discoveries to make it so alive. As to becoming an engineer, Dad had eleven children and he wanted each one to take up a different profession. I just happened to do well in the sciences and ended up in the engineering field. That in turn took me into marketing and operations with all its aspects. FN: Do you feel Mangalore has overcome the multiple hurts of the past? What is the feeling now? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: I suppose you are referring to the Captivity. When I was a lad not quite in my teens, I heard about Tipu's Captivity even though there were no books on the subject available to us, either due to their scarcity or being out of print. Those details were passed down through oral tradition and the hurt must have still been there. Unfortunately not too many people seem to be aware of this painful period in our history. Perhaps increasing affluence, paucity of time, and alternate information channels which seek to capitalize on 'popular' subjects have caused a serious loss in reading habits, especially those that required longer attention. FN: Religious persecution in colonial Goa can explain the Hindu migration out of Goa. Why did so many Catholics leave too? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: My study tells me that economic reasons were the main cause and religious strictures introduced by the Inquisition were in fact a result of the serious security issues that resulted from the Dutch blockades of Goa's ports in the 17th century, and the Maratha invasions in the 17th and 18th centuries. Government policies first encouraged Christians to gain control of agricultural lands and later appear to have caused a serious fall in output. Goa had three main sources of revenue: cartazes or 'protection' fees issued to ships [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartaz], customs duties, and land taxes. With the Dutch onslaught, the former two dwindled. At the same time the Maratha wars resulted in increased spending. Consequently, the ganvkaris [village communities, also known as the comunidades] felt the brunt both in terms of increased taxes and forced loans and manpower recruitment for defence purposes. Goa came to depend on Kanara's rice for its very survival; one viceroy admitting that Goa could not survive beyond four months without it. You tell me, what option did the Goan Christian have? FN: What are your future writing plans? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AM: I'm working on a history of the Captivity which is already grown to a considerable size. I have other books planned, including a book on Mangalore Christian architecture as well, but this is my priority. -- Shades within Shadows (A Novel) gets released on December 16, 2011 at Mangalore. See http://bit.ly/alanmachado1 and http://bit.ly/t9RWrH --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------