THE PEOPLING OF GOA: CRACKING THE CODE WITH DNA AND AGE-OLD RECORDS Bernardo de Sousa bedeso...@gmx.ch
Aldona-born Bernardo de Sousa moved to Switzerland in 1965, but kept in touch via an "annual pilgrimage". His roots have been important to him and his Swiss-born children. But this scientist's fascination with DNA and old records led him to write a book, just out, titled THE LAST PRABHU. It's subtitle reads: "A hunt for roots -- DNA, ancient documents and migration in Goa." Sousa explains what egged him on and what he found... As a youngster, my father used to speculate on our pre-conversion Hindu name and even commissioned a genealogical tree from a Church historian. Another important influence was my wife, who is not only a great-granddaughter of Jose Nicolau de Fonseca but a historian in her own right. In addition, I was influenced by books on Goan history that I had the privilege of reading, in particular those authored by Prof. Teotonio de Souza. Interest in my deep ancestry developed gradually over the years but the immediate trigger was an article in the National Geographic magazine on their Genographic project [http://genographic.nationalgeographic.com] carried out jointly with IBM. ENTRY LEVEL DNA TESTING So, I first ordered a DNA kit from the Genographic project and got my Y DNA tested at what could be termed the entry level. The exciting results obtained led to additional more detailed DNA tests, not only of my own, but also of some other Goan volunteers, who kindly agreed to assist me in my project. I also benefitted from results available in the public domain and those made available to me by the Genographic and Family Tree DNA websites. All this gave me a good insight of the roots and migratory patterns of many individuals of Goan ancestry. Then, I compared these findings with information gathered from numerous research publications, historical literature and ancient documents still available in Goan libraries. Such as, Gajanana Ghantkar's *Tombo de Aldona* as well as records of the Comunidade of Aldona. This data has enabled me not only to trace the migratory pattern of the various haplogroups of the inhabitant of Goa including my ancestors, but also the pre-conversion Hindu names of all the 'vangods' (family clan that claims to be descendant of early settlers) of Aldona's Comunidade Fraternal. What emerges from the work is: * How to discover through DNA tests the ancestral migration route starting some sixty thousand years ago. It is important to note that these DNA tests are specifically geared towards deep ancestry and do not in any way touch on health-related genetic pre-dispositions. * How deep ancestry DNA results can be helpful in identifying common ancestors going back seven or eight centuries and more, no matter in which country of the globe they are currently residing. * Scientific proof that members of a specific 'vangod' are all descendants of a common ancestor. * A discussion on the peopling of Goa. * Historical aspects related to the village of Aldona as an example of what probably occurred in many other villages of Goa. * An analysis of the caste system and whether there is a basis for its existence from the viewpoint of genetic genealogy. People have always been interested in discovering their roots. I recall Alex Haley's voluminous bestseller appropriately entitled 'Roots' and more recently Barack Obama's autobiographicall 'Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance' in which he describes his search for his African roots. GENEALOGICAL WEBSITES, FAMILY TREE MAPPING Genealogical websites and family tree mapping programs abound. It is most probably related to human curiosity to discover where one really comes from or perhaps our instinct to discover how our specific species has managed to adapt to constantly changing environments, evolve, and survive, as Darwin has explained. It is due to this same instinct that the birth of our children and our grandchildren brings us so much happiness -- to realize that our specific lineage is surviving and perhaps even thriving. The first Y DNA test was carried out about six years ago. Since I was working for the chemical industry until the end of August of last year, my research work had to be carried out during late night hours during the week and on weekends. So, yes, it has meant sacrificing a lot of my free time for this project and resources as well for literature and all the tests. But I hasten to add, it has been a very rewarding and enriching experience for me. Goa is very fortunate in possessing historical records that have survived the ravages of time, the elements and gross neglect. Additionally, historians of repute have used information on Goa available world-wide and are continuing to do so, to draw highly interesting conclusions on the past history of Goa. The sample size of the DNA results that I have obtained needs to be widened to be of statistical significance. I believe that the University of Goa or the authorities could take this up as a research project to elucidate the past history as well as the peopling of Goa. Goa's village gram samsthas that the Portuguese converted to comunidades have been founded on the same principles by family clans or vangods, even though their numbers may vary -- e.g. five in Moira and twelve in Saligao. They all had temples and worshipped Hindu deities until the Portuguese imposed a change. In short, practically all the villages in Goa have a similar history and it is therefore safe to assume that the same principles apply. Of course, local politics and events have also marked individual villages but, on the macro-scale, Aldona is a representative of any other village in Goa. The most difficult part has been to get access to ancient documents and books. Many friends and acquaintances in Goa immediately enthusiastically agreed to help me by sending the books I was interested in, but got distracted by their other activities and failed to implement their intentions. As an example, I obtained a copy of Ghantkar's *Tombo de Aldona* from the University of Texas Library in Austin, USA, through the intercession of an American colleague who comes from this city, after repeated attempts to get a copy through friends in Goa failed miserably. I have come to accept that reliability is not a strong feature in Goa though I am grateful to have come across one or two exceptions. COMUNIDADE RECORDS, AN INDICATION Comunidade records give us an indication of what has happened in the past at the village level since the time records have been maintained until today and DNA tests determine the haplogroup that helps us to look back to what happened to our lineage starting some sixty thousand years ago up to the present time. Therefore, even if DNA testing represents cutting age technology, both the comunidade records and DNA tests are, in fact, different approaches towards the same objective, i.e. elucidating our history from the past to the present. Another lesson emerging would be to treat historical documents that are gathering dust and decaying in the corridors of the archives and libraries due to lack of resources and interest with due awe and respect. It is the last opportunity we have to preserve information on the history of Goa and its inhabitants rather than surrender it to the elements. IN A PATRILINEAL SOCIETY Society in general, not only in Goa, used to be patrilineal. For example, in Switzerland, it is only since 1994 that women are no longer required to adopt their husband's surname at marriage and can retain their original family surname. My focus has been on Y-DNA for a number of reasons. By convention, the surname of the father is passed down from the father to his children and the father's Y-DNA is only inherited by males. Besides, the gram samsthas or comunidades were male bastions. Thus, it is the only option available to discover the pre-conversion Hindu surname as well as the direct patrilineal haplogroup that yields information on migration routes. It is possible to study the mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) that is passed down from the mother to her children -- mDNA can only be passed down to their progeny by women. In fact, I have dedicated a chapter to my maternal lineage in my book that has enabled me to determine the matrilineal migratory route. Surnames from the maternal side are, however, more difficult to track: my mother was a Cordeiro, my maternal grandmother a Correia Afonso and my maternal great-grandmother a Pacheco. In such a situation, old documents and records e.g. Church records could be very helpful, provided they have not yet been destroyed by termites. WIDER CONCLUSIONS? To draw wider conclusions, what would the size of the sample (of people tested by their DNA) need to be like? It would depend on the exact objective e.g. proving that all the members of a specific vangod are descendants of a common ancestor or which community was the first one to inhabit Goa. Statistically speaking, the larger the size, the better. From a practical point of view, I believe that a sample size of 10 to 12 per vangod would be just fine. But I would leave this to experts in genetic genealogy to decide. A basic 12 marker Y DNA test costs around USD 100 and more detailed matrilineal or patrilineal tests cost approx. USD 160. To my knowledge, there are many laboratories in India that are equipped to carry out these tests that cost around eleven thousand rupees. If the Goa University would set up a laboratory in Goa to this end, considering the economies of scale if a major project is initiated, one could expect the costs to be much lower. In fact, such a laboratory would then be in a position to offer an international testing service at competitive rates. -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bernardo Elvino de Sousa (b. 1945) studied at Aldona and at Loyola, Margao. He did his B.Sc at St Xavier's College, Bombay, and earned the title of Doctor of Natural Sciences (Dr. rer. nat.) from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, with a thesis in organic photochemistry.He joined Ciba-Geigy in Basel as a research scientist in 1977 and retired from Huntsman Corporation in September 2010 as Director, Global Product EHS Management. He has many scientific publications to his credit and post-retirement continues to be involved in quality management and product safety projects and as an auditor for Quality Management systems as well as an assessor for the Swiss Business Excellence Award. ABOUT THE BOOK: See http://bit.ly/ilZ1by Published by Goa,1556 Can be ordered online from http://bit.ly/9jz2Yc -- Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net To post to this group, send email to saligao-net@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe email saligao-net-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com