Bollywood movie Kashmir Files has inspired former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sanghchalak and Hindu Raksha Maha Aghadi convenor Subhash Velingkar to launch a new project titled Goa Files, which, he says, is a campaign to “reclaim Goa’s patron saint” and highlight the atrocities by the Portuguese during the Inquisition.
Velingkar has sparked a debate with his move, claiming that Goa’s patron saint — or as they say in Konkani ‘Goencho Saib’ — should be the mythical sage Parshuram and not the 16th-century Spanish priest St Francis Xavier.
The real protector of Goa
Speaking to News18, Velingkar said the objective behind Goa Files was to enlighten people that sage Parshuram and not St Francis Xavier was the man protecting Goa. “He is the real Goencho Saib,” he said.
According to Velingkar, Xavier had been sent to Goa for the sole purpose of proselytization (religious conversion) and was responsible for propagating brutality (Inquisition) in new colonies taken over by European forces like the Spanish and Portuguese. Francis Xavier, says Velingkar, is responsible for the Goan Inquisition, which saw atrocities and suppression of the people under the Portuguese regime.
“We want to highlight this before the people of Goa,” he said.
Velingkar’s Goa Files campaign has not gone down well with BJP leaders of Catholic orientation, the Catholic clergy and opposition parties like Congress, AAP and TMC who claim this is just another tactic by the Pramod Sawant government to deflect people’s attention from real issues.
Incidentally, Velingkar’s move comes around the time the Goa chief minister has proposed to rebuild temples destroyed during the Portuguese colonial era.
The Parshuram Connection
The RSS leader claims that the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, Parshuram, has been the true protector of Goa. Legend has it that the sage shot an arrow into the sea, forcing sea god Varuna to retreat the waters till the point of the arrow, thus leading to the creation of Goa.
This version also finds itself in the history pages of Goan school textbooks. Many Goa government official websites also mention the Parshuram connection — how the sage brought the Saraswat Brahmins from modern-day Bengal to Goa round 1000 BC to settle along the Arabian Sea coast.
Renowned Goan historian and educationist Professor Prajal Sakhardande said legend has it that Lord Parshuram created the land of Goa by shooting an arrow from the summit of the Sahyadris, commanding the sea to retreat.
“The sea, which was at the feet of the Sahyadri Mountains, listened to the command of Parshuram and retreated, thereby creating the land of Gomantak (Goa) to settle his 96 Saraswat families.”
He added that the myth can be explained geologically as retreating of the sea was a natural process due to tectonic movements and the continental drift theory. “History has it that 96 (Shannav that is Shenvi) Saraswat families do exist in Goa.”
The Portugese Inquisition
During the Inquisition, Hindus and Muslims were targeted and forced to convert to Christianity. Hindus, who were forcibly converted, were called New Christians and if they were found secretly following their previous religion, they were sentenced to death. Most of the records regarding Goa’s Inquisition were burnt and destroyed by the Portuguese government when the Inquisition was abolished in 1812.
The Marathas and a miracle
St Francis Xavier, whose remains are preserved in a casket at the famous Bom Jesus Cathedral in Old Goa, has been for centuries traditionally called the patron saint. Francis Xavier was one of the earliest Catholic missionaries to arrive in Goa, then a Portuguese colony, and instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in countries like India, Japan and the Malay Archipelago.
Historically, it is believed that on the night of November 24, 1683, Maratha king Sambhaji entered Goa via modern-day Ponda with an army of 20,000 soldiers. After capturing St Estevam fort, he marched towards the Portuguese capital city of Old Goa. In fear, then Portuguese Viceroy, Count of Alvor, Dom Francisco de Tavora, is said to have sought divine help from St Francis Xavier. He opened the saint’s casket, placed his scepter in his hands and prayed to save Goa from the hands of the Marathas.
The Mughals simultaneously invaded Sambhaji’s kingdom, forcing the Marathas to retreat and thus Goa was saved. This was considered a miracle of St Francis Xavier, giving him the title “Goencho Saib”.
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