Global InformationGoa Inquisition information
Portuguese Inquisition in Goa Inquisição de Goa Goa Inquisition | |
|---|---|
 Seal of the Portuguese Inquisition in Goa. | |
| Type | |
| Type | Part of the Portuguese Inquisition |
| History | |
| Established | 1561 |
| Disbanded | 1812 |
| Meeting place | |
| Portuguese India | |
The Goa Inquisition (Portuguese: Inquisição de Goa, Portuguese pronunciation: [ĩkizɨˈsɐ̃w dɨ ˈɣoɐ]) was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in Portuguese India. Its objective was to enforce Catholic orthodoxy and allegiance to the Holy See. Conversions took place through the Goan Inquisition with the persecution of Hindus and the destruction of Hindu temples.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The inquisition primarily focused on the New Christians accused of secretly practicing their former religions, and Old Christians accused of involvement in the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century.[7] Also among the offenders were those suspected of committing sodomy; they were given the second most harsh punishments.[8][9]
The inquisition was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774 to 1778, continued thereafter until it was finally abolished in 1812.[10] Forced conversions led to crypto-Hinduism (practising Hinduism in secret while posing to be Christians) with those accused of it imprisoned and depending on the criminal charge, could even be sentenced to death if convicted.[2][11][12][13][14] The Inquisitors also seized and burnt any books written in Sanskrit, Dutch, English, or Konkani, on the suspicions that they contained deviationist or Protestant material.[15]
The aims of the Portuguese Empire in Asia were suppressing Islam, spreading Christianity, and trading spices.[16] The Portuguese were guided by missionary fervour and intolerance. Examples of this include the Madura Mission of Roberto de Nobili (nicknamed the White Brahman), as well as the Jesuit mission to the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar, with which the Inquisition enforced the subjection of the Syrian Church to the Catholic Church at the Synod of Diamper in 1599.[17]
Between the Inquisition's beginning in 1561 and its temporary abolition in 1774, around 16,000 persons were charged. Most of the Goa Inquisition's records were burned by the Portuguese when the Inquisition was abolished in 1812.[11] It is therefore impossible to know the exact number of those put on trial and the punishments that they were given.[2] The few records that have survived suggest that at least 57 were executed for religious crimes, and another 64 were burned in effigy because they had already died in jail before sentencing.[18][19]
It is estimated that by the end of the 17th century, the Christianisation of Goa meant that there were less than 20,000 people who were non-Christians out of the total Goan population of 250,000.[20][better source needed] From the 1590s onwards, the Goan Inquisition was the most intense, as practices like offerings to local deities were perceived as witchcraft. This became the central focus of the Inquisition in the East in the 17th century.[21]
In Goa, the Inquisition also prosecuted violators observing Hindu or Muslim rituals or festivals, and persons who interfered with Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to Catholicism.[2] The Inquisition laws made reconversion to Hinduism, Islam and Judaism and the use of the indigenous Konkani language and Sanskrit a criminal offence.[13] Although the Goa Inquisition ended in 1812, discrimination against Hindus under Portuguese Christian rule continued in other forms such as the Xenddi tax implemented from 1705 to 1840, which was similar to the Jizya tax.[22][23][24] Religious discrimination ended with the introduction of secularism via the Portuguese Constitution of 1838 and the subsequent Portuguese Civil Code of Goa and Damaon.[25]
- ^ Machado 1999, pp. 94–96
- ^ a b c d Salomon, H. P. and Sassoon, I. S. D., in Saraiva, Antonio Jose. The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians, 1536–1765 (Brill, 2001), pp. 345–7.
- ^ "'Goa Inquisition was most merciless and cruel'". Rediff.com. 14 September 2005. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
- ^ Rao, R.P (1963). Portuguese Rule in Goa: 1510-1961. Asia Publishing House. p. 43. OCLC 3296297.
- ^ "Goa Inquisition". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
- ^ de Souza, Teotonio (1994). Discoveries, Missionary Expansion, and Asian Cultures. Concept Publishing Company. p. 80. ISBN 9788170224976. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
- ^ Glenn Ames (2012). Ivana Elbl (ed.). Portugal and its Empire, 1250-1800 (Collected Essays in Memory of Glenn J. Ames).: Portuguese Studies Review, Vol. 17, No. 1. Trent University Press. pp. 12–15 with footnotes, context: 11–32. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
- ^ "11 Sept, 2010".
- ^ "Pride & Prejudice: Forgotten LGBT people of early modern Goa".
- ^ Lauren Benton (2002). Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 1400-1900. Cambridge University Press. pp. 114–126. ISBN 978-0-521-00926-3. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
- ^ a b Hannah Chapelle Wojciehowski (2011). Group Identity in the Renaissance World. Cambridge University Press. pp. 215–216 with footnotes 98–100. ISBN 978-1-107-00360-6. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
- ^ Gustav Henningsen; Marisa Rey-Henningsen (1979). Inquisition and Interdisciplinary History. Dansk folkemindesamling. p. 125. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
- ^ a b Maria Aurora Couto (2005). Goa: A Daughter's Story. Penguin Books. pp. 109–121, 128–131. ISBN 978-93-5118-095-1. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ Augustine Kanjamala (2014). The Future of Christian Mission in India: Toward a New Paradigm for the Third Millennium. Wipf and Stock. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-1-62032-315-1. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Haig A. Bosmajian (2006). Burning Books. McFarland. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-7864-2208-1. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Ooi, Keat Gin (2004). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 17. ISBN 978-1576077702.
- ^ "India - Politics and the economy | Britannica". Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
- ^ ANTÓNIO JOSÉ SARAIVA (1985), Salomon, H. P. and Sassoon, I. S. D. (Translators, 2001), The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians, 1536–1765 (Brill Academic), pp. 107, 345-351
- ^ Charles H. Parker; Gretchen Starr-LeBeau (2017). Judging Faith, Punishing Sin. Cambridge University Press. pp. 292–293. ISBN 978-1-107-14024-0. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
- ^ "Goa Inquisition". New Indian Express. 3 September 2015. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
- ^ Silva, Luiza Tonon da (2017). O Santo Ofício no Índico: perseguições, processos e a Inquisição de Goa (1561-1623) (PDF). Vol. 03. Anais eletrônicos da Jornada de Estudos Históricos Professor Manoel Salgado PPGHIS/UFRJ. pp. 252–256. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ Teotonio R. De Souza (1994). Discoveries, Missionary Expansion, and Asian Cultures. Concept. pp. 93–95. ISBN 978-81-7022-497-6. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ Teotonio R. De Souza (1994). Goa to Me. Concept. pp. 112–113. ISBN 978-81-7022-504-1.
- ^ Rene J. Barendse (2009). Arabian Seas, 1700 – 1763. BRILL Academic. pp. 697–698. ISBN 978-90-04-17658-4.
- ^ C K Mathew (26 October 2019). "Uniform Civil Code: The Importance of an Inclusive and Voluntary Approach". Issue Brief. 10. The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.