India's first anti-colonialist uprising predates Mangal Pandey's by 274 years?

Conventional wisdom has it that lowly-ranked sepoy Mangal Pandey became the catalyst for India's first uprising against Western rule in 1857 after he revolted against the alleged use of cattle and pig lard smeared on bullet cartridges used in Enfield rifles issued by the East Company.
But here's what you perhaps do not know.
A sustained campaign is on to haul back the date of India's first rebellion against Western colonialism by a good 274 years - from Barrackpore in eastern India to what is now Goa.
The campaign, which is endorsed by historians, freedom fighters, elected representatives and local residents, wants the central government to officially endorse as the first real rebellion the prolonged, defiant struggle of five south Goa villages - Cuncolim, Ambelim, Assolna, Veroda and Velim - against the Portuguese colonists which saw bloodshed and non-payment of taxes.
"The residents of the five villages, led by Cuncolim, had, beginning from 1583, defied Portuguese taxes after Christian missionaries destroyed five temples in the area to bring the villagers into submission and also killed over a dozen of our chieftains," Oscar Martins, who traces his lineage to one of the slain chieftains, told IANS.
Many of the claims made by Martins find echo in church records and historical accounts of the time.
The struggle, in which several lives were lost, dates back to 16th century when early Christian missionaries along with their Portuguese armed escorts tried to convert the residents of these five villages to Christianity. When the attempts largely failed, the missionaries destroyed nearby temples, which enraged the villagers, resulting in the massacre of some priests including Fr. Rudolfo Acquaviva - an Italian Jesuit who had also held position at Emperor Akbar's court and has since been beatified - and their colleagues on July 15, 1583.
In retaliation, the colonists proposed a parley, which ended in yet another bloodbath.
"Sixteen chieftains from Cuncolim were called for a truce to (nearby) Assolna fort. They were ambushed and shot to death by the Portuguese soldiers as retaliation. One of the chieftains managed to escape and tell the story," said Martins, who now heads the Cuncolim Chieftain Memorial Trust.
After the bloody feud, the five villages stopped paying taxes to the Portuguese rulers for eight years from 1583 - centuries before Mahatma Gandhi started his "no tax" campaign against British colonists.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik, who has been a part of the campaign to put the Cuncolim revolt as the first landmark on the map of India's nationalist history, said he was confident eventually the central government would formally acknowledge the event as India's first recorded revolt against a European power.
"For that, the state government will first have to include this incident in our history books to convey Goa's formal recognition of the event. We also need to give the central government rigorously researched material to back our claim. We are confident that the Cuncolim revolt will get its place in history that it richly deserves," Naik told IANS.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led ruling coalition had promised three years ago to appoint a committee to study the matter for the Cuncolim revolt to be included in school books, but Martins claimed it would need persistent lobbying and reminding because history "cannot be hidden for a long time even if the government neglects it".
The Trust has engaged a documentary maker to produce a historical film on the subject.
"We did not want to wait for the government to take a decision. We do not want to lose time in giving the Cuncolim revolt its rightful place in history," Martins said.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)

British failed to pay taxes and also started fortification work with out permission from the Nawab. Infuriated Nawab fought the british and took over Ft William and put the British captives in a cellar

Navrang India: Black hole incident (1756), Calcutta & J.Z.Holwell ...
navrangindia.blogspot.com
John Zephaniah Holwell was born in Dublin, September 17, 1711, the son of Zephaniah Holwell (d. 1729), a timber merchant Andrew Cooper.
 
 

Saturday, 24 January 2015

Black hole incident (1756), Calcutta & J.Z.Holwell - British East India company

Black hole memorial in St John's Church,Calcutta. The memorial to the victims of the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta was moved here in 1940. johnandlucyareback.blogspot.com
Black hole incident (1756),Calcutta,people fighting to stay alive. derwombat.net

Nawob Siraj-ud-daulah and Z.Z.Holwell,Black hole incident (1756),Calcutta  www.historic-uk.com


 John Zephaniah Holwell was born in Dublin, September 17, 1711, the son of Zephaniah Holwell (d. 1729), a timber merchant  Andrew Cooper. In 1732 Holwell became a surgeon's mate on board an India bound ship for Calcutta later he settled there in1736. Subsequently went back to England  and in 1751 he returned to India now as a"covenanted civilian".

The relationship between the British and the Nawab – Siraj-ud daulah was not good as the
British failed to pay taxes and also started fortification work with out permission from the Nawab. Infuriated Nawab fought the british and took over Ft William and put the British captives in a cellar – sort of dungeon. Following morning 123 captives were found dead. Cause: probable suffocation due to lack of ventilation. This incident was referred to as the Black Hole of Calcutta.
Having survived the night in the "Black Hole," Holwell was taken as prisoner along with three others to Murshidabad. He was in a very bad state of health and covered with boils. Holwell was eventually released on July 17, 1756, at the interference of the Begum of Bengal, who, it is said, recognized his services to ailing Indians. Holwell then returned to England  in February,1757; the voyage took five months, during which time he wrote an account of the events in the "Black Hole". He returned to Calcutta in 1759 and was appointed Governor in 1760, but disagreeing with the Board of Directors in the September of the same year, he resigned; he died on November 5, 1798. He was twice married; one son and two daughters survived him.


The original inscription gave only a few names that Holwell could remember, and gave some of them inaccurately. The present fuller and more accurate lists are due to a careful examination of contemporary records, lists, and registers, which was conducted by Lord Curzon, in co-operation with Mr. S. C. Hill. The inscription is as follows:
 

This monument was erected by Lord Curzon, Viceroy and Governor-General of India,
In the year 1902,
Upon the site and in reproduction of the design
Of the original monument -

'To the memory of the 123 persons
Who perished in the Black Hole prison
Of Old Fort William
On the night of the 20th of June, 1756.
The former memorial was raised by
Their surviving fellow-sufferer
J. Z. Holwell, Governor of Fort William,
On the spot where the bodies of the dead
Had been thrown into the ditch of the raveling.
It was removed in 1821.'
 

Some Interesting facts about the Black Hole of Calcutta:

1. The prison was already called the "Black Hole" before the events of 1756.

2. No report of the event was ever made to the Directors of the East India Company.

3. In 1757 leaders from Britain and India signed the Treaty of Alinagar in which the Indians agreed to pay compensation for attacks on British citizens. No mention was made of the Black Hole of Calcutta.

4. The list of casualty legally declared was based on solitary evidence given by Holwell. The list of 123 dead  British officer in a small  prison cell that could accommodate only 50 to 60 people at a time  was a cock and bull story promoted by Holwell and his buddies backed by media to gain political millage out of it and to win the sympathy and support of the British public regarding company's confrontation against the Nawob. This way they could show the Nawob in poor light and portray him as the real villain or culprit whose motive was to kill the British mercilessly. Siraj-ud daulah was not  a cruel man and this act was committed  most probably out of negligence

References :
Old Fort William in Bengal - By Charles Robert Wilson
John Zephaniah Holwell (1711-1798) and the Black Hole of Calcutta - By H. P. Bayo

Addl:  Black Hole
Siraj-ud-Daulla arrived before the gate of Fort William at Calcutta on 16th June,1756 with a formidable force of 30,000 foot soldiers, 20,000 cavalrymen, 400 trained elephants and 80 pieces of cannon to capture it from the English for their failure to pay trade taxes. Governor Roger Drake found it impossible to tackle the onslaught of  the Nawob's forces and, on June 19th, escaped to the fort at Fultah to avoid capture under the cover provided by other soldiers. The responsibility to save the fort from the marauding  forces of Nawob fell on John Zephaniah Holwell, a magistrate and Member of the Council, with a few other Englishmen left in the fort On 20th June, only 14 men were left to serve the guns as 25 English soldiers were killed and 70 wounded. They fought tooth and nail till evening. The main gate, having been opened by a Dutchman, the Nawob's forces entered and several British soldiers lost their life in the fierce fighting and at last  Holwell surrendered to the invading army.

According to the  survivor  John Zephaniah Holwell, Siraj-ud-Daulla put 146 English prisoners in a  military prison which was only about 8 meters by 6 meters. The room being not good enough for 143 people and with no ventilation, following morning, 123 of the prisoners had died. This incident was recalled by the survivor and tagged Indians as a base, cowardly, and despotic people. Holwell, however, pointed out suffocation is one reason and the other reason was prisoners, who had been inside the dungeon, were short of breath bordering on heavy panting and in the me-lee to get fresh air from the only small window available, prisoners panicked and initially resorted to violence,then fighting and ultimately killing - Darvin's theory of natural selection came into play: survival of the fittest, so to speak. It is now almost universally conceded that Holwell greatly embellished his story. Indian scholars have shown the Nawob had no hand in this affair, and that the number of incarcerated prisoners was no higher than 69.
Ref:
Old Fort William in Bengal - By Charles Robert Wilson
John Zephaniah Holwell (1711-1798) and the Black Hole of Calcutta - By H. P. Bayo.

The cuncolim revolt of GOA-July 15, 1583, that 16 Cuncolim chieftains had revolted against the colonial Portuguese regime

article-image
Goa's first revolt against Portuguese included in Class 11 history textbook | IANS.

Cuncolim Revolt: The first fight for independence | Goa News - Times of India

Goa's first revolt against Portuguese included in Class 11 history textbook

Herald: Os Mártires de Cuncolim – The retelling of the Cuncolim Massacre

Goans speak up for Cuncolim Revolt to be included in history texts

Cuncolim Revolt – 15th July 1583 A.D. | Prudent | 150722 |Prudent Media Goa

The Goan EveryDay: Finally, struggle bears fruit as 1583 Cuncolim revolt finds a mention in Std XI history books

Cuncolim Massacre - Wikipedia

Cuncolim Revolt defines a new nationalist narrative for Goans

Remembering the Cuncolim revolt – The Navhind Times

Cuncolim Massacre - Wikipedia

The Cuncolim Revolt – Jolta's world …..

Cuncolim Revolt – 15th July 1583 A.D. | Prudent | 150722 |Prudent Media Goa

The Cuncolim Revolt of 1583 - when Goa's villagers killed Portuguese Roman Catholic priests and their armed escorts

Goa: Class 11 History Lesson Teaches Causes, Events, Significance Of Cuncolim Revolt

The Cuncolim Revolt of 1583 - YouTube

The Goan EveryDay: 438 years of revolt at Cuncolim: Tributes paid to 16 Chieftains

Cuncolim Revolt defines a new nationalist narrative for Goans

Cuncolim commemorates its historic revolt of 1583 | Citizens of Cuncolim on Monday commemorated the 437th anniversary of the historic revolt of 1583 against the Portuguese. The 1583 Cuncolim revolt was the... |

The Goan EveryDay: CUNCOLKARS WANT 1583 REVOLT IN SCHOOL BOOKS

Cuncolim Revolt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuncolim_Revolt
The Cuncolim Revolt (also termed the Cuncolim Martyrdom by the Catholic Church) was a massacre of Christian priests and civilians by Kshatriyas in Cuncolim, ..
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 Cuncolim Revolt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A 17th-century painting in a church in Colva depicting the massacre of the five Jesuits in Cuncolim, Goa on July 25, 1583.
The Cuncolim Revolt (also termed the Cuncolim Martyrdom by the Catholic Church[1]) was a massacre of Christian priests and civilians by Kshatriyas in Cuncolim, Goa on Monday, 25 July 1583, as a protest against attempts by the colonial Portuguese administration to demolish Hindu temples in the locality and forcibly convert the local population to Christianity.[2]
Five Jesuit priests along with one European and 14 Indian Christians were killed in the incident.[1] The Portuguese government retaliated by summarily executing most of the Gaonkar leaders without trial, and destroying the economic infrastructure of Cuncolim.[3]
The incident was the first show of defiance against the Portuguese by the local population since the conquest of Goa in 1510.[4]

Contents

Background

Following the conquest of Goa by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510, missionaries of the newly founded Society of Jesus were sent from Portugal to Goa with the goal of fulfilling the papal bull Romanus Pontifex, which granted the patronage of the propagation of the Christian faith in Asia to the Portuguese. The Portuguese colonial government in Goa supported the mission with incentives for baptized Christians. They offered rice donations to the poor, good positions in the Portuguese colonies to the middle class and military support for local rulers.[5]
A campaign was launched in Bardez in North Goa resulting in the destruction of 300 temples. Enacting laws, prohibition was laid from 4 December 1567 on Hindu rituals and which required all persons above 15 years of age to listen to Christian preaching, failing which they were severely punished. In 1583 many Hindu temples at Assolna and Cuncolim were destroyed through army action.[6]
Cuncolim was inhabited by a devout Hindu population who were mostly members of the warrior Kshatriya caste. It was prosperous compared to neighbouring areas due to its fertile land, with abundant and fresh water from rivers descending from the hinterland of Goa.[7] Surplus agricultural production had enabled this village to develop crafts of a very skilled order and it was known for its metal work. As Afonso de Albuquerque wrote in his letters back to Portugal, guns of good quality were manufactured in Cuncolim, which he found comparable to those made in Germany.[8]
There were 12 vangodds (Konkani: clans) of ganvkars (freeholders) in Cuncolim. Their names, in order of precedence, were Mhal, Shetkar, Naik, Mangro, Shet, Tombdo, Porob, Sidakalo, Lokakalo, Bandekar, Rounom and Benklo. The Gauncars, who held common ownership of the village and paid all taxes, were also the founders and caretakers of the main village temple.[9]
Cuncolim depended on a permanent bazaar at the end of more than one caravan route, connecting it with the mainland through the Ghats of Ashthagrahar province.[10]
In keeping with the traditional fairs connected with temple and religious festivities, the bazaar economy of Cuncolim depended upon its temple and religious celebrations. Due to this, there was an angry reaction of the dominant Hindu class to the destruction of its temples by the Portuguese government and to the attempts of the Jesuits who sought to establish Christianity in Cuncolim and its satellite villages of Assolna, Veroda, Velim and Ambelim in 1583. The demolition of local temples implied deprivation of religious and cultural traditions that sustained an established social structure and its underlying economic base.[2]
In protest, the ganvkars of Cuncolim refused to pay rent to the Portuguese authorities. They also refused to give up their practice of the Hindu religion, and continued to build temples, despite a banning order. They re-built their destroyed temples and conducted their rituals and festivals openly in defiance of Portuguese ordinances. As such, the Portuguese missionaries found it impossible to convert them.[11][12]
The Portuguese chronicler Diogo do Couto described Cuncolim as "The leader of rebellions" and its people as "The worst of all villages of Salcete".[13] Jesuit priest Valignani described Cuncolim as 'rigid and obstinate' in its adherence to idolatory.[9]
In 1583, five jesuit priests led by Fr. Rodolfo Acquaviva received orders from their superior to go to Salcette to maintain law and order, destroy temples, construct churches and effect conversions. They chose Cuncolim to make their first survey of the situation, as they saw it as an ideal ground for constructing a church.[11]

The Massacre

The five Jesuits met in Orlim Church on 15 July 1583, and thence proceeded to Cuncolim, accompanied by one European—Goncalo Rodrigues—and 14 native converts, with the objective of erecting a cross and selecting ground for building a church. Meanwhile, several villagers in Cuncolim, after holding a council, advanced in large numbers, armed with swords, lances, and other weapons, towards the spot where the Christians were.[1]
According to the account given by the Catholic Encyclopaedia, published by the Vatican, Gonçalo Rodrigues attempted to confront the advancing crowd with a gun, but was stopped by Fr. Pacheco who stopped him and stated: "We are not here to fight." Then, he addressed the crowd in Konkani, their native language, and stated "Do not be afraid". Following this, the villagers attacked the party. Father Rudolph received five cuts from a scimitar and a spear and was killed on the spot. According to the Vatican, he died praying God to forgive the assailants, and pronouncing the Holy Name.[1]
Next, the crowd turned on Fr. Berno who was horribly mutilated, and Fr. Pacheco who, wounded with a spear, fell on his knees extending his arms in the form of a cross. Fr. Anthony Francis was shot with arrows, and his head was split open with a sword.[1]
Br. Aranha, wounded at the outset by a scimitar and a lance, fell down a deep declivity into the thick crop of a rice-field, where he lay until he was discovered. He was then carried to a Hindu idol, to which he was bidden to bow his head. Upon his refusal to do this, he was tied to a tree and was shot to death with arrows. The spot where this tree stood is marked with an octagonal monument surmounted by a cross, which was repaired by the Patriarch of Goa in 1885.[1]
Along with the five priests, Gonçalo Rodrigues, a Portuguese, and fourteen native Christians were also killed. Of the latter, one was Dominic, a boy of Cuncolim, who was a student at Rachol Seminary, and had accompanied the priests on their expeditions to Cuncolim and pointed out to them the Hindu temples. He was killed by his own Hindu uncle for assisting the priests.[1]
Alphonsus, an altar-boy of Fr. Pacheco had followed him closely, carrying his breviary. The Hindus cut off his hands on his refusal to part with the breviary and cut through his knee-joints to prevent his escape. He survived in this condition until the next day when he was found and killed. He was later buried in the church of the Holy Ghost at Margao in South Goa. According to the Vatican, several of the victims, including Francis Rodrigues and Paul da Costa had earlier affirmed their desire to be martyred for the Church.[1] However, the native Goans killed with the Jesuits were excluded from the list of the martyrs of the faith when the church beatified the missionaries.[14] This was due to the then prevailing attitude among the missionaries that the local Catholics were by nature incapable of performing spiritual feats.[14]

Portuguese retaliation and aftermath

Following the massacre, the captain-major in charge of the Portuguese Army garrison at the Assolna Fort was determined to avenge the deaths of the Jesuit priests.[9] As retribution, the Portuguese army raided and destroyed orchards in the village and unleashed many atrocities on the local population.[3]
The Kshatriya ganvkars of Cuncolim were then invited for talks at the Assolna fort situated on the banks of the River Sal where the present-day Assolna church stands and in an act of treachery, sixteen of them were summarily executed without trial by the Portuguese authorities. One of them escaped execution by jumping into the Assolna River through a toilet hole and fleeing to neighbouring Karwar in the present day state of Karnataka.[15]
Following the execution of their leaders, the villages of Cuncolim, Velim, Assolna, Ambelim and Veroda refused to pay taxes on the produce generated from their fields and orchards to the Portuguese government. As a result, their lands were confiscated and entrusted to the Condado of the Marquis of Fronteira. Forcible conversions perpetrated by the Portuguese led the villagers of Cuncolim to move their places of worship. One of the temples of the goddess Shri Shantadurga Cuncolikarian was moved to the neighboring village of Fatorpa some seven kilometres away.[3] Most of Cuncolim's population was converted to Christianity, in the years following the massacre. The Church of Nossa Senhora de Saude was constructed by the Portuguese at the site of the massacre.[16]
In 2003, a memorial to the slain chieftains was constructed in Cuncolim, initiative of Prof. Vermissio Coutinho, head of the Cuncolim Chieftains Memorial Trust.[3] Prior to its construction, however, the memorial met with strong opposition from the local Catholic parish, on the grounds of its proximity to another memorial built 102 years ago in memory of the five slain Jesuit priests. They instead argued that the memorial should be built in Assolna, where the chieftains were massacred.[17]

Biographies of the Jesuits killed in the murders

Fr. Rodolfo Acquaviva

Rodolfo Acquaviva was born on 2 October 1550, at Atri in the Kingdom of Naples. He was the fifth child of the Duke of Atri, and nephew of Claudius Acquaviva, the fifth General of the Society of Jesus, while on his mother's side he was a cousin of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. Admitted into the Society of Jesus on 2 April 1568, he landed in Goa on 13 September 1578. Shortly after his arrival he was selected for an important mission to the court of Mughal emperor Akbar, who had sent an embassy to Goa with a request that two learned missionaries might be sent to Fatehpur Sikri, the city near Agra which Akbar had constructed as a capital. After spending three years at the Mughal court, he returned to Goa, much to the regret of the whole Court and especially of the emperor. On his return to Goa, he was appointed superior of the Salcete mission, which post he held until his martyrdom. After hearing of Fr. Acquaviva's death, Emperor Akbar is believed to have grieved; "Alas, father, my advice was good that you should not go, but you would not follow it."[16]

Fr. Alphonsus Pacheco

Alphonsus Pacheco was born about 1551, of a noble family of New Castile, and entered the Society on 8 September 1567. In September 1574, he arrived in Goa, where he so distinguished himself by his rare prudence and virtue that in 1578; he was sent to Europe on important business. Returning to India in 1581, he was made rector of Rachol Seminary. He accompanied two punitive expeditions of the Portuguese to the village of Cuncolim, and was instrumental in destroying the pagodas there.

Fr. Peter Berno

Peter Berno (or Berna) was born of humble parents in 1550 at Ascona, a Swiss village at the foot of the Alps. After being ordained priest in Rome, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1577, arrived in Goa in 1579, and was soon appointed to Salcete. He accompanied the expeditions to Cuncolim, and assisted in destroying the Hindu temples, destroyed an ant-hill which was deemed very sacred, and killed a cow which was also an object of Hindu worship. He used to say constantly that no fruit would be gathered from Cuncolim and the hamlets around it till they were bathed in blood shed for the Faith. His superiors declared that he had converted more pagans than all the other fathers put together.

Fr. Anthony Francis

Anthony Francis, born in 1553, was a poor student of Coimbra in Portugal. He joined the Society in 1571, accompanied Father Pacheco to India in 1581, and was shortly afterwards ordained priest in Goa. It is said that whenever he said Mass, he prayed, at the Elevation, for the grace of martyrdom; and that on the day before his death, when he was saying Mass at the church of Orlim, a miracle prefigured the granting of this prayer.

Br. Francis Aranha

Brother Francis Aranha was born of a wealthy and noble family of Braga in Portugal, about 1551, and went to India with his uncle, the first Archbishop of Goa, Dom Gaspar. There he joined the Society of Jesus on 1 November 1571. Being a skilled draughtsman and architect, he built several fine chapels in Goa.

Beatification of the Priests

Following the massacre the bodies of the five martyrs were thrown into a well, water of which was afterwards sought by people from all parts of Goa for its miraculous healing. The well still stands today inside the St. Francis Xavier chapel situated at Maddicotto Cuncolim and is opened for people to view once a year on the feast day of St Xavier, celebrated in the first week of December.[3]
The bodies themselves, when found, after two and a half days, allowed no signs of decomposition. They were solemnly buried in the church of Our Lady of the Snows at Rachol, and remained there until 1597, when they were removed to the Saint Paul's College, Goa, and in 1862 to the cathedral of Old Goa. Some of these relics have been sent to Europe at various times. All the bones of the entire right arm of Blessed Rudolph were taken to Rome in 1600, and his left arm was sent from Goa as a present to the Jesuit College at Naples.[1]
In accordance with the request of the Pacheco family, an arm and leg of Blessed Alphonsus were sent to Europe in 1609. The process of canonization began in 1600, but it was only in 1741 that Pope Benedict XIV declared the martyrdom proved. On the 16 April 1893, the five martyrs were beatified at St. Peter's in Rome.[1]
This beatification was celebrated in Goa in 1894, and the feast has ever since then been kept with great solemnity at Cuncolim, even by the descendants of those who participated in the murders. The Calendar of the Archdiocese of Goa has fixed 26 July as their feast day.[1]

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Saturday, 10 January 2015


The Cuncolim Revolt of 1583 - religious persecution in Goa under Portuguese rule

The  Cuncolim Revolt,Goa 1583
 The  Cuncolim Revolt / Cuncolim Martyrdom by the Catholic Church was a massacre of Christian priests and civilians by Hindus of  Kshatriyas caste in Cuncolim, Goa on Monday, 25 July, 1583 as a protest against Christian priests' attempt to demolish Hindu temples in the locality and forcibly convert the local population to Christianity with support from autocratic  colonial Portuguese administration.
In the wake of  conquest of Goa by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510 and solid construction of Portuguese settlements, on orders from Government administration in Portugal, missionaries of the newly founded Society of Jesus arrived  from  Portugal to Goa mainly  for propagation of Christian faith among the natives.  As enticement or bonus, they offered several incentives  to locals including military support for local rulers to follow Christian faith for salvation. As this largesse rather bait, did not work with Hindus, Jesuits took recourse to religious persecution such as  ban on Hindu rituals, books, symbols, etc and compulsory attendance of Christian preaching,  failing which people will be severely punished.

At  Bardez in North Goa about  300 Hindu temples were razed to the ground. In 1583 Portuguese army destroyed several Hindu temples  at Assolna and Cuncolim villages. These villages and the surrounding lush, rich agricultural fields with copious  water resources, were under the control of  Kshatriya caste. These people depended on bazaars for their produce, and the bazaar economy  relied on regular fairs, temple festivals, etc. The destruction of temples infuriated the locals as it meant deprivation of time-honored religious and cultural traditions that supported  a well defined and  established social fabric and its underlying economic base essential for sustenance, growth  and survival.

The nefarious attempts of the Jesuits with total support from the government to establish Christianity in Cuncolim and other villages of Assolna, Veroda, Velim and Ambelim  were blocked by the people. Christian faithfuls not only trespassed on their privacy and way of life but also pushed them to the fag end of  their patience. Undaunted, the natives  refused to pay taxes and give up their age- old religion. Arrogant as they were, on 25 July, 1583,  five Jesuits accompanied by one European—Goncalo Rodrigues—and 14 native converts, went  to Cuncolim with the  main objective of erecting a cross and selecting ground for building a church.

In the ensuing violent retaliation by the villagers,  five Jesuit priests along with one European and 14 Indian Christians were brutally killed in the incident and  the Portuguese government took revenge by summarily executing most of the local leaders without trial, and destroying the economic infrastructure of Cuncolim - their fundamental source of livelihood. Later the village chieftains were invited for talks at a fort in Assolna where the government killed all but one.

The murdered priests were canonized by the church because their bodies, did not emit foul smell in spite of being in the well for a few days. The struggle between the Portuguese government and the village continued for a long period without any  solution in sight leaving the natives in mental agony and pain. 


At last  through the efforts of the visionary Dr. Rogociano Rebello, a general medical practitioner  who also studied law, the  desperate villagers  got their land back. The villagers' grievances  were at last heard  in the the highest court in Portugal. Finally the efforts of Dr Rogociano Rebello  bore fruit.

“Martyrs’ chapel” was erected, dedicated to the priests and others killed in 1583. In 2003, a memorial to the slain chieftains  in the same year was erected in Cuncolim at the initiative of Prof. Vermissio Coutinho, head of the Cuncolim Chieftains Memorial Trust.

Cuncolim revolt of 1583- First resistance against foreign rule in India.

Ref:
Church-Cuncolim Gaunkars clash over martyrs' memorial – November 13, 1999, Goa News.

en.wikipedia.org/Goa Inquisition.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuncolim_Revolt

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Goa s First Revolt against the Portuguese Rule - Cuncolim ...

www.cmccuncolim.com/cmc/revolt.php
The Portuguese first conquered Goa in 1510 and Cuncolim was the first uprising that the Portuguese had to face in Goa apart from the organized armies and ...
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Cuncolim revolt of 1583- Villagers demand recognition from the government- The first resistance against foreign rule

armie
armie / 7 yrs ago /
Five Portuguese-backed Jesuits priests and an equal number of laymen fell prey to the fury of the villagers of Cuncolim in South Goa in the former Portuguese colony in 1583. The villagers were fighting to protect their land and religion. The core of villagers from the warrior Khastriya caste raised the banner of protest against the desecration and also destruction of temples. The villagers who are known as Gaoncars - originally inhabitants of the place - were fed with the constant defiling of places of worship. The patience reached a flashpoint with death of the priests and the layman accompanying the Jesuits priests who were on a mission of conversion to the village. The villagers elders suffered at the hands of the Portuguese authorities who ruled Goa at that time. The leaders of chieftains of the Gaoncar clan were invited for talks at the Assolna fort situated on the banks of River Sal where the present day Assolna church stands and in an act of treachery sixteen of them were executed by the Portuguese authorities. One of them escaped from clutches jumped into the Assolna River and saw across to safety and fled to neigbouring Karwar in the present day Karwar in the Southern state of Karnataka. In the present day era Shantaram Laxman Naik hailing from the same village and belonging to the same clan wants the Indian government to recognize the revolt. Naik a member of the upper house of parliament has made the demand to government in one of the debate in parliament. "One of the first revolts of independence against any foreign rule had taken place in my village Cuncolim, in Goa. It has still not been recognized by the country. The villagers of Cuncolim are called 'Gaoncars' who had revolted against the Portuguese as early as in the year 1583, which had led to the killing of the Portuguese agents, who used to harass the 'Gaoncars' on one pretext or the other. This revolt of the 'Gaoncars' was much before the first officially recognized War of Independence, namely, the Revolt of 1857. The Cuncolim village has had a long tradition of hospitality, especially that of political exiles. I appeal to the government of India to constitute a committee of historians and other experts for the purpose of recognizing the first revolt of independence against any foreign rule in the country. A documentary also be produced on the subject, besides including the history in the textbooks. Naik's demand in the country capital has found echoes in the state where the Cuncolim Chieftain’s Memorial Committee President of the Committee Dr Verisimo Coutinho has again appealed to the Goa government to act fast and include the Cuncolim revolt of 1583 in the school history books. Dr Coutinho has urged the State government to respect the feelings of Cuncolcars and Goans and to put the history in right perspective by including the first revolt of 1583 in the school curriculum. “Cuncolkars fought a war against the Portuguese for Swaraj and Swadharma. This 1583 revolt is the first revolt against any foreign rule in India, '" he said. The Committee also welcomed the statement made by State Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat that the government would give due respect to Cuncolim history and accord due place in the school curriculum. The Cuncolim revolt has got yet another shot in the arm with the Portuguese language book written by late Adv Lingu R Davli “Historia de Cuncolim”, which has been now translated into English. Retired MES College Principal, Dr Harischandra Nagvenkar has translated the book into English. The grandson of Late Lingu Dalvi, Sunitbhaskar Dalvi and Chairman of late Adv Dattaram L Dalvi Memorial Trust, is the publisher of the translated book. The book gives a vivid account of the revolt of the brave people of Cuncolim against the Portuguese and provided valuable socio-economic information on Cuncolim and surrounding villages. The Five Jesuits priests have since been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.


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MLA says he’s clueless why 1583 revolt is not in syllabus



CUNCOLIM: Cuncolim MLA Subhash 'Rajan' Naik said that he was unaware of why the state government has delayed in fulfilling the demand of the Cuncolim chieftains memorial trust to include the Cuncolim revolt in the educational curriculum.

Naik made this remark while felicitating IIT JEE (advance) rank-holder Adil Dangui and 48 other meritorious students on the occasion of 'Cuncolim Day' jointly organized by the Cuncolim municipal council (CMC) and the Cuncolim chieftains memorial trust.

As it was on July 15, 1583, that 16 Cuncolim chieftains had revolted against the colonial Portuguese regime, a momentous historic day for Cunkolkars who term it as the ' First War for Independence' by these chieftains who fought for swaraj and swardharma.

Recalling this historic day, the local MLA urged the youngsters in the audience to study their history while exclaiming his ignorance to the state government's delay to fulfill the demand of the trust to include this revolt in the educational curriculum. Director of municipal administration (DMA) Elvis Gomes pointed out to two aspects of this historic revolt that ought to be remembered; the struggle by the locals against injustice and their betrayal by the Portuguese. Gomes further praised the CMC for not just undertaking development work by constructing drains but also of 'human development' by felicitating the meritorious students and the five individuals who have excelled in their respective fields.

Retired college principal Sr Ema Noronha felicitated former Goa chief secretary Dr J C Almeida who was awarded the 'Cuncolim Bhushan' and remarked "This revolt in 1583 is the first in the world as it was then followed by the French Revolution, revolt of the Ranes and Pintos in Goa, etc. Cunkolkars do not deter but they fight."

Urging for further research on this subject so that it be made an important chapter in the history of Goa, Noronha questioned, "Does the blood of the chieftains flow into your veins?" and appealed to the audience to fight against corruption by emulating the example of these 16 chieftains.

Besides Almeida, the other awardees included retired banker Shripad Govind Dessai and retired headmaster Oscar Gracias (both 'Cuncolim Shree'), international woman footballer Elvy Fernandes e Goes ('Cuncolim Jyoti') and prominent educationist professor D L Naik ('Cuncolim Mitr').

Prior to the felicitation function, floral tributes were paid at the chieftains' memorial near the CMC building. Also present were the CMC chairperson Landry Mascarenhas, CMC chief officer Pandarinath Naik and the trust president Oscar Martins. Students of various Cuncolim schools presented a cultural programme of patriotic songs and folk dances.

Praising efforts in the academic field, the Cuncolim MLA said that the proposed national institute technology would commence shortly as the works had already been awarded. ==============================================

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