Incredible !ndia, Part Three: Goa
16th-c. Basilica Bom Jesus, built by Jesuits
Goa, April 6 — Unbeknownst to me, Goa had gained its independence from Portugal and become an Indian state back in 1961. I really do need to pay more attention to the News. All I knew before this trip was that the first part of The Bourne Supremacy was filmed here.
I’ve just read that Goa was Europe’s first Indian colony. The other day, the other guide said Cochin had been the first. Maybe it depends on your definition of ‘colony.’ It’s indisputable that Goa was the last to gain independence. Portugal wanted to make it ‘the Rome of the East,’ and Goa was under Portuguese domination for 451 years. Our Viking Bible says, ‘Nowhere in India is colonial influence so prominent.’ Old Goa, with its Portuguese-style architecture, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Due to the church’s four centuries of influence, today about a third of Goans are Catholic, and many of its major architectural attractions in Old Goa are a basilica, a cathedral, and many Catholic churches. Some 62% of Goans, however, are Hindu.
When the bubonic plague and cholera hit in the 17th century, the capital was moved from Old Goa to nearby Panaji, now known as New Goa. Goa’s civil law is based on Portuguese law: all are equal. Including women. It is the only Indian state with rules like this.
Today the main industries are tourism, mining (iron ore, manganese, bauxite, though there’s a government shut-down at the moment due to, if I remember correctly, corruption), liquor and fishing (pomfret, kingfish, prawns, lobster, swordfish, shark) and shellfish-collecting on the beaches (clams, oysters, mussels). Also cashew nuts. Yes, Goans like to drink, and drunk driving is a problem. The Portuguese missionaries taught the locals to make liquor and today they produce a cashew-based liqueur called Feni.
The housing in Goa was decidedly different from what we’d seen before.
While not as well-to-do, at least it had a TV dish...
Okay. Litter. Which was so evident in Chennai. Every night, the street cleaning crews come through and clean the city streets. It was relatively clean, compared to Chennai. But not as good as Mumbai (stay tuned). Note in the photo below: The modest house to the left (not the larger house at the rear): clean, swept yard, bags which (might) contain the sweepings/garbage/litter, a fenced-in flower garden, and two birds in a cage on the porch. Goans seem to make an effort at clean and tidy.
First we visited the Basilica Bom Jesus, built by Jesuits in the 16th century and a fine example of Baroque architecture... see photo at top, plus...
The body of Saint Francis Xavier is inside an airtight glass box inside this silver coffin (just above the angels and under the stars). You can see the body through the windows on the side of the silver coffin. At first, he was buried in the ground then dug up two years later: the body had not decomposed. A woman bit off one of the two-years-dead Francis Xavier’s toes — and it bled. The toe has its own glass case. Buried again, dug up again, still no sign of decay. And so on. Much venerated.
Meanwhile (below), out back of the basilica: Viking women voyage from one western style toilet to the next. If the toilet isn’t western, some turn around, muttering, ‘I’ll wait.’ We were promised western toilets here. As we started to enter the door at the right, we were met by a large group of Indian women, chattering at us in their language (one of the 1,652 in the country), plus children, all in dishabille. We waited then finally made our way through them to the definitely not western toilets. On the way back out, I noticed the water barrels on the roof and the water spouting out below. I believe the women and children had come to the church to shower, and we had caught them post-douche.
Right across the road is the Dominican Sé Cathedral, the Cathedral of Saint Catherine, completed in 1642 and the largest cathedral in Asia. (Superlative provided by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation Ltd.) It’s literally next door to a large Franciscan church. In the distance we saw several other Christian churches. The Portuguese Catholic missionaries made quite a dent here.
Side view: The gardens were not lush but they were nice... calla lilies and roses. And they were watered by hand. The altar is made of gold from melted-down coins.
All churched-out, for the moment, we proceeded to Panaji, the capital city, in New Goa... passing many markets, small and large...
I mentioned ‘clean and tidy.’ At least all the cardboard is piled on the roof.
En route to the next Catholic monument, we walked around the city... these kids are buying snacks.
This is Saint So & So, the patron saint of hypnotists. Or just some svengali. Honestly, I don’t remember who our guide said it is, but he’s definitely hypnotizing that lady.
Living above the Store... note the small TV dish.
Below: Note the usual Indian mix of colors... the woman with the basket on her head... the awning for the Detroit Institute. Huh?
Having spent a whole hour without a church, we visited the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.
View from the terrace of the cathedral... call it ‘Study in Blue.’
The blue building is a ‘book house’ selling textbooks for high school and college students. Note the man re-tiling the roof: now that’s a hot job.
Back at the port gate, where we had to show our ‘e-landing paper’ four separate times in order to be allowed back onto the pier, I concluded that most every business, including the Western India Shipyard, has a shrine or a religious statue out front. #
