Portal:Goa

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The Goa Portal

Goa is India's smallest state, a prominent tourist destination in South Asia, and a place that has been right in the meeting points of cultures across centuries of history. Because of its significantly-sized diaspora, this former Portuguese colony also has an active presence in cyberspace. It is of interest among young ravers, and is now also connected with the 'Goa Trance' music. Its history is not just entwined with the Portuguese expansion in Asia, but with pre-Portuguese trading routes linking South and West Asia and beyond. It has also been a strategic centre in Asia linked to distant regions of the globe -- including the Portuguese colonies in Africa, Macau, Brazil and trading points across the globe. Because of the role played in history, it is also home to a wide range of historical records relating to these regions.

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Goan literature

Goa is India's smallest state with population of 1.4 million and an area of 3,700 sq. kilometres (1,430 sq. miles). It was the first place in Asia to have a printing press, which was brought by the Portuguese in the 1550s; Goa's Portuguese colonial rulers also believed in meticulous record-keeping.

Goa has had a long love affair with the printed word, although growth has been slow, and punctuated by problems like linguistic breaks and censorship. Goans, with a long history of emigration and foreign-rule, seem to have also adapted, either out of necessity or choice, to writing in languages that had their origins in distant Europe, like Portuguese and English.

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Selected picture

Panjim's skyline

Panjim is the name by which the capital of Goa is referred to mostly by speakers of the English language. Since the 'sixties, the official name of the town is Panaji, and in Portuguese times it used to be spelt as Pangim. In the Konkani tongue widely used as the spoken language of Goa, it is simply Pon'nje. Whatever the name, it is still one of the most scenic capitals in India, though high rises are entering the place.

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Selected biography

Sodh, a Konkani research bulletin. Published by the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr, roughly twice in a year. TSKK, B B Borkar Road, Alto Porvorim. Usually focuses on research issues broadly related to Konkani.

Delights from Goa, by Aroona Reejhsinghani. Jaico Publishing www.jaicobooks.com ISBN 81-7224-078-3. Ninth impression, 2004. A cookery book.

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Did you know...

...the word 'Vindaloo', used to describe a gravy-based dish closely linked with Goa, comes from the words Vinho-Alho (or, wine and garlic)?

...the Hindu goddess Lairayee is believed by locals to be the twin-sister of the Virgin Mary worshipped at Mapusa, in North Goa, and locally called Milagres Saibinn (Our Lady of Miracles)?

...between 1602-1639, the Dutch blockaded Goa, while the British later temporarily sent their troops to the region fearing it could be used as an entry point for Napoleanic France to attack India? Or that, while Portugal ruled Goa their country was itself ruled by Spain for a sixty-year period from the late sixteenth century?

... the Konkani linguistic community (encompassing all who speak any of the many dialects of Konkani) is just 0.5% of the Indian population, sparsely scattered all over India and abroad just like scattered dots on a large canvass. -- Wilberious Evanglist D'Souza of Udupi district in Karnataka, writing in Sod Konkani Research Bulletin: 8 published by the Thomas Stephens Konkkni Kendr, Goa.

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Related portals

· India · Portugal · Maharashtra · Christianity · Hinduism · Islam · Buddhism · Football

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Goa news

August 26: Goa's ten day Ganesh festival begins in Goa this weekend.
August 25: An injection scare haunts South Goa, with some citizens believing unidentified persons are pricking children with unknown substances.
August 24: Citizens' protest held against plans for garbage disposal plant in their vicinity, at Bainguinim.

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Quotes

The Jesuits own beautiful buildings and gardens in Salsette. They have got good lands. It is estimated that they own one-third of the land in Salsette. The Padres have a greater grip on the people than the government. -- Celebrated traveller Pietro Della Valle, who visited Goa in 1623-24, quoted in Saraswats: In Goa and Beyond (Murgaon Mutt Sankul Samiti, Vasco da Gama, Goa 1998)

Bigamy [in the seventeenth century] invited the death sentence (morte natural). A Christian having sexual intercourse with a Jew or Moor, knowing his or her religion, was liable to the death sentence.... sexual intercourse with an 'infidel' was considered a grave offence. -- Carmo D'Souza, in Concepts of Law: Understanding the Past, Analysing the Present And Visualising the Future (quoting Ordinations, Philippines, Livro 5, Titulo XIX and Livro 5, Titulo XIV) Published in 2004.

Having been under Portuguese rule for over 450 years, Goan food is a mixture of both eastern and western influences. Goan hospitality is proverbial and even the unwanted guest is made welcome with a tasty meal, prepared from resources available in the house at that time. -- Aroona Reejhsinghani in Delights From Goa, 2004 ISBN 81-7224-078-3

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Things you can do

Help to build more Goa-relevant pages. This place has a lot to be written about.
Many Goa-linked pages need to be improved in content and depth.
Convince others to post in diverse Indian languages, about Goa, inter alia.
Actively rope in others in Goa or from the diaspora as contributors to the Wikipedia.
Contribute photos and (non-copyrighted) text to this page.
Help to categorise and locate all the scattered links related to Goa on the Wikipedia.

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