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Discovering our Goan Heritage

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Sanjeev Sardesai is an unusual amalgamation of the educational qualifications of a botanist, the profession of a graphic designer and the passion of a historian. The latter has motivated him to start two groups called Hands on Historians and Sanscritic. In the year 2002, after working for nearly two decades in the hotel industry, Sanjeev gave up his position as a general manger. This was because he realised that tourism was virtually dead. ‘Today after thirteen years of leaving that industry, I still stand by my statement that there is no organised tourism in Goa,’ says Sanjeev, who believes that tourism is the urge of people to travel from one destination to another to discover the culture and heritage therein. So what could our state hold that stokes this desire?! Sanjeev decided he must find out for himself. There is tangible (visually perceived) and intangible (experienced) heritage. Hands on Historians is a forum focused on being a practical historian while Sanscritic (‘sans’ –

The Saving of Chimbel’s Church and Convent of Nossa Senhora do Carmo

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The remains of the Tertiary Carmelites’ church and convent, or the Church and Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, have finally achieved the status of a heritage site. It has been an arduous quest towards achieving this mission and the people of Chimbel deserve a substantial amount of praise in moving this issue forward. The Tertiary Carmelites’ church and convent are a heritage of great value given that history sets the remains apart from most other such monuments; its singularity being the fact that it housed the first indigenous order of lower caste priests. The rule of the day was only upper caste Brahmins were allowed to be part of priestly orders. Chimbel’s so called green space marked on the regional plan does not have any tree cover and has been demarcated along the Kadamba plateau off the highway, which makes it a prime target for builders. Once the builders move in, any tree cover at all is compromised. The Tertiary Carmelites’ church and convent are part of the few green

Muslim Heritage Monuments in Goa: Preserving Goan Religious Heritage - 3

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(The conference titled ‘Challenges for the Preservation of the Diverse Goan Religious Heritages’ was held at Fundação Oriente India in Panjim on the 18th of March 2018. Joaquim R Santos [University of Lisbon], Vishvesh Kandolkar [Goa College of Architecture], Amita Kanekar [Al-Zulaij Collective], and Gulafshan Khan [Deccan College of Pune] presented perspectives on the heritage of various religions in Goa.) Gulafshan Khan, who is pursuing her master’s degree in Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology at Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Pune, expounded her lecture topic ‘Turning Visible the (In)Visible: The Muslim Heritage in Goa and its Preservation’. The Muslim minority in Goa is interwoven into the fabric of Goan society. This is a reflection of the ability of this land to integrate varied religions in a productive manner. The architecture of Goa is a good example of the merging of the styles of different religious communities. Let us consider how the Mus

The Goan Temple: Preserving Goan Religious Heritage - 2

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  (The conference titled ‘Challenges for the Preservation of the Diverse Goan Religious Heritages’ was held at Fundação Oriente India in Panjim on the 18th of March 2018. Joaquim R Santos (University of Lisbon), Vishvesh Kandolkar [Goa College of Architecture], Amita Kanekar [Al-Zulaij Collective], and Gulafshan Khan [Deccan College of Pune] presented perspectives on the heritage of various religions in Goa.) Amita Kanekar, independent researcher in architectural history and member of the Al-Zulaij Collective spoke on her topic 'The Origins of the Goan Temple and the Challenges for their Preservation'. The problems that challenge the preservation of Goan temple architecture are: the style in which they are built is not really recognised as a specific type of architecture; the style is quickly disappearing; those who know the history of these temples are not inclined in the least to extricate them from a tangle of myth and legend by presenting their true history and origins; a

Preserving Goan Religious Heritage – 1 Roman Catholic Religious Monuments

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The conference titled 'Challenges for the Preservation of the Diverse Goan Religious Heritages' was held at Fundação Oriente India in Panjim on the 18 th of March 2018. Joaquim R Santos (University of Lisbon), Vishvesh Kandolkar (Goa College of Architecture), Amita Kanekar (Al-Zulaij Collective), and Gulafshan Khan (Deccan College of Pune) presented perspectives on the heritage of various religions in Goa. Architect and research scholar Joaquim Santos spoke about the Catholic religious architecture in Goa and deterrents to its preservation. Some of the apathy towards caring for Catholic structures and even conscious destruction of Catholic monuments could be traced to an animosity towards the Portuguese regime. Perhaps it is because these stand as an ideological and political reminder of that time with the obvious Portuguese influence on the architecture. In 1934, all the significant churches in Old Goa were listed as national monuments. When Goa became part of India, the

Panjim-Its Birth and Transformation

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Panjim was raised to the status of a city, and officially became the new capital of Portuguese India under the name of Cidade de Nova Goa , on the 22 nd March 1843. The process of transformation of Nova Goa began long ago in 1759 when Cidade de Goa (Old Goa) became a hotbed of disease that spread its tentacles to the city’s suburbs. The epidemic prodded Viceroy Dom Manoel de Saldanha e Albuquerque to adopt the palace of Adil Shah as his residence and the pinnacle of political power in Portuguese ruled Goa. Later, Viceroy Dom Manoel de Portugal e Castro contributed monumentally to the reorganisation and reformative changes in Panjim, remaining undeterred by the prevalent political turmoil during his tenure. Dr Celsa Pinto, one of Goa’s prominent historians, documents the structural establishment of Nova Goa in her book Anatomy of a Colonial Capital: Panjim, followed by the related Colonial Panjim: Its Governance, Its People , which discusses aspects such as urban governance, jail a

The Tertiary Carmelites of Chimbel

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Goa is a historian’s delight with so much of its history still being unravelled. The legacy of the Portuguese rule has been a heritage of unique standing. The Tertiary Carmelites, not to be confused with the Discalced Carmelites reformed by St Teresa of Avila, are an integral part of Goa’s past. Today, the ruins of the monuments connected with this order lie open to desecration and looting with impunity. Much less regard is offered in terms of a study and preservation of this significant historical site. The Tertiary Carmelites are in fact one of two indigenous priestly orders that welcomed Goan vocations to the priesthood. The Jesuits and other religious orders did not display a favourable attitude towards Goans, which led to the requirement of congregations that would be open to the natives of Goa. The Oratorians of Philip Neri, which came into existence in the 1680s and was recognised by the Vatican in 1707, was the first Goan priestly congregation in Estado de India. However, the