The Portuguese Goan inquisition and the atrocities unleashed by the Portuguese colonists are one of the bloodiest Hindu genocides that have been missing from History textbooks and public debates. The Pope, who ‘apologized‘ to native populations for Christian missionary atrocities, has not even acknowledged let alone apologize the atrocities Hindus were subjected to in Goa.

The Print whitewashes Portuguese Christian atrocities in Goa

Shekhar Gupta’s propaganda website The Print as is its wont has taken it upon itself to whitewash the crimes of Christian evangelists. The article by Anirudh Kanisetti, in addition to glossing over Portuguese brutalities, has even termed the appropriation of Hindu deities furthering predatory Christian evangelist practices as a noble gesture.

The author paints a ‘humane’ of the invaders by portraying them as being accommodative of the natives, their culture, and practices. Apart from insinuating that Abrahamics showed a willingness to ‘compromise’ with Bharatiyas, the author also belittles the sacrifice of natives and Hindu kings by casting aspersions on their bravery.

“Instead of periodic raids and tribute missions, they worked with permanent fortresses on land and moved warehouse fortresses to the seas — galleons”, he writes praising the Portuguese for the strategies adopted by them to colonize Goa.

“Like a true colonialism apologist, he claimed that a war-torn province (referring to the present-day State of Goa) was “fortified and transformed into a sprawling city, half-European and half-Indian” by the Portuguese…He downplayed the brutal tactics, adopted by the invaders, and…suggested that the invaders appeased the Brahmins by stalling the education of the socially backward Hindu communities”, highlighted OpIndia.

“As Portugal’s power grew, so did Goa’s. Within the century, Goa had become one of Asia’s largest cities, larger even than distant Lisbon, and was declared the seat of the Archbishopric of all Asia in 1557. The Portuguese were clear that they were here to stay,” Kanisetti writes in an attempt to project the Portuguese as different from other European colonizers and suggest that Goa ‘owes’ a lot to them for putting it on the world map.

What’s worse? Kanisetti even downplays the atrocities inflicted on the natives by the Portuguese when he says, “Conversions were not always forceful. Professor Xavier writes that locals might have seen the Virgin Mary (for instance) as yet another local goddess”. “The infant Jesus, in a uniquely Indian variation, is depicted sitting and dozing, head resting on his palm in a motif likely derived from the sleeping Vishnu”, he concludes justifying cultural appropriation by evangelists.

The history of the Portuguese Goan Inquisition

After Vasco Da Gama’s return to Portugal, Pope Nicholas V issued a diktat giving the Portugal kingdom monopoly on enforcing Christianity upon the locals of the newly discovered areas (and mainly India), along with the monopoly to trade on behalf of the Roman Catholic Empire in Asia. Following this, the Portuguese sent troops to capture a portion of Goa and set up a colony in the coastal city.

“In Goa, the Portuguese were angered by the locals following a religion (Hinduism) other than Christianity and ordered all temples within the colony to be closed; this marked the beginning of the bloody Goan inquisition that comprised gross human rights violations and mass executions of the local Hindu, Jew and Muslim populations”, notes OpIndia.

The infamous Francis Xaviers and Martin Alfonso were sent to Goa by King John III of Portugal in 1542 to initiate the process of converting Goan residents to Roman Catholicism. HinduPost has detailed the unspeakable horrors natives were subjected to by the barbaric Portuguese evangelists.

Authors Aneesh Gokhale & Ami Ganatra bust The Print’s lies

Authors Aneesh Gokhale and Ami Ganatra have called out The Print and Anirudh Kanisetti’s propaganda obfuscating the Goan Inquisition in an attempt to whitewash the Portuguese crimes.

“Hathkataro Khamb – hand cutting pillar still stands in Panajim as a testimony to the atrocities of Portuguese on Hindu Goans to get them to convert & follow Christianity. But The Print would rather dig the bottom to find some random art to say conversions were out of love only”, Ami tweeted sharing a picture of the pillar.

Aneesh wrote a thread pointing out errors in Kanisetti’s propaganda piece. “Good you mention Portugal and Nagasaki But who will mention that this Nagasaki outpost was expelled by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1638? The reason was Christian converts fomenting a rebellion against the Shogunate”, writes Aneesh bringing out how Kanisetti selectively uses history to give credibility to his theory.

“Portugal and also Spain were the main reasons for Japan to shut themselves off from the world. In Nagasaki, which the author fondly mentions, Portuguese Jesuit missionaries converted scores of people, including local landlords. It was shaping up to be the Goa of Japan”, Aneesh pointed out.

Aneesh also highlighted how Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj responded to the Portuguese Viceroy’s law stating non-Catholics would lose their land ownership by beheading 4 Padres for refusing to become Hindus.

“There is a term for this long essay, and it is ‘Cultural appropriation’ Eventually the root religion and culture are subsumed, as has happened in Europe. Converting the ‘heathens’ to Christianity remained the cornerstone of Portuguese policy in India. Sometimes superseding realpolitik”, remarked Aneesh.