Comments on: Portuguese Inquisition and Revisionism

By: Arun Shanbhag

Arun Shanbhag — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:09:34 +0000

Ajith:
Thank you for sharing this valuable information.

Fascinating to note this book by Gopalakrishna Pai. Now I wish I had studied kannada. I will try and get a copy mailed to my home in Mumbai.

Yes, there is a lot of this information available and I have been working on a draft of a book on the Goan inquisition for the last several years. I have another project which i taking up all my time. perhaps next year I will get a chance to finish up the Inquisition project.

I hope he puts out the english edition first. Will also try and contact Mr Gopalakrishna Pai.

Many thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Arun

By: Ajith Bhatt

Ajith Bhatt — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:11:27 +0000

There is an interesting Novel which is written by Mr.Gopalakrishna Pai ,set in the backdrop of the infamous’’ Goan Inquistion’’. Our ancestors had no other option but to flee from Goa, when they saw that their Temples were being destroyed, their house and businesses were under threat from the savage army of the Portuguese.

This novel ‘’Swapna Saraswatha’’ in Kannada outlines the story of one such group of families who left Goa, their final destination was Kochi/ Cochin( a prosperous trading city which they had only heard about) but on their way to Kochi many families settled down in Karnataka.

Swapna Saraswatha brings out various sufferings and challenges faced by our ancestors, many of them never knew what poverty and hunger was, many of them were very rich businessemen, but lost every thing when
they were forced to leave Goa, families were separated never to meet again in their lifetime, some of them even became mad due to the sad turn of events…

Ultimately our ancestors over came all the challenges and settled down in various parts of Karnataka and Kerala and once again prospered. They rebuilt their lives, established Konkani settlements, founded temples and contributed to the Society which gave them shelter, respect and protection.

This is a novel every one of us should own, read like purana and understand. Author Shri Gopalakrishna Pai has been to various archives and libraries, met many historians and scholars, read about 4000 books on the subject during his research work to know the historical, cultural, and social background which existed during that
time. He made notes of about 2000 pages and collected innumerable photographs before commencing the writing of this novel which is about 475 pages in Kannada. The hard bound edition is priced at Rs. 325/-
and overseas price is USD20. The publishers are M/S Bhagyalakshmi Prakashana , No. 87, 3rd Cross, 4th Block, Banashankari III Stage, III Phase, Bangalore 85 and their contact No. is 080-26695715 Mob: 94480
47735

This novel is a run away success and has sold out all the first edition copies. Currently efforts are on to translate this novel into English, Marati and Malayalam.

Mr. Pai can be reached at bgpai58@gmail.com

By: Arun Shanbhag

Arun Shanbhag — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:57:59 +0000

What do you suggest?
Just stick our heads in the sand and forget the genocide ever occurred? Perhaps you can provide guidance on how best to move forward in a peaceful manner (and justice for all).

By: peggy dobbins

peggy dobbins — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:42:35 +0000

So, what do we learn from all this to enable people to simply live in peace and justice?

By: Arun Shanbhag

Arun Shanbhag — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:11:38 +0000

Absolutely, Vigilance is the key!
and we should arm ourselves with the correct knowledge to prevent a raid on our people and faith.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Arun