Goa – Erakina

Panjam Aesthetics 

Goa – What We Know

• Goa is very popularly known as one of the most happening and busiest vacation states of India, in addition to being the smallest state of India.
• It has immense aesthetics of beautiful beaches, all with nature as a backdrop.
• From weekend getaways to wedding proposals, Goa has served to be a landmark destination in the lives of many people worldwide.
• Not just weekend getaways and wedding proposals, Goa has been a very sought after aesthetic for many musical occasions worldwide.
• Some of the top musicians and bands worldwide have played sold out shows for days in Goa and that has added on to Goa’s image of a ‘vacation state’ of India.
• But, Goa is more than what we know it today as. It is more than the exotic parties and never ending music concerts. 
• Goa holds within it a history of civilizations from different time eras, kingdoms and kings from India and abroad, catholic christianity landmarks and many more. Above all, Goa’s origin itself is a geological masterpiece.

Fishing – A source of living in Goa

Geological Origins of Goa 

• There is evidence of Goa tectonic origins dating back to 10,000 BC.
• Some parts of modern Goa appear to have been elevated to the sea by the movement of a geological tectonic plate plate. 
• There is evidence to support this theory as the existence of marine fossils, buried sea shells, and other aspects of the redistribution of the surrounding coastline.
• Geologists concluded that Goa has risen from the sea as a result of tectonic violence.

Goa Through Time Eras 

• Until 1993 the existence of people in Goa during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic times was strongly opposed.
• The discovery of rock art paintings on lateral bases and desert stones from Usgalimal on the west bank of the Kushavati River, illuminates the ancient history of Goa. More than 125 forms were found scattered on the banks of the Kushavati River south-east of Goa.
• Studies have shown that the Kushavati culture was a hunter’s culture with an in-depth knowledge of local natural resources and processes – water, fish, plants, wildlife, animal breeding cycles, seasons and natural disasters.
• According to Kamat, this is evidence of a previous Goan shamanistic practice.
• Then, archaeological evidence in the form of polished stone axes, suggests the first places for a Neolithic man in Goa.
• It was only when the Iron Age came that dynasties imposed their rule over the smallest state of India but one with probably the most resources.

Some Powerful Dynasties That Ruled Goa

• The Maurya Dynasty 

• The history of Mauryas is almost non-existent.
• Existing records reveal the names of only three kings of this empire, namely, Suketavarman, who ruled for some time in the 4th or 5th century BC, Chandravarman in the 6th century BC, and Ajit Varman in the 7th century BC, who ruled from Kumardvipa or modern. It is in juvenile delinquency, but otherwise the records do not provide a framework for their relationship.
• These dates are determined by comparing the Nagari text style in which these records are written with the appearance of this script, which may have been accurately dated.
• It is possible that we consider the places mentioned in these records and the places of their discovery that at its height, the Western Maurya State included Lata or South Gujarat, Maharashtra along the coast, Goa, and almost half of the Northern Kanara region.

• The Satavahanas Dynasty

• The Satavahana dynasty began as a subordinate of the Mauryan Empire, but declared independence as the Mauryan Empire declined.
• The Satavahana dynasty ruled Goa through their coastal chiefs, the Chutus of Karwar.
• This period is estimated to have lasted about the 2nd century BC to 100 AD.
• The Satavahanas had established maritime power and its ties with the Roman Empire from the coastal trade from Sindh to Saurashtra, from Baruch to Sopara to Goa, where Greek and Roman ships would dock during the voyage.
• With the fall of the Satavahanas, lucrative maritime trade has declined.

• The Bhojas Dynasty

• The Bhojas ruled Goa for over 500 years, covering the entire Goa.
• The first known record of the Bhoja Kingdom from Goa since the 4th century AD, was found in the town of Shiroda in Goa.
• According to Puranik, the Bhojas were traditionally a member of the Yadavas family, who probably moved to Goa in Dwaraka after the Mahabharata war.

• The Shilahara Dynasty

• The Shilaharas of the South Konkan ruled Goa from 755 to 1000 AD. Sannaphulla, the founder of the empire, was the vassal of Rashtrakutas.
• Their copper-plate inscriptions suggest that they ruled in Vallipattana (there is no consensus among scholars regarding the identification of Vallipattana, some associate it with Balli in Goa, either in Banda or Kharepatan in the modern province of Maharashtra), Chandrapura and Gopakapattana.
• This was a turbulent period in Goan history. As the power of Goa Shilahara declined during the 11th century, Arab traders gained increasing control of overseas trade.

Portuguese Arrival – Final Conquest Of Goa

• Before the Portuguese ships arrived in India, the eastern sea was ruled by the Tamil Thalassocratic Empire of Tamil, followed by its Shailendra dynasty and other Indian maritime states of Java and Sumatra. 
• By the fifteenth century, however, the flow of Indian water was in the hands of the Arabs both east and west along the Gulf and the Red Sea.
• By the time Francisco de Almeida arrived to serve as the first Portuguese deputy in the East (1505-1509), there was already a regional war off the coast of Malabar.
• In 1505 Estado da India was founded there, in Cochin, just south of Goa. Almeida ended his reign by winning a decisive battle against Diu, in the far north of Gujarat.
• Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque became the second viceroy (1509-1515). In 1510 Timoji asked the Portuguese to take Goa. Gift accepted.
• The town was soon seized from Ismail Adil Shah, governor of the Bijapur Sultanate, but it soon disappeared. Albuquerque, however, returned in force on November 25.
• In one day the guns of Portuguese ships, and armed groups living on the coast, were again found. Ismail Adil Shah and his Egyptian Mamluk allies officially surrendered Goa on December 10.
• An estimated 6,000 out of 9,000 Muslim defenders died, fighting in the streets or trying to flee.
• Despite frequent attacks by the invaders, Goa became a center of Portuguese India.
• The conquest drew the attention of several neighboring kingdoms: the Sultan of Gujarat and Zamorin of Calicut sent envoys, who provided alliances and regional agreements, e.g., to build fortifications.

Goa – What We Overlook

• Goa was the basis for Albuquerque’s conquest of Malacca in 1511 and Hormuz in 1515.
• Albuquerque was intended to be a colony and a naval base, separate from the heavily fortified factories built in certain parts of the Indian estuaries.
• Goa was made the capital of the Portuguese Deputy Government of Asia, and some Portuguese goods in India, Malacca and other bases in Indonesia, East Timor, Persian Gulf, Macau in China and trade bases in Japan were under the Suzerainty of its Viceroy. .
• By the middle of the 16th century, the area had grown to the point where it can no longer be located today.

Daya Atreya, 

14.1.22