TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2024
Frazer Andrade
Chandor is a quaint village situated in the Salcéte taluka of South Goa. It lies on the southern bank of the Zuari River and along the western bank of the Kushavati River. Chandor today is known by multiple other names in the earlier times. One of its oldest names was Chandra Aura as it was known with, probably around the 4th-6th century CE. This is indicated by three copper plates existing in Shiroda whereby King Devrai Bhoj gave a land grant to some temple priests. During this period, Chandor had been the capital of Goa. The name Chandra Aura later changed to Chandreshwar and then to Chandranath and finally to Chandrapur, when it once again served as the capital of Goa during the period of the Kadamba rule (11th-13th Century AD). It also boasts of a fort and a temple within its citadel.
It is noteworthy that Chandor was the capital of the Kadambas until 1054, when they moved the capital to Govapuri/Gopakapattan (Goa Velha). Govapuri was destroyed by invading forces in 1312, prompting them to move the capital back to Chandor, until it was sacked in 1327 by the Bahamanis. Adil Shah took over Chandor in 1498 from the last Bahamani Governor, Malik Einol Moolk Gilani. Chandor then comes under the Portuguese in 1543.
To the south of the village is the imposing Chandranath Mountain, atop of which stands the temple of Shri Chandreshwar- Bhutnath. Modern Chandor is a Christian parish comprising communidades of Chandor which is inclusive of Cotta (meaning Fort in Kannada/ Sanskrit), Cavorim (Kouddi means gate) and Guirdolim (Giddhole). Cávorim possibly was the place that served as an entrance to the fort of Chandrapur. Cotta and Cávorim comprises of the Kshatriya community (now Catholic converts) and hence was the headquarters of warriors serving the Kadamba/Vijayanagar kingdom.
In the 14th -15th Century, there was a battle fought between the Vijayanagar Empire and the Bahamani Sultanate. The Vijayanagars won the battle and to celebrate their victory, they probably thought of choreographing a dance which would be performed generation after generation, thus remembering the victorious battle of their beloved King Harihara. The staple food of Goa is rice is well known fact and processing rice involves pounding it so as to de-husk the grain. Pounding was traditionally done at home using a mortar and a pestle. The Vijayanagars were quite creative in choreographing this dance, by actually using a pestle as a prop, where they danced with the pestle in a manner as though they were pounding their enemy, thus giving birth to the Mussol (pestle) nach (dance), where one of the dancers who represents the enemy is dressed up as a black bear.
The dance is performed only by the Catholic Kshatriya community of Cotta and Cávorim on the full moon night in the month of Phalguna. On this day, the participants assemble at the Maanddacho Furis (a roadside cross which may have been erected atop of a pre-existing maand i.e a temple stage which would have been in close vicinity of the Mahadeva temple). The ruins of the temple were discovered by Fr Henry Heras in 1929. There, a prayer was chanted by a Hindu priest hailing from the Canti Waddo,” says Ranjeev Zavipo Peale Jesus Fernandes, a resident of Cotta.
However, in today’s times, the head man who is one of the Gãonkars, chants Catholic prayers invoking blessings of God Almighty. A chant is then heard aloud, ‘Om Ishwara Gaja Gauri… Om Ishwara…’. The procession of dancers then proceeds to the Capela de São Tiago where another prayer is recited (somewhere around the site of a Kaal Bhairav temple which is nonexistent today). From here, the procession heads back to the Maanddacho Furis. Locals believe that São Tiago joins them in their victorious celebration. On their way back, they halt at the entrances of all houses where they perform the dance.
If there was a mishap in any of the houses, like, for example if there was a death in the house, then the family would light an oil lamp outside their house so make the dancers aware that they shouldn’t be dancing at their entrance. In such a case, the participants halt at the house, say a short prayer for the soul of the deceased and proceed further. Ranjeev adds, “The eldest son of all the warier families participated in the dance but young boys have also been encouraged to join.”
Further, he mentions, “I took to dancing about 30 years ago when my elder brother, Chico was not able to do so due to his poor health conditions.” No women folks are allowed to participate in the dance. However, if there was no male participant from any of the houses of the Gãonkars, all the participating men inquire about his absence with their family members, while they dance. On listening to what they have to say, the dancers chant a prayer for the wellbeing of the male absentee. Locals in Cotta strongly believe that if they don’t perform this traditional victory dance, they would be hit by a curse and that their village would perish due to floods.
Remmy Furtado of Cotta mentions that earlier the dancers would wear a dhoti (dhontir) with a pleated skirt like appearance, a coat (cullet), a waist band (bhendásso) and a turban (Mundásso). The colour of the outfit (especially the turban and waist band) was not uniform and varied from person to person. The participants wore chiming anklets (pãizonna) on their left ankle. All of this was streamlined with the creation of a committee to manage this event since about the last 25 years. Now the colour of costumes is uniform. The whole vesting is otherwise exactly the same with just a slight difference in the Dhontir and mundasso worn today, which is a readymade.
The Mussol fell of Cávori is conducted on the following day after the one at Cotta. It commences at the St Anthony’s chapel and ends back there itself at the maand. Here the locals believe that Santo Antonio participates in the whole celebration of their victorious achievement.
