Goan identity is difficult to define. It has different dimensions because of its historical past. Its plural nature makes any attempt at a monochromatic definition bound to fail. A cultural anthropologist examines all the variegations in the diverse cultural expressions of societies. India itself is a multi-cultural, multi-linguistic, multi-religious conglomerate, and takes pride in its diversity. Culture is always fluid and interactive. In today’s era of globalisation, we need to be open to the winds of change and assimilation.
If a Goan prefers to eat dosas or omelette bread instead of pao bhaji, is he considered less Goan? Our Goan pao bhaji is a mixture of potato bhaji and gravy. The Portuguese taught the Goans the art of baking bread. Potatoes were introduced in Goa by the Portuguese sailors in the 17th century. A person’s identity cannot be defined by his food or even dress and music preferences. Are our younger generation disloyal Goans if they prefer rap and pop music over dulpods and mandos? Some Goans for various reasons are more fluent in English than their own mother tongue —are they less Goan? Many Goans who have worked in other parts of India have returned to Goa in the sunset of their lives. They feel at home in Goa even though they struggle to speak Konkani in the markets. Goans migrated to Africa and other European nations, and their children or grandchildren never learnt to speak Konkani or Marathi, but they still identify themselves as Goan. Can we deny them their Goan roots?
Cultural fanatics cannot understand that culture cannot remain isolated over a passage of time. Respect for cultural syncretism is the need of the hour! Although language, dress, religion or cuisines are individual expressions of culture, they cannot be frozen for posterity as unchangeable icons of culture. To justify our ideological moorings some of us would like to relate ourselves with the Aryan invaders, but are averse to the relatively recent cultural influence of the Portuguese. Can we deliberately avoid the influence of Muslim rule in Goa or the cultural influence of the Portuguese of their over 450 years rule in Goa?
As a daughter of a freedom fighter, the Portuguese language was banned in our house. Today this very language is an important tool for my on-going research in Indo-Portuguese history. Portuguese is also a beautiful language. My mother, unlike her contemporaries, always wore a saree, a bindi with flowers in her hair and my father a pyjama and kurta with a Gandhi topi before 1961. T B Cunha also advocated this! These choices were symbols of protest and beliefs in their convictions for the times they lived in, although these very symbols could identify their political affiliations.
Today’s times are different. In fact, prior to my stay in Portugal for three months to do my research and with my family background, I had my own illusions of the country and its people. However, they welcomed me as if I was their own. The security guard outside the National Archives would read my name and say, “You are a Mendes, so you are one of us”. My Portuguese friends volunteered and spent hours with me to read the archaic Portuguese documents and invited me to their house for dinner. I made life-long friends. They were hard core democrats who disowned Salazar.
The Goan culture is a synthesis of two cultures partly oriental and partly occidental. The Portuguese rule brought interaction between two nationalities, Indians and Portuguese, on Goan soil, which resulted in the evolution of a richer culture with its own unique identity. Our folklore, dress, cuisine, music, dance, architecture (both residential and religious), furniture, jewellery, our Konkani infused with Portuguese words, iconography, even our laws and our communidade system are symbols of Goan culture. The establishment of the printing press in Goa in 1556 and the first medical college in Asia, irrespective of the reasons for their establishment was a boon for Goans.
Albuquerque introduced the policy of politica dos casamentos. This encouraged marriage alliances between his countrymen and native women. Although his motives were to create a class loyal to the Portuguese, this policy also helped to spread the foreign culture among a section of the Goan population Today both Konkani and Marathi have adopted Portuguese words in their vocabulary, eg Pao (Pao),Khamis (camisa), saban (sabao), Chai (chave) etc.
Goan cuisine in the pre-Portuguese period was mostly vegetarian. Many fruits and vegetables were introduced by the Portuguese in Goa like the red chilli, cashew, tomatoes, potatoes, pineapple, guava, capsicum, aubergine and pumpkin. Fr Victor Ferrao was spot on when he said, “They brought the potatoes and we made the batata wadas”. The Portuguese brought tobacco from America, papaya from the Philippines through Malacca, peanuts from Africa. Christian Goan cuisine includes vindalho, balchão, sorpatel, molho, sausages, rissois de camarão (snack of small puffs shaped like half-moons with prawn filling), the sweet delicacy of the bebinca and many other mouth-watering dishes.
The architecture incorporated the razagonn or the courtyard, the bollcaum or the open veranda and the artistic shell windows are today symbols identified as components of Goan culture with pride. Goan furniture has carved motifs of the lotus and sunflowers and the cashew fruit. The lotus is the throne of Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of learning. Its choice for decorating the tops of chair backrests in homes and religious places is common in Goa. The overt Indian symbols that entered this craft were the serpent God of the seas, garudas, suraj mukkhis matsyas, pipal and banyan leaf, fishermen, boats. This fusion of skills and ideas gave rise to the unique Indo-Portuguese furniture.
The Viceroy’s beautifully carved chair is preserved in the Museo de Arte Antiga and is acknowledged as made by the carpenters of Damani, Cuncolim. The machilas or palanquins were used as means of transport by the privileged. The chests, almirahs (cupboards), contadors (cabinets with inlaid ornamentation of geometric patterns), the rocking chairs and the use of the intarsia art of inlaying with another type of wood, ivory, bone, metal or mother of pearl shell is uniquely Indo-Portuguese.
The Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Indo-Portuguese jewellery is distinct. Many Christian women have mangalsutras with a cross as the pendant. Filigree work on malachite stone, coral stone, using cameos, is still popular among Goan Christian women. Goan iconography showcases statues of baby Jesus resembling baby Krishna, as the hands that crafted them were Hindu. Cultural puritans need to understand these changing cross-cultural dynamics. Partisan politics has its own limitations but cultural syncretism cultivates respect and unity in a multi-pluralistic society like Goa. Culture cannot be frozen in time and space to suit a particular ideology with words like, ‘preservation of cultural identity”.
Interactions and adaptations to a constantly changing milieu take shape and impact the culture of any group. Cultural patterns can never be non-assimilative. Today, the President of Portugal is the son of a Goan writer par excellence who we are all proud off. Societies move on and progress and most countries are interdependent on each other. It is the era of divide and perish or assimilate and flourish. The fragrance of the acceptance of pluralism, ensuring unity and ‘moving on’ always overrides the putrid stench of divisiveness, disunity and moving backwards. Viva, Goan pao-bhaji!
(Prof (Dr) Sushila Sawant Mendes is an Author and Professor in History, Govt College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Quepem)