A tale from Goa’s dark ages

A scene from the Portuguese Inquisition in Goa in the 16th century. Author Bhembre writes on the political masters of this period who ruled over their subjects’ basic choices. Pic/Getty Images

A Novel's plot is made believable by its backstory. Backstories help readers relate to the probable lives of characters; they clarify doubts raised in the narrative. In the case of some novels, the authors themselves have engaging backstories - compelling reasons to create their fictional worlds.

Faith on Fire, a new English translation of a Konkani novel set during the Goa Inquisition, belongs to this second category. The celebrated octogenarian Konkani writer, Uday Bhembre has personal reasons for chronicling this bleak and lesser documented era in his state. He has mulled over it for two decades.

Previously based in Mumbai - where he was a student at Siddharth College in Fort - Bhembre's other callings held him back from writing the novel he dreamt of. He practised as a lawyer, dabbled in electoral politics, taught Konkani at the University of Goa. A popular Marathi newspaper columnist, Bhembre was involved in political and literary movements furthering the cause of his native Konkani. He penned several award-winning short stories, poems and plays in the language, but he could not take time off for the novel on the Inquisition. He continued to read about it uninterruptedly, and began writing it only after he turned 75. It took him another five years to complete the project. As he turns 84 now, he finds several translations of his original Konkani vying for his time.

Writer Uday Bhembre considers himself fortunate. Vhodlem Ghar, his debut novel, will be rendered in five languages

Even before Vhodlem Ghar hit the stands, Bhembre was in dialogue with his Kolkata-based English translator Vidya Pai, who has retold this story of a converted and persecuted Christian family set in 16th-century orthodox Portuguese-ruled Goa. Pai is known for doing justice to the Konkani ethos, especially because she is aware of the difference between Konkani spoken in Hindu Mangalorean homes, and the dialect in the Goan hinterland. She located the Goan Konkani cadence of 1540 that was captured in Bhembre's hardbound Vhodlem Ghar.

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In fact, the author-translator duo journeyed together through Portuguese and Konkani terms which characterise the period - posts like alcaide (the jailer of the Inquisition prison), fidalgo (nobleman) needed explanation. Bhembre drew a maalo (attic in Konkani) for Pai, because the translator hadn't seen Goan shepherds storing hay during the monsoon. Rites like kala sankoch needed deliberation; it refers to the ritualistic relocation of an idol, pertaining to the period when Hindus had to rush their murtis to safer temple precincts.

The novel's English title, Faith on Fire (Qurate Books; 226 pages), emerged rather lyrically. Big House, which is the literal translation of Vhodlem Ghar and which alludes to the erstwhile large prison where offenders were tried by Inquisition authorities, didn't seem suitable for the title. The novelist informs us that the fear instilled by the Big House was so acute that people pointed to it, but chose never to utter the truth about it.

The Konkani novel will soon be out in four other languages, each of which treat the title in distinctive ways. The Kannada title Dodda Mane references the physicality of the big house; the French one is Foi Aux Sandres (Faith in Ashes); the Telegu title Yatanagruham - which has a Sanskrit influence - denotes a torture chamber. As the story goes, when the initial Marathi title Mothe Ghar was suggested, Bhembre severely objected. "Mothe Ghar was prosaic and did not conjure up the image of Inquisition interrogators who sat in the large palace around a huge table, to decide the fates of people who - in small and big ways - violated the purity of Christian faith," Bhembre says. Choosing apt metaphorical equivalents of the title for the upcoming versions was a challenging task in itself, because the Inquisition experience is exclusive to certain parts of the world. The Marathi title ultimately selected was the hefty Adharmkand, referring to an unrighteous chapter.

To Bhembre, the novel's many translations are an embarrassment of riches. "I am a fortunate debut novelist whose work is available to varied readers. I'm also happy about the healthy exchange with a fellow native Konkani speaker who appreciated my reasons for writing about a bygone chapter. The project is personal, because I had always, since 2003, felt that the Inquisition - not just religious conversion - was an untouched, controversial topic which should reflect in Konkani or Marathi literature," Bhembre says, elatedly holding up a paperback copy launched in early October. Writing on this dark period (1566-85) - forced conversions, destruction of temples, door-to-door monitoring of converted households, a vitiated social climate marked by an acute fear of authorities - was crucial to understanding the history of his own state. The novel addresses a pertinent question that has troubled him for long: how can political masters dictate the faith-based choices of their subjects?

The Bhembre-Pai partnership is central to the making of Faith on Fire. However, many other voices and perspectives too, have contributed to the creation of a believable, fictional-yet-representative true-to-life story of a Christian couple who was put under a microscope for knowingly and unknowingly retaining their native Hindu customs. Bhembre pored over books like Dr Delio Mendonca's Conversion and Citizenry, Jose Nicolau da Fonseca's Sketch of the City of Goa and The Economics of the Goa Jesuits by Dr Charles J Borges. Goa, A Social History by PD Xavier, and Itenerario by Jan Huyghen Van Linschotten were also enlightening. But the novel took root after Bhembre read Professor AK Priolkar's seminal book The Goa Inquisition which details the "spiritual and temporal punishments" listed for the natives of three key talukas (Tiswadi, Salcette, Bardoz) in Goa. Priolkar's book contained the experiences of Dr Charles Dellon, a French doctor - who spent two years in prison and was expelled to Portugal - and an English researcher, Dr Claudius Buchanan. These accounts painted the vivid proceedings within the confines of the Big House.

Natives had to adhere to the Apostolic Mandates at all times. They were ordered not to sing the usual customary songs in marriage ceremonies in public and private; crushed rice and ground condiments were disallowed at wedding feasts as these characterised local Hindu rituals; gaitas and other Hindu musical instruments couldn't be played; viddas (betel/areca nuts with leaves) could not be distributed. As per the April 1560 order passed by Viceroy D Constantino de Braganca, Brahmins were thrown out of the island of Goa, which led to a large-scale migration and resultant shortage of agricultural labourers in Goa. Therefore, another order was passed by Viceroy Conde De Redondo D Fracisco Coutinho, inviting Hindus back to the deserted estates. Tension prevailed in every community practice, as the newly converted Christian wasn't sure as to which rule he or she was breaking and which punishment was due for the breach. Will they be subjected to excommunication and forfeiture of goods, or will they be banished from the Portuguese territories in India? Will they be condemned to serve a sentence on the galleys? Or much worse, will they serve in the gunpowder factory?

Bhembre's Vhodlem Ghar absorbs the specifics of the Inquisition horrors. The plot develops around the Pai family of the Raia village in Salcete taluka. As news of an attack on Mangeshi and Shantadurga spreads, Narsu Pai relocates with his wife and sons. They shift the Kamakshi temple idol to Shiroda, which was ruled by Adil Shah and out of bounds for the Portuguese rulers. But one of his sons Vasu decides to stay back and embraces Christian faith out of compulsion. He is the protagonist who is ultimately set on fire as punishment for not being able to live up to the mandates.

Renowned Konkani litterateur Damaodar Mauzo, who was one of the advisors to Bhembre, says Vhodlem Ghar is a fair and politically neutral take on one of Goa's darkest chapters. "Bhembre's interest lies in the documentation of the phase; he is deeply invested in that period and shows how the Inquisition was inhuman not just towards the Hindus, but Christians too. Inquisition violated community peace and, although it was limited to only three talukas, scarred many Goans for generations."

Vhodlem Ghar is a metaphor for rulers and administrators around the globe who seize people's basic human rights, including the right to practise any religious faith; religion is weaponised by rulers when they wish to control people's lives. Vasu Pai, who is Caetano Vaz after conversion, is the everyman whose freedoms are at stake. He is under the radar even after swearing allegiance to a new religious order, living in fear of punishment.

Vhodlem Ghar was also a mix of the personal and the political. The Raikars of the Raia village migrated to different parts of Goa, Maharashtra and elsewhere during the Inquisition. I don't have records of my family's geographical relocation, but I know the timeline of a few Raikars from my great-grandfather's generation who settled in Alibaug and then moved to Mumbai. This is a backstory which I haven't been privy to. Vhodlem Ghar encourages me to dig deeper.

Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre is a culture columnist in search of the sub-text. You can reach her at sumedha.raikar@mid-day.com