The Biblical account in Ezekiel 20:34 says that ‘ I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out’. In Jer 29:14 says that ‘I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile’.
It is a known fact that the Jews were scattered across the world as told in the most compelling holy book of Bible, it is also said that they will be gathered and brought back to their own Land. We have learned that few organizations that are actively involved in identifying the Jews who have been scattered across the world from age past and bringing them back to the Promised Land. However, it is very heart-rending to know that Jews who lived in Old Goa perhaps had a bleak history. Some of the historians and travelers during the Portuguese rule in Goa have accounted that there was an inquisition on Jews who insisted in following their faith.
Prior to the Inquisition in Portugal, many Jews being mainly involved in the spice trade, commerce, import and export of commercial items, spread out to all colonies of the Portuguese domain of influence. The Portuguese Jews arrived in India as traders probably well before the year 1500 CE when it was socially acceptable to be Jewish in Portugal. Between the time of their arrival, the capture of Goa (1510 CE) and the beginning of the seventeenth century the Jewish Community flourished openly and then later as Marrano Jews.
Picture No-1 shows the location of the Jewish Community in the erstwhile Colony of Goa. Picture No-2. Shows-the location of the Jew Street (about 600 meters long) and the dwelling area of the then Jewish Community in Goa. Finally it also shows the location of the villa of the most famous resident of Goa a Marrano Jew of international repute Dr. Garcia-De-Orta and is located between the Basilica de Bom Jesus and the Church of St Francis of Assisi. The area of the Jewish Settlement and the residence of Dr Garcia-De-Orta are a part of the garden of the Archaeological Survey of India.
Dr. Garcia-De-Orta was brought to India by the then Viceroy and for his excellent services rendered to the Senior officials of the colony and the military and as a token of their appreciation was given one of the major islands of what later developed into Bombay City. The purpose of this was to enable Dr. Garcia-De-Orta to study the “Flora and their Medicinal Properties” of these tropical islands.
Source: Historian Nissim Moses
The people brought in front of the Inquisition were lapsed Christians. People who converted to Catholicism to obtain the trade licenses and other lucrative occupations etc which were reserved for Catholics.
ReplyDeleteThe Inquisition was for these people who though converted to Catholicism also practiced their old religion.
Yes, Garcia da orta was a great man - a converted catholic man -but who later was found to have said during his life that 'the Law of Moses was the supreme Law'
Jews arrived in Goa,from Portugal, after Goa became more prosperous during Portuguese rule and settled in the City of Goa in the street of the Jews. So they were taking advantage of the Law by conveniently converting to Catholicism to reap the benefits and secretly following their own religion too. Only people who were Catholics fell into the purview of the Inquisition and not people of other faiths, though there may and must have been false cases or over jurisdiction in some cases.
Wow..great blog, waiting for more blogs
ReplyDeleteBike Rental in Goa
Rent a Bike Goa