Chapter 2 :- GOA and ITS PAST 1. the Name Goa a Portuguese
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Chapter 2 :- GOA AND ITS PAST 1. The name Goa A Portuguese historian in 1778 mentions that Goa was frequented by the neighboring people who often said that "Lets amuse ourselves under the cool shades of Goa and taste sweetness of its betel"\ In the pre-colonial past, Goa was once the capital city of the ancient dynasties which later became the initial territorial holding of the Portuguese colonial power. The names of Goa have changed over the years and it is equally interesting to correlate these ancient names with the present names of places. It is all the more exciting to trace and study the evolution of the name Goa, based on epigraphs, stone inscriptions and other archival records like treatises of sages. Without going to the etymological roots of Goa; the ancient names by which Goa was known throughout the ages. A Puranic documentation called Sahvadhri Khand calls Goa by the names of ^Gomantak' in its first chapter^. The Sahyddhri Khand was written in the A^ centur\' CE and later on additions were made till 13**" century CE^. In the same text Goa is also referred to as Gomdnchal in chapter number four"*. This name is also found in the Konkan Akhyan''. Goa is also known by the name of Gomant in a treatise named "Brhat Samhita' written by sage Vardh Mihir^. Vardh Mihir also makes a reference to the people of Konkan region and the people staying along the banks of River Gomati'^. Both these references are found in the chapter named Grh Bhakti Yog of the Samhita. Vardh Mihir hailed from Ujjain and lived in the 5* centur>' CE*. River Gomati is identified with River Mandovi by J.N. Da Fonseca in his book 'An Historical and Archaeological Sketch of the City of Goa'^. Some Portuguese chroniclers also tried derive to the etymology of Goa. Diogo de Couto traced it to Goemoat which according to him is a local word for a fertile and refreshing land'". While yet another Portuguese writer Leonardo Paes mentions that the name Goa is derived from Guhalldev, an early Kadamb ruler. While Fransisco de Souza mentions that Goa is derived from Goubat which was the name of the chief local deity of the territory. The Kadambs who ruled Goa during the lO"' century have left behind many records which also mention Goa's ancient name. It is very interesting to spot the name of Goa in the stone inscriptions at Halshi (now lies in Kamataka near Khanapur), one of the ancient capitals of the Kadamb s. One of the early record of the Kadamb King 24 Virvarmdev calls Goa by the name of ^Gopak\ This record is dated to 1049AD and is now kept in the Goa State Museum at Patto". His brother; King Jaikeshi Vs. copper plates mention Goa as 'Gopakdwip' which means the island of Goa. Yet another name of Goa is revealed through a stone inscription of the Kadamb King Shivchith and his Queen Kamladevi found in Shh Kamal Narayan temple at Degav. Here Goa is referred to as Gopakpuri^^. The above stone epigraph dates to 12 century CE. From a stone inscription of the Kadamb King Vishnuchith (brother of King Shivchith) we leam that a port called 'Gopakpattan existed in Goa^^ This inscription is present in the temple of Shri Varah Narsinh in Halsi near Belgaum. The name Gopakpattan in literal sense means the 'Port of Gopak' as Pattan in Kannada connotes a port. Gopakpattan is identified with Goa Velha near Pilar. Kadamb King Tribhuvanmairs copper plate dating to 1106 CE mentions yet another name of Goa. The copper plate informs us that Goa was also known by the Gove apart from Gopak. It can be inferred that Kadamb s began referring to Goa as Gopak because so far no inscriptions dating prior to the Kadamb period mention this name. The records in Halekannada dating to 1571 CE mention the name of Goa Velha or ancient Gopak as Gove Rdjpdtini which corroborates the point that it was known as the Royal Place even in the 16"* century CE*'*. An Indian treatise called Suth Samhitd also mentions Govapuri through its following text:- Tatr Govapuri Nam Nagari Pap Nashini to mean Govapuri is a city where ablution of sins takes place. The treatise probably dates to the 13"* century. The inscriptions found outside the temples of Shri Ravalndth at Velus in Sattari and Shri Nagesh at Bandoda tells us that the Vijaynagar King Devrai II ruled over the city of Gove. The inscriptions date to 1408 and 1413AD respectively'^ We do not find Goa being called as Gomantak in any stone inscriptions and epigraphs after the 15"' century except for the one found at Adkon in Ponda taluka The inscription belongs to the Maratha King Sambhaji and dates to 1688 CE according to Pandurang Pissurlekar. It records the name of Goa as Gomantak once again'^. Perhaps this is the last epigraph in Goa's history which calls Goa with the Purdnic name Gomantak. There may be still more inscriptions giving references to Goa. Perhaps they are not highlighted or they cease to exist today. Whether it is Gomant, 25 Gomantak, Govadvip, Gopak, Gopakpuri, Gove or Govapuri these names have today evolved into today's Goa. II. An overview of the historical background of study area:- 1. Importance of study of ruling dynasties in iconographic survey of a region. Goa came under the sway of different dynasties over the years. We have records right from the 5* century CE uptill the 15"" century CE of various Indian dynasties ruling over Goa. Each one tried to keep this region under its suzerainty. The reason was perhaps because of its prominent location near the sea coast of whether Goa's navigable rivers served the rulers an upper hand to keep the enemies off their kingdom. Every dynasty which ruled here introduced a type of worship as they patronized a particular deity. Thus, giving birth to new worships in that region, this in turn gave rise to new cults. To elucidate; every ruling house, a branch or a dynasty had a royal emblem called Lanchan (cTTH^) in Sanskrit'^. The rpyal emblem itself gives us lots of clues about the cult the dynasty encouraged in its kingdom. In case the ruling branch patronized Vaishnavism then the symbols of Vishnu were an integral part of the emblem. Same was the case with Shaivism. Royal emblems categorically point out or reveal the faith or belief it propagated. In case of royal emblems of some dynasties one can identify the name of the overlord accepted by the dynasty. This can be done by looking and comparing the artistic styles of the Royal emblem. The Royal Emblem is one of the key features in studying the dynastic art because it style and concept remained unchanged till the dynasty changed its feudatory-ship. Therefore it is of utmost necessity to make an overall study of dynasty's cultural trends including their administrative systems. Each dynasty patronized a special school of art. Some who accepted the feudatoryship of the others included the artistic styles of their overlords into their school of art. Thus giving birth to a complete new school of art! Likewise every dynasty had a mythological origin which was peihaps not true. However the myth behind the origin was perhaps stressed in almost all their initial records. This was done probably to keep the kings associated with divinities which would give them importance. Hence the study of these ruling dynasties proves to be very important source in studying the iconographic development of the region. 26 2. Importance of the study of the Portuguese rule in Goa. Though this study is related to the iconographic study between 4* century CE to 15 century CE the first half of 16* century which includes the Portuguese rule plays a very important role in the study as Portuguese desecrated a large number of temples and sculptures in Goa. The Comentahos de Afonso de Albuquerque mention that the Hindus has many respectable temples with beautiful carvings . The Florentine traveler Andre Corsali described the temple in Divar (now in Tiswadi) as marvelous piece of architecture'^. Gomes Vaz a Portuguese Jesuit brother in 1567 wrote that a water tan used for rituals at the entrance of a temple in Vema in Salcette taluka has a porch of black stone. This porch according to him was so beautiful that it led him to say that he had never seen a work of such perfection anywhere, not even in Portugal^". They also consolidated the boundaries of the territory which has formed the modem Goa. Hence the study of the initial phases of Portuguese regime is very important in this study. 3. Ruling Dynasties and their origin A. Description Forms of sources of the dynasties found in Goa Many ancient records of Goa are available to us in the form of copper plates and stone inscriptions. These are the only valid documents which can lead us to correct history^ of that era without any doubts. The copper plates are rectangular plates of mixed metal mostly containing copper having inscription on it. Sometimes they are in a group of two, three or more. In case of Goa they are available in a group of not more the three. These were issued by kings to temples, people relating donation of properties and sometimes even in case of administrative purposes. The first copper plate of the set normally contains text saluting the family deity of the dynasty, the name of the ruler and dynasty. The second and the third plate contains inscription mentioning the reason for which the copper plate was issued.