Related to Post 72 and onwards:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Portuguese seemed to be unsure about what to do about contacts with Hindus on the other side. A solution to the problem of Hindu wedding ceremonies occurring in the realm was to order them to take place 'on the other side.' This, however, created other problems:
+ A letter written in the late eighteenth century discusses a law passed in response to Hindu complaints about being robbed on their way to the land of the Moors (where they had to go by law to marry). Thus, to avoid highway robbery, the law allowed them to have their wedding ceremonies at home behind closed doors. However, they were not allowed to have their priests or other temple officials in attendance so that no sacrifices or rituals would be performed. The Hindus wrote to complain that their wedding ceremonies were thus invalid without priests in attendance to perform the proper ceremonies, and that their women were defiled and their children considered illegitimate.
+ More than a century before, King Philip had written on 05 March 1624 to the viceroy in Goa to reinforce the decrees and provisions as passed by Jeronimo de Azevedo in May of 1613 and later by Fernao de Albuquerque in January of 1620 and again in May of 1621 that Hindu weddings not be allowed to take place. But they were still taking place in private homes in spite of these provisions and the Hindus continued going to the lands of the Moors 'where they freely practice their superstitious ways.' King Philip, with a copy sent to the Archbishop and to the Inquisitors, approved and confirmed the said prior provisions on 09 May 1625.91
The ongoing dilemma of Hindu wedding ceremonies is amply documented as it appears in the numerous laws passed throughout the seventeenth century alone. The repeated measures taken trying to restrict and/or forbid them seem to have been largely ineffectual. At one point Hindus were allowed to hold their ceremonies only on boats offshore in the dark!92
Many manuscripts in the archives deal with the issue of converting masses of individuals, principally uninstructed in the faith, and its concomitant problems:
+ King Dom Joao writes to the viceroy in response to his letter of 10 November 1712 regarding another letter sent by the Father of the Christians dealing with decrees and provisions in favor of the propagation of the faith and conversion of the Gentiles.
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Conversions must be official and not brutal. It is a principal obligation of the kings of Portugal to treat the Gentiles, our vassals, with great care; there have been too many abuses; I thought I told you that certain privileges were to have been taken away from the Gentiles; in no way can vassal Gentiles attend frequently and publicly the festivals of their temples on <i>terra firme</i>, and they must stop making public offerings to their idols. You may not permit this under severe punishment and officials are prohibited from working on such works. . . . Clear this up immediately. My laws must be followed.93<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->+ At the beginning of the seventeenth century King Philip wrote to the viceroy to thank him for his efforts to convert all inhabitants of Salsette in true conversion and not just in appearance, but in the king's letter of 22 September 1711, he complained to the viceroy that there is not enough zeal in conversion efforts these days.
A 1633 law by Count Linhares regarding the Hindus of Salsette, who had fled to avoid converting, shows the intractability of these problems well into the seventeenth century:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Many Gentiles impede other Gentiles from converting and thwart a great number of those already converted, and they hide orphans and pass them over to <i>terra firme</i>, building many temples there with materials from our lands, performing Gentile ceremonies in them, frequently sacrificing roosters and other animals for which they bring master sorcerers and gurus from the <i>terra firme</i> who go to the Christians' houses, intimidating them and persuading them that the pains and illnesses they have are punishments from their gods for not adoring them; [the gurus] promise them health and long life if they send offerings [to the idols], bringing from said temples accounts and other things like relics which they distribute amongst the weakest in faith, trying to get them to swear to the idols at the hour of their death; it is equally notorious that such Gentiles have idols in their homes for whom they perform various ceremonies and they perform the same diabolical ceremonies amongst themselves and not publicly with great shouts and cries and pilgrimages to the temples of the <i>terra firme</i> . . . all of which besides causing a great scandal and ruin to the New Christians is against royal provisions Your Majesty has passed in favor of Christianity; said Gentiles use great deceit and usury . . . In the service of Your Majesty [I order] the total expulsion of said Gentiles from the lands of Salsette . . . I hereby order that no Gentile from this day henceforward can live nor own homes in the lands of Salsette, with the loss of all privileges of their <i>gancarias</i>, nor can they own shares in the land nor have a voice, under penalty of death and loss of all their possessions . . . There will be a total separation of the Gentiles from the Christians during the two months in which the Gentiles have to sell their belongings and move out of Salsette.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
These documents, and scores of others like them, show that reports of great success and conversions of entire villages notwithstanding, enormous difficulties remained for those involved in converting Hindus to Christianity and enforcing the provisions of the various associated policies. The Portuguese seemed to be preoccupied by several issues: their inability to remove Hinduism from Goa; the continuation of the Hindu ceremonies and the degree of participation by Christian converts; the movement of Hindus in and out of the areas of Portuguese control; their frustration with the centers of Hindu activities in the '<i>terra firma</i>,' those areas under the jurisdiction of native rulers in territories bordering Goa; and the Christianizing of widows and orphans. There is an obvious contradiction between the claims of conformity to the early royal decrees demanding complete Christianization of Goa in the mid-sixteenth century and the continued persistence of Hinduism in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Portuguese seemed to be unsure about what to do about contacts with Hindus on the other side. A solution to the problem of Hindu wedding ceremonies occurring in the realm was to order them to take place 'on the other side.' This, however, created other problems:
+ A letter written in the late eighteenth century discusses a law passed in response to Hindu complaints about being robbed on their way to the land of the Moors (where they had to go by law to marry). Thus, to avoid highway robbery, the law allowed them to have their wedding ceremonies at home behind closed doors. However, they were not allowed to have their priests or other temple officials in attendance so that no sacrifices or rituals would be performed. The Hindus wrote to complain that their wedding ceremonies were thus invalid without priests in attendance to perform the proper ceremonies, and that their women were defiled and their children considered illegitimate.
+ More than a century before, King Philip had written on 05 March 1624 to the viceroy in Goa to reinforce the decrees and provisions as passed by Jeronimo de Azevedo in May of 1613 and later by Fernao de Albuquerque in January of 1620 and again in May of 1621 that Hindu weddings not be allowed to take place. But they were still taking place in private homes in spite of these provisions and the Hindus continued going to the lands of the Moors 'where they freely practice their superstitious ways.' King Philip, with a copy sent to the Archbishop and to the Inquisitors, approved and confirmed the said prior provisions on 09 May 1625.91
The ongoing dilemma of Hindu wedding ceremonies is amply documented as it appears in the numerous laws passed throughout the seventeenth century alone. The repeated measures taken trying to restrict and/or forbid them seem to have been largely ineffectual. At one point Hindus were allowed to hold their ceremonies only on boats offshore in the dark!92
Many manuscripts in the archives deal with the issue of converting masses of individuals, principally uninstructed in the faith, and its concomitant problems:
+ King Dom Joao writes to the viceroy in response to his letter of 10 November 1712 regarding another letter sent by the Father of the Christians dealing with decrees and provisions in favor of the propagation of the faith and conversion of the Gentiles.
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Conversions must be official and not brutal. It is a principal obligation of the kings of Portugal to treat the Gentiles, our vassals, with great care; there have been too many abuses; I thought I told you that certain privileges were to have been taken away from the Gentiles; in no way can vassal Gentiles attend frequently and publicly the festivals of their temples on <i>terra firme</i>, and they must stop making public offerings to their idols. You may not permit this under severe punishment and officials are prohibited from working on such works. . . . Clear this up immediately. My laws must be followed.93<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->+ At the beginning of the seventeenth century King Philip wrote to the viceroy to thank him for his efforts to convert all inhabitants of Salsette in true conversion and not just in appearance, but in the king's letter of 22 September 1711, he complained to the viceroy that there is not enough zeal in conversion efforts these days.
A 1633 law by Count Linhares regarding the Hindus of Salsette, who had fled to avoid converting, shows the intractability of these problems well into the seventeenth century:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Many Gentiles impede other Gentiles from converting and thwart a great number of those already converted, and they hide orphans and pass them over to <i>terra firme</i>, building many temples there with materials from our lands, performing Gentile ceremonies in them, frequently sacrificing roosters and other animals for which they bring master sorcerers and gurus from the <i>terra firme</i> who go to the Christians' houses, intimidating them and persuading them that the pains and illnesses they have are punishments from their gods for not adoring them; [the gurus] promise them health and long life if they send offerings [to the idols], bringing from said temples accounts and other things like relics which they distribute amongst the weakest in faith, trying to get them to swear to the idols at the hour of their death; it is equally notorious that such Gentiles have idols in their homes for whom they perform various ceremonies and they perform the same diabolical ceremonies amongst themselves and not publicly with great shouts and cries and pilgrimages to the temples of the <i>terra firme</i> . . . all of which besides causing a great scandal and ruin to the New Christians is against royal provisions Your Majesty has passed in favor of Christianity; said Gentiles use great deceit and usury . . . In the service of Your Majesty [I order] the total expulsion of said Gentiles from the lands of Salsette . . . I hereby order that no Gentile from this day henceforward can live nor own homes in the lands of Salsette, with the loss of all privileges of their <i>gancarias</i>, nor can they own shares in the land nor have a voice, under penalty of death and loss of all their possessions . . . There will be a total separation of the Gentiles from the Christians during the two months in which the Gentiles have to sell their belongings and move out of Salsette.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
These documents, and scores of others like them, show that reports of great success and conversions of entire villages notwithstanding, enormous difficulties remained for those involved in converting Hindus to Christianity and enforcing the provisions of the various associated policies. The Portuguese seemed to be preoccupied by several issues: their inability to remove Hinduism from Goa; the continuation of the Hindu ceremonies and the degree of participation by Christian converts; the movement of Hindus in and out of the areas of Portuguese control; their frustration with the centers of Hindu activities in the '<i>terra firma</i>,' those areas under the jurisdiction of native rulers in territories bordering Goa; and the Christianizing of widows and orphans. There is an obvious contradiction between the claims of conformity to the early royal decrees demanding complete Christianization of Goa in the mid-sixteenth century and the continued persistence of Hinduism in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->