The Cross: Contestation and Transformation of a Religious Symbol in Southern Goa Author(s): Rowena Robinson Source: Economic and

Political Weekly, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jan. 15, 1994), pp. 94-98 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4400660 . Accessed: 21/09/2011 04:08
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PERSPECTIVES

of The Cross: Contestation and ATansformation a Religious Symbol in Southern Goa

Rowena Robinson

A socio-historical analysis of the way the symbolof the cross has been assimilatedby the convertedCatholicsin a village in Goa, the it transformation undergoesand the mannerin which it can becomethte focus of keen contestationbetweendifferentsocial groups brings out how it is hardlypossible to continueto speakof an. 'alien' religion 'imposed'

on-apeople.
IN the last few decades there has been a study growinginterestin the anthropological of the symbols andritualpracticesof Christianity. This is a welcome development, for now we move from an overwhelming emphasis on the study of 'primitive' religions to the study of a world religion that many anthropologists themselves profess. This sorely needed to be commenced in a serious way. The result of anthropologists'new interest in Christianityhas led to a large number of studies which have broughtto our attention the importanceof locating the symbols and practices of a 'universal' religion in their specific 'local' social and historical contexts [Zimmerman 1963; Turner and Turner 1978; Stirrat 1977, 1981; Nutini 1988; Newman 1981, 1987; Godwin 1972; Christian 1972]. Nevertheless the debate continues thatlocal practicesareonly variations of some supposedly 'true' religion [Southwold 1983; Nutini 1988; Tambiah 1984]. I will argue, in this paper, that this debate has value only if it is reformulated. Priests and religious elites do like to promote the idea that 'true' religion consists in certainrigidly defined beliefs andrituals.It is for them, and not for the anthropologist, thatlocal practices, inasmuch as they differ from an ideal, constitute a 'problem'. They have to constantly shepherd their flocks onto the right track.As this paper hopes to demonstrate,for anthropologytheremay be far greaterpotential in postulating that the meanings of religious symbols arenot to be taken to be fixed or unchanging. This will enable us to enquire specifically into the question of the manner in which they are transformed and contested by different groups in the social contexts in wlhichthey are found. Most of the studies 1 have referred to concern themselves with converted groups in regions such as Africa, AmericaandAsia, where Christianitywas implantedby European conquest and colonisation. There is a special dimension in the study of religion in whoconquered suchcontexts.TheEuropean broughtwith him a religion specific to the socio-hisvorir;al ?eriodin which he came. A degree of discruninationhas to be shown whendealing withimplantedreligious symbols and practices. Far from being universal, they came bearingtheirown historicity and still retain it. An awareness of this dimension has not always been shown by those who have analysed them. There is another point that needs.to be made. The nature of the relationship beand tween materialarrangements symbolic has representations always been a source of conflict among theorists. I will argue for a viewpoint thatacknowledgesthe reciprocal influence between the variouselements. As and (1981) argue,ideas Houtart Lemercinier are a necessarypartof the constructionand of reproduction social andmaterialarrangements, but these processes are themselves dependenton materialconditions. This paper attempts a socio-historical analysis of the symbol of the cross among Catholicsin a village in Goa, on the western brought coast of India,wherethe Portuguese about large-scale conversions in the 16th century.' The paper begins by asking what the cross meant to the Portuguesewho set out upon theirconquestsof the period bearAn ing it as theirstandard. analysiswill then be attemptedof the way in which this symbol has been assimilated by the converted it Catholics, the transformation undergoes and the mannerin which it can become the focus of keen contestation between different social groups. In early Christianhistory the cross appears as the symbol of the sufferingChrist. Paul, for example, spoke often to the early Christiancommunitiesof Christ'ssuffering on the cross for the sins of man. The fourth makingthe Roman centurysaw Constantine Empire Christian.Battles followed for the conversion of Europe to Christianity and Charlemagneemerged, among other figures, as anemperorwho conqueredwith the into cross. The cross was thustransformed a

militant symbol which came to represent realised Christtheconqueror.The Crusaders with full force the potential of this symbol, when ChristiansbattledMoors for the control of Palestine. The Portuguese,who were among the first Europeansto set out on voyages of discovery, described their overseas missions with the word 'conquista'. The cross was for them the symbol of the fatherland,accompanying them on theirsearchfor 'Christians and spices'. It is described as the "companheiroinseparaveldos portugueses das descobertas e das conquistas" [Anon 1935: 39]. The Portuguese overseas missions may be viewed as an extension of the Crusades.The Moors constituted both their main commercial rivals in the spice trade and their hated religious enemies. Consequently their battles against them for the controlof the traderoutes were fought in the name of religion. Such a collapse between religion, politics and economics was inevitableconsideringthefeudalethosfromwhich emerged.In the feudalworldthe Portuguese view, religion (Catholicism) was the dominantforceandpolitics, kinship andeconomics all found their place in relation to it.2 It is no wonder,then, thatwhen Afonso de Albuquerqueentered Goa in 1510, among his first acts was a massacre of the Muslims. This is described in a letter he wrote to his king, ManuelI: "I setfire totheicity andput them all to the sword, and for four whole days your soldiers caused carnage among them; no Moor was left alive wherever he happened to be found; the mosques were filled with them and set fire to" (quoted in D'Costa 1962: 162). To protect their trade routes the Portugueseneeded the control of key posts where they could establish military and political rule. Goa was one such post, hence the importance of its capture. Establishingpolitical rule in such remote, barelyknown regions involved coming into contact with the local populations and getting their support. The Portuguese, who stepped out with the world-view of feudal Catholicism, could only see the people of the territoriesnewly discovered by them as being the opposite of themselves-pagans or infidels. The Moors were their arch religious enemy and the manner in which they were to be dealt with (demonstrated so had forcefullyby Albuquerque) alreadybeen established historically by Europe's role in the Crusades. Clearly, then, this attack on the Muslims in Goa can be understoodonly when we locate the Portuguese conquerors within their socio-historical context. Far more importantly,however, the Portuguese in Indiacame into contact also with thelocal Hindus.At first theirreaction to the religion and customs of the Hindus was one

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of sheerincomprehension.This is exemplified by theirmistakingtemples for churches of a primitivetype and Hindugoddesses for variationsof the Virgin Mary.3Wbile the Hindus were not traditionalenemies to be massacred,they too were pagans and idolaters.Coming to termswith them, interacting with them over a long period and ensuring their supportnecessitated their conversion to Catholicism. Creating allies was an important social function of conversion [Houtart and Lemercinier1981]. From the start the Portugueseused methods to create andset apart from the Hindus a Catholic community on whose supportthey could depend.While the open practice of Hinduism was rendered increasingly difficult, the Catholics who converted were offered a variety of incentives-such as remunerative posts and offices-as rewards for their action [Boxer 1973; D'Costa 1965; Pereira 1978]. The pace of conversions by such methods remainedslow, however, and even in 1548 only 300 baptisms could be boasted of [D'Costa 1965:49]. It was aroundthis time that the method of bringing about conversions underwent a change. Entire villages were taken over, their centres of worship destroyed and the cross implanted instead [Boxer 1973: 721. In a village of 16th-century Goa the economy depended on land, which was owned in common by lineages of gauncars, whowere thedescendantsin the male line of the original inhabitants.A village community(comunidade)consisted of thegauncars and the service castes attachedto them, and was administered by the former. The gauncars wereresponsiblefor providingfor the needs of the villagers, protecting the fields from inundationby sea water, opening andmaintainingpublicroads,demarcating places for common use and wards for servants and artisans. They also looked to the digging of wells, to the allocation of rights of use of waterwaysand to the maintenanceof irrigationfacilities [Pereira1978; D'Costa 1964]. Agriculturewas the main occupation,and the soil and the tropical monsoon climate was ideal for the cultivation of paddy, the main crop. In coastal areas such as the location of the village understudy, the land clos'eto the sea would be sandy andits yield fairly poor. On the other side, however, where the river flows, the lands could give yields up to 60-fold [Kosambi 19621. In suchcoastal areas,moreover,anothersource of income was coconuts and these, in the same way as certainother items such as salt, formed an item of exchange from early on [Kosambi 1956]. Cultivablelandwas leased out by auction, usually forthreeyears;butthe landsnearthe riversand creeks-called khazan lands-were leased for nine years at a time. Gaulncars

were privileged in biddingat these auctions of the land which they jointly owned. Neither women nor non-residentsof a village could bid. In the village under study, the gauncars had such surnames as Gadd and Porto [Pissurlencar1934:5]. Theywould, according to Pissurlencar, or belong to theMaratha Vani caste.4They were served by a variety of service castes whose occupations were hereditaryand whose paymentconsisted of a sharein the harvest.Thegauncarspaidthe taxes owed to the rulers,administered other village expenses, and divided the surplus among themselves. In almost every village the main temple had been established by the comuinidade, and the gauncars were its mahajans. The comunidaderetainedsome of the best land in the village for the maintenanceof the temple and paid for its servants such as bhats, carpenters,washermen,ironsmiths, potters, barbers and mahars. Social life centred on land, and the symbolic cycle followed the agricultural cycle andthe celebration of the harvest. The high-caste or brahmin Chardomahajanscontrolledthe main templecult; andthe lowest castes such as the barberand the maharwould have no access to theirservices.5Inevery village the gauncars enjoyed certain ritual privileges in the cycle of festivals. Politically, the villages came under different regimes at different points of time. The Portuguesetook over the region from the.Adil Shahi dynasty. It had earlier been partof theVijayanagar empire,underwhose century-long landrevenuehadamounted rule to one-fifth of the gross income of the village. For palm groves revenue was assessed at the rateof five tangasbrancas6 per year per 100 trees [De Souza 1979: 7E!. Under Muslim rule two new taxes had been introduced.Tne godde varado was a tax imposed to supportthe Muslim cavalry. Further, an additional land revenue was imposed, called the khoshi varado.7These additionaltaxes placed a heavy burdenon thevillagecommunities. BeforeVijayanagar rule, at the time whenthe regioncame under the Kadambas, a number of the village comunidadeshadbeenforcedto issue shares (tangas) in returnforloans becausethey had to beara greatdeal of expense arisingfrom the wars between their rulers and Muslim invaders. These shares were restricted to gauncars and to those residentin a village. They conferred the privilege of participation in the incomebutnot the administration of the contunidade. Prior to the Portuguese, Muslim rulers had initiated a process of feudalisation in Goa.Theirmilitarymen-thedessais---tended to treatcommunallaind feudalandforced as people to work as menials in their households (Kosambi1962:1l59]. Theirrule, howto ever, did not last longjenough changeland

relationsfundamentally. They weredefeated by the Portuguese and, in order to gain the support the Hlindus, of Albuquerque-though he retained all the taxes of the previous regime-invited the Hindustocultivate their lands in peace [De Souza 1979: 71]. Tlle Portuguese brought out in 1526 a code which laid out the customary laws of the people. Thoughthe assurancewas given that these would not be interfered with, conversion necessarily involves social change. It was not merely a matter of the destructionof the village temples and their replacementwith churchesand the Catholic cult of the period. Rather,the hegemony of the churchchanged, in significant ways, the social organisation of the village, which now came to be centred aroundit. What the Portuguese found when they came were largely autonomous villages administered by gauncars, who paid tributeto the rulers the butcontrolled mainresource-land-and were responsible for its management and for the administration of justice. This is what Kosambi (1956) refers to as feudalisation from above. The policies of the Portuguesehad the ambiguouseffect of consolidating the position of the gauncars in some respects and undermining it in others. Under Portuguese rule private property was introducedand shares in comunidade property,till theninalienable,became transferablein the f 7th century.Privateproperty, in most cases, came to be held by rich of gauncars.Thetransferability sharesmeant thatpeopleresidentoutside the village could now hold them and be entitled to incomes. Yet until the last decades of Portugueserule administrative control remained with the gauncars alone. Such control could have very far-reaching consquences. The comunidades had the right to give their lands to whomsoever they considered fit, either free of charge or on lease, and could levy and collect taxes on the private property in the villages. Immovable property could not be sold without the consent of the comunidade. Outsiders could bid for the lease of paddyfields only throughthe agency of gauncars, and persons intending to bid forland in auctionshadto furnishsecurities. In most cases, therefore, only wealthy gauncars and otherpersons with the necessaryresourcescould bid for land. This led to a situation in whicb individual gauncars leased large areas which they then sublet to tenants(mundcars)for cultivation. Manyof the traditional privileges of the gauncars were codified and had the sanction of law behind them. Gauncars were privileged in churchrituals and management.In 1567 the gauncars were made to render to the churchcs the lands and incomes of the temples that had been destroyed [Pereira 1978:11]. 'These landsthenbecamethe propertyof thechurch

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authorities, but the celebration of certain feasts and rituals important in the church calendarwas assigned to the gauncars. One of the most important feasts of the preconversion period had been the celebration of the harvest. When Catholicism estabiisbod its hegemony, this festival became part of the calendar of the local churches8 and the gauncars retained theirprivilege of celebrating it. The focal ritual event in the churchcalendar stressed by the Jesuit missionaries of the late Middle Ages was the death and Passion of Christ. A strong emphasis was placed in this period on the event. In emotional content of the scriptural every village of southernGoa the celebration of the passe, as it is called, is the exclusive privilege of the gauncars. All this had the effect of strengtheningthe position of the gauncars in relation to the service castes and tenants below them, who had no access tothesocio-economic andritualprivileges now ratified by law and having the might of the state behind them. It should be said, though,thateven while thecomunidadeswere, in theory,still said to retaincontrolof their lands,in practicetheir autonomy was eroded. They lost large portionsoftheirlands to the government,which often leased land by force andwhich sometimes used the take-over of comunidade rights as,a,means of punishing rebellious ril'lages,or instance, the lands of the com fdades of Assolna, Velim ?tnd Cu,*,6lim, among others in southernGoa, pasAedinto Portuguese hands as a punitive ni:asure against the revolt of these villages gainst the conversionpolicies df the Portuguese. In sum, it may be said thatif whatthe foundon theirarrivalwas a form /Portuguese of feudalism from above, theirrule consolidated it. Political unity ensured economic Iins and this was achieved through relious conformity backed by armed might. In such a situation conversion was inevitable because the existing belief system, in its unchangedform, could not meaningfully representthese changes. And yet the 'converted' did not just passively adapt to the new situation. My argumentpoints fundamentally to the fact that they themselves mouldedittocopewiththechanges-creating, as a result, new symbolic models.9 The village under study may be located within this picture. Records for Santosgaon show considerable shifts in the number of shares held by the gauncars. In 1857 the gauncars got 71 per cent of the income of the comunidade. Non-gauncars got 22 per cent, while 7 per cent went to the church.In the 1880s, of the 6,300 shares of the comunidade, more than 60 per cent were held by non-gauncars.This was reduced to 57 per cent by the turnof the century.Suclh a situation, where there are a large number of outsiders with the righltto participateinl the income of the co,nuJnidade not in its but

administration, could lead to great tension. We have'norecordsspecific to the village, but the literaturespeaks often of such conflicts in the region.WhenGoabecamea part of India in 1961 the administrativepowers of the conunidades were greatly reduced. These passed to the elected panchayatsof each village. However, as in Santosgaon, the land recordsafter 1961 show gauncars owning large areasof privateproperty.For the lower castes who had little access to land, the last few decades have seen the opening up of a variety of other economic options. Jobs outside Goa and abroadprovided an easy means to make quick money. With theirgreateraccess to resources,these conflict with groupsnow come into sharper the gauncars. This has culminatedin contestationat a symbolic level, sharplyillustratedin this village in the celebrationof the crucifixion. The cross becomes the dominantfocus of church-centredritual during Holy Week. The Catholic ritual cycle focuses on the birth,life anddeathof Christ.I was told that activitydurtherewas muchchurch-centred ing this week becausethe "deathandcrucifixion of Christ is central to a Christian's to life" (female Chardoinformanifmarrieda gauncar).Ontheeveningof Holy Thursday, after service, the bells toll and the altar cloths are removed. The altar is shorn and stood to one side. The churchis "in mourning"; "She is naked". The doors areclosed

andevery cross is covered with purple.The churchis like a tomb awaiting the death and the body of Clrist. On Friday at noon, the crucifixion takes place. The scene is the altar but now, with the table removed, our attention is focused on the uncoveredpit. We standin this tomblike church, our attention on this veritable 'sacrificial pit'. The high castes (Chardo gauncars) alone can enact this ritual sacrifice. Others "cannot touch" the image or approachthis sacred space. Women are not permittedeither to participateor to observe and I was allowed in, with some difficulty, only on condition of secrecy. The crucifixion is literally what the word implies-the re-enactment and celebration of thePassionof theLord.Themalegauricars of the village carry a huge cross into the church. They mount on it a life-size image of Christ which they first bathe with wine. The cross is then mounted in the pit which lies below the altar table and is covered at' othertimes. They literally 'carrythe cross': and this is no mean thing, for it is huge and extremely heavy and needs no less than a dozen men to lift or move it. In doing so, they become associated with Christ- with his suffering and his symbols, the cross and the wine.10 The priest plays a very minimal role in this rite. I was told thatI need not botherto ask him if I could attend. "It is thegauncars alone who object to everything". The priest

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stcod to one side and was asked to say two shortprayers-tbe first when the cross was mountedin the pit and the second (tbe litany in Latin) when the image was raised. The first prayer he said was: "Today we are epacting the scene which took place 2,000 years ago on Mount Calvary. You gave this cross to us as a sign of humility and meekness. You said, dear Jesus, ' If you want to follow me, take up your cross and come'. Through this cross which we are about to raise now we prayto you to make us humble andmeek to accept thecrosses in ourlives. " It says much for the collusion of the church with the socially dominant group thatpriest andgauncar become one here by the use of the pronoun"we". In the priest's
discourse the role of the gauncars is

legitimised and takenup or incorporated by the church.Again, while in following Christ one becomes like Christ in "humility and meekness", the gauncars in being identified with Christappropriate only his power, not his humility andmeekness. The priest's discourse operates at yet anotherlevel. We know thatthe celebrationof the crucifLxion is the fiercely protectedright of one group and is contested by others. Yet here it becomes associatedwith "humility andmeekness" . In otherwords,onepossible interpretation (the currentofficial interpretation of the Passion-suffering in meekness with Christ)is hereput forwardas the interpretation of what we are seeing. Ibus, oddly enough, the power of the gauncars is legitimatedby making them appearhumble.This aspect alsoappearstojustify theirrole in the eyes of the non-participatinglower castes. 77ey ought to submit to the powerful because they are thesuffering,meek images of the Lord. The discourse of the priest thus appears mediatethedominant to symbol-the cross-allowing it to speak two different languages: to justify both the power of the dominant and the submission of the subordinated. The crucifixion is conducted with much secrecy behind closed doors. "The high castes conduct the sacrifice". The "people only participatein the service held in the evening" . The wine used towash the bodyis distributed by the gauncars to the people who use it, perhapsto miraculouseffect, at times of illness or suffering.After the crucia fcixion curtainis drawnbeforethecross and it is concealed. Evening service is conducted in front of the curtain at an altar to one side. At this ceremony a small cross, about 31/2 feet high, is lheldup by two altar boys to be kissed by the people who come up to the altarsteps barefootandkneel at the foot of the cross. Tshis service is conducted by the priests in front of the main altarand the cross used is much smaller thanthe one we have seen raised above. The mainiritual space has been given over to the gauncars. The people do not approacheven this far.

They barelycome up to the lowest altarstep andlater,' when the main image is revealed and may be kissed, access to it is regulated by the gauncars. At a certain point before the sermon, the curtain is opened and the image revealedto the laity. Laterthereis the kissing of the body, which is dramatically lowered afterthe sermonin full view of the huge audience which 'watches in awed silence. This was the crucifixionas I witnessedit, but it has not always been this way. It was rathermore elaboratein thepast.Earlier,the gauncars used to take the large cross in processiop-aroundthe church wearing the red capes that were their exclusive. privilege. They were met by the male representatives of the lower castes-the Sudrasand the Chardo moradores-who carried the image of Maryandwore the blue capes that were allotted to them.t The biblical scene described by John between Christ on the cross andhis motherwould then be enacted. In the late 1960s, however, this became the focus of much. conflict. A serious fight broke out between the gauncars apd the othercastes over who shouldcarrythdcross. The Sudras and moradores came up to attack the gauncars and lunged at the-cross, attemptingto take'it by force. They were stopped with difficulty and the celebration could not proceed that year. Now that dissent had come out in the open, other issues were taken up. The Sudras and noradores not only wanted the privilege of handling the.cross, they also wanted to wear the red capes thatdistinguishedthegauncars andto join their confraternity-the Confratemity de Santissimoe Nossa SenhoradeSocorro.'2 The conflict was broughtto the attention and of the Archbishop thechurch,in the new times more acutelysensitive to any accusation of fosteringcaste, stoppedthe wearing of red capes andthe carryingof the cross in procession. The conflict died down but eruptedagainover a differentissuosome ten years ago. The possibility of greater tensions in the future is not to be dismissed. Most priests today regard such conflicts over churchritualsas "behaviourunsoemly of Christians".They view these manifestationsof caste as "remnants"of old beliefsof which the Catholic community must be purged.A numberof parishpriests express the view thatthepasse shouldbe discontinued, as it finds no place in the Good Friday liturgy as set down by the church.They feel that attentionis divertedfrom the essential lessons of theday withtheover-emphasison "dramatisation". What is quite clearly of significance in this is the manner in which the cross has been transformed variousgroupsinto an by important symbolic resource (Bourdieu's "symbolic capital") the contest for whose control is worththeir while. Here the cross is clearly partof a very important Cathlolic

ritual,yet this ritualhas been assimilated by the community in a manner that permits different groups to use it symbolically to assert their social status in a changing rural context. When the gauncars were all-powerful theirprivilege of conducting thepasse made them the 'lords' of the village. The Portuguese brought a militant, powerful cross, and by consolidating the position of thegauncars gave themaccess to some ofits power. This is what thepasse signified. In a post-independen,cecontext, however, the superiorityof the gauncars has come under dispute. Theystill wield considerablesocioeconomic power, but now the other castes, with the new economic opportunitiesavailable to them, are more serious rivals. The gauncars appropriated symbol of the the cross, which constitutedfor them a form of "enduring symbolic capital". It is this symboliccontrolthatwas so strongly(ought: the conflict was not merely a matterof who may conduct a particularritual.The cross is transformed by its use as a symbolic resourceof the dominantgroupin.the agrarian economy and by the contestation of that dominance. It is hardly possible, in this context, to continue to speak of an 'alien' religion 'imposed'on apeople. The 'agency' of the people transforms and moulds the 'imposed' symbol to make sense of social relations and representthem in a changing universe.In the uncertaingroundof conversion the potential of a dynamic view of religious symbols is realised in its making possible the construction atd ltnalysis of such changes.

Notes
[The materialon which this paper is based was collected during the course of fieldwork conducted between April 1992 and May 1993 in t village in southernGoa which I shall refer to as Santosgaon. I thank the Cambridge CommonwealthTrust,the Smuts Fundand TrinityCollege for providing the funds for the research, which was conductedfor my ongoing doctoralstudies at the Departmentof Social Anthropology, Cambridge University. I am grateful to William da Silva of the Goa University, whose ideas most generouslyshared inspiredmetolook moreclosely at the symbols and practices of Catholicism. I thankmy husbandMukulfor his help and support at the variousstages in the writing of this paper.) 1 The areain northern Goa called lihas, consisting of Tiswadi,Chorao,Divar,Juaand Vamsi, was conquerfd in 1510. Bardez, Salcette (wherethe village understudy is located),and Ponda came underthe effective controlof the Portuguesein 1543 [D'Costa 1962:161l. 2 It is true that in the late 15th and early 16th centuries,the period we are dealing with, Europe was in a phase of transition and great changes were taking place. Portugal's colonial ventures showed an advance towards mercantile but capitalisnm, theystill functioned withina politicalorganisationthatwas cast in a feudal mould. 3 Vascoda Gama,for instance,who firstlanded

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at Calicut, thought that the Malabaresewere Christians.He and his men offered prayersto the image of 'Mary' in Hindutemples. It was some while before the mistakewas discovered [Gazetteer19791. 4 Today the converted Catholic Chardos of Santosgaonreferto themselves as Kshatriyas. However, Pissurlencar(1934) holds that this caste has little in common with the Hindu 'varna' of that name. The Chardos would really be the descendants of Vanis and Marathas. 5 The caste system was a source of endless the controversy anmong Portuguese missionaries. It is not possible here to go into all aspects of the issue. Much was made in early missionary documents of the difference between the inegalitarianHinduorderand their own presumably egalitarian one-although the Portuguese, emerging from feudal Catholicism, would have been familiar with a hierarchical church structure. At any rate, they cannot be accused of having changed the social order drastically in that period. Caste remained among the converted Hindus as a markerof social status. As I hope to show later, Catholic rites and symbols themselves often became the area of contest between different castes. 6 One tanga branca was equal to 60 reis. According to my rough estimate it would be equal to about Rs 3, or a little more than 6 pence. 7 Manyauthorshave takenthis tobe a voluntary contributionmadeby the villages to the political regime for its protection.They see it as a combinationofthewords'khoshi'and 'varado' which in Konkanimean 'wish' and 'contribution' respectively. However, De Souza (1979:67) finds this a simplistic explanation. He sees it as a tax on grasslandsand forests. It could also referto the source of iticomefor the public treasury('kusa'). 8 See D'Costa (1965) for a fascinatingaccount of how this happened. The mannerin which the calendarof the churchcut across the local symbolic and agriculturalcalendar is a very interesting subject of study which I cannot, unfortunately,enter in any detail here. I will admit,however, thata study of it is vital if we wish to obtaina completepictureof thechanges that conversion broughtabout. 9 My argument is based on the work done by Houtartand Lemercinier(1981). The attempt to analysethe conversion of Goa by the Portuguese within this framework was made in a paperentitled 'Discover to Conquer:Towards a Sociology of Conversion', presented by Williamda Silva and me at the Xavier Centre of HistoricalResearchseminaron 'Discoveries, Missionary Expansion and Asian Cultures', held in Goa in 1992. 10 Interestingly, the association with the Jews who nailed Christ to the cross is neatly sidestepped: "All thathas passed", I was told. 11 The Chardo moradores are of the Chardo caste but non-gauncars, people who reside in the village but do not belong to it. 12 Confraternities (confrarias) were medieval Portuguese Catholic associations, essentially of lay persons. They were religious in character. They had cultic and ceremonial aims centred particularly aroundCorpusChristior Holy Week celebrations. In Goa these were

establishedby the missionaries,and thoughin theory they were open to all, they came to be divided on caste lines. Thus each caste had its and separateconfraternity celebratedthe feast of its patron.They had differentcapes to distinguishthem-red for the higherand blue for in the lower confraternity each village.

References
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Indica, 1(1).

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STUDIES IN MODERN MASS MEDIA

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Economic and Political Weekly

January 15, 1994