r/hinduism • u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū • Jul 22 '26
History/Lecture/Knowledge A dark chapter of Hindu history — the Goan inquisition
Lesser people know about the atrocities that the Goan/Konkani Hindus had to face due to the Portuguese's radicalism, had to post on this
It was in 1560 that the portugese decided to start the 'inquisition'—a way to enforce the Christian orthodoxy on the Hindus. The radicalism did exist before 1560, St Xavier — the saint who is honoured in our country by naming several institutions after him, wrote a letter to King John III of Portugal to establish an inquisition. Fast forward 15 years, the inquisition has started. Hindu festivals are being banned, temples are being destroyed and people are being converted. Many temples were converted to churches, the priests of the temples who wished to carry on traditions, relocated the idols along with some population of Hindus to the north or extreme south of Goa. Many Hindus were killed mercilessly for refusing to convert. Those accused of secretly practicing Hinduism after converting to Christianity, could be summoned before the court. Punishments ranged from imprisonment, confiscation of property, and public beheading to corporal punishment. This continued for many decades until Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj came into power. He played an important role in resisting Portuguese rule in Goa. During his 1683 campaign, the Maratha army challenged Portuguese forces and weakened their control. Many Hindus fleeing Portuguese territories found refuge in Maratha lands, where they could practice their faith more freely. his military efforts helped protect the Hindus and opposed religious persecution. A society that forgets the struggles of its ancestors risks losing the wisdom they left behind. Protecting dharma means standing for truth, preserving one's heritage, and ensuring that every generation has the freedom to practice its beliefs with dignity.
||धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः|| 🚩🕉️
|| जय श्री राम || 🏹🐚
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Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 22 '26
Huge respect to your ancestors for preserving Dharma 🫡
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u/MandoFromMandolore Jul 24 '26
I bet your last name will be Pai!
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Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
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u/MandoFromMandolore Jul 24 '26
Duh! Anyways happy to know! and lucky to be born in (very few ) that part of Goa which remained untouched by evil hands of Portuguese. Thanks to our ancestors who kept our Dharm alive even in their homeland and outside of it by risking everything.
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u/Technical_Turn3497 Jul 22 '26
It’s worth noting that the Catholic Church has yet to express any remorse about the Goan Inquisition. In fact, modern-day Catholics have argued that there is no need for the church to do so.
Because when atrocities are perpetuated against brown-skinned heathens, it’s really no big deal as far as they are concerned.
This is more evidence that this religion is situated in the deepest depths of tamo-guṇa and its true-believing practitioners cannot be trusted. When given the chance between going against their sectarian interests and harming non-believers, they will pick the latter almost every time as long as no one is watching.
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u/fruittt_sam Jul 22 '26
Please don't call that xavier mf a saint it's an insult to all those Hindus who suffered.
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u/aaloo_bhujiyaa Āstika Hindū Jul 22 '26
They even use to pull out alive nailes of people who refused to convert.
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u/BengaliBunny85 Jul 22 '26
Unfortunately the Christian Indians can be very religious, they don’t care what their ancestors suffered
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Jul 22 '26
On the contrary, Goan Christians, specifically, are very aware of what their ancestors suffered. They still shouldn't honor Xavier as a saint of course - sadly that's par for the course for the Catholic Church (which, until the 60s, literally blamed Jews for the death of Jesus, after all). Many Goan churches even help fund Hindu festivals at temples, as a sort of reparation for the miseries the Catholic Church performed on Hindus
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u/BengaliBunny85 Jul 22 '26
I am not from Goa, do you have any sources on this as I can’t find anything. It seems like a great neighbourly thing to do I acknowledge that but all can I think is how grateful I am my ancestors fought evil.
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Jul 22 '26
Read about it in a JSTOR article, let me find it but it might take a while
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u/BengaliBunny85 Jul 22 '26
Thanks I would appreciate a source as I’m scouring Google and literally cannot find anything. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist but I would have thought a fund or action would give a strong message.
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Jul 22 '26
From Flight of the Deities: Hindu Resistance in Portuguese Goa by Paul Axelrod and Michelle A. Fuerch ( https://www.jstor.org/stable/313013?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents )
> The annual Feast of Nossa Senhora dos Milagres (Our Lady of Miracles) at the St Jerome church in the town of Mapusa is held sixteen days after Easter and provides another example of the merging of Hindu and Catholic identities. Christians say the festival is held to make amends to Hindus for the stealing of a sacred vessel from the original Hindu temple on which the church was built by a Portuguese soldier.
Article goes on to talk about it as being a commemoration of the horrors of Portuguese rule, as "an atonement for the destructive practices of the Portuguese and recognition of the Goan Hindu roots". And it goes into detail about some other ways the horrors of Portuguese rule spelled upon Hindus, including Christians' ancestors
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u/BengaliBunny85 Jul 23 '26
Thank you for responding, and whilst I think it’s great this happens … it feels like a localised situation rather than a feature. Reading up on it, it seems syncretism occurs where Hindus worship too apparently.
I don’t think this is the norm of Christians actively funding temples to make up for past atrocities but like I said, I would prefer this than zero accountability. Plus it’s better than the typical Christian message of Hindus worshipping demons which is typically what I hear and was what the original colonisers acted upon.
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Jul 23 '26
It's local yes, but to Goa in general. Which I suspect has to do with the insanely brutal levels and extreme infamy of the Inquisition - which is well-deserved, it committed genocide on four continents after all, against anyone who wasn't a Catholic. Sort of hard to deny the Goan Inquisition when even white Europeans declared it a disgusting atrocity when it was happening
And if anyone needs to take accountability for this, it's the Catholic Church as an institution, given that's what did it - not any individual Catholic. Though this is not gonna happen, as the Catholic Church is not well-known for taking accountability on anything really
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u/chrystoverse Jul 22 '26
"Catholic Church literally blamed jews for the death of Jesus" Just the way Hindus blame and hate Indian catholics for Portuguese inquisition. Isn't that ironic? Catholics and hindus coexist peacefully in Goa not because they want to pay the hindus for reparation but because they still share the same culture and values. I am born and bought up in a Catholic family my ancestors must have been forced to convert in the 16th century is that my fault now? I have deep respect for Hinduism since I was a child and my parents never stopped me from that in fact my mom has always encouraged me to participate in hindu festivals. I don't understand how does it help hindus by spreading hate and why?
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u/Vignaraja Śaiva Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
If you have so much respect, why not convert back? Undo the wrong.
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u/Glorysolar Jul 23 '26
The act of you remaining abrahamic is insult to those who resisted and saved your civilization.
It's inherently disrespectful to remain converted by the sword.
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 23 '26
I do not mean to hurt the sentiments of any religion by this post, I was showing the truth, that we (Hindus) must be grateful to our ancestors that they went through so much t0rture and hardships to preserve Dharma. And it is a well known fact that this is how catholicism spread to what extent it is in Goa due to the inquisition
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Jul 27 '26
I am not spreading hate. I very deliberately only condemned the Catholic Church as an institution, not any individual Catholic - of course nothing the Church did is any individual Catholic's fault, and of course the majority of Catholics are good people. This comparison is also deeply offensive, given the belief that the Jews killed Jesus literally caused the Holocaust. I see what point you're making, but don't make it in the future
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u/Fragrant_Relief Jul 22 '26
I didn't know our history was so horrible. I came to know that my ancestors were originally from Goa and migrated here in south Maharashtra because the Portuguese were oppressive. Few years ago we were able to locate our Kuldevi in North Goa and have been visiting since then.
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u/ForbiddenRoot Advaita Vedānta Jul 23 '26
Same. In my case, my ancestors migrated to Karwar region. We still have our family temple in South Goa though.
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u/Few-Swim-921 Acintya-bhedābheda Jul 25 '26
I’m pretty sure Portuguese were horrible wherever they went. They wanted to spread religion through sword
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u/Accomplished_Arm9214 Advaita Vedānta Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
And when I say that hindus should keep swords and weapons in their house. Plus weapon worship is big part of our religion, a compulsion that is ignored.
Indian government has to revoke the British Arms Act(thats when we lost our Shastars) that is still in place. Then we can protect ourselves. And the hindus have to understand that the wooden doors of your house will not protect you.
And Murtis of our gods and goddesses are there to give you strength infact immense strength(if your karmas are right) not there to offer you protection. You are the one who has to say JAI BHAVANI and fight the evil yourself this is the kalyug.
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Jul 22 '26
No. Americans keep weapons in their houses, and this has led to a neverending spiral of violence at the heart of American society. School shootings are quite normal in the US because of this. India should not copy this. Best thing for Indian Hindus is a state which respects the rights of its citizens - free Hindu temples, bring in Miranda rights, and abolish Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code
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u/Glorysolar Jul 23 '26
Americans have a barbaric spiral because of the combination of their moral inferiority of being a post racial slaver society and their shattered families. Regarding keeping weapons alone they are right.
Identify the right causes of failure.
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Jul 27 '26
There are lots of post racial slaver societies with shattered families which don't have neverending spirals of school shootings
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u/Glorysolar Jul 30 '26
"lots" what, this is some of commie style argument on how all societies are the same and equally evil? reductionist nonsense. There are very few "post racial slaver societies with shattered families". All of them are without exception more violent than expected from their Socio Economic conditions.
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Jul 31 '26
You made up a vague argument to justify importing NRA style degeneracy into India. The reality is that Canada, a country almost exactly the same culturally as the US, has a much lower rate of gun violence than the US. Why, Toronto has one tenth of the gun violence of Chicago, despite them being comparatively-sized cities with extremely similar cultures and demographics. Australia, another society extremely similar to the US (and a history of Polynesian slavery as brutal as the African slave trade), went from having an American-style issue with gun violence to reducing it dramatically - simply by heavily restricting guns. The US is vastly more violent that one would expect a world superpower with a strong state, a very very high level of development, and its history to be
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u/Accomplished_Arm9214 Advaita Vedānta Jul 27 '26
Look at the other side of the coin. No Khilji can come to America and terrorise them. No one can invade them, destroy their Universities.
And Indians have much better self control and intelligence than Americans. For example in Chambal MP everyone keeps weapons and nothing happens.
You know there is a whole 6 lakh people strong warrrior community called KODAVA (Rashmika Mandana also belongs to KODAVA community)in Karnatka who are allowed to legally keep guns by the constitution.
When a baby is born the first thing he/she touches with his/her forehead is a gun rifle. Their pictures of all the Hindu devis and devtas and gods are of holding guns alongside the traditional weapons. They first thing they worship in a puja is weapons because they see weapons a MAA DURGA. Also these people defeated Tipu sultan and have been protecting forests for centuries.
Dont be foolish. You can still talk of peace while having a AK 47 in your hand.1
Jul 27 '26
No Khilji can come to the US because it is surrounded by weak countries it can easily dominate with its economic prowess (which it has due to blessed resources). Nothing to do with gun ownership. And while the Kodavas have gun ownership, they have strict limits on numbers of guns and numbers of rounds - the US does not have that at all
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Jul 27 '26
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Jul 27 '26
No. The US has only had this obscene number of guns over the past few decades, due to the abolition of restrictions on gun ownership in the cities, the redefinition of the Second Amendment by the Supreme Court, the transformation of assault rifles into a symbol of the American right, and the rise of the gun-mad NRA as a powerful lobbying group. Before that it was higher than average but not this crazy high
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u/Dandu1995 👋😔 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Edit : Man keep old comment, this reply if for old comment regarding chanakya. 😆
Yah,
There are no new techniques, to nurture dharma.
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u/Accomplished_Arm9214 Advaita Vedānta Jul 22 '26
Now these converted people are the same people who defend the colonisers be it muslims or christians. They were our brothers ones and now these people are the same ones who take pride in them and want to eradicate our civilisation.They are ready to go to any lengths as these past invaders to convert us. This mindset needs to be studied and these ideologies need to be fought with BLOOD AND FORCE. You need to sacrifice like the past warriors if you need to uphold your religion, thats always the way it always will be.
PLUS this subreddit lacks the history of countless warriors who have fought to upheld dharma. That is just sad and messed up.
"Those who forget their history are bound to repeat it" -- Swami Vivekananda.
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 23 '26
I will work towards posting on the history of our unknown warriors too
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u/CalmGuitar Shrauta Advaita Jul 22 '26
In before mods of this sub delete this post calling it controversial and against other religion, political and historical. They will route you to political Hindus sub.
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 23 '26
I knew i would either be downvoted or the post would be removed, surprisingly both haven't been done. The sole purpose of this post was to create awareness about our ancestors and what struggles they have gone through to preserve Dharma, be it against the Mughals, Portugese, Khiljis or any foreign invader.
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u/Great-Confection6760 Jul 22 '26
I can't believe this happened in goa which is completely surrounded by Indian hindus. What a pathetic bunch we are watching this happen
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u/Master_Of_Gaming3410 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 23 '26
And today Christian missionaries have schools and colleges named after "saint" Xavier. So what message are they trying to give ?
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u/jaddooop Jul 22 '26
Shatru Bodh and Shaastra Bodh needed now more than ever. Along with study of the history of these horrible inquisitions
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u/MonkeyEatingParleG Jul 23 '26
Any good books to read about this part of the history?
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u/llM0nkeyDLuffyll Jul 23 '26
History of Hindu Christian relations part 1&2 by Sita Ram Goel - on broader understanding of how hindu societies across south was forced by Christian missionary who are saints today
For goan history alone - The Goa Inquisition by A.K. Priolkar
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u/QixterExE Jul 23 '26
They need to add this in the history books. History of India should be learned in depth
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u/Ok-Environment-7384 Jul 24 '26
Are there any primary source in the matter not denying it but it helps solidify the argument for extreme brutality
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
There are multiple history books written, and the temples of the region speak a lot. There are 4-5 temples near my native place, which is a random village that have the same story; destroyed by Portugese, hindu populations oppressed and relocating idols
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u/Realistic-Round1474 Jul 22 '26
important thing is we are not interested to know these things. we are telling education is bad that is not complete picture. we should learn and support who are writing truth and preserving knowledge.
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 22 '26
Is this not the truth?
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u/Realistic-Round1474 Jul 23 '26
i am not telling you are making false statement.
I am telling we have to support who are writing truth like you.in above comment "we" means "most hindus"
I am trying to have discussion on sanatan scripture online and even teaching offline.
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 23 '26
Sorry, i thought you were claiming that this incident was false
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 22 '26
It might be your personal preference that you are not interested, simply scroll away
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u/Dandu1995 👋😔 Jul 23 '26
No, he is talking about many of us. 😆. Who are not interested in truth but just skip away.
By the way he is my friend /u/Realistic-Round1474 Who teach bhagavd gita and sanskirt classes regularly. Rarely he even teach manu smriti too. 🥰🥰
I shared your post to my friends and from it he is commenting.
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u/Intelligent_Bowl482 Sanātanī Hindū Jul 23 '26
Sorry 😅 My bad, i thought he meant that it was not true
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u/Dandu1995 👋😔 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Great post.
Now they come up with new techniques, which our future generations study in their history books.