Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Were Ganjem in Goa and Ganjam in Odisha linked in ancient times?

Research of history Professor Dr Pratima Kamat suggests that this was the case:
For an account of this linkage, see the report in The Times of India:
When East met West
For more on Pratima's research on the ancient port of Ganjem in Goa, also read this story in The Times of India:
Ganjem: Where the last port-of-call created the unique devi-in-a-boat

The Goa - Odisha Cultural Connect

The East and West coasts of India come togeter in a shared history of culture, maritime history and religious iconography

By Dr. Pratima P. Kamat

Goa’s cultural experience through the ages has turned the tables on Rudyard Kipling’s oft-quoted phrase, “Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” because in Goa the twain have met to create a hybrid heritage.My ethno archaeological research into the ‘Boat Deities’ of the Mhadei River Valley (Tarini and Tar-Vir: The Unique Boat Deities of Goa, 2008) has revealed exciting new linkages between Goa and Odisha. Certain cultural similarities are visible in the ethnographical heritage of the two maritime societies, Goan and Odia, located on opposite coasts of the Indian peninsula etched in the early medieval times. Read about the age-old bond between Goa and Odisha in
The Navhind Times' Panorama Sunday Magazine on

The Goa-Odisha Cultural Connect

When the Catholic Clergy in Portuguese Goa donned the Swadesh garb

AUGUST 'KRANTI': PRIESTS AGAINST PORTUGUESE PIGMENTOCRACY

By Dr. Pratima P. Kamat


The months of August and January hold special significance to us, Indians, on account of their association with the Quit India Movement, the Independence of our country and the setting up of the Indian Republic. Interestingly, the history of Goa’s resistance to colonial hegemony has thrown up red-letter dates in these very same months. On January 26, 1852, Dipu Rane unfurled the banner of revolt against the Portuguese; the Adilshahi invasion of Goa on August 12, 1654 was influenced by Bishop Matheus de Castro, who aimed at overthrowing the racist alien rule present in his homeland; a revolt was planned for August 10, 1787 which, it is said, aspired to replace the Portuguese rule with a republican government; and in August 1895, Padre Alvares was branded ‘seditious’ for pursuing his ‘swadeshi’ ideology.

Read this riveting account of how the clergy rose in revolt against the colonial regime in Pre-Liberation Goa in
The Navhind Times's Panorama magazine: Protesting Priests of Goa