The state suffered significant territorial losses from 1788 and had to settle in 1961 with the map of much-truncated Goa, a minimalist area, which the Portuguese had stitched
After going through more than 200 essential books, I could get a chronological picture of plans by the Marathas from Shivaji (1660) to Bakshi Jivbadada Kerkar (1795) to destroy Portuguese rule in Goa. Marathas defined Portuguese Goa as the core of a larger administratively, socially, and culturally cohesive Goa continuously controlled from the period of Vijayanagara to Adilshahi (AD1380-1689). They were active in this area from AD 1657 to AD 1795, constantly threatening the Portuguese. By confining oneself to the post-1788 boundaries of Goa, the real geopolitical perspective is hopelessly lost. The prevalent hypothesis is that those who were left out of the 1788 borders had no connection to Goa, and we need not bother about their history. So, with one cartographic masterstroke, the Portuguese and their local collaborators sold the narrative that people in Konkan between the Kundalika and Gangavali rivers cannot claim to be as original Konkani-speaking Goans in contrast to those inside the post-1788 boundaries.
The controversies on historical developments involving Marathas, Adilshahi, Moghuls, and the Portuguese, Dutch, British, French, and Sunda Kings ignored the changing boundaries of Goa, which were in a state of flux from AD 1510 to 1788. Those who understand historical geography know that the present geopolitical boundaries of all the states and the union territories of India, except the islands, are post-independence compromises and don’t reflect the original well-known borders. More than a dozen states still have unsettled border disputes. Among all the states and union territories, Goa suffered significant territorial losses from 1788 and had to settle in 1961 with the map of much-truncated Goa, a minimalist area, which the Portuguese had stitched in AD 1788.
It was a Himalayan blunder to demand an opinion poll based on borders drawn by the Portuguese instead of those before November 25, 1510. A further blunder was made when the truncated state of Goa forgot that the official language act, 1987, had no meaning without acknowledging the areas where dialects of Konkani are dominant. These dialects help to define the extent of the original Goa, where Konkani, along with Marathi, Tulu, and Kannada, was spoken for at least a thousand years. These Konkani dialects outside the post-AD 1788 borders of Goa include Kadodi (Samvedi) Konkani, Kukna Konkani, Gmit Konkani, Mavchi Konkani, Phugadi Konkani, Katkari Konkani, Varli Konkani, Koli Konkani, Agari Konkani, Parabhi Konkani, Kristanv Konkani, Thakri Konkani, Kunbi or Kudumbi Konkani, Dhangari Konkani, Karadhi or Karada Konkani, Maoli Konkani, Bankoti Konkani, Sangameshwari Konkani, Daldi or Nawayathi Konkani, Karwari Konkani, Siddhi or Siddi Konkani, Chitpavani Konkani, Malvani or Kudali Konkani, and Kodial or Mangalorean Konkani. Excluding migrants from Goa, were they originally not Goans before AD 1788? This entire Konkani linguistic population was left out of any discourse on Goa’s boundaries, linguistic identity, politics, job reservations, and the origin and evolution of the Konkani language.
Goa, carved out in 1788 from erstwhile Kadamba, Vijayanagara, and Adlishahi rule, was not the original Goa. The real Goa was best represented during the zenith of the power of Goa Kadamba king Jayakeshi II. But much of this area was lost in the 14th century. Goa University historian Pratima Kamat wrote a very important 54-page long chapter, “Historical Geography and Natural Resources,” published in 1990 in Volume II, Goa through the Ages, An Economic History, edited by late historian Teotonio R. de Soza. She mentioned, “It was under Jayakeshi II that the Kadamba empire stretched from Thana in the north to South Kanara in the south, with the easternmost limits of the present-day districts of Belgaum and Dharwar in the east. Thus, under Jayakeshi II, the Goan Kadamba kingdom reached the pinnacle of its glory.” It included “the Konkan Nine Hundred, the Palasike twelve-thousand, the thirty of Unukal and Sabbi (Unkal between Dharwar and Hubli, Sabbi must be part of it), the thirty of Kontakuli, the five hundred of Hanumgal (Hangal), the thirty of Utsugrame and Kadaravalli (Kadaroli in Belgaum District; Utsugrame must be a part of it), the thirty of Palalgunde, the seventy of Velugrame (Belgaum), the five hundred of Haive (North Kanara), and the Kavadidvipa lakh and a quarter.
Under Vijayanagar, Goa formed a part of its Aragagutti rajya (province), whose capital was Govapuri, although it was sometimes shifted to Chandragutti. Not only Tiswadi (Trinchadvaatika) and Sashti (Shat-Shasti) but also Fonda (Antruz) and Saptate (Sattari). Dvadasha-desh (Bardeshi), Dicholi, and Pedne were included in this province, and by 1391, Sawantwadi too was added to it. By about 1448, Chandragutti came to be separated from Goa. In 1472, the Bahamanis took over Goa and merged it with their province of Junnar for administrative purposes. In 1555, it appears that the Konkan part of the Adilshahi kingdom included Dabhol in the north and Chitakul in Karnatak, except for Portuguese Goa. Hence, it included Pedne, Dicholi, Sattari, Chandravadi, Bali, and Kankon. “Historian Pratima Kamat left no doubts in 1990 about the borders of real original Goa before the Portuguese adopted the smart ‘Salami slicing” strategy. (To be continued).
(Nandkumar M Kamat, who has a doctorate in microbiology, is a scientist and science writer)
