Portuguese Impact: Economy & Architecture
1. Economy
After finding out the nature of taxes paid by the people to the earlier rulers, this brought to their notice the the 'Gaunkari system' existing in Goa. The Portuguese official Afonso Mexica took the responsibility of finding the details of working of Gaunkari in order to dig into their coffers(treasury). After taking the help of 'dubashi' and localised gathered information which was qualified into an act. The act for the first time legalised the land revenue which had continued up till then as a voluntarily contribution.
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| Portuguese architecture |
It also affirmed the right of ruling authority to interfere in the affairs of 'Comunidades' and to re-guide the affairs of communidades and their relations with the government, whenever the necessity was felt. It was also declared that the king of Portugal was the direct owner of the land in the Portuguese territories, and the Gaunkars were simply the renters. However, the original system of collecting land revenue through villages remained unchanged.
After the destruction of Hindu temples, their lands were confiscated and handed over to the dignitaries of Portuguese religious bodies. These confiscated properties were also handed over to the Portuguese men or soldiers. The Portuguese government passed decrees from time to time which modified the system of village communities. One such came in 1573, by which the Hindu Gaunkars were forbidden to take decision in the absence of Hindu Gaonkars. The names of christian gaunkars had to be written first in the register and the Hindu gaonkars were allowed in gaupann only when there was no quorum. Later, in 1640, the village communities were forced by a decree to pay respect to the christian saints.
Another important legislation was- it was no longer necessary for the gaunkar to cultivate the land himself. However, the gaunkar was still entitled for his 'jana' from the distributable surplus of the village community.In the course of time, village communities were simply reduced to the agricultural societies, all their other functions being taken away from them.
2. Architecture
One of the lasting impact of Portuguese rule was felt on the architecture of Goa. It contributed towards church architecture and private mansion . Religious architecture is characterised by large number of monuments erected from the second-half of 16th century to middle of 17th century.
Religious Architecture:
After the conquest of Goa, Albuquerque ordered the destruction of Muslim structure of old-Goa. On the same day he ordered the construction of chapel of st. Catherine, on whose feast's day Goa was captured on 25th November. It was a very simple structure. Albuquerque sponsored the construction of two additional churches-Nossa Senhor de Sehra and Nosa Senhor de Monte. Both these were built in 'Maveline' style. The renaissance style of 'mannerists' was also adopted. The chapel built by Albuquerque of st. Catherine was converted to a cathedral and developed into mannerists style. Mannerists adaptations also characterized many religious signs erected by many religious orders in Goa. Jesuits were the most advanced builders. They built the college of St. Paul, the Basilica Bom Jesus, which are the examples of two Jesuit buildings.
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| Basilica Bom Jesus |
From 1656-1675, the Italian fathers built St. Cajetan church. They used Italian designs and reflected pure renaissance and Baroque styles. One unique feature of this styles is, the colossal corinthian columns(pillars). The responsibility of erecting various churches was given to the religious orders. Many active christians worked under the supervision of European priests, and though the basic features remained western, there was also fusion between the east and west. Eg: The church of St. Anne at Talaulim, where the interior surfaces are modelled in stucco reliefs in which renaissance and Baroque styles are freely arranged, intermingled with native designs, rosetts, garlands and chakras.
Hindu 'eccelessiastical' structure of new conquest also show western influence. Many temples of Ponda and Bicholim are re-built in a manner that, combine traditional Hindu designs with architectural aspects drawn from both-Islamic structures of Bijapur and christian structures of Old-Goa. Therefore, the Hindu structures of Goa are different from rest of India.
3. Civil Architecture
In civil architectue, 2 district styles were used. Portuguese style mansion, which is double storeyed. The upper storey was residence of aristocratic owner and lower was that of servants. The focus of this structure is 'facade', these were houses of 'Fidalgos'. They were entirely in Portuguese style. There was absence of verhandas. These houses remained cool because of thick laterite walls and high sealings. Windows had to be protected from rain by temporary sheds built by laterite with lime.
These houses were built shoulder to shoulder close to streets. The walls were painted wit bright sheds or red & white or blue & white using naturally available pigments. At back of house, there was a large garden. The facades were characterised rhythmic arrangements of rows of windows, eg: of those is 'Santana D' Silva house'. The focus of Indian style house was the courtyard opened out on living rooms, a columned gallery and a dining hall.
The frontal portion was reserved for upper-caste owners and back-side for lower-caste servants. Later, with the introduction of social dancing in Goa in 19th century, the Indian style houses incorporated a dance hall into front portion and added to facade, typically Goan 'Balcao'. In many of these houses, a chapel was integrated within interior of house.
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