Reclaiming the Hindu Space in Goa: A Plant that is Tulsi

Author(s): Dr. Nirmal Kumar

Abstract:

The article takes up the issue of the Hindus of Goa asserting public gaze and spaces that were unavailable to them till the liberation of Goa in 1961. The conquest of Goa by the Christian- Portuguese forces in early years of 16th century, even before the Mughals had set foot on the battlefield of Panipat in 1526, had imported a Christian-European state and culture and forced upon the Hindus of Goa in a manner that was most brutal in the history of Christian expansion and conversion. The imposition of Inquisition by the Christian state that ensured that all non-Christian symbols, life styles and even food and dress were stamped out in favour of European culture. Under the draconian Inquisition all visibility of non-Christian life was ordered to be barred and most were protected by going inside the houses. Tulsi was then the most brahamincal plant and object of veneration for Hindus whoused to plant it in every house and since all non-Christian objects were barred from public view, this plant suffered long centuries of invisibility. With the decay of Inquisition in 1781 and later liberation from Portuguese rule, Tulsi came back to public view with vengeance. This article tries to trace the assertion of Hindu identity through the constructed visibility of the Tulsi in almost every Hindu house in Goa.

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