Kanara Catholics: Creation of the Christian Identity

Kanara Catholics are mainly descendants of Goans whose ancestors converted to Christianity when it was under Portuguese rule.

Christianity was brought to India in the first centuries of the common era by traders via what may be called the maritime silk route. It took root in Kerala and established itself among communities known today as Syrian Christians or Nasranis. That appellation gives the clue as to where it came from. These Christians still follow the ancient Eastern rites. This version of Christianity spread essentially through inter-action between individuals and communities.

Little over a millennium later, Portugal effectively used Christianity to consolidate it’s hold over the population of Tiswadi, Bardes, and Salcete. Religion plays a big role in social control, and particular religions or deities have been patronised by kings and states in the process of state-formation. By forming alliances with religious institutions, and thereby extending their control over their subjects into the spiritual world, states enhance their authority. It has been very successful in Christianizing Europe and other parts of the world. 

This, however, was not part of Portugal’s policy when its first ships landed on Indian shores. Portugal’s policy towards Asia evolved over time through three distinct phases, each with separate origins and distinct aims. Initially, during Emmanuel’s reign (1495-1521), the objective was to monopolize trade and commerce between Asia and Europe. This evolved into the idea of empire, when Albuquerque, convinced that sea power alone was insufficient to secure that trade, captured Goa. During Joao III’s reign (1521-1557), the realization dawned that retaining Goa involved state-building, and the creation of a loyal subject population. The process involved conversion to Christianity, social control, and other means to impose a uniform culture modelled after that in Portugal.

Goan individuals, though, began converting to Christianity even before Joao III’s reign. Albuquerques’s Cartas gives some details. The first of these were mainly soldiers and women entering matrimony. In January 1511, 10 Indian women converts were rewarded with silk cloths and rice for their maintenance. In August, Beatriz, Antonia, Leonar, Bastiao, Goncalo, Pero, Diogo, Maria, three men, a woman, and two boys, and 16 gentios were similarly rewarded on separate occasions. In October 1511, Rodrigo Rebello, Antonio Rebello, and Manuel, captains fighting Bijapur alongside Portuguese soldiers, were gifted cloths for converting. During this time, the Portuguese were not in control of Goa; these conversions were of an individual nature with personal, not necessarily spiritual, motivation. 

With Joao III’s reign, a carrot-and-stick approach was adopted to draw Goans into the Christian fold. With the incorporation of Bardes and Salcete into the Estado da India, the process of Christianisation grew under the policy termed the Rigor de Misericordia (application of moral force). Among other things, it involved the passing of laws that favoured Christians. For instance, Christian women could inherit family property, and Christian ganvkars acquired more powers in village communities. Orphans were brought under the care of a state-appointed priest known as the Father of the Christians, and given the option to convert when they reached adulthood; most did.

Conversion peaked in the 1560s with mass conversions. Converts were gifted new clothes, given new names, and encouraged to adopt a lifestyle that increased their distance from their pre-conversion religion. Prominent dissenters were allowed to leave. The law banned non-Christians from practicing their rites and festivals publicly so that converts would not be tempted. This is where the Inquisition, after the first four decades of almost total attention to neutralising Jewish and Muslim influences among Portuguese Christaos Novos, came into play. Introduced in December 1560, it investigated, took steps to correct, and punished Christians who resorted to pre-conversion practices through a well-established judicial process.

As Goa’s Christian population grew, temples fell into disuse, and ganvkari income that was once reserved for them was diverted to churches. Temple deities were spirited across the border. Between 1763 and 1788, Goa expanded to include neighbouring provinces, mainly through a negotiated process. These populations were allowed to practice their religion openly. In 1812, the Inquisition was disbanded. Conversion to Christianity was no more considered a fundamental plank of state formation.

This, however, did not influence the Kanara Christian community whose ancestors had emigrated from Goa well before this time. Christianity had become deeply embedded in their way of life. Their religious needs were met initially by Goan priests of the Padroado.

The transition from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic one would have been hard. The former worships and placates a number of deities, each with specific and limited powers, with an objective of gaining protection and benefit. The latter centres around the worship of a single all-powerful God who works in ways sometimes incomprehensible to the human mind. This belief may have played a pivotal plank in the survival of the community during the most traumatic episode in its history and its aftermath: the Captivity.