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O HERALD O
Vol No CX No: 241 Allies of colonialism
Goa, Saturday 25 September, 2010
Missionaries taught christian doctrine and influenced local cultures says teotonio r de soUZa
Learn the Art
of Living T he nineteenth century colonial expansion
was intimately linked with Christian mis-
sions! The colonial authorities enthusiasti-
described by Pyrard de Laval in the early 17th
century. The pedras cordiais (similar in medicinal
value to the bezoar stones) patented by the Jesuit

H is Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of the Art of Living
movement, who is in Goa today, is a renowned spiritual
leader and humanitarian. Commonly referred to as a
‘new age guru’, he prescribes and preaches that it is individual
stress and the absence of individual happiness or joy in living
that leads to complex societal problems and violence. It isn’t
just talk; he lives it. Asked once during a ‘satsang’ in Washington
DC why he smiles so much, Sri Sri answered the question
with another: “Why don’t others smile more?”
He says that rhythmic breathing exercises combined with
yoga and meditation can bring inner peace. This is the formula
that has inspired millions since he first discovered it in 1982,
during a 10-day stint of silent meditation. He found that breath
(‘prana’ or life-force in Sanskrit) was the link between body
and mind and, therefore, could be unleashed as a powerful
tool to both relax and focus the mind.
Sudarshan Kriya is the powerful breathing technique that
forms the cornerstone of the ‘Art of Living’ basic self-develop-
ment programme. Sri Sri discovered that just as emotions
have an impact on breathing, how one breathes can also pro-
foundly impact one’s emotions. By controlling breath, people
can counter stress and maintain an inner calm and deep hap-
piness, even in the most adverse and violent situations.
But the person is merely a starting point. Sri Sri’s real mission
is to change individuals, so that he can create a world free of
stress and unite the people into a violence-free global family.
He has inspired millions globally to take responsibility beyond
their own narrow circle of kinship and friendship, and work
towards the betterment of the world at large.
His Art of Living Foundation and International Association
for Human Values, both international non-profit educational
and humanitarian organisations, work in over 140 countries.
Some of their initiatives have been truly remarkable. A month
after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, the Art of Living
ran a full-page advertisement in ‘The New York Times’, offering
its course free to New Yorkers. Ten teachers were flown to the
city, and over the next several months more than 1,000 people,
including firefighters and police officers, benefited from the
course.
The 5H programme (Homes, Hygiene, Health, Harmony in
Diversity and Human Values) aims to create a socio-economic
transformation to eradicate poverty, misery and disease, and
build communal harmony. Over 50,000 trained youth leaders
are working in 32,000 villages and slums, across Africa, Asia
and South America. Eighty-six schools provide free education
to 7,500 poor tribal and rural children each year.
A comprehensive programme in Vidarbha, Maharashtra,
has succeeded in sharply reducing farmers’ suicides in 308 vil-
lages. Art of Living rural schools encourage parents to send
girl children to school. Their de-addiction centres help people
overcome drug, alcohol and substance dependence and reduce
domestic violence. Sri Sri has conducted successful peace mis-
cally welcomed missionaries into their territories,
though in India, after some initial reluctance of
the East India Company, which tended to see the
missionaries as a threat to its commercial interests.
This perception changed definitely after the take
over by the Crown in 1858.
Generally, the missionaries were perceived as
ideal allies. They lived among the local people,
knew their languages, and understood their cus-
toms. Who was better equipped than these mis-
sionaries to persuade unwilling “natives” to submit
to the pax Britannica or the pax Teutonica? This is
precisely what occupied K M Panikkar in Part VII
devoted to Christian Missions in his classic work
on Asia and Western Dominance (1953).
In the sixteenth century, the Portuguese
Padroado missionaries had initiated this process.
Following upon this, it became customary for
British missionaries to labour in British colonies,
French missionaries in French colonies, and Ger-
man missionaries in German colonies. It was only
natural for these missionaries to be regarded as
both vanguard and rearguard for the colonial
powers. Whether they liked it or not, the mis-
sionaries became pioneers of Western imperialistic
expansion and early agents of globalisation.
Last week (16-18 September) the Berlin Society
of Missionary History organised yet another of
its regular seminars, focused upon the role of
missionaries in Africa and in Asia during the 17th
till 19th centuries in the globalisation through
the transfer of knowledge. The international sem-
inar was attended by nearly 40 scholars from the
various continents, including four from India (F
Arakkal, professor at Shankaracharya University,
Kelady; J Bara, professor of JNU, Delhi; Lutheran
Bishop of Ranchi, A S Hamron; and M Ekka, also
from Ranchi).
Germany had no colonial presence in Asia, but
the presence of the German missionaries was re-
markably strong. Besides, the Catholic German
missionaries who served the Padroado, the Halle-
trained Pietists, ordained at Copenhagen in 1705,
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (1683–1719) and Hein-
rich Plütschau (1678–1747), became the founders
of the famous Danish Tamil mission at Tranquebar.
They were followed by the Lutheran missionaries
of the Dresden-Leipzig Mission, backed by the
Church of Sweden Mission. Four German mis-
sionaries who left the employ of the Leipzig Mis-
sion in India in 1876 over doctrinal differences
Tongue in cheek
Feeling like a fish out of water?
Historical explorations
joined Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which
began working in India in 1895. They spread
their activities to Telegu and other southern areas.
Four missionaries sent by the Gossner Mis-
sionary Society and prepared by Father Johannes
Gossner, arrived in Kolkata in 1844. They con-
centrated their activities among the Kols in Chota
Nagpur and Assam, but were unable to respond
to the tribal discontent following the Sepoy
Mutiny and the growing oppression of Muslim
and Hindu landlords. Despite rapid numerical
growth, the Gossner Church lost heavily as a
result of the entry of the Anglican SPG in 1869
and by Roman Catholic Jesuits at the end of the
century.
The Belgian Jesuit Constant Lievens and the
German Jesuit J B Hoffmann were more successful
among the Mundas, by giving them cultural iden-
tity and economic stability. The encyclopaedia
mundarica by the Jesuit J B. Hoffmann and the
creation of the Chota Nagpur Catholic Cooperative
Credit Society (anticipating by a century the cel-
ebrated micro credit of the Nobel laureate Yunnus
Muhamad) will remain as landmarks in the history
of the Chota Nagpur tribals. Hoffman also em-
powered the tribals judicially through his Mem-
orandum on the Land System of the Mundas,
appended to Chota Nagpur landlord and tenant
procedure Act of 1903.
I had participated earlier in this series of Berlin
seminars. In 2003 I had spoken about the “ce-
saro-papism” in Portuguese India, analysing the
role of the archbishop-patriarch of Goa, D José
da Costa Nunes (1942-1953). In this recent seminar
I chose to analyse the role of the European mis-
sionaries (Jesuits in particular) in Portuguese Asia
in the globalisation of knowledge. Even though
other religious missionaries had a share, there is
no doubt that Jesuits had the lion’s share in the
process. Curiously, the Italian, the French and
the German Jesuits working under the Padroado
were the more prominent agents of the transfer
of knowledge between Asia and Europe.
While it is commonly known that most Euro-
pean missionaries organised the earliest written
grammars and vocabularies of various Asian ver-
nacular languages as indispensable means to
teach Christian doctrine and influence local cul-
tures, it is from the late 17th centuries that the
missionaries paid greater attention to other areas
of knowledge that were of preferential interest
for the intellectual and political elites of their
home countries in Renaissance Europe.
Closer at home in Goa, the Jesuit economic in-
terests involved them in organised forms of grow-
ing coconut groves as described in the Arte
palmarica. They also excelled in the administration
of the Royal Hospital entrusted to them and as
brother Gaspar António, were much sought for
their anti-poison properties, and brought much
income to the Jesuits.
The Padroado missionaries Matteo Ricci (1552-
1610), Johannes Schreck (1576-1630) and Antonio
Rubino (1578-1643) were some of the prominent
Jesuits trained by Christopher Clavius, and his
successor in the Collegio Romano, Christopher
Grienberger (1561-1636), both German Jesuits
and advisors to the Popes in matters of mathe-
matics and astronomy. Clavius was behind the
Gregorian calendar reform. His Jesuit disciples
in India and in China continued sending him in-
formation they gathered about the native math-
ematical and astronomical knowledge.
Antonio Rubino was writing to Clavius in 1609
from his base at Chandrapur in the Vijayanagar
kingdom: “The Brahmans, who are the literati of
this kingdom, are very given to the cognition of
the movements and conjunctions of the planets
and stars. Your Reverence will be amazed at how
they predict the hour and minute of eclipses of
the sun and the moon, without knowing the way
in which eclipses occur. I have attempted many
times to make them state the way in which they
derive the conjunctions of the planets, but I was
never able to get them to declare it, and they
don’t wish to teach the things they know to
others, except in secret to their relatives”.
Bypassing the difficulty of getting the theo-
retical secrets from the Brahmins, the Jesuits
tried to obtain the practical knowledge from the
commercial horoscope (panchang) makers. The
Jesuit interest in mathematics and astronomy
was motivated by their interest to harmonise the
cosmography and chronology of the Bible with
the local cultures. The French Jesuits Bouchet,
Boudier, Duchamp, Coeurdoux, Le Gac and Pons
were some of those who transferred systematically
oral and documented information of scientific
nature from their base at Chandernagore to the
French Royal Library and Academy of Science.
Under the Tridentine preference for universal-
ism and uniformity, any suggestions of incultur-
ation and diversity were to be shunned, be it in
Europe or elsewhere. Under the Enlightenment
(and even later) the western superiority complex
usually prevailed, even among the missionaries
in Asia, who borrowed and transmitted knowledge
from Asian natives, but the western scientific de-
pendence on this was hardly ever admitted.
By adelmo Fernandes

sions in Naxalite-affected areas as well as in strife-torn Jammu
& Kashmir. Reforming prison inmates was one of their earliest
programmes, and continues with great success even today.
Not just in India, Art of Living volunteers have been working
in Iraq since 2003. Over 5,000 Iraqis have benefited from
trauma relief and community empowerment projects in Bagh-
dad, Basrah and Karbala. Sri Sri had also turned his attention
to Sri Lanka and Kosovo, while civil war was raging in both
these countries.
He shares a birthday with the 8th century saint Adi Shankara,
and grew up under the tutelage of the guru of ‘The Beatles’,
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Sri Sri teaches that spirituality is not
limited to any one religion or culture, but enhances human
values. It is at the heart of all the world’s religions, and is
open to all the Earth’s people. Today, he will address a ‘maha-
satsang’ at Colva. Go there and experience the ‘Guru of Joy’.
I
n the week gone by as I was transfixed to the television set, I
was bombarded by only one bit of news, that of match fixing.
Both the sports channels and the news channels covered the
news extensively which probably kept viewers like me glued to
their seats. Who knows, some viewers could even be fixing them-
selves a drink after listening to all the match fixing news. Probably
no cricketing news in India has drawn so much attention after the
Indian World Cup victory in 1983 as has the match fixing episode.
One reason could be that Pakistan are involved in the scam. Inci-
dentally, Pakistan has the dubious distinction of being the most
corrupt nation in the world. It appears that this corruption has per-
colated down to its cricket team. This should not come as a surprise.
Everyone wants to make a quick buck. And with so much compe-
tition for a place in the national side, it is all about making hay
while the sun shines. So make as much money, by hook or by
crook, as you can, while you play for the country. Some cricketers
may argue that since the cost of living has gone up, there is nothing
like making a few extra bucks. We have known of match fixing
right from the days of the late Hansie Cronje and our very own
Mohammad Azharuddin.
But the latest variety of fixing is the spot fixing, which appears to
be a smaller variety of match fixing involving just one player. It
seems that the players are least bothered that they could be in a
fix if caught for spot fixing as the Pakistanis have allegedly gone
ahead with the scam in the third one day match against England,
even though three of their players, including the ex captain Salman
Butt have been implicated in the match fixing scandal. You never
learn from mistakes. Or are the Pakistani cricketers living on the
edge? Be that as it may, it must be said that in all these match
fixing allegations, the greatest loser has been the fair game of
cricket. Cricket is known as a gentleman’s game. I remember when
it was played by gentlemen in white. Now, with the clothing of
cricketers getting more colourful by the day, it seems that the
game is messy.
In the good old days, a batsman would ‘walk’ if he felt that he was
out and the umpire did not give him marching orders. Can one ex-
pect to see such gentlemanly behaviour in today’s cricket? What
this whole episode has done to the viewers is that it has created
an element of doubt in their minds. Now every ball a bowler bowls
and every run a batsman takes will be viewed with suspicion.
Has the ball been spot fixed? Has the run been spot fixed? Now,
the ball which has gained more significance is not the off spin one
nor the leg break, and not even the ‘doosra’. Probably the most
important ball is the no ball. It is by bowling a no ball that the
bowler can earn in millions. Who knows now bowlers may be
practicing to bowl only the no ball.
All this will mean that viewers will be feeling like fools sitting in
front of the idiot box and watching a cricket match. Probably there
is no quick fix remedy to match fixing saga, since without match
fixing and spot fixing, many of our modern day cricketers could
be feeling like fish out of water.

Letters to the Editor

Migrant problem
Manuel D’Costa, Raia
This refers to the letter by Flavia Sequeira
(Herald 21 Sept). I think Flavia is unaware
of the migrant problem in our state. Greedy
mamlatdars have already given them the
ration card and electoral identification for
money, identifying them as citizens. They
dominate and threaten Goans.
If this is the case, then Goans will soon
be kicked out and migrants will rule Goa.
Panjim pay parking
S Kamat, Alto Betim
The pay parking issue in Panjim is raising
the heckles of many Pay parking should be
implemented in areas where parking is in
high demand. Apart from being a revenue
100 Years Ago
PRIMEIRO DIARIO NAS COLONIAS PORTUGEZAS
25 September 1910
Purchase of machine
The Military Hospital of Nova Goa pur-
chased a machine worth Rupees Three
thousand for manufacturing ice.
Rajas to visit Exposition
It is reported that the forth corning Ex-
position 6 Indian Rajas will pay a visit
to Goa and will be lodged at “Taj Mahal”
to be franchised in the City.
Uneasiness in Liberia
In the Chancery of Paris, London, and
Berlin a great uneasiness is taking roots
over the question of Liberia, a small ter-
ritory on the coast of Guinea founded
by emancipated American slaves.
Trade negotiations
Trade negotiations are taking place be-
tween Portugal and Japan substituting
the already signed treaty of 1897 which
was earlier denounced by the Imperial
Government.
earner, it is a clever deterrent to those who
leave their vehicles for extended periods
of time. 18 June Road, the Panjim market
and Dona Paula are the correct locations
for pay parking. However, internal parking
must be made possible for those who park
outside their buildings.
A plan on investment of having multi
storied parking lots in government
godowns will be a step in the right direction.
The idea of introducing pay parking should
not just be just another money making
scheme, but a concrete effort to resolve
parking issues in Panjim.
Pay parking, a scam
Edward Fonseca, Porvorim
Your article on pay parking in Panjim is
thought provoking. This is turning out to
be a scam which is carefully thought of and
planned. Panjim is a disorganised city Get-
ting jobs done in Panjim can be cumber-
some.
The Kadamba bus stand in general and
the RTO in particular deserve special at-
tention. The payment of Rs six for a minute
in the RTO is daylight robbery.
If the CCP is adamant to implement pay
parking, it should create proper parking
zones and not try to take shortcuts by im-
plementing street level pay parking. It
only serves to inconvenience the com-
muters.
Unacceptable comments
Cedrick Fernandes, Margao
The Chief Minister of Goa who is the pres-
ident of the Swimming Federation of India
visited the swimming complex in New Delhi
which will host the event for the CWG. A
report in Herald features of your newspaper
(“Will Goa learn from the CWG fiasco?”
Heartbeat, 23 Sept) said that Digambar
Kamat found the facilities in perfect con-
dition.
The Chief Minister’s comments on the
last minute preparations for the Games are
quite true. But it is also true that he visited
the complex at the last minute.
It is surprising to note Lalit Bhanot’s
comments that hygiene standard of Indians
and westerners differ. Comments such as
these only serve to heap further embar-
corruption If we can seriously implement
Letter of the Day such drastic changes, then we can surely Paths of Wisdom
take this nation to greater heights.
Vincent Rego, via email
Navy’s ploy CWG and terrorism
Gladstone D’Costa, Dabolim
Given the sordid levels of corruption, in-
A recent newspaper report said that the Navy is asking for ownership of three islands
competence and disgrace which the CWG
off the coast of Mormugao. Why is the elected Government so mute and dumb to this
organisation committee has forced upon
proposal? Goa has already donated Anjadiva island to build the prestigious Sea Bird
us, we do not need terrorists to destroy
project. Goa, being a tiny state, cannot afford to lose the remaining islands in the
this country.
name of security. Navy should vacate Dabolim, and Mopa should be opposed.
It is not difficult to persuade the Central Government in this matter. Are the MLAs Having them publicly executed would
too busy in looting? Goans should elect new faces in the next general election. We be showing them too much kindness.
need men and women of integrity who care for Goa’s well being and not corrupt The Lesson of the
MLAs. Vote bank politics has been the bane of our beautiful Goa. Insufficient salaries
Fig Tree
Paulo Mascarenhas, Panjim
rassment on our ability to conduct a mega time table needs to be followed so that the Let the fig tree teach you a lesson.
The gap between have and have nots is When its branches become green and
event. over crowding issue is taken care of. growing wider and wider in Goa. The Goa
tender and it starts putting out leaves,
government employees and our Central you know that summer is near. In the
India’s CWG ridicule Real Goans or migrants? government employees earn fat monthly same way, when you see all these
Robert Castellino, Mumbai Marcos Alemao, Varca salaries. Besides this an increase in DA is things, you will know that the time is
India cannot afford the ignominy of calling One wonders whether the 3,000 house- declared to them annually. Private enter- near, ready to begin. Remember that
off the Commonwealth Games 2010 at this holds registered under the BPL category prising units have people with similar qual- all these things will happen before the
late juncture. Now is the time for all good in Valpoi Sattari taluka are real Goans or ifications but their salary is a pittance not people now living have all died. Heaven
men to come to the aid of the party, and migrants. Having settled there, the con- to to mention of those who work for banks and earth will pass away, but my words
make the operative part of the Games — cerned Mamlatdar should ensure that they and other big companies. will never pass away. (Matthew 24;32-
the sporting event — a grand success. All are Goans. Or are they being pressurised In western countries, the gap is narrower, 35)
those responsible for making the country by Vishwajeet Rane, present Health Minister, because government has kept a proper
the butt of international ridicule should be and a candidate for the ensuing by election control on private organisations. Can one The Faithful or the
made to pay dearly for their incompetence scheduled on 18 October 2010 to commit imagine how much is being spent on trans-
and corruption. In the meantime, Suresh the illegality without following the norms port by those whose salaries are meagre? Unfaithful Servant
Kalmadi should accept moral responsibility of the BPL category? The obvious reason What would be left for other expenses? In Who, then, is a faithful and wise ser-
and resign. is to create a vote bank to win the by elec- this age of escalating prices, people may vant? He is the one that his master has
tion. resort to unrest and agitation to fulfil their placed in charge of the other servants
Introduce more buses demands. to give them their food at the proper
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco Aim higher time. How happy that servant is if his
It is understood that the Department of Jerry Fernandes, Saligao Churchill’s exploits master finds him doing this when he
Glestone Fernandes, Cuncolim comes home! Indeed, I tell you, the
Transport has taken the first steps towards Nowadays, the common procedure for the master will put that servant in charge
zero tolerance to over crowding of buses common man to obtain a job, is to furnish Churchill Alemao’s stand in support of the
of all his property. But if he is a bad
by launching a state-wide awareness drive. details of his qualifications. There is also a merger of Konkani speaking areas to Goa
servant, he will tell himself that his
Overcrowding in a bus is a perennial prob- age limit which limits the permissible age in view of the “scarcity of land resources
master will not come back for a long
lem in the state. More buses should be in- Students, on the other hand, also need to in Goa” and the need to expand Goa’s
time, and he will begin to beat his fel-
troduced and extra buses during peak get a good percentage of marks in order boundaries would only benefit his futuristic
low-servants and to eat and drink with
hours. But, as is their wont, people will al- to secure admission in a good college. plan after he is done with the selling of
drunkards. Then that servant’s master
ways travel in an overcrowded bus despite The same procedure must also be fol- land in Goa. will come back one day when the ser-
the awareness drive. No one wants to wait lowed in politics. The tenure of an elected Goans have been exploited by the likes vant does not expect him and at a time
for the next bus. Private buses must issue politician must be compulsorily made into of Churchill by acquiring land of our fore- he does not know. The master will cut
tickets. five years Every qualified citizen needs to fathers for mega projects and polluting fac- him in pieces and make him share the
Over crowding has become a major issue feel the pulse of Indian politics. tories, populated with migrants whom he fate of the hypocrites. There he will
on routes wherein buses stop at all the bus The Supreme Court should also be di- terms as “the rapidly growing population cry and grind his teeth. (Matthew 25;
stops. But in Goa, buses stop where there rected to punish and prosecute all our po- of Goa”. 45-51)
is no stop. This needs to be stopped. A strict litical leaders for misuse of power and Goa will soon be a land scarce of Goans.

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