| मयडें/Moiddem Moira |
|
| — village — | |
| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Goa |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
Moira (Konkani: मयडें Moiddem, pronounced [mɔjɽɛ̃ː]) is a village in North Goa, India. It has been the home of a number of prominent individuals from Goa, and is known for its special variety of tasty, long-length bananas (popularly known as "Mundollchim kellim" in local Konknni language).
Glenis Maria D'Souza, herself from Moira, [1] describes the village and its people thus: "If you behave a little idiosyncratic [sic] in Goa, don't be surprised if you are called a 'Moidekar'. The legendary village of wise fools, Moira, is a cozy hamlet well located in the heart of Bardez, cuddled on either side by the Mapusa river branch of Mandovi and its Uskoi branch."
The co-founder (with Frederick Noronha) and moderator of Goa-Research-Net, Teotonio R. de Souza Teotonio R de Souza, a Moirá ganvkar of the fifth vangodd (local village clan), brought out a brochure on Moirá, when it celebrated 350 years of its Church in 1986. It was released by the then Archbishop-Patriarch Raul Gonçalves on the feast day of Moirá Church. The brochure can be downloaded at the "external links" below.
As historical research is a continuous process, ever to be updated with discovery of fresh sources of information, Teotonio R. de Souza adds: There were two Flemish brothers in Goa at the time Moira Church was first built. They were the diamond dealers Jacques and Joseph de Coutre. At the beginning of the 17th century the Dutch arrival in the Indian seas led the Portuguese administration in Goa to keep a close watch on such foreigners in Portuguese India, particularly if they were of Dutch origin.
Some of them, including Coutre brothers were arrested and packed to Lisbon. They managed to find their way to freedom with the help of their diamonds! Coutre's autobiographical account in manuscript is found in the National Library of Madrid. It was edited and published recently.[2] He describes his adventures in Goa and elsewhere in Asia.
Teotonio R. de Souza also drew attention to a notarial deed drawn in Goa on 14 March 1623 and now preserved in the National Library of Lisbon [3] It records that it was Joseph de Coutre (who passed as "Couto" in Goa) who assisted the Franciscans financially to build the first structure of Moira church of Our Lady of Conception. This changes somewhat the story told by Fr. Paulo de Trindade. The church building was not financed entirely by the Moidekars! The Coutre brothers were counting upon their dedication to religious causes, or rather the Catholic causes, to score some points before the tribunal of the Inquisition. There was another such case at that time in Goa, the Augsburg-born commercial entrepreneur Ferdinand Cron (1559–1637)with important links with Augsburg bankers. He was better connected than Coutre brothers in the official Portuguese circles, but even so he was eventually expelled in 1624. He had contributed generously to the chapel for St. Francis Xavier on the eve of his canonization, and had also tried to help the Capuchins, but the envy and rivalry of the local casados (white settlers) cast suspicions against him as a Dutch spy to pack him off to Europe. Like the Coutre brothers, his wealth gained him mercy and favour in the Madrid court that ruled Portugal at that time. More on Cron can be read in the writings of late Professor Hermann Kellenbenz who has studied the German-Portuguese connection, utilizing the archives of Fuggers in Nuernberg.[1] Kellenbenz was for many years the keeper of the archives of that powerful banker family that gave loans to kings and popes, and financed during a period the Portuguese pepper trade.
See also Goa Inquisition
Reporting another of his findings in the National Archives of Portugal (Torre do Tombo), Teotonio R. de Souza tells about a mass-haul of Moidekars, both ganvkars (from all vangodd) and some non-ganvkars, men and women, by the Holy Office of the Inquisition during its auto-da-fé in the Cathedral See on 7 December 1664. While some were pulled-up for the first time, there were others taken in for 14th relapse! However, most (almost all) men were accused of light faults associated with practices of Hinduism: António Pinto (1st time), João Correia and Jorge de Souza (2nd time), Diogo Lobo (3rd time), João Fernandes and his brother Tomé (dhobi)(4th time) Miguel de Siqueira and Antonio Mendes (5th time), Diogo da Cunha and Andre de Sá (6th time), António da Gama, João Correia, Francisco Borges, Manuel de Nazareth (7th time), Ventura Mendes, Diogo de Siqueira, João de Sá (8th time), Estevão da Cunha, Pedro de Nazareth, Diogo Mendes, João Lobo babuji,Lourenço de Souza, Baltazar da Cunha, Vicente Ribeiro, Diogo Correia, Simão Coelho (shudra)(12th time), Filipe Nazareth, Lourenço d'Azavedo, Tomé Fernandes (dhobi), Gonçalo Vellozo, Franciso da Cruz, João Nazareth, ganvkar of Moirá but resident in Santa Ines (13th time), Francisco da Cunha, married to Ursula Gomes (14th time and condemned to 4 years of labour in the gunpowder factory). There were women too, from Moirá or married in Moirá. Most of them got harsher treatment of 5–7 years of hard labour in the gunpowder manufactory: Maria Loba, Andreia de Souza and Catarina de Sá (1st time), Phelipa Pereira (from Aldoná, resident in Moirá), Felipa Cotta (also from Aldoná, resident in Moirá), Maria de Souza (widow of Andre de Souza), Ines Fernandes (regateira, shudra)(2nd time), Francisca Barboza (from the mainland, resident in Moirá)(3rd time), 15 other women from Moirá (4th time), Maria Rodrigues (regateira, shudra) married to Bartolomeu Rodrigues, condemned after death! Having consulted the files relating to autos-da-fé celebrated in Goa during the following years till the end of the 17th century and till mid 18th century, Teotonio R. de Souza has not found any more Moidekars being troubled by the Inquisition! One can easily understand that during the first 50 years after conversion it must have been very hard to lose the old habits and beliefs. But Moidekars proved to be good learners to adapt to new demands or at least to escape the watchful eyes![4]
Leroy Veloso, a local history-enthusiast studying the village, has been identifying the members of the original five vangodd or founding clans of Moira.
According to him, the third vangod (clan) is the most composite of all, including families with various surnames. They include some prominent Moidekars like Dr. Jack de Sequeira, Erasmo Sequeira, Dr. Carmo Azavedo, John Maximian Nazare, believed to have been Asia's first Queen Counsel, Silvestre Nazaré settled in Germany and with distinguished research in nuclear science to his credit among others, Velozos included.
According to Veloso, the third vangod (clan) of the gaunkary of Moira consists of Azavedo (none presently in Moira, residing in Olaulim, S. do Mundo, Socorro (Serula), Saligão,etc), Sousa, Veloso (they being kulachar members of the Gaunkary of Serula too, just 1 family in Moira, the rest in Bombay, U.S.A, U.K, Karachi, Denmark, etc) Nazare, Camotim (Kamat)(none in Moira, but in Aldona, Podval, Poira, etc), Siqueira (in Campal, Singapore, Bombay, Karachi,etc), Lobo (none in Moira, residing at Aldona). Moirá had some Calvekars (From Calvim?) who enjoyed half zonn and served the village as dhobis( washermen) and tario (canoe-men). The village community also compensated some other non-Brahmin residents who assisted the Brahmin women of Moirá in deliveries as midwives.
Teotonio R. de Souza, belonging to 5th vangodd, has traced his earliest convert of the family Diogo de Souza to 1618. In his Medieval Goa(New Delhi, Concept Publications, 1979, p. 105) one can find the references to documents in Goa Historical Archives establishing the link. He has referred to Diogo de Souza in the booklet on Moirá available online, but here goes a link to one of the original documents with its modern Portuguese transcription.[5].
However, as stated above, Moirá has produced Moidekars worth and by far exceeding the traditional wisdom attributed to them as can be checked in some of the "external links" at the end, but also in Dr. J. Clement Vaz, Profiles of Eminent Goans (New Delhi, Concept, 1997)or at Goanet [6]
One of the ventures in the village whose work is getting noticed in tourism circles is Forgotten Treasures, a firm which offers "Portuguese and English items, mother-of-pearl shell windows and doors, mahogany-framed dressing table" and which is located at the Novo Portugal locality of Moira.
-By Nathaniel Nazareth
St. Xavier's High School is a co-educational Institution conducted by the Diocesan Society of education, Panaji. The society is a religious based minority institution. The school was established in 1935. It is recognized by the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Porvorim and the Directorate of Education, Panaji-Goa.