Sanjeev V Sardesai
It is a general belief, that the domains around Ponda are spiritually energised by the “urja” of Sri Anant of Savoi Verem. This province has also produced some prominent personalities, in the fields of art and sciences who have gained prominence both nationally and internationally.
Take for example, the landmark you encounter when you enter the main square of Ponda – the statue of a turbaned, dhoti clad gentleman, with a book or a scroll in his hand. This statue has a vast importance – historically and politically. His was the only statue, of a Hindu personality to be ever erected on Goan soil by the Portuguese in their 451 years of existence here.
Named the Dada Vaidya Square, the statue of Ramchandra Pandurang Vaidya (born at Keri, 1861; demise 1938) – a Goan ayurvedic doctor, based in Keri, Ponda is a revered icon. Owing to his ability of curing people afflicted with life threatening maladies with ayurvedic medication, he was bestowed the honorific title of ‘Pranacharya’ or ‘giver of life’.
During that era, the Portuguese administration with the intent to subdue any local sciences had banned the practice of all local and ancient medical sciences. However, Dada Vaidya carried on tending to people.
A change in the Portuguese administration’s perspective towards the practice of ancient medical sciences however came after an incident at the Portuguese Governor’s Palace at Dona Paula. As recounted in many publications, and in a recent, well researched short film, the only son of the Portuguese governor was afflicted with a life-threatening malady. Doctors were called from the Medical College, established by the Portuguese in Goa, as well brought from Portugal. But no local ‘vaidya’ (doctor) was consulted. As days passed, the child’s health began to deteriorate.
Upon the suggestion of a local assistant in the Portuguese Governor’s house, the governor’s wife managed to convince him to get Dada Vaidya’s medical opinion.
As per the short film, the governor, to test the prowess of this ‘vaidya’ sent a urine sample to him to diagnose. Vaidya, it is said, could diagnose sickness, by reading the pulse and looking at the urine sample. In this case, Vaidya’s diagnosis was that the “patient was weak and hungry and should be give a good feed of grams (chick-peas)”. He had correctly identified the urine sample as that of a stable horse.
When he finally examined the child, Vaidya ordered that a big basin of cold water be brought and that the boy be slowly lowered into this cold water, repeatedly. Within a short while, the sick boy started to expel a huge load of urine, which was stored in his bowels, and was creating problems. In a few days, and on being fed the herbal potions prepared by Dada Vaidya, the boy started to recover.
Having realised the potency of ayurvedic herbal medicines, the governor lifted of the ban on the practice of such medical disciplines. It is to be noted that, during that era, no local Goan, especially a Hindu person, except Portuguese ‘fidalgos’ (high placed citizens) and officers, were allowed to be transported in palanquins, carried by the ‘boias’ (palanquin carriers). But the Portuguese governor reinstated the facility for Dada Vaidya, and had him carried in a palanquin. Dada Vaidya can thus be credited, with having laid the foundation stone, for the re-commencement of the ayurvedic practices in Goa.
On October 2, 1911, on the auspicious day of Vijayadashmi, Dada Vaidhya, with the support of Sitaram Kerkar, Vinayak Sarjyotishi and other like-minded citizens, established the Goa Vidyaprasarak Mandal’s or GVM’s A J de Almeida School in Ponda which was initially named as ‘Colegio Jose de Almeida’, after Antonio Jose de Almeida, the sixth Republican president of Portugal. It was only 50 years later, in October 1961 that the last Governor General of Portuguese Goa H E Manuel Antonio Vassalo da Silva inaugurated the present day upgraded edifice of this institution.
Coming back to Dada Vaidya’s monument, the Portuguese government, faced insecurity due to the eminent annexation by the newly free India, resolved to gain the confidence of the people of Goa by erecting a statue dedicated to a Hindu personality. The immediate choice was of Ramchandra Pandurang Vaidya. The statue was made in Portugal and shipped to Goa. However, there was a problem!
One of the Goans noticed that the shawl or ‘pancha’, on Dada Vaidya’s shoulder was on the right shoulder instead of the left. The Portuguese governor thus packed the statue back to Portugal and the lapse was corrected.
On its arrival in Goa, the statue was placed on the present pedestal in the town square, covered with a cloth and made ready for inaugural. However, this was not to be! The Indian government had sent its armed forces under ‘Operation Vijay’, to annex Goa from the Portuguese. The statue remained on the pedestal, covered.
However, Dada Vaidhya’s statue was destined to be inaugurated in a symbolic manner. It is said that an inquisitive soldier or an officer of the Indian Army, reached Ponda and ripped open the cloth covering the statue to check whose statue it was; and thus the statue of Dada Vaidya was symbolically inaugurated – unplanned and unintentionally – at the hands of an Indian, in a liberated Goa. He would not have wanted it any other way!