FREDERICK NORONHA
Last week, we looked at a book (‘Stories of the Jews, on the Konkan’) that narrated the stories of how Jews came to live in some areas of the Konkan, and their synagogues in this region.
With the Israel-Hamas conflict still in the news (though like all bitter violence quickly receding into the background, and fast forgotten as it ceases to shock as much), it might be worth returning to the topic.
This time, we look at two books published by Ivar Fjeld, directly dealing with Jews in Goa. Or rather, his understanding of the same.
Fjeld, as per his descriptions online, was born in Norway in 1965, and has been a journalist with, and editor of, a couple of newspapers there. His CV lists him as being the media advisor of a Norwegian minister, a member of the parliamentary press club in Oslo, and the Goa representative of the Norway-India Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
His interests are diverse: he notes his promotion of the banjara (gypsy) cause; the Celtic association in Norway; and having been active with the Norwegian Pentecostals’ Work in Israel. He has lived in Goa for over a decade.
His two books are ‘The Jewish Martyrs of Old Goa: An Untold Story’ (Broadway, 2014) and ‘The Golden Age of Goa: Ruled by descendants of Queen Esther of the Bible 1310-1510 AD’ (Broadway, 2017).
Let us look at the second book first, because not only is it closer to us in time, but it also gives one a hint of how accurate – or otherwise – this Jewish connection with Goa could be.
In the book, Fjeld argues that in the 200 years before the Portuguese arrived in Goa (1310-1510), the then rulers of Goa, the Bahmanis “claimed to be descendants of [the] Jewish Queen Esther”.
He goes on to write: “Several rulers in 15th century Goa were from the independent kingdom of Gilan, located inside Persia. The most prominent of them [was] Mahmud Gawan Gilani. He might have become a Christian, before he was beheaded by his Muslim brethren in 1481. His slave from Georgia was elevated and became Sultan.”
Unbelievable, unknown and unrecognised facts from our history? Or flights of fantasy?
Fjeld argues that “the years between the rule of the Kadambas and the Portuguese” (1310 to 1510) is a little known period in Goan history. One of the rulers of this era, Mahmud Gawan Gilani, captured Goa in 1472. That too, without bloodshed. He ushered in radical administrative and fiscal reforms “which benefited the commonman”.
Fjeld’s work cites a lot of other studies – Cajetan Raposo’s PhD on the comunidades, Olivinho Gomes, professor Pratima Kamat, Pius Malekandathil, Ferishta (the Deccan sultans’ court historian Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astarabadi), Tome Pires (the apothecary of Prince Afonso in the late 15th century, and the author of the Suma Oriental, or The Eastern Account), Osmania-linked researchers’ studies on Mahmud Gawan who acquired Goa.
From the details, Fjeld draws conclusions, which are sometimes difficult to agree with. For instance: ‘bara-zann’, the 12-headman system of governing villages in parts of Goa, suggests to him a connection with Jews or Thomas Christians, for whom “the number 12 is important”.
He sees the comunidade ‘derrama’ as a form of tithes “a biblical concept known from the Hebrew Old Testament”. For him, the comunidade/gaunkaria system of not selling land, and land belonging to all is a “kind of village governance known in ancient Israel”.
While the Bahamani kingdom (1347-1527) emerged and grew, Fjeld argues, Goa “seem to be enjoying autonomy from the major powers”, and was portrayed as a protectorate of the Vijayanagar Empire by some.
Fjeld’s thesis is: The golden age of the four Gilanis in Goa lasted 30 years (1469-1502). The Gilani sultans of the Bahmani kingdom could have been “nominal followers of Islam”. And “the Bahmanis claimed they were successors of [the] Jewish Queen Esther….”
Fjeld tells us the Bahmani kingdom was “not a copy of the Sultanate of Delhi (1206 onward) nor its successor”, but very different. It was set up by migrants, some of them refugees. It governed through strategic alliances. He points to the role of the Gilanis (from the ancient independent kingdom of Gilan) in both Bahmani and Goan history.
(A wider accepted view is that the Gulbarga and Bidar-headquartered Bahamani Sultanate, the Sunni Muslim empire that ruled the Deccan Plateau in South India between 1347 and 1527, was probably founded by leaders of Afghan or Turk origin. One theory says the founder could have also been of Brahman origin. Understanding our own past can be complex indeed.)
Much focus goes to Mahmud Gawan Gilani, the man who captured Goa, and what Fjeld sees as the connections between “two kingdoms: Gilan and Goa”. To Fjeld, Yusuf Adil Shah was a Georgian slave. This is accepted by others, but he is also believed to have possibly been the son of the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, or of Persian or Turkmen origin.
Fjeld argues, if Georgian, he was likely Christian or Jew. He also goes on to speculate that Goa’s Gopakapattanam could be the Ophir, a land of gold and riches, mentioned in the Bible.
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In the next book, Fjeld claims that he “might have solved the mystery” about what happened to the Jewish settlement of Goa, a city that once had a Street of the Jews too.
As he puts it: “The truth about the rich Pre-Portuguese Judeo-Christian heritage of Goa has been hidden… There was a notable Jewish settlement that disappeared.”
Fjeld comes up with his own explanation for the motives behind the “Portuguese invasion of the Indian Ocean”. He says the word ‘Sabaio’ (used by the Portuguese to describe the pre-Portuguese ruler of Goa, Yusuf Adil Shah) needs to be decoded.
Likewise, his work takes us to the Rua dos Judeos in Ela and Old Goa, the ‘New Christians’ in the service of the Portuguese, and the presence of “Coptic crosses” on a church wall in Old Goa.
These are complex texts. Being a global centre of trade and commerce over the centuries, Goa indeed has had many connections with Jews in the past. They obviously came in as traders, builders of the Empires that ruled the region, men (and women) of skills in varied fields some of whom are still remembered here by Garcia da Orta, converts to other religions, both favoured and discriminated against by the powers that ruled.
But we still understand little about our history. So much so, that the claims made are either received uncritically, or largely ignored and un-discussed. There is a need to re-evaluate the past, but also question new claims coming up. One is not too sure that the many arguments made above are all that convincing. News reports have quoted from the same rather uncritically in the past though.