Teotonio R. de Souza, "The Portuguese in the Goan Folklore", in Goa and Portugal: Their Cultural Links, New Delhi, Concept Publishing Company, 1997, pp. 183-197. is not necessary to depend upon the opinion of the colonized people to form a judgement of the weaknesses of the Portuguese
administration. There are many recorded views of other Europeans about it, and also of the Portuguese themselves. The Portuguese dailies dedicate lots of space to the incapacity of the Portuguese to manage anything there is to manage, and to their great ability to interfere into other people's business. These are not new habits, because the sixteenth century Portuguese chronicler and humanist João de Barros says it in his
Décadas da Ásia: "A Portuguese is hurt more by his neighbour being praised than his own deeds being forgotten." Nowadays, the Portuguese public accompanying the preparations for Expo-98 are much entertained by the political decisions and counter-decisions of their leaders. However, all admit the Portuguese skill to improvise. Probably, if it all ends up with happy results, it is because the expectations are never high. The Goan population had not failed to observe this trait of the Portuguese. They coined a
proverb for that:
Firngyachem kam' noveak vô Maiak (= The Portuguese do everything at the last moment. You will find them when the reaping season is on, or when the monsoons are about to start ).The Portuguese administration of
justice was the butt of most criticism. It was considered the most corrupt department of the Portuguese administration. Diogo do Couto, the founder-curator of the Portuguese historical archives in India wrote in his
Soldado Prático: "Here, he who has more power can have more justice, and this cobweb can only catch mosquitoes: a Gujarati is penalised for squatting to urinate; a hindu is put in irons for quarreling with another of his kind or abusing him; but if a favourite of the authorities or a wealthy person breaks open the safe of a Hindu and takes away his goods by force, that is a light matter and permissible." Hence a Konkani proverb that does not find anything worse to wish for an enemy than the Portuguese justice:
Goynchi neai tea gorar poddum (= May he be a victim of Goan justice). The administration of justice in Goa had become a profitable business for a host of
solicitors, and as described by the chronicler who succeeded Diogo do Couto, Goa had become a big academy of solicitors who made a good living by court-suing. António Bocarro states in the middle of the seventeenth century that Goans had developed a great penchant for court procedures and were pretty skilled in drafting the papers. He had calculated more than a thousand such solicitors who made their living in the city of Goa and the adjacent islands. He noticed that the Portuguese encouraged this business. There were more than six thousand cases pending in the courts at this time» The financial consequences of such an administration of justice are expressed in another Goan proverb:
Goynchi neai ani vaddhlelem cheddum sogleanchea ghorak nosai. (= Goan justice and a grown up girl no family would want) Both situations had one element in common, namely the uncertain costs. The dowry for marrying a grown up girl, and the fees of justice were equally worrysome.Not all the problems of the Goans were caused by the Portuguese. Many Goans felt the oppression of the
caste structure or of the traditional class structure. Many had changed their religion to escape from these structures and with the hope of improving their life conditions. The conflict was not necessarily between the higher and lower castes, but it occurred also within the two upper castes, namely brahmins and chardos, fighting for preheminence. Instead of reducing the caste differences after conversion, confraternities were created on caste-basis and with distinguishing colours. Mass conversions were preferred and so also the prervation of the social structure to avoid the problem of finding life partners. These considerations were responsible for the perpetuation of the caste system among the converts. The caste exclusivism is beautifully illustrated with an incident that seems to have occurred in the Guirim parish of Bardez in Goa. The parish had a confraternity of Jesus and another of O. Lady of Rosary. An old woman was being helped with spiritual assistance on her death bed. She was instructed to call upon the name of Jesus. She was indignant and replied angrily:
Jezú? Jezú nam! Jezú tencho! (Jesus? By means, he belongs to them) Obviously, she was of chardo caste, and the confraternity of Jesus was of the brahmins!
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