ARE THESE FROM THE PAGES OF TRUE HISTORY OF INDIA ?
J.K. SIVAN
I came across a book by one Mr Sita Ram Goel, the contents of which gave me the shock of my life. Are they true? If so, how many such grave facts remain unknown to most of us?? It is all about ST FRANCIS XAVIER SJ, The Man and His Mission by Sita Ram Goel.
What do we know about this St Xavier? Not much of what we should have known. There are many Colleges and educational institutions in which our children study bearing the name of this person, in many parts of the country. When I browsed, it was disgusting for me to know more about this Missionary. I had been so innocent and visited the place where his body still is preserved in Goa and would never have done it had it been known that he was instrumental in many Hindus being brutally converted to Christianity and many temples and idols were destroyed to pieces by this man. I will not regard him a saint anymore as all that I learnt about him appears to be bare facts. I give below what I learnt and some of you might know more than this.
Francis Xavier - Born 1505 in Navaare, Pyrennes. His friend, a Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola.
Portugese pirates made headway in Indian Ocean after Vasco da Gama sailed to Calicut in 1498. Seized Goa 1510.
Pope consulted Ignatious Loyola and recommended Loyola's friend Francis Xavier to spread the christianity mission in Goa
Xavier left Lisbon on April 7, 1541 and landed in Goa on May 6, 1542 and met the Portuguese governor Alfonso de Souza. got a salary of 4000 gold fanam. (rupees then). He founded College of St Paul to train missionaries and began planting Christianity in foreign lands.
In October, 1542 Xavier landed on the Coromandel Coast where the Portuguese had established themselves between 1518 and 1530.
The Missionaries promised help and protection to the the local Paravas engaged in pearl fishery the Paravas if they agreed to get baptised and convert to Christianity. The Paravas embraced Christianity in 1534. Instead of help, The Portuguese proved no better than Arabs, if not worse, than the Arabs. They extracted heavier taxes from the poor fishermen. One of these taxes was 4000 gold fanams to be paid annually for the slippers of the Queen of Portugal. Xavier paid no attention to their material plight. He was more concerned about their spiritual
condition. He found that they were still making and worshipping the images of their old Gods and Goddesses. He had to exert himself
considerably between 1542 and 1545 in order to “clean up” the Coromandel Coast.
1544 there was a quarrel between the princes of Travancore and some of them sought Portuguese help to fight among their kith and kin.
The Governor of Goa deputed Xavier to the court of the Tiruvadi Raja of Quilon. The Raja promised financial help and freedom to convert the fishermen along the Malabar Coast, provided the Portuguese sided with him. The Fishermen who refused to be baptised or apostatised were prevented from fishing and confiscated their boats
He met Anjiro (Yajiro), a Japanese who had committed murder in his native land and escaped. He was a fugitive from justice. Xavier took Anjiro to Goa in 1548 and trained this criminal to function as a missionary. Xavier came back to Goa in 1551. Xavier, inspired by the iconoclastic zeal of the monotheistic creeds, he was keen in destroying non Christian temples. Aided by frenzied mobs, the monks had destroyed thousands of non Christian temples all over. Xavier was unhappy, that though baptised in 1534, the Parava fisherman did not practice Christianity, and lived by making images of Hindu deities. All of them were worshipping these “evil spirits”according to Francis Xavier. When he came to know that some of the Paravas made an idol, he had the idols broken into a thousand pieces. In spite of all his advice someone persisted in making idols, he would have them punished by the patangatis (heads of Parava villages) or banished to another village.
Francis Xavier died on December 3, 1552, at the age of 46. His body is resting at a basilica which was once the famous Slaptakoteswarar temple they say? It is possible if above facts of Francis Xavier are true. Within the short time he lived, he had baptized about 30,000 hindus. Xavier was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1619, and canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. He is St Francis Xavier now.
Fearing destruction to the temple due to Muslim rulers attacking Goa frequently, the linga from the temple was shifted and buried in a paddy field to avoid it from being destroyed, and was later reinstalled back during the peaceful reign of the Vijayanagar empire.
The Saptakoteshwar Temple at Naroa was actually destroyed by the Portuguese during one of their invasions and the stone from the temple was used for the church building there. The remnants of the temple ruins are still visible in the chapel attached to the cemetery of the church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade or the Our Lady of Compassion Church at Divar.
The linga from the Saptakoteshwar temple was abandoned for quite a long period of time and was found near a well on the Divar island. It was used as a pulley for drawing the well water, the marks still distinct on the rope. The other side of the river bank was annexed by an ally of the Sultan of Bijapur, this chieftain played an important role in the rehabilitation of the linga on the river bank that was visibly hidden amidst a narrow valley. This village assumed the name of Nae Naroa, and now is popularly known as Naroa or Bicholim.
A new temple was born from an incident during Shivaji's reign. In 1664 when Shivaji (who had gone to offer prayers to the linga placed in a mud & thatch house) found a straw from the thatch roof fallen on his shoulder he immediately took it as a good omen and ordered the construction of the temple. It is built based on the typical contemporary Goan architecture, with only the lamp tower design being of a distinct variety. The linga itself is distinctive of a 'daralinga' type and made of polished tone. Sapthakoteswara Lord Siva's temple is one of the six great sites of temples of Lord Shiva in the Konkan area. It was built by the kings of Kadamba dynasty in 12th century.
The gold coins discovered at Chandor, Goa (old name: Chandraura, Chandrapura), Gopikapatna and other places of the kings Jayakeshi I, have on them the inscrition: “Saptakotishvaralabdha – Varaprasada” which means "with the grace of Lord Saptakotishwara", the family deity of Kadambas. These coins were often referred to as Saptakotisha-Gadyanakas
The temple was demolished in 1560 by the Portuguese (and a chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora De Candelaria was erected in its place[6]), the linga was used as a well shaft until some Hindus managed to rescue it. The idol was then smuggled across the river to Bicholim where it was installed in a brand new temple and revamped in 1668 by the Maratha Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The village of Narve is about 35 km (22 mi) from Panaji and can be reached by an interesting route that requires a ferryboat from the island of Divar.
What do we know about this St Xavier? Not much of what we should have known. There are many Colleges and educational institutions in which our children study bearing the name of this person, in many parts of the country. When I browsed, it was disgusting for me to know more about this Missionary. I had been so innocent and visited the place where his body still is preserved in Goa and would never have done it had it been known that he was instrumental in many Hindus being brutally converted to Christianity and many temples and idols were destroyed to pieces by this man. I will not regard him a saint anymore as all that I learnt about him appears to be bare facts. I give below what I learnt and some of you might know more than this.
Francis Xavier - Born 1505 in Navaare, Pyrennes. His friend, a Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola.
Portugese pirates made headway in Indian Ocean after Vasco da Gama sailed to Calicut in 1498. Seized Goa 1510.
Pope consulted Ignatious Loyola and recommended Loyola's friend Francis Xavier to spread the christianity mission in Goa
Xavier left Lisbon on April 7, 1541 and landed in Goa on May 6, 1542 and met the Portuguese governor Alfonso de Souza. got a salary of 4000 gold fanam. (rupees then). He founded College of St Paul to train missionaries and began planting Christianity in foreign lands.
In October, 1542 Xavier landed on the Coromandel Coast where the Portuguese had established themselves between 1518 and 1530.
The Missionaries promised help and protection to the the local Paravas engaged in pearl fishery the Paravas if they agreed to get baptised and convert to Christianity. The Paravas embraced Christianity in 1534. Instead of help, The Portuguese proved no better than Arabs, if not worse, than the Arabs. They extracted heavier taxes from the poor fishermen. One of these taxes was 4000 gold fanams to be paid annually for the slippers of the Queen of Portugal. Xavier paid no attention to their material plight. He was more concerned about their spiritual
condition. He found that they were still making and worshipping the images of their old Gods and Goddesses. He had to exert himself
considerably between 1542 and 1545 in order to “clean up” the Coromandel Coast.
1544 there was a quarrel between the princes of Travancore and some of them sought Portuguese help to fight among their kith and kin.
The Governor of Goa deputed Xavier to the court of the Tiruvadi Raja of Quilon. The Raja promised financial help and freedom to convert the fishermen along the Malabar Coast, provided the Portuguese sided with him. The Fishermen who refused to be baptised or apostatised were prevented from fishing and confiscated their boats
He met Anjiro (Yajiro), a Japanese who had committed murder in his native land and escaped. He was a fugitive from justice. Xavier took Anjiro to Goa in 1548 and trained this criminal to function as a missionary. Xavier came back to Goa in 1551. Xavier, inspired by the iconoclastic zeal of the monotheistic creeds, he was keen in destroying non Christian temples. Aided by frenzied mobs, the monks had destroyed thousands of non Christian temples all over. Xavier was unhappy, that though baptised in 1534, the Parava fisherman did not practice Christianity, and lived by making images of Hindu deities. All of them were worshipping these “evil spirits”according to Francis Xavier. When he came to know that some of the Paravas made an idol, he had the idols broken into a thousand pieces. In spite of all his advice someone persisted in making idols, he would have them punished by the patangatis (heads of Parava villages) or banished to another village.
One day when he heard that idols had been worshipped in the house of a Christian, he ordered the hut to be burned down as a warning to others “When the whole village was baptised, Xavier would get them to pull down their village temple and break into small pieces the idols it contained.” He did this at a time the Tiruvadi Raja of Quilon had given him 2000 fanams to build churches. The poor fishermen were in no position to resist him because the Portuguese pirates were always at hand to assist the missionary. Xavier took great delight in what he had done in Malabar.
On February 8, 1545, Francis Xavier wrote to the Society of Jesus: “Following the baptisms, the new Christians return to their homes and come back with their wives and families to be in their turn prepared for baptism. After all had been baptised, I order that the temples of the false Gods be pulled down and idols broken. I know not how to describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down and destroying the idols by the very people who formerly worshipped them.”
Belgium scholar Dr. Koenraad Elst has pointed out, anti-brahminism is as evil a prejudice as anti-Semitism—though that seems not yet to have registered in the Indian psyche.
FRANCIS XAVIER wrote to Rome thus: “There are in these parts among the pagans a class of men called Brahmins. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and to whom applies the Psalm which says: ‘From an unholy race, and wicked and crafty men, deliver me, Lord.’ IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE BRAHMINS, WE SHOULD HAVE ALL THE HEATHENS EMBRACING OUR FAITH.”
Xavier's colleague in this mission of Christianising the Hindus was Miguel Vaz, the Vicar General of India appointed by Rome. In consultation with Xavier, Vaz wrote a long letter to the King of Portugal in November 1545. .......“Since idolatry is so great an offence against God, as is manifest to all, it is just that your Majesty should not permit it within your territories and an order should be promulgated in Goa to the effect that in the whole island there should not be any temple public or secret; contravention thereof should entail grave penalties; that no official should make idols in any form, neither of stone, nor of wood, nor of copper, nor of any other metal; ... and that persons who are in charge of St. Paul's should have the power to search the houses of the Brahmins and other Hindus, in case there exists a presumption or suspicion of the existence of idols there (Joseph Wicki,Documenta Indica , Vol. 1).” On March 8, 1547 the King ordered his Viceroy at Goa that all Hindu temples should be destroyed........
Francis Xavier died on December 3, 1552, at the age of 46. His body is resting at a basilica which was once the famous Slaptakoteswarar temple they say? It is possible if above facts of Francis Xavier are true. Within the short time he lived, he had baptized about 30,000 hindus. Xavier was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1619, and canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. He is St Francis Xavier now.
The Saptakoteshwar temple at Narve is considered to be one of the six great sites of temples of Lord Shiva in the Konkan area. The village of Narve is located about 35 kilometers from Panaji and can be reached via an interesting route which requires a a ferryboat from the island of Divar. The Lord Siva here is the deity of the Kings of the Kadamba dynasty around the twelfth century. Coins found from this era mention the name of the deity along with that of the King Jayakeshi.
In 1352, when the Kadamba kingdom was conquered by the Bahamani Sultan Allauddin Hasan Gangu who ruled Goa for about fourteen years. A number of temples were destroyed during this period and the Linga (symbol of Lord Shiva) at the Saptakoteshwar temple was also dug up by the troops. In 1367, the army of Vijayanagar King Hariharraya defeated the Bahamani Sultan’s troops in Goa and managed to restore most of the temples to their former glory including that of Saptakoteshwar. After the Portuguese conquest, in the year 1540 during the years of the Inquisition, once again the Linga at the temple was removed and misused. Soon afterwards, it was smuggled away by one of the locals named Narayan Shenvi Suryarao and taken to a place called Latambarsem where it remained for 3 years. In 1543, it was installed in a temple near the island of Divar. The great Maratha King Shivaji conquered the area in 1664 driving away the Portuguese in 1668.
SIVAJI MAHARAJA ORDERED the Saptakoteshwar temple at Narve to be REBUILT AND THE LINGA INSTALLED IN PROPER PLACE. The STONE INSCRIPTION IS STILL THERE TODAY EVIDENCING THIS.
The legend behind the name Saptakoteshwar is also quite interestg. According to the legend, seven holy sages once set out to pray to Lord Shiva near the place where five holy rivers met the sea. They prayed for seven crore years at the end of which, Lord Shiva appeared to grant their wishes and agreed to stay at the place in one of his incarnations. This incarnation is known as Saptakoteshwar (sapt means seven and koteshwar means lord of crores).
The Saptakoteshwar Temple in Goa was at Divar is located at Narve in Bicholim which is 37 kms from Panjim. The frequent raids on Goa in the 14th Century mostly by the Sultans of Delhi and the Bahmanis, was one of the main reasons for the destruction of Hindu temples in Goa.
In 1352, when the Kadamba kingdom was conquered by the Bahamani Sultan Allauddin Hasan Gangu who ruled Goa for about fourteen years. A number of temples were destroyed during this period and the Linga (symbol of Lord Shiva) at the Saptakoteshwar temple was also dug up by the troops. In 1367, the army of Vijayanagar King Hariharraya defeated the Bahamani Sultan’s troops in Goa and managed to restore most of the temples to their former glory including that of Saptakoteshwar. After the Portuguese conquest, in the year 1540 during the years of the Inquisition, once again the Linga at the temple was removed and misused. Soon afterwards, it was smuggled away by one of the locals named Narayan Shenvi Suryarao and taken to a place called Latambarsem where it remained for 3 years. In 1543, it was installed in a temple near the island of Divar. The great Maratha King Shivaji conquered the area in 1664 driving away the Portuguese in 1668.
SIVAJI MAHARAJA ORDERED the Saptakoteshwar temple at Narve to be REBUILT AND THE LINGA INSTALLED IN PROPER PLACE. The STONE INSCRIPTION IS STILL THERE TODAY EVIDENCING THIS.
The legend behind the name Saptakoteshwar is also quite interestg. According to the legend, seven holy sages once set out to pray to Lord Shiva near the place where five holy rivers met the sea. They prayed for seven crore years at the end of which, Lord Shiva appeared to grant their wishes and agreed to stay at the place in one of his incarnations. This incarnation is known as Saptakoteshwar (sapt means seven and koteshwar means lord of crores).
The Saptakoteshwar Temple in Goa was at Divar is located at Narve in Bicholim which is 37 kms from Panjim. The frequent raids on Goa in the 14th Century mostly by the Sultans of Delhi and the Bahmanis, was one of the main reasons for the destruction of Hindu temples in Goa.
Fearing destruction to the temple due to Muslim rulers attacking Goa frequently, the linga from the temple was shifted and buried in a paddy field to avoid it from being destroyed, and was later reinstalled back during the peaceful reign of the Vijayanagar empire.
The Saptakoteshwar Temple at Naroa was actually destroyed by the Portuguese during one of their invasions and the stone from the temple was used for the church building there. The remnants of the temple ruins are still visible in the chapel attached to the cemetery of the church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade or the Our Lady of Compassion Church at Divar.
The linga from the Saptakoteshwar temple was abandoned for quite a long period of time and was found near a well on the Divar island. It was used as a pulley for drawing the well water, the marks still distinct on the rope. The other side of the river bank was annexed by an ally of the Sultan of Bijapur, this chieftain played an important role in the rehabilitation of the linga on the river bank that was visibly hidden amidst a narrow valley. This village assumed the name of Nae Naroa, and now is popularly known as Naroa or Bicholim.
A new temple was born from an incident during Shivaji's reign. In 1664 when Shivaji (who had gone to offer prayers to the linga placed in a mud & thatch house) found a straw from the thatch roof fallen on his shoulder he immediately took it as a good omen and ordered the construction of the temple. It is built based on the typical contemporary Goan architecture, with only the lamp tower design being of a distinct variety. The linga itself is distinctive of a 'daralinga' type and made of polished tone. Sapthakoteswara Lord Siva's temple is one of the six great sites of temples of Lord Shiva in the Konkan area. It was built by the kings of Kadamba dynasty in 12th century.
The gold coins discovered at Chandor, Goa (old name: Chandraura, Chandrapura), Gopikapatna and other places of the kings Jayakeshi I, have on them the inscrition: “Saptakotishvaralabdha – Varaprasada” which means "with the grace of Lord Saptakotishwara", the family deity of Kadambas. These coins were often referred to as Saptakotisha-Gadyanakas
The temple was demolished in 1560 by the Portuguese (and a chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora De Candelaria was erected in its place[6]), the linga was used as a well shaft until some Hindus managed to rescue it. The idol was then smuggled across the river to Bicholim where it was installed in a brand new temple and revamped in 1668 by the Maratha Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The village of Narve is about 35 km (22 mi) from Panaji and can be reached by an interesting route that requires a ferryboat from the island of Divar.
These historical facts to be remembered;
Portuguese troops conquered Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510, AND FORCIBLY CONVERTED THOUSANDS OF HINDUS to Christianity.
1540,- THEY DESTROYED due to fanaticism 300 ancient Hindu temples,
1545, - FRANCIS XAVIER the fanatical priest, petitioned the Portuguese Crown to establish the Inquisition (Government authorised strict enforcement of heresy, torture). Once the king’s approval had been secured, the former Hindu population of Goa, as well as the hundreds of secret Jews living there, found themselves at the complete mercy of the Church. Simply keeping a statue of Shiva in a family shrine, or whispering a Hebrew prayer over the grave of a loved one, became a serious criminal offence. Those who were practicing their old beliefs in secret were summarily arrested and tortured in dungeons, kept in shackles by priests hoping to force them to divulge the names of friends and family members who had joined them in their ‘heretical’ practices. Prisoners who refused to identify others or give up their beliefs in Hindu or Jewish ‘sorcery’ were strangled by executioners or burnt alive in public Acts of Faith – from 1560 all the way up to 1812, when the Inquisition was finally abolished. Francis Xavier was responsible for the torture of tens of thousands of Hindus and Jews, had been canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 and made a Saint of all the missions of the Catholic Church.
