THE nature of the social composition of those who came to Asia explains this situation: Most were "unwanted" elements of the home society and sought compensations on reaching Asia. Hence, the false claims of nobility and other sorts of pretensions, which Pyrard de Laval described well in his XVII century travel account.

This was confirmed by an eminent Portuguese geographer who led a team of scholars to study Goan society in 1956. Orlando Ribeiro submitted a scientific report of his findings to Salazar, but it evoked no interest of the dictator. The report had to wait until this year to be made available to the public. It is a masterly description of Goan cultural identity in 1956.

A translation of it into English would be worthwhile for making it more accessible to the Goan public. After having visited most other Portuguese colonies overseas, he admits with sadness in his heart that he found Goa to be the least Portuguese in its cultural statements, even less than Guiné-Bissau! He has also the moral courage to admit that he found intelligent persons in Goa everywhere, with no trace of rudeness that was so common among the rural folks of Portugal!

National and international politics made it possible for the Goans to find themselves relieved of yet another phase of their historical evolution and to acquire a certain degree of political, economic and cultural freedom within the Indian Union. The change did not come about as a result of any large-scale and united efforts of the Goans themselves. Several Indians from all parts of the country gave their lives to achieve the freedom for Goa through their participation in the satyagraha movement and facing the Portuguese jails and machine guns, while some Goans residing abroad and calling themselves "Goa Freedom Movement" sought to turn the clock back in 1963 at the U.N. They were António da Fonseca (Paris-based Portuguese citizen), Leo Anthony de Souza (a Pakistani citizen!) Wolfgang Doss de Sousa, Romeo da Silva, M. da Gama Rose (East Africa-based) Sérgio L. Sirvoicar Mozambique-based) who appeared before a special 4th committee of U.N. General Assembly on Colonialism in December 1963, seeking a UN-sponsored solution of Goa case. António dos Martires Lopes, another Goan, in service of the Portuguese Administration before and after 1961, also worked hard in the same direction, seeking to debunk Goa's "liberation" through his speeches and writings published with the backing of the official Portuguese counter-information services.

In reality, few Goans fought vigorously or died for Goa's liberation, just as few Goans had fought to bring the Portuguese to Goa in the first place. Then they were all Hindus, now a mix of Hindus and Christians. To solve their internal feuds, Goans had more than once in their history welcomed foreign rulers, but these "friends" had almost always overstayed. Hence, Goan friendliness needs to be studied better as a trait of their long-term identity. It may be too simplistic to see in it a trait acquired from the Portuguese. And is it true that they learned from the Portuguese to sing, dance and drink? We have sufficient documentary proofs that Goans were paying tax on toddy-tapping when the Portuguese arrived, and quite a few Goans joined the military band of Afonso de Albuquerque soon after he conquered Goa. They could not have learnt overnight.

We could now turn to some reflections about the identity-related issues that bother the Goans today: As I understand it, the identity of any community is basically made up of its cultural uniqueness, including the environmental characteristics of the land of one's ancestors. The mother-tongue and the historical experiences of one's ancestral community are important constituents of that cultural heritage. In a recent issue of Goa Today, Chandrakant Keni, a leading Goan journalist and Konkani writer, suggests that Goans are those whose ancestors were born in Goa before 1961. What happens if parents or grandparents were of Goan origin and were born outside Goa before 1961? Was not the large-scale emigration of Goans a part of Goa's historical experience?

If Konkani language and love of the Goan soil are considered two essential components of Goan identity, cannot these other groups have them? I believe that Goans in diaspora generally have more concern and anxiety about preserving more accurately the Goan traditions that are changing or disappearing in Goa. It is no surprise if some old Goans in diaspora find that Goa of their childhood has disappeared! If he had continued to live in Goa and accompanied the change, the loss may not have been felt so poignantly as he did.

In the case of the inhabitants of Goa, or descendants of Goan ancestry, the Indian matrix of the heritage is always present in a more or less diluted form. Four hundred and fifty years of the Portuguese rule did not fail to leave its impress, be its positive marks or scars, not just upon the converted section of the population, but also upon the majority Hindu component of Goa's population. Had it not been for this historic input, would Goa have a chance to achieve the status of a State among other States of India? The fact that Goan Christians and Hindus are aware of their differences is no reason to deny what they share in common. Differences also exist among the different generations of the Goans, among Goans of different caste and gender groups, among Goans who lived always in Goa and Goan expatriates, or those who have adopted Goa as their home in the very recent past, among Goans with different economic standards, etc.

Besides the component of inherited cultural tradition, there are features which others attribute to Goans. This is the case of non-Goan Indians or foreigners who visit Goa. There are bound to result varying shades of "identity", neither is the emphasis always placed on the same components of it. Identity images are quite often engineered by interested groups, such as the images that were propagated by the Salazar regime, or that are propagated by the tourism industry today. They are also invented by some Indian bureaucrats and professionals who want to teach Goans to be less easy-going or to be less un-Indian! I was amused to read in the first issue of Govapuri (the successor review of the Boletim do Instituto Menezes Braganza) that Goans are largely a T-shirt wearing population! (p.18) The same writer, Arun Sinha, editor of the Goan daily newspaper The Navhind Times, seems upset that there are Goans who would fight for the recognition of Goa's "foreignness"! (p.20) It appears to me most undemocratic and un-Indian on his part that Goans who wish to think that way should not have their freedom to do so. It is also said of them that "they would refuse to accept Goa was wholly Indian". I wonder if the use of the past tense "was" is deliberate or a Freudian slip. One wonders if to be wholly Indian one has to chew pan and spit it all around or replace T-shirts or G-shorts with kurta-pajama or safari suit. Identity does not have a closed definition and it is open to changes brought about by ongoing historical processes. But at any given time there can be different in-group and out-group perceptions of the identity. These perceptions develop with reference to experiences of integration or exclusion within the group or by an outside group. There will be those who include only the virtues or positive features in the definition of identity. Similarly, there will be others who will give preference to negative features by way of a taunt!

Language and soil as other essential components of identity. Have not the Muslim and Portuguese rulers of Goa in the recent past contributed to the enrichment of the Goan Konkani? What happens to Goans in Goa, speaking the same language and attached to the soil, but with little or no concern, except during the election campaigns, for the serious disabilities suffered by various social groups, including women? Are such Goan rulers very different from the Muslim or Portuguese rulers only for being local and capable of using Konkani to insult the Goans? While trying to provoke reflection on these situations, I am convinced that the decisive battles for the survival of Goa's distinctiveness will always be fought on the Goan soil, with or without support of the Goans in diaspora. Let us not seek to hide the fact that the distinctiveness or identity issue is meant to serve as a rallying-point against those who may threaten the survival of the community, or some dominant interest group or groups of the community.

This brings me to the touchy issue of Goans and non-Goans, often referred to as ghanti or bhaile! First of all, I would rule out quick Orwellian type of generalizations and would not consider all bhaile as Goa's enemies. There are certainly several bhaile who have adopted Goa and could give lessons on Goan identity to many Goans. I read a letter to the editor of Goa Today in a recent issue complaining about the lethargy and corruption that have become a way of life in Goa. The writer of that letter could be taken as representing many others who think the same way. Are the Indian politicians outside Goa less lethargic and corrupt, leading us to conclude that Goan identity has been further enriched in this direction? Incidentally, I fail to understand how lethargy and corruption go together. Those who are corrupt are generally very active citizens of our country. The switching of party alliances and the rate of changes of chief ministers and governments in this Goa of the so-called "sossegado" people may soon require electronic machines to keep the count. That would make another Goan first in this country, after the first use of electronic machines in the recent Goan elections.

Tourism, we are told, brings nearly as many people as the total of resident Goans into Goa during some months of the year. Goa benefits from it and depends on it? It is but natural that it has to pay some price for it. If they have negative cultural impact, or impact on environment, it is up to the conscientious Goan politicians to check these negative influences. We should not fcomet at the same time, that perhaps more than the total number of resident Goans or tourists coming to Goa are the Goan expatriates or emigrants. Don't they absorb and transmit to Goa influences that could be considered contrary to traditional Goan identity? But are not the remittances of emigrants vital? Are not the expatriates beneficial to the good name of Goa internationally? Or at least a source of reduction of additional pressure on the limited or non-existent resources of Goa?

Fortunately, Goa has been exposed early to globalization, and the high degree of consciousness and resistance to its impact is a sign of its preparedness to resist its less positive impact.

Finally, while living now in Portugal since the past five years, I had occasions to observe the perceptions of Goan identity there. One has to distinguish the perceptions of Goans who have arrived in Portugal at different times, and of Goans belonging to different social strata or levels of social and economic integration in the host country. The visibility of a high level performance and integration of a few Goans tends to overshadow the differences or low levels of performance of most others (c.15,000).

Goans are generally viewed favourably by the Portuguese society. This is made possible by religious affinities, educational levels, widespread participation in liberal professions and administrative jobs. The same can be said of the few Goan Hindus in Portugal, whose intermarriage with Portuguese women and active involvement in the public and political life of Portugal, distinguish them from the thousands of Hindus (c. 12,000) and Muslims (c. 11,000) of non-Goan origin, who arrived in Portugal via Mozambique after 1975. How do Goans perceive themselves in Portugal? Caste prejudices are ever present. More than one cultural associations of Goans are based on subtle caste rivalries. Goans who have performed well and distinguished themselves do not show great interest in associating themselves with the "hoi-polloi" Goans. These in turn may hate this superiority complex of their country-cousins. But such behavioural patterns are not unknown in Goa itself. The expatriates feel it differently due to expectations they often entertain in different life contexts in their countries of adoption. But despite such and other in-group and out-group perceptions and reactions, no Goan would miss an opportunity to visit Goa, or taste a favourite Goan dish, or feel proud of what are perceived as the positive features of the Goan identity. Hence, the old Konkani proverb "Ghor-mogreak pormoll na" (The home jasmine has no fragrance), or another one which states: "Pott bhorta thuim ghor" (Where one fills one's belly, there is one's country) in no way deny the identity of Goans or their special feelings for Goa.

To conclude, I see as many facets of Goan identity as individuals who associate themselves with Goa, whatever the intensity of involvement, whatever the length of time, whether from inside or outside its geographical borders. The multi-faceted Goan identity accompanies the myriads of hearts and minds with their myriad talents and potentialities to keep Goa ever young, ever new.

(Concluded)

TEOTONIO R DE SOUZA (b. 1947) from Goa (Moira, Bardez). Completed primary and seminary studies (Saligao and Rachol, Goa) before joining the Society of Jesus in Belgaum in 1967. Teotonio obtained a Bachelor's degree in Theology and Licentiate degree in Philosophy at the Pontifical Atheneum (Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune) and acquired a Master's degree and a Doctorate in History from the University of Poona. In 1979, he took charge of the then newly established Xavier Centre of Historical Research in Goa, and was its Director until 1994. He was instrumental to obtain its recognition by the Goa University as Centre for Post-Graduate and Doctoral Research in 1986. Teotonio directed Ph.D. research in History at the Goa University till 1994 and decided to opt out of the Society of Jesus and the ministerial priesthood in 1994 to settle in Lisbon. Married Elvira A. Correia in 1995. Fellow of the Portuguese Academy of History since 1983, and since 1996, Professor and Head of the Department of History, and Director of the Centre for Asian Studies at the Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Lisbon. Collaborates since long in the projects of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and of the Fundacao Oriente. The publications include Medieval Goa (New Delhi, 1979), Goa to Me (New Delhi, 1994),Goa: Roteiro Histórico-Cultural (Lisboa, 1996), and several other edited books and over a hundred and twenty-five research articles (see at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503/teo_publ.

* 1. This text was my talk at the Colloquium of "Lusotopie" (Sorbonne, Paris), comanized in collaboration with the Department of Political Science at Goa University. 23-26 Feb, 1999.
2. Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Pela m?o de Alice: O social e o politico na pós-modernidade. Porto, ed. Afrontamento, 1997 (6th ed.), pp. 119-137.
3. José Pereira, Konkani: A Language. Dharwar, Karnatak University, 1971, pp. 65-69. Varde Valaulikar helped the recovery of the self-dignity or asmitai of Konkani language and its speakers. His Goenkaranchi Goyambhaili Vasnnuk, 1928, and Konknni Bhaxechem Zoit, 1930, contain his ideas about Goan cultural identity.
4. T.B. Cunha, Goa's Freedom

N.B: Please ensure that the above contents should not be utilised or quoted without reference to the author and to the occasion when it was presented.