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Oct-28-2008
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"When I think of all the harm the Bible has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it"
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish author:
In order to accelerate the process of Christianising of the Hindus and the demolition of Hindu temples, one of the associates of St. Francis Xavier, Minguel Vaz, the then Vicar General of India appointed by the Pope in Rome, requested the King of Portugal as part of his 41 Point Programme to destroy all Hindu Temples in October 1546 as follows: "Since idolatry is so great and 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 Hindu 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 idols there".
Inquisition of Goa: Atrocities on Hindus by missionaries in Goa - Part I
Inquisition of Goa: Atrocities on Hindus by missionaries in Goa - Part II
Inquisition of Goa: Atrocities on Hindus by missionaries in Goa - Part III
Consequently on March 8, 1547, the King of Portugal ordered his Viceroy at Goa that all the Hindu temples should be destroyed forthwith. Minguel Vaz even before the receipt of this formal order had commenced the operation of destruction of Hindu temples. Consequently there was a Hindu uprising and the Hindus succeeded in poisoning him to death. Following the example of Minguel Vaz, similar orders for destruction of Hindu temples were issued by Viceroy D. Antao de Noronha on 29 August 1556. In March 1569, an order was promulgated by which, the income of the Hindu temples of Bardez and Salsete, which had been destroyed by the Jesuits, was transferred to Christian Churches. The Hindu inhabitants of that region were called and asked to disclose under Oath "information" about the properties attached to the temples and upon their due compliance with this order, the entire temple properties were transferred to the Churches (Source: A K Priolkar - The Goa Inquisition, page no.85). At many places the temples were destroyed and the Churches were built in those places. Thus we can see that the Jesuit Inquisitors in Goa were only following the path of Muslim marauders like Mohammed of Ghori, Allaudin Khilji, Babur and Aurangazeb. Babur built his Babri Masjid at the site that became available after his planned destruction of the Sri Ram Temple at Ayodhya in 1528. Likewise, the Jesuits of Goa also erected Churches on destroyed temple sites in hundreds of places throughout Goa from 1560 to 1812. For example according to the Imperial Gazetteer of British India "The Church of Cortalim is erected on the same site where formerly the idol of Mangesh was worshipped by the Hindus. Some missionary records refer to many famous Hindu temples being converted into Churches at these places". According to Sitaram Goel "A magnificent Hindu temple in the Elephanta Caves was turned into a Chapel".
Throughout Portuguese Rule in Goa, various Viceregal and Church Council decrees banished the Hindu priests from the Portuguese territories. The public practice of Hindu rites including marriage rites was banned. Only Christians were preferred in public employment. The Government ensured that the Hindus would not harass those who became Christians; yet at the same time and to the contrary, the Hindus were forced to assemble periodically in Churches to listen to Christian preaching or to the refutation of the Hindu religion. Perhaps because of all these anti-Hindu acts, Mahatma Gandhi wrote very clearly in his autobiography "The Story of My Experiments with Truth": "I had started disliking Christianity. This was not without any reason. Those days Christian missionaries used to stand in a corner near the High School in Rajkot and used disgraceful words against Hindus and their Gods/Goddesses. I could not bear this". In fact not only Gandhiji, no self-respecting Hindu can bear this.
Immediately after the establishment of Portuguese Rule in Goa, a number of ANTI-HINDU LAWS were enacted, and most of them, during the period of Holy Inquisition in Goa from 1560 to 1812. What is worse, all of them were strictly and often ruthlessly implemented to punish the Hindus and more particularly the
Brahmins. What is surprising and even shocking to note is that, some of those inhuman laws were very much in force till the Portuguese territories were liberated by the Government of India on 19 December 1961. I would like to present a summary of all such Anti-Hindu Laws under different heads.
I. Banishment of the Hindus:
a.The Brahmins and the Goldsmiths were the most tortured lot. On April 2, 1560, the Viceroy ordered that the Brahmins should be thrown out of the island of Goa and the lands and fortresses of the King of Portugal.
b.On November 27, 1563, a Law was passed to the effect that all Hindu physicians, carpenters, blacksmiths, shop keepers were asked to sell the property and leave the Portuguese territory.
c. The III Concillo Provincial held in 1585 passed the resolution to the effect that the Archbishop should obtain information annually regarding Brahmins and other infidels who might be prejudicial to the conversion to Christianity so that they may be punished.
II. Ban against the performance of Hindu rites and ceremonies like marriages
a.On March 13, 1613 and again on January 31, 1620 Laws were enacted imposing a blanket ban on Hindu Rites and Ceremonies.
b.In 1585, III Concillo Provincial recommended to the King that those Hindus who wore sacred threads should be forbidden to do so. They should also be forbidden to initiate their sons in wearing sacred threads. The same ban orders were re-issued by the Jesuits in Goa in 1640 and 1680.
III. Ban on the Hindu Priests.
This was achieved through a Law enacted on 1 December 1567.
IV. Compelling the Hindus to listen to Christian Doctrines
On December 4, 1567, and also again on January 1, 1715, it was ordered that "All Hindus should come with their families to places assigned for the purpose to listen to the preachings of the Holy Gospel". (Source: J H Cunha Rivara, A Inquisico de Goa, Vol. 1, Lisbon, Page 69 and Priolkar Page 123)
V. Depriving the Hindus of their Rights and Privileges.
On December 11, 1573, the Governor enacted a Law, which deprived the Hindus of their traditional rights, and privileges, including their right to receive Jonoa i.e. share in the income of the village community.
VI. Cultural Discrimination against the Hindus.
On December 15, 1572, the Viceroy ordered that the Hindu Pundits and Physicians should not move in the city on horse back or in "andores" - a kind of sedan chair or "palki". Any Hindu who violated this provision was punished ruthlessly. In short Hindus were converted into slaves.
VII. Hindus Prohibited to Employ Christian labourers
a.In 1731, the Viceroy ordered that the Christian Bolas (Bearers of Palki) should not carry the Hindus. The Archbishop actually excommunicated Christian Bolas who carried two famous Hindu businessmen (Priolkar 141).
b.The Christian agricultural labourers were forbidden to work in the fields owned by the Hindus. Parallely the Hindu landowners were prohibited to employ Christian labourers.
VIII. Hindus Deprived of the Employment
a.In June 1557, the King D.Joao ordered that no Government Official should utilise the services of the Brahmins or other infidels and contrary to this, the Official will lose his job and the Brahmin will become captive and lose all property.
b.All jobs were given to the Christians and not to the Hindus.
c.On April 3, 1582, a Royal Decree was re-issued that no Hindu whatever be his status or condition, should hold any public office.
d.All Christian officials were forbidden from utilising the services of Brahmins or other Hindus.
IX. Social Discrimination Against the Hindus
Francois Pyrard has stated that the Hindus and the converted Indian Christians were not admitted into the Royal Hospital of Goa.
X. Racial Discrimination against the Hindus.
All kinds of racial discrimination against the Hindus were officially authorised by the King of Portugal.
XI.Burning and Censorship of Indigenous Hindu Literature:
In order to suppress the knowledge of Dharma and Culture of the Hindus and exterminate the indigenous literature in Marathi, Konkani or any local dialect, various repressive measures were adopted.
a.Special Officers known as Qualificadores were appointed to examine the books published by the Hindus before printing and care was taken to see that they contained nothing against the Catholic Faith.
b.A list of prohibited Hindu books was maintained. According to the Holy Inquisition Manual, it was a crime to possess and read the prohibited books.
c.The boxes containing prohibited books were carried in procession during the Auto da Fe and burnt.
d.All Sanskrit and Marathi books, whatever may be their subject matter, were seized and burnt on the suspicion that they might deal with idolatry.
e.To promote the Portuguese language, at the expense of local languages, the Portuguese established Colleges at Angamali and Cochin for educating Malabar Christians in the Roman Faith and also the knowledge of Portuguese and Latin Languages.
In Short, the Jesuits and the Inquisitors of the Holy Inquisition against the Hindus in Goa wanted to exterminate all the indigenous languages and replace them with Portuguese language. Cunha Rivara, in his brilliant "Historical Essay on Konkani Language" has rightly given this verdict: "The Holy Inquisition cannot be absolved from a large share in the persecution of the Vernacular languages.... The Whole system of the Inquisition aimed not only at the extirpation of superstitious or idolatrous beliefs, but also of innocent usages and customs retaining even a trace of the Asiatic Society, which existed prior to the conquest by the Portuguese. Consequently, the LANGUAGE was also involved in this prescription".
To sum up, undoubtedly the Goa Inquisition was marked by an unparalleled barbarism, inhumanism and fanaticism, which the Hindus suffered for two hundred and fifty two years under the tyrannical Portuguese Rule from 1560 to 1812. It is shameless dishonesty and downright criminal knavery to say that the Christian Doctrine had nothing to do with the atrocities practiced in Goa, Bengal and elsewhere under Portuguese dispensation.
The Story of the Holy Inquisition against the Hindus in Goa is a dismal record of Christian callousness, barbarism and cruelty; tyranny and injustice; espionage and blackmail; avarice and corruption, repression of Hindu thought and culture, and promotion of obscurantism. The conversion of Hindus of Goa to Christianity was one of the main activities of the Portuguese Rulers in close association with the Missionaries -- Society of Jesus, Franciscans and others. Fraud, force and favouritism were the standard methods of "saving souls" or "conversion" employed by the Christian missionaries in Goa. From available data we can see that more than 200,000 Hindus were tortured and killed and more than 500,000 Hindus were forcibly converted to Christianity from 1560 to 1812.
In order to promote "conversion" of the Hindus, a number of laws and orders were introduced to provide financial and non-financial incentives, inducements, economic privileges and property rights to the new "Christian converts" at the cost of Hindus during the UNHOLY PERIOD of the Holy Inquisition in Goa for 252 years from 1560. The "new converts" were preferred in all Government jobs, promotions in public services, social status and honours. The new converts were encouraged and even forced to adopt Portuguese culture, dress and language and abandon their own ancient indigenous language and culture. I am giving below one or two examples cited by A K Priolkar in his book "The Goa Inquisition" (1961):
1.On June 15, 1557, the Governor of Goa passed a law to the effect that Hindu widows and daughters, who otherwise are not entitled for ancestral property, would inherit the estate if they became Christians, and if they did not, the nearest relatives who became Christians would get that advantage.
2.On September 22, 1570, it was decreed that the Hindus who embraced Christianity would be exempted from land tax for a period of 15 years. This order was extended from time to time till 1812.
A K Priolkar rightly concludes: "Scholars are generally agreed that the Holy Inquisition of Goa earned a sinister renown as the most pitiless in the whole of Christendom".
Lord Byron (1788-1824) wrote:
"Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded, That all the APOSTLES would have done as they did".
In this context, I would summarise below the Teachings of the only Son of God
Jesus Christ as documented in the Christian Bible.
Source: Oxford Dictionary p 1249, p 792
New Testament is the second part of the Christian Bible.
Gospel is the record of Jesus Christ"s life and teachings in the first four books of the New Testament.
Jesus Christ"s statements as documented by his chief disciple Saint Matthew in the 1 st Gospel of New Testament in the Christian Bible.
SOURCE: Oxford Dictionary p 1143, p 77
St Matthew was an Apostle, and the author of the first Gospel.
Each of the twelve chief disciples of Jesus Christ is an Apostle.
SOURCE: Christian Bible New Testament
St. Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 10:35: For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against the mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 12:30 He that is not with me is against me.
The above Gospel of St.Mathew was validated by Saint Luke in the 3 rd Gospel of the New Testament in the Christian Bible.
SOURCE: Oxford Dictionary p 1099.
St. Luke 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house DIVIDED, three AGAINST two, and two AGAINST three. 12:53: The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
The above teachings of St. Matthew and St. Luke were revalidated by Chief Disciple St. Thomas in the Gospel of Thomas. In letter and spirit, we can see the same message repeated in Deuteronomy (V book of the Bible). The ways in which those who believe in other Gods must be tortured and put to death have been detailed in graphic detail in Deuteronomy 32:24.
ISAIAH was a major Hebrew Prophet. Isaiah is a book of Bible containing his prophecies.
Isaiah 13:16 Their Children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished (*raped).
We can see from Maanoj Rakhit"s explosive book "Christianity in a different Light" how the above teachings have shaped the conduct of the Christians in Goa, in other parts of India and Asia, Africa and Latin America during the last 1000 years. In Goa and in the rest of India, St.Francis Xavier acted according to the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Thomas and St. Luke and many other Catholic Saints in letter and spirit. It was he who targeted the Hindus of Goa and later India and more particularly the Brahmins. For illustration, let me quote the words from an article of Rajiv Srinivasan (Source: The Empire of the Soul, Paul William Roberts, Harper Collins, 1999 quoted in the Saint Business, Rajiv Srinivasan, Hindu Voice, in November 2003, page 4): "Children were flogged and slowly dismembered (*tear or cut limb from limb) in front of their parents, whose (*parents") eyelids had been sliced off (*so they couldn"t close their eyes) to make sure they missed nothing. Extremities (*the hands and feet) were amputated carefully, so that a person could remain conscious even when all that remained was a torso (*the trunk of the human body) and head. Male genitals were removed and burned in front of wives, breasts hacked off and vaginas penetrated by swords while husbands were forced to watch... And it went on for two hundred years." (Page 27 of Maanoj Rakhit"s Book referred to above).
Every enlightened Hindu in India is fully aware of the fact that the Christian Church in India does not want to severe its ties with its foreign masters even 61 years after the British have left our soil. In order to survive and to consistently prey upon the heathen pagans as part of an organised campaign for what they call "Harvesting of Souls," the church establishment in India has no other option but to continue to receive a steady flow of cash or bigoted missionaries or both into India from abroad. Most of them are indulging in disgraceful acts of national subversion and national sabotage. THE HINDUS OF ORISSA HAVE RISEN IN OPEN REVOLT AGAINST THE SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES OF CONVERSION RESORTED TO BY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES AND CHRISTIAN ORGANISATIONS LIKE WORLD VISION.....ETC.
I fully endorse the views of VHP President Ashok Singhal "The Pope from Vatican City has no right to interfere in India"s internal affairs in Orissa. There is a huge and endless flow of foreign Funds to Orissa and over 100 Christian NGOs are operating in Kandhamal and elsewhere in the State and their role in conducting forcible religious conversion should be probed. The nefarious role of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Radhakant Nayak (formerly an IAS Officer) in this conspiracy is well known and he should be arrested".
Ashok Singhal has stated the whole truth. In these columns on December 28 2007, in my article titled "Attack on Swami Lakshmanananda by Christian mob in Orissa", I had observed: "The real and dastardly truth about Orissa has been brought out eloquently by Radha Rajan. Let us hear her words of primordial fire and not secular Sonia fireworks: "This by-now habitual twisted coverage of events in Orissa by the print and electronic media calls for some Hindu plain-speaking. One name keeps cropping up repeatedly - that of Congress Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, Radhakanta Nayak. He is being projected as the leader of the Christians in the locality; what is being consciously hidden from public gaze is that this Christian also heads World Vision in India".
Rabidly "Communal" Congress Party has said on Friday (12-9-2008) that "There is a deliberate attempt to "communalise" society in different parts of the country. What we are witnessing in States like Orissa most recently is a carefully orchestrated ploy by the BJP and its sister organisations to inflame religious prejudices and passions. We must expose the mischievous designs of the Sangh Parivar and fight to rubbish the malicious propaganda". Sonia Gandhi made no reference to the killing of Swami Lakshmanananda in Orissa.
The very next day (13-9-2008) the "secular" and "compassionate" forces of Indian Mujahideen patriotically responded to the clarion call for "communal harmony" made by super-secular UPA by carrying out their "planned and peaceful bomb blasts" not in a remote village in Assam but in a Congress ruled capital city of New Delhi. We will not be wrong in our "communal" (!) inference that perhaps the disgraceful Justice Sachar of infamous Sachar Committee might already have been directed to gather details at once about the number of Muslims who have lost their lives and limbs and hands in the Islamic blasts in New Delhi in Sept-13-2008. Hindus of India have no doubt that pseudo-secular Media would be working round the clock, to somehow implicate the Sangh Parivar in these "secular" bomb blasts!! Three cheers for Communal Secularism!!
(Concluded)
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