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their estates on only to a relative who had embraced Christianity.
Finally, in 1560, all the Brahmins who were left were simply kicked
out.
The missionaries obviously had no idea how resilient Hinduism
could be, and indeed is. It had survived Islam's scimitar, and it would
survive the sword that so much resembled the cross in whose service
it was now employed. There had once been over two hundred
temples on the islands, and although every single one had been
demolished, some of the idols had been saved. These were hauled
out to the dense jungles of Bicholim and Ponda, beyond the borders
of Goa, and installed in new temples. Although orders forbidding
all Hindus from visiting these temples were issued, the borders
were not well patrolled, and it was easy for whole families to slip
through to attend wedding ceremonies or sacred thread rites.
Another law, making it 'a serious offence to fashion, or even
privately retain Hindu religious objects' was similarly
circumvented. Since houses were frequently searched without
warning, Hindus started making paper cut-outs of their gods that
could be speedily destroyed if the need arose. To this day, during the
great Ganesh festival, for example, instead of the terracotta idols of
the elephant god that other Hindus worship, the Manai Kamats of
Panjim use paper silhouettes.
Death was no easier than life for Hindus in mid-sixteenth-
century Goa. The cruellest piece of legislation passed by the
Portuguese prohibited cremation of the dead - an inviolably sacred
part of Hindu faith. As a result, deaths had to be kept secret; the
wailing grief of women had to be smothered; family members had
to go about their business as if nothing had happened: children sent
out to play, bazaars visited, washing done, work performed - all as
usual. No suspicions could be aroused, and known informers had
to be paid off, prying neighbours kept at bay.
In the dead of night a boat would be loaded with firewood down
on the riverbank; then the dead body would be placed on it, covered
by more wood. The pyre would be set alight and the boat pushed
out to drift on the river's current as the funeral party ran back into
the safety of shadows. Naturally, the watchtower guards could hardly
fail to notice the floating inferno. Whipped up by the sea winds, the
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