- The Goa Inquisition (book)
:"Note : This article is about an academic publication. For details on the actual Goa Inquisition see
Goa Inquisition "Infobox Book
name = The Goa Inquisition
title_orig =
translator =
image_caption =
author = Anant Kakba Priolkar
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country =India
language = English
series =
subject =Goa Inquisition
genre =
publisher =Bombay University Press
release_date = 1961
english_release_date =
media_type =
pages = 264
isbn = 978-0836427530
preceded_by =
followed_by =The Goa Inquisition, Being a Quatercentenary Commemoration Study of the Inquisition in India is a book published by Bombay University Press and authored by Indian historian
Anant Priolkar . It provides the most comprehensive account of theGoa Inquisition held by Portuguese colonialists inGoa ,India in the 16th century and details the wholesale massacres ofHindus ,Muslims ,Indian Jews and non-Catholic Indian Christians by the Portuguese inquisitors.Details
The book is divided into two parts.Part I, titled "The Goa Inquisition", is divided into ten chapters. The first two chapters detail the
Spanish Inquisition andPortuguese Inquisition in Europe providing background material and context that would lead to the inquisition in India. It explains theanti-Semitic hatred developed forMarranos Jewish people in Europe by the Inquisitors that would lead them to slaughter theIndian Jews during theGoa Inquisition . Chapter 3 begins with the advent of the Inquisition in India, with discussion of Dr. Dellon's account of the inquisition in Chapter 4.The chapters describe the wars that led to the establishment of Portuguese colonial rule inGoa , and the massacres ofHindus andMuslims during the war, typically involving mass-murders in villages,mass drownings of Muslims in rivers and other similar acts.Successive chapters in Part I describe the forced conversion ofHindus to Christianity by the Inquisition, the evolution of the policy of Christian persecution in India. The book details the organization and procedures of the Inquisition and theanti-Hindu laws that were passed in Goa during the inquisition banning Hindu religious ceremonies and customs, as well as reducing the Status of Hindus into second-class citizens by banning them from public gatherings and so on. The 9th chapter discusses the various methods of torture used on Hindus, Muslims and Jews by the Inquisition, such as burning bySulphur , Water-torture, rape, the use of pulleys to stretch victims and the "strappado" method of torture. Chapter 10 discusses the Jurisdiction and Authority of the Inquisition of Goa.Part II discusses the accounts of the Inquisition given by Dellon and Buchanan in two separate chapters.
Peer Reviews
The book was very well-reviewed by his peers. Gerald M. Moser of
Penn State University said that the book was an authoritative work on the event based on accounts of European travellers and Portuguese historiansReview of TheGoa Inquisition , Being a Quatercentenary Commemoration Study of the Inquisition in India by Gerald M Mosser, Journal of American Oriental Society,84.4 (1964)] . The book was written one year prior to the liberation ofGoa from Portuguese occupation by India, so it "reopened old wounds, recalling the dismal record of European religious intolerance" in India "through the most pitiless inquisition of Christendom". Priolkar did not exaggerate the intolerant zeal of the Christian Missionaries, nor did he try to understand it.References
Editions
* Priolkar, A.K 1961, "The Goa Inquisition, Being a Quatercentenary Commemoration Study of the Inquisition in India", Bombay University.
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