CHARTER

of Usages and Customs

of

The ‘Gaunkars’ and Farmers of this Island of Goa, and 

Others Annexed to it

Dom João (King John III), by the grace of God, King of Portugal and the Algarves, hither and beyond the seas in Africa. Lord of Guinea and of the conquest, navigation, trade and commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India.

To those who see this our Charter granted to the ‘Gaunkars‘, farmers, and lessees, residents and settlers of the Villages and Islands of our city of Goa;

We hereby make it known that by means of inspections and investigations ordered to be done by us for justification and declaration of what was bound to be paid by them and they paid to the kings and lords of the land before it became ours, of their inheritances, ground-rents and duties and other charges; as also the rights, usages and customs they observed, and of which upkeep we have the duty to order; we felt it proper through these inspections, that they are bound to pay to us what is contained in this Charter relating to those rights and duties. And we also found that they would have to practice these usages and customs in the following manner and form:

I – It was found that each Village of the said Islands has certain ‘Gaunkars‘, some of them more others less, according to their customs, as the said Islands and Villages are, and the said name of ‘Gaunkar‘ meaning ‘Governor’, ‘Administrator’ and ‘Benefactor’, was derived from four men who in times of yore went to develop one island and another fallow one which had not been put to use, which they did, and fructified it in such a manner and so well, that for a span of time it went on a manifold development to such an extent that it attrạcted a large population to settle on it, and those pioneers by their good governance, administration and cultivation of land, were called by them as ‘Gaunkars‘. Afterwards other lords and ‘subjugators’ over them came into the place and compelled them to give them ground-rent and tribute, in order to keep them in their inheritances and customs; the beginning of all this cannot be known.

II – In this Island of Tissoary, wherein is situated the City of Goa, there are thirty-one villages1, and they are as follows:

Greater Neura

Calapor

Ganssim

Greater Morombim

Ella

Carambolim

Azossim

Battim

They are the principal ones by their ancestry and pre-eminence2, and the others are as follows:

Tallaulim

Curqua

Sallecer

Taleigão

Mercurim

Goa-Velha

Agasaim

Gonvally Moula

Lesser Neura

Cugir

Mandur

Dugary

Corlim

Morura

Orora

Lesser Morombim

Gaundalim

Chimbel

Renovaddy

Panellim

Bambolim

Bangany

Sirdão

III – And each one of these Villages is bound to pay to us certain rent as contained and declared in the Charter referred to, which the said ‘Gaunkars‘ of each Village with its Clerk, apportion and impose on the farmers and persons who have inheritance within the limits of the Village, and this is done according to the condition laid down by their Usages and Customs; and the said ‘Gaunkars’ are bound to do it and collect and pay the said rent, whether it is increased or decreased, and the loss or increase will remain with them, and with the Village in order to pay for the losses, or to partake of the increase/ surplus, in persons to whom by custom it belongs, as they will be declared herebelow, the loss being kept aside, if it is due to war, in which case they will he exempted freely from it rather than for what is lost on that account.

IV – And the said increase/ surplus or loss of each year will be apportioned freely, with each one paying the rent revenue for the lands or paddy-fields that he holds.

V – Some orchards, coconut-tree groves and paddy-fields are bound to pay every year certain, ‘tangas‘, and in the event of losses, they do not pay them; there are other orchards, coconut-tree groves and paddy-fields that pay a certain amount of ground-rent, and moreover are compelled to pay the contribution of the losses when they occur; and there are other inheritances that the said ‘Gaunkars‘ may grant free of cost to persons that they deem fit, without ground-rent or compulsion to pay the contribution towards losses.

VI – If some Village is so much damaged/ deteriorated that it cannot pay its ground-rent and revenue that should belong to us, the ‘Gaunkars‘ and residents of the said Village will give an account of it to the Chief Thanedar, and Clerk of the Island, and the former shall go to see for themselves the said damage and on finding that it corresponds to the truth, the said Chief Thanedar shall order that the chief ‘Gaunkars‘ of the eight principal villages mentioned above be called, and at that time other ‘Gaunkars‘ also who wish to come, can attend this meeting, as the management of the lsland’s affairs is conducted by ordinance or orders of the said eight principal villages, and all together along with the Chief Thanedar and the Clerk, the ‘Gaunkars’ of the said damaged village shall allow the Village to be encamped by the ‘Gaunkars‘ of the said eight principal villages, and the latter shall accept the encampment, for they are compelled to do it, and shall announce by crier in the presence of the said officials and arrange to have the bid for lease for it in auction to the highest bidder, and the deficit, if any, in payment of whatever was due from that Village, will be met by apportionment amongst these eight, or by the whole Island, for the losses it has to contribute to, in such a manner that we collect the entire proceeds of the ground-rent to which we are entitled. The said lessee or lessees shall be bound to add to, improve upon, and make use of the Village, and on that condition it shall be leased to him/ them, and the said lessees shall stand for the ‘Gaunkars‘ to provide for its needs during the period of their lease to them in the Village.

VII – And the ‘Gaunkars‘ of the damaged Village do not lose it; for it belongs to their ‘Gaunkari‘, and if they request for the restoration of their Village at any time, by paying the ground-rent, and lease-rent in its entirety, it shall be handed back to them, and the said Village shall no longer be in possession of the lessees, the latter’s lease being terminated immediately.

VIll – The ‘Gaunkars‘ by virtue of their positions, and being pioneers, and having come into the said positions through generations on end, do not forfeit the titles to the said ‘Gaunkari‘, to wit, each one in the Village where he is a ‘Gaunkar‘, for any mistake that he may commit, nor the Clerk of the Council who also inherits the title and was installed there by the said ‘Gaunkars‘. They will be held responsible only for some or the other mistakes committed or damages caused, the punishment that may be meted out to them in the matter of property and bodies, and for such mistakes they may commit that they will die for them, or it may be convenient not to serve in these positions and in that event, their posts may be allotted to their sons or heirs, and if the case is not very serious, the Chief Thanedar will hold a trial in consultation with some ‘Gaunkars‘, and in the event of the case being more serious, the said Chief Thanedar shall give an account of it to our Chief Captain and Governor of Portuguese India, or to the Captain of our said City of Goa, or to our Commissioner of Revenue, if the case pertains to him, so that appropriate action is taken in this matter. And in this same manner relating to the Clerks of the Villages: these posts have come to them for generations on end and they were put there initially by the said ‘Gaunkars‘ of the concerned Village, and when they commit mistakes, they shall be punished as the others, and thus their posts will be given to their sons and heirs.

IX – Land which is found within the limit of each Village in a damaged or fallow condition, can be given by the ‘Gaunkars‘ to whoever asks for it in order to develop it into orchards, coconut-tree groves and to carry out other improvements in it, on the condition that he pay a certain rent or ground-rent that they may deem fit, and this can be done up to a maximum period of twenty-five years; because henceforth they will pay according to ordinance and custom, which is to give land of twelve steps/ strides of length, which is from one coconut-tree to another, counting one- hundred coconut-trees, @ five ‘tangas‘ of four ‘bargani‘ a ‘tanga‘, and in this matter they shall pay more or less for the land in the manner they may give it, and the said ‘Gaunkars‘ may well give the said fallow lands for being developed into orchards and coconut-tree groves, for less than five ‘tangas‘ and they shall issue letters to this effect according to their own customs; however, they shall not raise the price to more than five ‘tangas‘.

X – When some lands are given for the purpose of developing some arecanut-tree gardens, they shall be given them in the following manner: five ells or forearms in length and five in width, which is the space from one arecanut tree to another, counting one-hundred arecanut trees, and the land shall be watered by well water, for four ‘barganins‘ of ground-rent every year, and if they are irrigated by running water, the ground-rent shall be of six ‘bargani‘, and after these lands and orchards are taken on lease by the said ‘Gaunkars‘, they cannot be taken away from them, because they remain for their sons and grandsons and heirs, and this a general custom. However, if apart from this custom in each village, another custom is observed, it shall be followed accordingly.

XI – The Clerk of the Council shall be present at all the agreements and compounding that they call ‘nemos‘ among them that may be entered into by the principal ‘Gaunkars‘ of the entire Island with the officers of it, namely, the Chief Thanedar and the Clerk referred to, that one being Portuguese and this one a Brahmin, and without the Clerk of the Council it shall not be done, for he does write and record all for it to be undone later and declare their doubts that may arise, and in the above-mentioned manner the Clerks of the Villages will be there along with the ‘Gaunkars‘ in all matters that may be dealt with in each one of the above Villages, and by their records of deeds are governed all Villages of the island of Tissuary and all the other Villages of the Islands of Divary, Chorão and Jua (Zuvem).

XII – The ‘Gaunkars‘ will be able to grant land, each one in his Village free of cost, to be made use of for development, or the developed ones, if they are vacant, to the Village officials namely, to the Brahmin of the temple, and the clerk, and to the gate-keeper, to the tenant farmer, to the washerman who washes the clothes and to the shoemaker and to the carpenter and to the blacksmith, and to the ‘mhar‘ who is the servant of the temple and to the women of the temple who are worldly, and to the jester; and to the persons mentioned above, land and orchards shall be allotted free of cost, for şerving in the said Villages continually, and after they are given, they cannot be taken away from them, nor others put in their place, because they are given them for their sons, grandsons and heirs, and no Village shall each have more officials than the ones mentioned above to claim these inheritances free of cost, nor will they be given more inheritances without heirs; if they wish to leave them, they will be given to other officials of their trade, and the heirs of the said officials shall be bound to serve in them.

XllI – The ‘Gaunkars‘ shall not be able to give any land or orchard free of cost to any pérson from outside each of the Villages, only on Payment of some rents, save if they obtained them by ordinance.

XIV – When the Chief-Thanedar orders that the ‘Gaunkars‘ of the whole Island or of one Village, be called, all are bound to come, or constitute a council/ committee to elect in each Village those who wish to go for the convened meeting, and when they constitute the said council, which will be called ‘Gaunkari‘, if any ‘Gaunkar‘ from those ordered to be on the council in the Village, should die, nothing will be done without their being together, and thus if there be some heir of that ‘Gaunkar‘ who is absent, that is enough for the said ‘Gaunkari‘ or council to be constituted with him, and if the other does not attend on purpose, he shall be liable to the punishment that is laid down among them3.

XV – If any ‘Gaunkar‘ or another person wishes to sell some inheritance in any of the said Villages, he shall not be able to do it without permission of all the ‘Gaunkars‘ of such Village, and thus nobody will be able to buy without the said permission, and if he effects any sale or purchase without having the said permission, it will be null and void per se, and each time the ‘Gaunkars‘ wish to do it, it will all be undone in favour of the ground-rent that they are bound to pay us, on which they are agreed and knowledgeable about such ground-rents, and in possession of their letter with the declaration on it of the amount of ground-rent to be paid by each one of them.

XVI – When a letter of sale of some inheritance is made, it is not enough that it be signed by the proper vendor, but it nas to be done by all his heirs, and even if some of the heirs are minor, a declaration has to be made to the effect that some person has signed on behalf of and belonging to the latter, and if someone has remained to sign it, the said sale shall be turned infructuous at any time, the amount for which it was sold being returned, and if the buyer has made any improvements in it, he shall forfeit them.

XVII – If any ‘Gaunkar‘ goes to pay, or not being able to pay our ground-rent to which he is goes away or flees for not wanting bound, the other ‘Gaunkars‘ of the such village shall meet and constitute a ‘Gaunkari‘ or council on this matter, and shall draw up and issue a directive that the said ‘Gaunkar‘ come to the meeting, and in the event of his not coming, they shall ask the heirs of the said ‘Gaunkar‘ who has run away, to take the inheritance and the ‘Gaunkari‘, with the duty to pay our ground-rent, and the debts that he may owe, and if he does not wish to accept it, the said ‘Gaunkars‘ are bound to pay the ground-rent and they shall farm it out to whomsoever they think best, by paying apart from the ground-rent, the debts that he may owe us.

XVIII – If aný ‘Gaunkar‘ or any other person runs away on account of debt or for any other reason, none will be able to take away his inheritance from him, and his heirs shall be asked if they want to stay in its possession, with the duty of paying his debts, ground-rent, and if there are no heirs, or even if there are, and they do not want to accept it, the landed property concerned will remain with the ‘Gaunkars‘ as its lessees and they will pay ground-rent on that account, and the debts that they may owe us, and they shall have the surplus for them if there is any, and if there is deficit, they will make it good, and as far as the movable property is concerned, it will remain for us as if the heirs have not accepted the inheritance.

XIX – And if any ‘Gaunkar‘, or any other person dies, or he goes away from the land, and does not have heirs, the inheritance that he has that may not be bound to pay any ground-rent, shall remain for us like any movable property, and in the case of his owing some net debts after paying what is ours, if he still owes us, whatever remains shall be allocated as properly due.

XX – Every year the paddy-field lands shall be auctioned by a crier on lease to the highest bidder in each Village, according to its custom, as they are not owned by each one of them, as are the other inheritances. However they are bound to be auctioned to the residents of the Villages, to the highest bidder, and if there is any custom in some Villages and ancient ordinances to give their paddy-field lands for a particular year on lease to persons from outside the Village who may pay the highest bid than the other bidders from the village itself, they may do so.

XXI – The ‘Gaunkars‘ of this island of Tissoary and of the others of Divary, Chorão and Jua (Zuvem), are bound to give to the residents of the Villages, ‘begarins‘4 who are labourers, at their cost, every year, for cleaning the walls and covers of the depressions in this city of the grass and shrubbery that grow therein, and also for the other services wherever needed and in emergencies that sometimes may overwhelm us.

XXIl – If there is any dispute or difference of opinion in some Villages on some immovable properties, or inheritance, one shall not proceed with the dispute through any witnesses but only on the basis of deeds or acknowledgements and by the book of the Village and when there is neither deed nor acknowledgement, and the book of the village is found to be lost, the holder of the inheritance would be sworn to declare on oath what he feels should be done or needs be done for the truth to be known, and in such a case and other similar ones, they shall swear on a temple called UZOÓ5.

XXIII – If any person lends money to another under acknowledgement, and by negligence did not ask for it, or demanded it through legal means within the time-limit laid down in the acknowledgement, so that when he goes to ask for the said money, the debtor takes the position to deny it, in such a case oath shall be taken of one who has the acknowledgement that he state the truth about the matter, and he shall take an oath on the temple referred to above.

XXIV – Nobody shall lend anyone money exceeding fifty ‘tangas‘, without acknowledgement. To file a suit for a person or persons against anyone or others up to fifty ‘tangas‘, the complainant shall show acknowledgement or witnesses. Beyond the fifty ‘tangas’ without acknowledgement, one cannot demand from others; only the parties to the dispute can come to an agreement, by choosing two men acceptable to both, to be sworn on oath, to judge/ decide among them after hearing them and finding out what is right and proper.

XXV – They may lend money at a high rate of interest in such a manner that for every six ‘tangas‘ they may get one ‘bargani‘ and not more; and if any person lends money at a high rate and does not ask for it to be paid back, nor the interest at the high rate (11%), and he takes a long time to ask for it so that the interest as well as the principal goes on mounting, as it has gone well beyond it, the debtor shall not be bound to pay the creditor more than double the amount of the principal proper.

XXVI – Persons who are not valid as witnesses are as follows, namely: man of age of 16 years and less; a drunkard; a blind man, as also a dumb and deaf person; ruffian; labourer; gardener; dandy/ gambler, son of a prostitute, one infamous in justice, man wishing others ill; these cannot stand witness, and these will be treated as men of little substance.

The Deceased

XXVII – If a man dies without a son, even if he has a father or other ascendant heirs, the inheritance comes to us, save if the said father and son who are deceased have their mystic inheritance, and both in one title or ground-rent, in which case the father becomes heir to the son; and if a man has four sons or more or less, they shall not be able to divide/ apportion the inheritance of the father while he is living, save if he does it at his will, and if the father agrees to it, the division shall take place fraternally, in death as in life, and if the division takes place while he is alive, the sons shall be bound to maintain the father in all his needs; and any one of the brothers dies without descendant heirs, the division amongst the brothers shall be ensured, by death or during the life of their father, if this is written in the book of the village, and even if written down in this manner, if each of the brothers dies without descendant heirs, the inheritance shall come to us, and if he dies before the said division is made and written down, the inheritance comes to the brothers, when they do not have the father living, and if the said inheritance is not in the nature of immovable property, and bound to pay revenue to the village, the property of the said deceased shall remain for us always, as also the movable property, without any other difference, and ir any of these brothers becomes a Muslim or jogi, which is similar to the gypsies in our kingdoms, in a manner that he goes out of the use of his house, and if the property is divided among them, his property shall remain for us, namely, movable and immovable properties also, save in the case of their being leased out, for then it would be sold on condition that it pays the ground-rent, and the rest, after payment of the debts on it, shall remain for us, as is stated here.

XXVIII – At the time of the death of the deceased, whose inheritance belongs to us in the manner stated above, the ‘Gaunkars‘ of the Village shall be bound, before they bury him or burn him on the funeral pyre, according to their custom, to inform our officials, so that they go there to enquire, know and write down the property that he leaves behind, and announce it by a crier, with the ‘Gaunkars‘ of the said Village being present, and auction it to any of the ‘Gaunkars‘ of the said Village or of their generation, to the highest bidder, and not to anyone outside the Village or to a relative, and if the nearest relative of the deceased or any other relative wishes to have the said inheritance, on condition that he pays the rent laid down that the ‘Gaunkars‘ pay, he shall be given the said inheritance. If the relatives of the dead do not turn up for the auction but if they come to know of it five days from that date and request that the property be given to them, for the amount arrived at, the said property shall be given to them, but after five days having passed over that date. If they do not apply for it, they shall not be given it, but it shall be given to the highest bidder, and the proceeds of that transaction shall go to us, and shall be entered as receipts with our Factor/ Executive, and of this shall be issued a certificate in the proper form tò the ‘Gaunkars‘ of the charge on it, so that they keep it for their record and they shalI not be trammelled by it henceforth. However the net debts that such deceased might owe without malice or by mistake, shall firstly be paid from the property of such a deceased and what remains as surplus shall be retained for us, as stated above.

XXIX – The movable property of any deceased, if he does not have heirs, descendants or ascendants, as stated above, without any difference, shall remain for us, and it shall be sold to the highest bidder, whether relative or not, within the Village or from outside, but the debts on it shall be paid off first, as stated above.

XXX – The inheritance derived in the following manner, from the father to the son and to the grandsons, etc. and to the fathers and grandfathers etc., in such a manner that it goes to the heirs, descendants and ascendants, as they are, in the male line and no one inherits by the female, not even the daughter; only the brother shall inherit in the manner laid down above.

XXXI  – If any thief goes to rob-some money or any other thing and is found with the proceeds of the said theft, he shall be punished in accordance with our Ordinances and laws, and if the said stolen thing has a known owner, it shall shall be handed back to him (owner), though according to the usages and customs it belongs to us, and we approve this concession for we would like to do him a favour, as we do to those who serve us loyally and well, as we expect them to do.

XXXII – If some assets are discovered, or found, these shall belong to us.

XXXII – If any man is married to two women, and has four sons from one and one from the other, or more or less, given the sons the fact that they may not be in equal number, when they have to divide/ apportion the property of the father, they shall divide it by the middle or into half, the one son taking as much as the four sons or three, and no daughter shall inherit the property of the father or of the mother.

XXXIV – No officer posted by us, or by our Governors and Captains and Commissioners of Revenue, shall receive bribes, or land from the hands of ‘Gaunkars‘ and Villages; nor will they indulge in trade within the ambit of their office and control; and if at any time this is found to happen, what they collected and took or received or dealt with, shall be forfeited to us. And if it is found that because of them some losses have occurred, they shall be paid for by them, and the proceeds of them shall remain for us.

XXXV – And if the ‘Gaunkars’ send out requests through the Villages for ‘cabaia‘6 or ‘pachoris‘7or whatever gifts that may be meant for themselves or for being given to the Captains, Chief Thanedar, or any other officials or persons of any sort that they may be, each of the ‘Gaunkars‘ of each Village who is involved in this act, shall pay the amount that has been collected from all the Villages, of which a half will go to their informant/ accuser and the other half for the captives, and with them shall pay the Clerks of the said Villages, if the bribes and tyranny have been caused with their consent.

XXXVI – Anyone who steals or siphons off goods of any sort whatsoever without paying our duties to our officers and lessees, as they are bound to do, shall pay at the rate of eleven for every one of what goods they steal or siphon off.

XXXVII – Whenever the Chief Thanedar along the Clerks or Clerk of his post, together, or each one by himself go through the Island on duty of our service, or in whatever concerns the said Islands or villages therein, they shall be served food, according to their custom.

XXXVIII – And the same shall be done with our Factor/ Executive and officers of the Factory, when they go there to provide for some matters of our service or of the Villages or islands.

XXXIX – Any peon who goes with a message to comply with our service and tor collection of our revenues, shall be given for each day that he is there without being sent away two measures of rice and one ‘real‘ for his betelnut.

XL – If any ‘Gaunkars‘ of the Island of Chorão or from any of the Islands attached to this one of Tissuary, runs away to the Muslims, outside the land, for not having paid rent, as it is stated having been done and we do not expect that they will do henceforth, they shall forfeit their movable property in our favour, and their immovable property and the ‘Gaunkaris‘ will be auctioned to the.persons that they may be awarded to and who pay the highest bid, committing themselves to pay the ground-rents to which the said inheritances are bound, and what they pay in the highest bid for those inheritances and ‘Gaunkaries‘, besides remaining with the ground-rent; shall be kept for us.

XLI – Whenever there is an invitation, feast or meeting in which betelnut or ‘pachori‘ is to be served, the chief ‘Gaunkar‘ of each Village shall take first the said betelnut and pachori or gift and after him the other ‘Gaunkars‘ according to their gradation / ranking, in conformity with their authorities and customs.

XLII – When a council is to be constituted of the ‘Gaunkars‘ and names of ‘Gaunkars‘ to be nominated in writing, firstly the names of those who are the principal ones in honour and according to their gradation / ranking shall be written one after another.

XLIlI – When at the end of the meeting that was held, it is necessary to write down what was agreed to, it shall be written down by the Clerk of the Village, and once it has been written down, it shall be read out in a loud voice, which shall be called Nemo8 of what has been agreed to therein and written down, and in the event of there being nobody to disapprove what has been stated and written down, and declared in a loud voice, it shall stand as valid.

XLIV – When the ‘Gaunkars‘ of the Island9 meet tor some consultation, agreement or assent, the said entry shall be made by the Clerk of the council of the whole Island, and the voice vote that is given at the end of the entry, which is called Nemo, as stated therein, shall be announced by the principal ‘Gaunkar‘ who is present there of the village of Greater Neura, as he is treated as one of pre-eminence and if the Gaunkar of that Village is not available, the said Nemo shall be given by the Clerk of the Council who will note and write it down.

XLV – The village of Taleigão shall have pre-eminence, which shall be the first to begin the harvesting of paddy; and its ‘Gaunkars‘ shall come every year with one sheaf of it to present it before the main altar of the Cathedral See. Afterwards the parish-priest shall go the Factor’s office, where our Factor shall have four ‘pardaos‘ spent on ‘pachoris‘ and he will put a garland of them around the necks of the ‘Gaunkars‘ so ordained among them to receive this honour, and henceforth the paddy can be harvested in other villages, according as will be declared herebelow.

XLVI – At the time of the sowing, the first paddy-field which shall begin tilling and at the time of harvesting, the first to be harvested, will be that of the principal ‘Gaunkar‘ of will each Village, and after that the others who wish to do so, be sown and harvested, and the same procedure will be followed in the case of covering the houses each year with thatch, which is done by coconut-tree/ palm-tree leaves, the principal ‘Gaunkar’ of the Village shall do it for his house, and afterwards other people from it,

XLVII – The dancers and the danseuses who come to celebrate on festive occasions to the Village shall go firstly to perform at the house of the principal ‘Gaunkar‘, and when two of them go together to perform in one honour, it shall be open to the dancers to go to the house of anyone that they may wish to do so, and to these such ‘Gaunkars‘ together in one honour the betelnut or any other honour shall be taken, when they are entitled to them receive it. When they are together with their crossed arms, aid the right-hand below the left-hand in such a way that one who is considered to be of higher honour gets the right-hand, so that the other ‘Gaunkar’ can say that the present that he took from the left-hand preceded, because it went over the right-hand.

XLVIII – The Gaunkars who are gathered in a commune meeting, namely, to take betelnut or another honour, do not have pre-eminence one over the other, and can sell that honour of betelnut or ‘pachoris’ to any of the ‘Gaunkars’ of such a Village; each time the agreement on the honour is being made, and this by the price that may be obtained, which price shall be divided amongst the Village members, and when there is no buyer for it, so as to obviate any differences cropping up among them, the said honour shall be taken by the Clerk of the Village.

XLIX – Nobody shall be allowed to bring a lighted torch, ornamented palanquin10, umbrella, without our permission or from our Governor, save one that has come to him as inheritance from his parents and grandparents, and one to whom we give our permission, or from our Governor on the merit of his services, will be given in two ways, one that they bring the said umbrella and palanquin by their own peons, and torch and oil at their own cost, and the other permission is that they may have that honour from us with such peons and oil that may be and required, paid for at our cost; and also the said torch can be given without umbrella, and umbrella without the torch, and palanquin, and each thing by itself, and all taken together, in each of the above-mentioned ways also.

We notify this in this manner to our Chief Captain and Governor of these parts of India, that it is so and will be henceforth; and thus to the Captains of this city, Judge and other judges, officials, and bailiffs, and to any other persons that this our Charter will be shown, and to whom the knowledge of it is necessary, and we order that it may be kept and complied with and have it complied with fully, and we assure to maintain what is contained therein, for that is willed by us..

Given in this city of Goa, on the sixteenth of September. The King ordered that it be done through Affonso Mexia, Commissioner of his Revenue in these parts of India. António de Campos did it in the year one thousand five hundred and twenty six.

   S/d

Affonso Mexia.

____________________________________________________________________________

Notes & References:

Source: Cunha Rivara. J.H, da (Ed.) – Archivo Portugues Oriental, Fasciculo 5 Parte 1, Doc.59, pp.118 et sequitur – copied from Livro Vermelho da Relação, fl. 147ff. (Historical Archives of Goa: MS 8791) – Vide also Lopes Mendes, A. – A India Portuguesa – Vol.II, Imprensa Nacional, Lisboa, 1886, pp.180-198. The four men mentioned in the first para of the Charter, do not mean literally four in number, but in the Konkani meaning of char-choug connoting ‘some’ or representatives of a group/ community in the metaphorical or metonymical sense of that term. Four is an important symbolic number in Indian and consequently Goan culture.

 

    1. Tissuary/Tiswadi in Konkani means 30 villages. Sallacer has been shown as a separate village erroneously; it is part of the village of Talaulim (Santana). Tiswadi is the big island on which was situated the city of Goa of the time, now Old Goa. The other islands annexed or attached to this island in the Goa lslands county were: Chorão, Divar and Jua (Zuvem)-Santo Estevam.

 

    1. The eight principal villages of the Goa Islands county, all of them situated on the big island of Tiswadi, were, on the one hand four: Greater Neura, Ganssim, Ella and Azossim, shown on one side of the list belonging to the Brahmins, and the other four, to wit: Calapor, Greater Morombim, Carambolim and Battim, belonging to the Kshatriyas (Chardós), respectively, exclusively, those castes being described by contemporary Portuguese chroniclers as the ‘two advanced castes’ of Goa of that time.

 

    1. The punishment meted out was known as moriada in Konkani of the time.

 

    1. Unpaid labour.

 

    1. The word ‘Uzoó’ – in this orthography with an additional ‘ó’ was obviously meant to differentiate it from Uzo/Uso in Portuguese, the accent being on the last syllable with an open vowel, while the latter has it on the penultimate syllable and means ‘use’, The term denotes ‘Fire’ in Konkani, the ‘Agni’, a sacred element for this stated purpose. It refers clearly to the temple of fire. B.H. Baden- Powell could not ascertain its meaning: nor could Mr. Whiteway interpret it, as they tried to do it through Marathi, and were not conversant with Konkani. (The Villages of Goa in the Early Sixteenth Century- in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland – 11, 1900, pp.273.)

 

The Konkani word nem’, meaning an unanimous commune resolution, written in Portuguese orthography as nemo, does not belong to the latter language, as felt by Baden-Powell, which meaning he is unable to unravel, as he himself mentions at page 280 of the above article.

 

    1. A gown worn by the landed gentry.

 

    1. Scarves of honour of which garlands were placed around the neck.

 

    1. The Konkani word nem’ meant an unanimous resolution of the assembly of a village commune, written, read out and confirmed by it. One naka or veto of a member was enough to annul it. Today the word is also used in the sense of norm or rule or even swearing on oath.

 

    1. The county of Goa Islands had a general council, as the other counties did. This Charter was applicable to the counties of Salcete and Bardez as well, as these were the former’s ‘dependencies’. Greater Neura is shown as the principal village of the county and was given additional responsibilities.

 

    1. It was called hindlló in Konkani.

 

It is worthy of note that all the numbers in the text of the Charter, have been given in words and in extenso, probably to obviate any changes that could be carried out therein fraudulently. Words put into italics, brackets and in bold letters are all done by me, the translator of this charter, in order to highlight certain portions.

*** End of Annexure – I ***

Credits:

The above English translation from the original Portuguese was a part of the book (Annexure – I), of The Goan Village Communes, researched and authored by Prof. Dr. Olivinho Gomes; The above work was published as the result of a research study carried out under the aegis of the second Dempo Research Fellowship awarded by the Vasantrao Dempo Education & Research Foundation, Panaji, Goa, for the year 2003-2004

Permissions and Disclaimers:

Fair Use – India / copyright permissions were sought and have been granted / authorised by the legal heirs of the Late Prof. Dr. Olivinho Gomes (Author) for ‘Annexure – I’ from the original publication – ‘The Goan Village Communes’ for use by the United Gaunkaries community of Goa and will be published on the World Wide Web to the public – free of cost – to commemorate the quincentenary occasion of the above Charter (Foral of 1526) between the Gaunkars of Tiswadi and The Portuguese – Estado da India, by order of The Crown of Portugal, notified on the 16th of September 1526.

The contents of this document have been extracted via an OCR tool on the iOS platform from the original print publication and though this draft has been manually proofread for errors kindly excuse any that may have been unintentionally overlooked. The contents of this document are now available online for free reference in the interest of spreading knowledge, awareness and cultural upliftment and harmony. A kind request to the reader to refrain from reproducing this document via digital / print or any other means of transmission without consent of the source.

Thanking you for your consideration.

For the United Gaunkaries

J. De Souza

Convenor