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O HERALD O
Vol No CX No: 218 Mauritius and Goa
Goa, Saturday 28 August, 2010
there are amazing common historical linkages between Goa and Mauritius, says tEotonio r DE soUZA
A question of
livelihoods W hile at Mauritius enjoying a week of
summer break early this month, I could
get a first hand glimpse of the island
introduced the printing house. This administra-
tor-cum-botanist and member of several science
academies introduced a wide range of spices. He
S hiva Kholkar has been washing cars and motorcycles at and verify what I knew from my past readings also encouraged the culture of fruit trees and
Panjim’s Municipal Garden since 1975. The Ros-Omlette and limited research. Some decades back I pub- was one of the instigators of laws concerning
‘gaddos’ at Margao’s Old Bus Stand were before all except lished an essay about French slave-trading in Goa. the protection of nature.
the oldest among us remember. The stalls outside Panjim’s It can be read online at Scribd – http://scr.bi/9djabh It is to Poivre that the Mauritians owe the fa-
– along with another hundred-odd published re- mous 25-hectare spread of Pamplemousses gar-
Cine Nacional − gone now − were the only places where
search articles related to Goa’s history and culture den, home to giant water lilies, orchids (which
citizens could get food or buy essentials late in the night. that were widely dispersed and difficult to access. now find a lucrative market in the EU) and varieties
All these small businesses not only provide much-required The Mhamay Kamats had been the commercial of flora, including 60 species of palm trees, in-
services to Goa’s citizenry, they also provide a decent livelihood correspondents and brokers of the French in cluding Traveller’s Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis),
for the ‘aam admi’. Yet, the government and municipalities seem India. Their papers were handed over to me in a fan-shaped plantain tree which holds sodium-
intent on getting rid of them. How does this help Goans? the early ’80s and are now preserved at the Xavier rich water in its leaves and trunk, and can be pre-
On Thursday evening, prominent citizens washed a car near Centre of Historical Research (XCHR). They are cious for thirsty travellers. Curiously, the bothe
the Panjim Municipal Garden in protest against the Corporation open to bona fide scholars for consultation. They – the yellow trumpets (Allamanda cathartica) that
enabled me to throw fresh light on several little- grow in most Goan cemeteries – are the national
of the City of Panjim’s (CCP’s) quixotic decision to put an end to
known aspects of Goa’s past, including slave trad- flower of Mauritius and used in welcoming social
car and two-wheeler washing services that the public has availed ing by French adventurers who acquired slaves rituals.
for over 35 years now. For Shiva Kholkar and other car washers from Mozambique for sale in the coffee and sugar The Indo-Mauritians comprise about 70 per
of Panjim, whose families depend on their earnings from this plantations in Mauritius, other places in India, cent of the population, much of it from the influx
business, the question is: “What will we do to earn our living or even Macau, via Goa. Earlier, the French had of indentured labour from South India between
now?” Does the CCP have an answer? tried to take slaves from Madagascar, but found 1834 and 1909. Earlier Dutch slavery to Cape
It is inhuman to take away ordinary people’s livelihoods. If them “insolent and idle”. Colony also shared the Mauritian destination.
the CCP’s objection is that they were using municipal water free La Bourdonnais had served the Portuguese It is noteworthy to mention that the first two
of charge (actually, they drew water by hand from a well in the from December 1729 till 1732 as naval captain.
He was even awarded the honour of the Order of
HistoricAl ExplorAtions governors of the Cape were Indo-Creoles. Simon
van der Stel’s grandmother (Maria Lievens’ mother)
garden), it could charge them a fee. If it is that their washing
ruins the road, it is easily rectified by concreting that portion of Christ, but abandoned service when the Por- effective end to French slave trade. Studies by conquest of that region of Malabar in 1724. It was Monica of Goa, an Indian slave. Maria was
the road and providing suitable drainage. But they should not tuguese lost interest in the project of recovering Edward Alpers and, more recently, Pedro Machado, was not his name that was given to the French married to the Dutch Governor of Mauritius, and
be deprived of their daily bread. Mombaça. However, his contacts with Portuguese are enlightening in this respect. colonial settlement of Mahé in Kerala, but the Simon was born aboard a ship in Mauritian waters.
officialdom, and particularly with successive gov- Little is still known about French activities in reverse. Mahé in India is said to derive its name He was raised till 7 years in Mauritius and until
Some of the speakers at the protest said that the washers ernors of Mozambique, permitted him to work Goa during colonial times. We know that British from the Malayalam Mayazzi, meaning ‘eyebrow 20 in Batavia. Governor Willem Andriaan van der
could be ‘rehabilitated’. Now that is a loaded word. In fact, the out clandestine and lucrative deals in slave traffic, troops occupied Goa under pretext of the of the sea’. It is surrounded by Kannur on three Stel (1664-1733) was the great-grandson of Monica.
‘gaddekars’ (kiosk operators) of Panjim have been ‘rehabilitated’, despite all official attempts of the Lisbon gov- Napoleonic threat, but even earlier, during the sides. Would Mayem in Goa and Mahim in Mumbai The majority of Mauritians are Hindu (77 per
theoretically. Their kiosks, located on pavements near Cine Na- ernment to put an end to it. The Jesuits and Do- Anglo-French wars for control of India, the British have related linguistic origins? cent) and a significant group are Muslims (22 per
cional and the garden near the Government Printing Press, have minicans had their own interests to facilitate the feared the collusion of Hyder Ali and Tipoo with When La Bourdonnais was appointed Governor cent). There are also some Christians and Sikhs,
been removed. They have now been given stalls on the upper French slave trade, which amounted to an average the French to take over Goa. of Ile de France (Mauritius) and Bourbon (Reunion) but they do not add up to even 1 per cent of the
floors of the Panjim Market. Even if they set up their businesses of around 1,000 slaves annually. My recent reading of some Kannada papers in 1735, he gave a huge impetus to the agricultural population. I was told that various Indian lan-
there, their clientele is gone forever. How do they, then, make a The Mhamay documents permitted me to cover from the Mhamay collection, and documentary economy of the islands. We in Goa attribute most guages are still spoken, especially Bhojpuri, Tamil,
living? If Margao’s Ros-Omlette ‘gaddos’ are ‘rehabilitated’ in the human traffic between the years 1773 till references presented by two other scholars at botanical transfers to the Portuguese, and often Hindi and Urdu. But most Indo-Mauritians speak
some godforsaken corner of the city, who is going to buy their 1791. The correspondence mentions Mr Rondeau, the recent International Seminar on Indo-Por- miss the larger colonial scenario in which the a French-based Creole language at home, and
fare? a surgeon in Mauritus, and also several traders tuguese History in Marseilles, corroborate my French, too, deserve credit for similar interests French in public. Goddess Durga occupies a central
like Villeaulet & Neucent, Galinem, Pitot & Frères, hunch that most historians so far may have been and actions. Often these were in reverse, from place in the cultural-religious life of Mauritian
In a state where unemployment is so high and the people are Monneron Brothers, Gattereau & Co. misled by Cunha Rivara’s research on the Con- India and East Africa to Brazil via Ile de France. Hindus. Since 2007, a giant 30-metre Shiva statue
not suited for manual labour, occupations that they can successfully The period covered saw the peak of the French spiracy of the Pintos in 1787. The English dealings The French sought to transform the island of dominates Ganga Talav, just as Anerood Jugnauth
do must be safeguarded, not got rid of. Especially not for the so- slave trade in East Africa; during the peace that with the Marathas need to be better analysed to Mauritius into a centre of spice cultivation, in dominates Mauritian politics.
called reason trotted out by CCP officials, that car washing would followed the American War of Independence, and lay bare the English interest in taking over Goa order to reduce a virtual Dutch monopoly. La Multicultural and multi-religious harmony, to-
‘mar’ the beauty of the Municipal Garden. The CCP officials say till the beginning of the Napoleonic wars. Many without disturbing the traditional friendship of Bourdonnais introduced índigo and cotton, in- gether with a visible concern for the environment,
that next they will crack down on mechanics using footpaths for of the slaves were destined for America, with a Portugal with its oldest ally in Europe. creased sugar plantations, and introduced tapioca is something Goa could learn from Mauritius. It
their business. nearly 500 per cent profit per slave. Indian cottons The capital and main port of Mauritius, Port from Cabo Verde to improve the diet of the black has learned to exploit the best of its colonial her-
May God save Panjim from these unfeeling bureaucrats. We were doing well, as a means to acquire the slaves Louis, was founded by French Governor Bertrand slaves. itage and its natural resources, through the
have a barely-functioning Municipality that is full of scams. And for sale to the French. The British capture of the François Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1699-1753), Following him, an ex-missionary and adminis- politics of tolerance and well-planned cultural
the people who claim to be running it; who are unable to even islands of Mauritius and Bourbon in 1810 put an who had assumed the name Mahé following his trator of the islands, Pierre Poivre (1719-1786) tourism.
do their own jobs properly, want to stop others from doing
theirs…?
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