Tiswadi

"Ilhas" redirects here. For the album by Brazilian rock band Violeta de Outono, see Ilhas (album).
Tiswadi
Ilhas de Goa
Taluka

Location of Ilhas in North Goa district in Goa
Coordinates: 15°29′55″N 73°49′46″E / 15.498598°N 73.829341°E / 15.498598; 73.829341Coordinates: 15°29′55″N 73°49′46″E / 15.498598°N 73.829341°E / 15.498598; 73.829341
Country  India
State Goa
District North Goa district
Headquarters Panjim
Settlements 1 City
9 Towns
22 Villages
Government
  Tehsildar na
  Lok Sabha constituency na
  Assembly constituency na
  MLA na
Population (2011)
  Taluka 167,197
  Urban 83%
Demographics
  Literacy rate na
  Sex ratio na
Rain na

Tiswadi or Ilhas de Goa (Islands of Goa) is a taluka of North Goa district in the state of Goa, India. The word Tiswadi itself means thirty settlements. It refers to the thirty settlements in which the Goud Saraswat Brahmins settled when they migrated to Goa. It is geographically an Island with the Mandovi River forming its northern boundary. The taluka of Tiswadi includes the smaller islands of Chorao, Divar, St Estevam, Cumbarjua and Vanxim. The present capital of Goa, Panaji, lies on this island. Tiswadi is also where the city of Old Goa (Velha Goa), a World Heritage Site, was established.

History

Tiswadi with the rest of Goa was part of the Vijaynagara Kingdom of South India in the 14th century. In the 15th century the Adil shahi sultanate conquered Goa and it came under Muslim rule. Hindus were persecuted and Hindu temples were destroyed. This included the famous temple of Ganesh on the Island of Divar which has been recently rebuilt. The Portuguese conquered Tiswadi under Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510. While this brought some relief, the aggressive Portuguese began forced conversions to Christianity in the 16th century. All the Hindu temples in Tiswadi were destroyed and Churches built. The populace was made to accept Christianity or leave the Island. There was a mass exodus of Konkani Hindus who left Goa for the safe havens of Ponda and the Canara, Malabar Coast Chandgad and Joida. The first Hindu temple to be rebuilt in Panaji was the Shree Mahalakshmi temple by the Mhamai Kamats who petitioned the Portuguese authorities for permission to build their place of worship.

The evangelization of Tiswadi was spearheaded by the Dominicans, who were assigned 15 villages, and the Jesuits, who were assigned the remaining part along with the smaller islands of Chorao and Divar, by the Portuguese authorities.[1]

In 1552, the island of Chorao had a population of 300 Christians out of 3,000 and, by this time, also had a small church which was visited by a Jesuit from St. Paul's every Sunday. In 1557, a marriage ceremony among the Chaudaris (landlords) was defiled by the presence of a Christian in disguise. After two years, this fact became known to the affected party. This time the ceremony was repeated in secret, as by now such rites had been forbidden. The event was unfortunately discovered and the guilty arrested. A village elder among them knowing very well the futility of resistance, told the magistrate: "Take whoever you want. Make all the people Christians". By the end of 1559, over 1,200 had accepted baptism. The following year, the first bishop from the Jesuit order, Dom João Nunes de Barreto, set up residence in Chorao, which eventually became a Noviciate.[1]

Most of Chorao's population converted en masse to Roman Catholicism in mid-1560 as a result of an incident which occurred in neighboring Divar. In July of that year, twenty young men were intercepted, as they were headed for the mainland to illegally participate in a Ganesh puja. After spending a few days in prison, they decided to embrace Christianity. This culminated in a general baptism by August 15 and by November, the number of converts had crossed 1,500. In Chorao, the figure for the year reached 1,207 covering almost the entire population.[1]

By January 1563, the Jesuit provincial claimed that Tiswadi had become completely Christian with a population of 70,000, the great majority of which had converted in the last six years, corresponding to the terms of Viceroys Francisco Barreto and Constantino of Braganza, whose 2 12-year term saw between 25,000 and 30,000 conversions.[1]

Highlights

Panaji, Velha Goa and its monuments, Divar, Chorao

Settlements

Cities

# Town State Population
1 Panaji Municipal Corporation Goa 70,991

Towns

# Town State Population
1 Chimbel Census Town Goa 15,289
2 Calapor Census Town Goa 14,077
3 Murda Census Town Goa 7,517
4 Bambolim Census Town Goa 6,885
5 Corlim Census Town Goa 6,568
6 Mercurim Census Town Goa 4,970
7 Cumbarjua Census Town Goa 4,917
8 Goa Velha Census Town Goa 4,322
9 Jua Census Town Goa 4,134

Villages

# Villages Administrative Division Population
1 Ambarim Tiswadi 93
2 Azossim Tiswadi 1,142
3 Bainguinim Tiswadi 1,501
4 Batim Tiswadi 1,489
5 Capao Tiswadi 135
6 Caraim Tiswadi 202
7 Carambolim Tiswadi 5,179
8 Chorao Tiswadi 5,268
9 Curca Tiswadi 2,518
10 Ella Tiswadi 5,372
11 Gancim Tiswadi 519
12 Gandaulim Tiswadi 301
13 Goalim Moula Tiswadi 441
14 Goltim Tiswadi 1,634
15 Malar Tiswadi 1,630
16 Mandur Tiswadi 3,113
17 Naroa Tiswadi 487
18 Navelim Tiswadi 1,133
19 Neura-O-Grande Tiswadi 1,440
20 Neura-O-Pequeno Tiswadi 563
21 Siridao Tiswadi 2,417
22 Talaulim Tiswadi 972

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tiswadi.
  1. 1 2 3 4 Sarasvati's Children: A History of the Mangalorean Christians, Alan Machado Prabhu, I.J.A. Publications, 1999, pp. 100 – 101
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