Vasco da Gama Goa and Mirch Masala
by Parag Ranjan Dutta
To the present generation, the liberation of Goa from the Portugues could be a myth. A 1969 movie, Saat Hindustani by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas on Goa liberation, depicted the struggle of Maria and five others picked up from different locations and backgrounds to liberate Goa from the Portuguese. This was the debut film for the great Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan where he portrayed the character of the poet Anwar Ali. The real incident that cost the Portuguese very dearly was a firing incident at a fishing boat near the coastal area by the Portuguese army that killed an Indian fisherman. On December 19, 1961, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sent armed forces to this coastal state. A joint operation by the navy, air and land forces for thirty-six hours forced General Manual Antonio e Silva to sign a surrender treaty. Long before this incident Goa Liberation Army, founded by an Indian Army officer, Shivajirao Desai in 1950 made attempts to end colonial rule by revolutionary tactics and direct action.
On July 8, 1497, Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon on a mission to India through the Cape route and Indian Ocean to reach the spice World and India. He sailed with a fleet of four ships and reached Calicut, present Kozhikode on the Malabar Coast, on May 20, 1498 on board the flagship Sao Gabrial. After a long voyage Vasco da Gama reached the port of Mombasa in East Africa. It is highly interesting that da Gama met a Gujarati sailor Kanji Malam at Mombasa and sought his help to explore the sea route to India.
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During that period spice trade was very lucrative that earned handsome profits. When the Ottoman Empire of Turkey was at the zenith of its power they took control of sea routes to the spice islands of South East Asia. But that did not discourage the Europeans. Instead in the quest of finding new fortunes, they sailed the mighty oceans to find the black pepper pods called the “Black Gold”. Seven years before Vasco da Gama launched his fleet to reach India, Christopher Columbus too set sail to reach India. But destiny drove him elsewhere to the Caribbean nation island of Haiti and then to America. While on his way to find the East Indies he dropped anchor offshore from South America and found chili instead of black pepper. Chili is a native of South America which used to grow in the wild and later domesticated by the natives.
It is believed that Vasco da Gama brought along with him a number of crop plants that included bell pepper, commonly known as capsicum and was later planted in Goa for the first time. From there it gradually spread to Bombay where locals called it Gova mirch. Chilli, known as mirch in India is a South American fruit was introduced by the Portuguese. Chili spread rapidly throughout the world. Before chili was introduced in India Indians were using black pepper growing wild in the Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka. Red chilli, an important ingredient of the Indian cuisine did not originate in India. A native of Mexico it was brought to India by the Portuguese traders. Two of the most important ingredients to make Indian cuisine special, red chili and tomato are actually not native to India. of the most important ingredients to make Indian. Prior to the coming of the Portugues, the Indians used to consume a number of grains like rice, wheat, bajra and maize. A number of crop plants belonging to the Solanaceae or the nightshades that include tomato, potato, pepper etc. were introduced in India by the Portuguese, mainly from Latin America, or the New World. Two of the most important ingredients to make Indian cuisine special tomato and red chili are not native to India. Prior to the coming of the Portuguese, not too many fruits found their way into Indian homes. A number of fruit trees like pineapple, papaya, cashew nuts etc. were brought by the Portuguese and extended the cultivation in the new environment. Some 8000 years ago potato was domesticated in the Andes of South America from where it was brought to Europe. Potato was introduced in the early 17th century by the Portuguese sailors and later spread to the northern part of the country, courtesy the British.
Indians in the olden days also consumed a lot of animals which were found in abundance in tropical forests. Archaeological evidence found in the Harappan civilization amply proves this food habit of the Indians.
It was Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer who discovered Goa in 1524 when King John III of Portugal nominated him as the Portuguese Viceroy in India. It was the Portugues General, Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from Adil Shah, the Sultan of Bijapur Sultanate. In 1492 Goa was annexed to Adil Shah’s Bijapur Sultanate. Though da Gama discovered Goa it was Albuquerque who laid the foundation of Portuguese power in India. The entire purpose of conquering Goa was to find a strategic location for Portugal’s naval base and to control maritime business in the Indian Ocean. To the Portuguese Panjim, a small village located at the mouth of the Mandovi river had a very strategic location. After the liberation of Goa Panjim was renamed Panaji. The Portuguese rule lasted 450 years.Goa finds a mention in Mahabharat where Goa has been mentioned as Gomantak. Portuguese is the language spoken by most Goans till it was liberated from Portugal in 1961. But today Marathi is widely spoken and the Goans recognise Marathi as their mother tongue. But the legacy of the Portuguese is still found with the earlier generation.
Without hesitation it can be well said that without the Portuguese coming to India we would have been poorer so far as our food habits are concerned.
The author is the former Head Department of Geography, St. Edmund’s College