MARCH 1987 : OM A Wyfhon's PRESTIGIOUS L| MONTHLY MAGAZINEPERSPECTIVE THE RANES OF SANQUELIM FEUDAL LORDS UNMASKED History can be prone to political myth-making and deification when it comes to sustaining anti- colonial campaigns. DR. TEOTONIO R. DE Souza, director of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, in this penetrating study on the Ranes of Satari, unravels the truth behind the widely held myth of the Ranes’ role in Goa’s freedom struggle. HIS’ ARTICLE formed the crux of a research paper that was to be originally included ina Goa University publication on Goa's freedom struggle. The paper was deemed im- proper and was unceremoniously re- jected at the time when historians subser- vient to ruling politcal interests were on- ly interested, in paying floral tributes to Goa's freedom struggle, or whatever they chose to understand by that. Unfor tunately, even the institution that is meant to set the tone for our intellectual life, including historical research, joined the chorus with ‘Goa Wins Freedom’. This is the state of intellectual subser- vience and poverty twentysfive years after ur liberation! And there are all the in- dications in our country that this tenden- cy is on the rise. ‘The following exercise is what some modem scholars engaged in “subaltern studies" call historical ‘deconstruction’. Our post-liberation historiography should not uncritically replace one elitist ap- proach by another if political change in Goa is to serve truly democratic goals. We have an opportunity to put the “‘subaltern” or subbordinate-classes at the centre stage of our historical inquiry. Deconstruction in this context, is only a tool of analysis that seeks to attack and break down the existing elitist paradigms. It is not a nihilistic exercise, but a pro- longed critical exercise to clear off the rubbish and prepare the ground for a sound alternative construction in the scheme of post-liberation historiography of Goa, What has been done here is to apply deconstruction analysis to one historical episode, namely the Rane myth in Goa’s freedom struggle. Similar exer- cise will need to be extended to wider areas of Goa's history. ‘Folklore and more - recent political developments seem to have conspired to elevate the so-called ‘Rajputs’ of Satari to unquestioned honours - as Goa’s freedom fighters. Folklorisirig and political myth- making had its reasons and validity as means to sustain anti-colonial campaign. But twenty- five years after } liberation we should be able to put aside political emotionalism and let historical criticism have its say.’ RUTH is said to be stranger the fiction. The role attributed to t Ranes in Goa's free dom struggle is or illustration of this old dictum. Folklo and, more recent, political developmen seem to hiave conspired to elevate the s called ‘Rajputs’ of Satari to unquestio ed honours as Goa's freedom fighter Folklorising and political myth-makir had its reasons and validity as means | sustain_anti-colonial campaign. B twenty-five years after liberation should be able to put aside political em tionalism and let historical criticism ha its say. A How good is the Rane claim for R jput origin? An anthropological stuc conducted by Dr Germano de Silva Co reia took the tradition of Rajput orig for granted, but the application of fie techniques does not seem to have enat ed him to confirm it decisively. He co cluded saying that “their ethnic origin ‘mains an anthropological problem to t 28 GOA TODAY, MARCH 1987‘A group of Ranes with the Maratha armies solved” (Les Ranes de Satary, 1928:29). In the absence of further evidence, it re- mains to be proved that the Ranes of Satari difer essentially from the Marathas of the Deccan, ‘The origin of the Rajputs is a red her- ring that has been much dragged about in the historical writings on early: medieval and medieval India, One can ‘observe an extreme polarity of opinions, which extends in range from attempts to trace the Rajputs to foreign immigrant stocks of the post-Gupta period, to con- trived justifications for viewing the Ra- jputs as of pure kshatriya origin. The question of the indigenous origin of the Rajputs assumed symbolic overtones in the heyday of nationalist historiography; and in the historical and purely literary writings of various genres, the military and chivalrous qualities of the Rajputs were repeatedly projected, All such writings tended to suggest that the Ra- puts rose to prominence in the process “The village communities of Satari ceased to exist as a result of the recurring feuds among the Ranes themselves and their attempts to assert feudal control. This is a very Important historical background to be taken into consideration while critically assessing the so-called contribution of the Ranes to Goa’s freedom struggle.’ of resisting foreign invasions and that they shouldered wilingly the kshatriya duty of fighting for the land as well as for its people and culture. Even in detailed studies of Rajasthan, the origin of the Rajputs in the early ‘medieval period is far from settled ~and much less examined, There were ‘widespread claims in the early medieval period to the traditional Ashatriya status. Such claims were attempts to get away from, rather than reveal, the original ancestry. It was a process in which new social groups sought various symbols for the legitimisation of their newly gained power. The case of the Ranes of Satari can be taken to illustrate a similar pro- cess of mobility toAshatriya status in this part of western India. HILE elsewhere in the New Con- quests the traditional village com- munity set-up suffered some destruction under their Dessais, the village com- COA TODAY, MARCH 1987 29PERSPECTIVE Rane Sardesai of Sanquelim and his nephews with ex-governor general of ‘Portuguese India’ Admiral or dominators? munities of Satari ceased to exist as a result of the recurring feuds among the Ranes themselves and their attempis to assert their own feudal control and relative independence, This is a very im- portant historical background to be taken into consideration while critically assessing the so-called contribution of the Ranes to Goa's freedom struggle. Freedom, as we now tend to understand it, seems to have been the last Ranes aspired to. In a taluka that is blessed with abun- dant natural resources, its own ganvkars inhabiting its original seventy or so villages, were reduced to misery and bes gary. Even the traditional Dessais and Nadkamis were marginalised by the Sardesai Ranes who established their ‘mokasas all over the fertile and cultivable low-lying westem region of the taluka and extended their administrative and 30 TODAY, MARCH 1987 ’ Quintanitha e Mendonca Dias: Liberarors fiscal control over the rest of the taluka, ‘The armed force of the Ranes was ited in this task by their brahmin Dubhashis. The Ranes also patronised hordes of Bhats who descended from across the ghats into Satari to perform their religious role of preaching the op- ‘It was not in the interest of the Portuguese to deprive the Ranes of their _ privileges in Satari because they had served as a useful contra force to check the adventurism of the Marathas.” ‘A long representation | was submitted by a dozen ganvkars of various villages of Satari to the Portuguese Governor of Goa, D. Manoel da Camara in April 1824. The document listed the grievances of the villagers against the Ranes and their “tyrannical yoke” which had obliged many to | seek refuge in the Portuguese territory and beyond the ghats.’ pressed local population into submission to their new overloads, smoothening thereby the mechanism of violence and reducing the administrative costs, The Bhats were generously rewarded with many deussuns and areca groves, The Bhats grew in numbers and wealth just as the native ganvkars decreased in numbers and increased in misery, All that was left to them was places of worship and beliefs about the nobility of the Ranes. We do not have much documentary evidence that could throw light upon the efforts of the Satari ganukars and their traditional leaders to resist the oppres- sion of the Ranes until the time when the region came under the Portuguese jurisdiction. AS in the case of most subaltern classes they were hardly in a position to procluce records of their pro- test. But we do have, forinstance, a long representation submitted by a’ dozen ganokars of various villages of Satari to the Portuguese Governor of Goa, D. Manoel da Camara in April 1824, ‘The document listed the grievances of the villagers against the Ranes and their tyrannical yoke’ which had obliged many to seek refuge in the Portuguese teritory and beyond the ghats, They were pleading with the Portuguese Goyern- ment to protect them by taking direct charge of the villages of Satari and their reventie administratin, It is very probable that this representation was inspired and drafted by the Nadkarnis. of Sankili While these Nadkamis pretended con- cem for the plight of the village gan- vkars, they were actually interested inTHE RANE FAMILY TREE ONDA, KNOWN BY THE NAME OF BABLI 2.converteD To A.Went to cevion wnene| WAS KILED INTHE | | we SANTO RANE ‘The family tree shows that at least three Ranes were converted to Christianity, GOA TODAY, MARCH 1987 31PERSPECTIVE regaining their own lost traditional con- trol. With their proverbial skill. to anipulate accounts and property records, in the 1830's the Nadkarnis of Sanklli nearly succeeded in seltling old scores with the Ranes. Some details of this casé could better help understand the complexity of interests in conflict and to realise that the-Ranes did not repre sent the natives of Satari in their so- called freedom struggle. ‘The Nadkamnis represented traditional village interests and kept up their own freedom struggle against the Ranes. Ob- viously, they were no match to the Ranes in military skill and force, but they retentlessly pursued their struggle with traditional chicanery and cunning. The Nadkarnis and their agents had in- filtrated into. the Portuguese ad- ministrative ranks. Soon after the distur- Dances created by the Ranes which coin- cided with the political instability caus- ed by the liberal-constitutional struggle in Goa (1822-1835), the Nadkarnis got round the Portuguese administration to frame a case against the Ranes for defrauding the Portuguese administra- tion since 1746. In the process of fiscal inquiry entrusted by the Portuguese Government to a certain Atmaram For freedom or feudalism? ‘O Sr. Comandante Sarmento Rodrigues com algumas das personal ‘Any critical study of the recurring rebellions and disturbances caused by the Ranes will have to take into account the machinations and schemings of the Nadkarnis of Satari. What appears often as a straight Rane- Portuguese conflict will then be seen as a more complex situation in which the “subaltern” classes of Satari silently, or rather subtly, participated in the contest and sought to undermine the dominance of the Ranes.” Parab, the Nadkamis, Dessais and gan- vkars of Satari produced ‘documented information to prove that the Ranes had been paying revenue dues to the Sawants cof Wadi in lieu of the mokasas. Hence in keeping with the terms of submission to the Portuguese, the Ranes ought to have paid the same dues to the Por- tuguese exchequer. Obviously, the Nadkamis would get back into the job of administering the revenue collection, and of playing the power game that goes with it Luckily for the Ranes, their defence counsel managed to checkmate the judicial aspersions cast by the accusation ‘of tax evasion by proving that Lakshman. Kustam Sinai Nadkarni of Sanklli had cooked up the information supplied to Atmaram Parab and also. forged documents of Okt Marathi using the seals of the Sawants, Another Nadkami of Sanklli, Mallapa Sinai was also involved. They had also roped in the official state tmaslator (ingua do Estado) Sakharam Narayan Vaga. His handwriting was ide tified in interpolations made on the “Book of Peace treaties’ Livro de Pazes) in the Secretariat archives. [hs gpsrenttiom te above cass that the Ranes had enemies from within. ides mais representativas entre as quais 0 Governador Geral, o Patriarca das Indias, o Director Geral do Ensino do Ultramar, 0 Comandante Militar, 0 Principe de Sundem, 0 Ranes de Sanquelim, 0 Presidente do Tribunal da Relacao, 0 Arquitecto Baltazar de Castro, o Comandante Militar de Macau e outras individualidades.” This caption reads in translation: Cdr. Sarmiento Rodrigues with some distinguished personalities like the Governor General, the Patriarch of the In- dies, the Director General of Overseas Education, the military Commander, the Prince of Sundem; the Rane of Sanquelim, the Chief Justice, Architect Baltazar de Castro, the Military’ Commander of Macau and others‘The traditional landed interests were not reconciled to being subjected to their power and ambitions, Any critical study of the recurring rebellions and distur- ances caused by the Ranes will have to take into account the machinations and schemings of the Nadkamnis of Satari. What appears often as a straight Rane- Portuguese conflict will then be seen as ‘a more complex situation in which the “subaltern’ classes of Satari silently, or rather subtly, participated in the contest and sought to undermine the dominance of the Ranes, It was not in the interest of the Por tuguese to deprive the Ranes of their privileges in Satari because they had ser ed as a useful contra force to check the adventurisin of the Marathas, Alarmed by Shivaji’s attempts to extend his sway in the Konkan, the Portuguese continued ‘There are several instances of Ranes | serving the Portuguese as mercenaries in Goa as well as far away from it in Ceylon during the 17th century. In the 18th century we find them-serving the Portuguese as feudatories that were not always reliable. But that was nothing unusual in the feudal : set-up.’ to support the turbulent Dessais of Kudal, Pedne, Bicholim and Sank in resisting the territorial ambitions of the Maratha chieftains of the Deccan. Con- trary to the myth propagated by most, traditional Maratha historians that all Marathas (if not all Hindus) had en- thusiastically rallied round Shivaji's ban- ner and his Hindavi Swarajya, an emi- nent and critical Maratha historian, Prof AR Kulkarni tells us that “the people of the Konkan never associated themselves with the Maratha movement launched by Shivaji... Shivaji did succeed in capturing some parts of the Konkan, but the core of Konkan which was under the Desais and the Portuguese never came under the Maratha control.” Unfortunately, since liberation Goans are beings taught their history by teachers from outside Goa who have an insuffi- cient grasp of the local ethos and cultural background. We read in the ‘Goa Gazet- ter’ that “the aim of these wars (revolts of Ranes) was to regain the lost territory and freedom, The Ranes were supported by the common people who were eager to sweep out the intolerant, obnoxious rule of the Portuguese.” No. critical historian could state that the native population that was reduced to serfdom by the Ranes had the option to choose ‘whether to join them (the Ranes) or not in their resistance to those who attemp- ted to check their banditry ‘The Ranes backed any neighbouring ruler (including the Portuguese) when it suited them, and they backed out from repeatedly renewed “oaths of fealty” to the Portuguese whenever it did not suit their interests. That the “common peo- ple” of Satari should have “supported the Ranes” can best be understood from the analysis of a modern and critical Maratha historian, Prof P V Ranade: “Robbing the rich for the benefit of the poor is an instinct of all primitive rebellions. Shiva- ji's campaigns of mulukhgiri into Mughal territories were campaigns of plunder against rich emporiums and must have thrilled the hearts of the ‘naked rascal ji was shrewd enough to exploit t primitive instinct. Thus he and his si cessors (applicable to Ranes) could enlist the Maratha bargirs and shiledars in the ‘mulukhgiri campaigns on the basis of an appeal to their predatory instinct and religious eth ‘There are several instances of the Ranes_ serving the Portuguese as mercenaries in Goa as well as far away from it in Ceylon during the 17th cen- tury, In the 18th century we find them serving the Portuguese as feudatories that were not always reliable, But that ‘was nothing unusual in the feudal set-up. ‘The doyen of Indian historians, Prof D D Kosambi, a Goan by origin, states in his classic ‘An Introduction to India History’ that, with their depredations till the end of the last century, the Ranes were no better than “robbers claiming feudal titles”. The evidence and analysis he provides tend to confirm such an assessment. The Ranes only sought to preserve and enlarge their feudal privileges. Once under the Portuguese suzerdinty since 1746, the clash between. Portuguese colonial interests and their ‘own feudal interests became inevitable. ‘That is exactly what happened. The on- ly option open.to the Ranes was to shake off Portuguese fiscal controls, or submit to ,their encroachment and eroding power at the expense of their own feudal claims. Faced with the above altematives the Ranes tried solutions of despair. They were illmatched to face the superior ‘organisational and military powers of the Portuguese. This was true despite the ap- parent inability of the Portuguese to quell the rebellions without compromises and grants of amnesty. The Rane Revolts coincided with a very disturbed political period in Goa. A time arrived when new and powerful economic interests which The Ranes only sought to preserve and enlarge their feudal privileges. Once under the Portuguese suzerainty ‘since 1746, the clash between the Portuguese colonial interests and their feudal interests became inevitable. That is exactly what happened. The only option open to the Ranes was to shake off | Portuguese fiscal controls, or submit to their encroachment and eroding power at the expense of their own feudal claims.’ had entered Satari finally crushed their ambitions: over 26,000 acres of land were taken over on long leases by in- dustrial interests for large-scale planta- tions. Some of these planters were British and American citizens. In the ‘wake of the establishment of the railroad by the British in and around Goa, the timber wealth of Satari attracted ex- ploiters. And increasing administrative cooperation and coordination between Goa and British India made it increas- ingly difficult for the Ranes to carry on their traditional game of hit-and-run. ‘The revolts of the Ranes were woven into a myth of freedom struggle and even provided themes for Konkani folk songs asa result of the growing political discon- tent among the native intelligentsia of the Old Conquests of Goa. The Pinto Revolt, the Peres da Silva affair, and the liberal. political struggle provide the background and clues which account for the transfor- mation of Satar'’s feudal lords into legen- dary freedom fighters. a GOA TODAY, MARCH 1987 33