Goa

“The Land of Legends”

“The real voyage of discovering consists not in seeking new
landscapes but in having new eyes”
Goa has attracted attention of many people from India and around the world because
of its natural beauty, long sandy seacoast and the beautiful landscapes formed by the
Sayahdri hills covered with a blanket of dense forests consisting of the trees of Goa
which speak the times that followed.

Goa besides all the other attractions has one more thing to offer, its rich cultural
heritage and history which starts from the “Age of mythology” when Lord Parshuram
wanted to gift a land to his followers and he didn’t wanted to displace the existing
settlements so he shot seven arrows from a high mountain on the Western Ghats
overlooking the sea. Wherever the arrows fell into the sea the waters receded forming
a strip of seven divisions of land and among these seven a most beautiful land arise
known to us as Goa today.

Goa has gone through different stages of changes when people from different parts of
the world migrated to Goa in large numbers bringing their own traditions and belief’s
subjugating the locals and imposing their imprint. The actual evolution of Goa started
when different dynasties started to rule through times. In fact most of them occupied
only pockets of modern day Goa because of Goa’s deep harbours and trading links,
they thrived for a short while and then faded in the history. The dynasties of Sakas,
Rathas, Bhojas, Silharas, Pallavas, Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas and Adil shahis. History
does however throw spotlight to illuminate some of these rulers.

The major role in the history of Goa is played by the rule of the Portuguese which
revolutionized lots of things in Goa. On 8th July 1497 Vasco Da Gama sailed out of
Lisbon and dropped anchor in Calicut on 20th May 1498. In the year 1509 the
Portuguese Governor of Cannanore met a man named Thimmaya of the Vijaynagar
Empire whom the Portuguese called Thimoja who met them with an intention of
settling their scores with their mutual enemies Adil Shahi’s. Thimmaya convinced
Alfonso de Albuquerque that Goa with its superb facilities would make an excellent
Indian capital for the Portuguese. It was a great victory for the Portuguese but soon it
was recovered back by the army of Adil Shah. But on 5th November 1510 they
recaptured it after a bloody hand-to-hand fight. So, in a bath of blood started
uninterrupted reign of the Iberians, which would last well into the 20th century
transforming Goa and being transformed in return.

The economic, temporal and spiritual power that came to reside in Goa combined
with an ambience and a beauty that rivaled contemporary Europe, earned the city such
popular titles as “Golden Goa” or “Goa dorado” and “Rome of the Orient”

On 19th December 1961 Goa was liberated and became part of India 450 years after
the beginning of the Portuguese rule.

The Goa of today is a rich fusion of all events that occurred in the history so in order
to understand Goa of Today you have to understand the Goa of yesterday.