Advent of Portuguese in India

Portuguese Influence in India: Extent and Impact

• The general tendency is to underestimate the Portuguese hold in India. However, the Estado Português da India (State of the Portuguese India) was in fact a larger element in Indian history than it is given credit for.
• Many of the coastal parts of India had come under Portuguese power within fifty years of Vasco da Gama’s arrival.
• The Portuguese had occupied some sixty miles of coast around Goa.
• On the west coast from Mumbai to Daman and Diu to the approaches to Gujarat, they controlled a narrow tract with four important ports and hundreds of towns and villages.
• In the south, they had under them a chain of seaport fortresses and trading-posts like Mangalore, Cannanore, Cochin, and Calicut.
• And though their power in Malabar was not consolidated, it was enough to ensure influence or control over the local rulers who held the spice growing land.
• The Portuguese established further military posts and settlements on the east coast at San Thome (in Chennai) and Nagapatnam (in Andhra).
• Towards the end of the sixteenth century, a wealthy settlement had grown at Hooghly in West Bengal.

Diplomatic Relations and Portuguese Departure: A Long-Lasting Presence

• Envoys and ambassadors were exchanged between Goa and many of the major kingdoms in India of the time.
• Treaties were signed between Goa and the Deccan sultans in 1570 which were regularly renewed as long as their kingdoms lasted.
• The Portuguese always had a role to play in the successive battles for the balance of power between Vijayanagara and the Deccan sultans, between the Deccanis and the Mughals, and between the Mughals and the Marathas.
• Interestingly, the Portuguese, the first Europeans to come to India, were also the last to leave this land. It was 1961 before the Government of India recaptured Goa, Daman, and Diu from them.

Portuguese Administration and Religious Policy: Governing and Converting

• The head of the administration was the viceroy who served for three years, with his secretary and, in later years, a council.
• Next in importance came the Vedor da Fazenda, responsible for revenues and the cargoes and dispatch of fleets.
• The fortresses, from Africa to China, were under captains, assisted by ‘factors’, whose power was increased by the difficulties of communication and was too often used for personal ends.

Religious Policy of the Portuguese: From Tolerance to Intolerance

• The Moors and the Arabs were the bitter enemies of the Portuguese in North Africa.
• Arriving in the East, the Portuguese brought with them the same zeal to promote Christianity and the wish to persecute all Muslims.
• Intolerant towards the Muslims, the Portuguese were initially quite tolerant towards the Hindus. However, over time, after the introduction of the Inquisition in Goa, there was a change and Hindus were also persecuted.
• Despite this intolerant behavior, the Jesuits made a good impression at the court of Akbar, mainly due to the Mughal emperor’s interest in questions of theology.
• In September 1579, Akbar forwarded a letter to the authorities at Goa requesting them to send two learned priests. The Church authorities in Goa eagerly accepted the invitation, seeing in it a chance to convert the emperor to Christianity, and with him his court and the people.
• When they reached Fatehpur Sikri on February 28, 1580, they were received with honour. Aquaviva and Monserrate went back in 1583, belying the hopes the Portuguese entertained of Akbar’s conversion to the Christian faith.
• The second mission called by Akbar in 1590 also ended on a similar note in 1592. The third mission, again invited by Akbar, arrived in 1595 at Lahore (where the court was then residing) and continued as a sort of permanent institution, thereby extending its influence on secular politics.
• Fathers Jerome Xavier and Emanuel Pinheiro were the leaders of the mission, and their letters from the court became very widely known for the information they provided on the later part of Akbar’s reign.
• Prince Salim, on ascending the throne as Jahangir, assuaged the Muslims by neglecting the Jesuit fathers. Gradually, however, his temporary estrangement from the Jesuits ended, and in 1606 he renewed his favours to them.
• The elegant and spacious church at Lahore was allowed to be retained by them along with the collegium or the priests’ residence.
• In 1608, twenty baptisms were carried out in Agra, the priests publicly acting with as much liberty as in Portugal.
• Jahangir’s conduct was such that the Jesuit priests became hopeful of bringing him within the Christian fold. However, these hopes were belied. Moreover, arrogant actions on the part of the Portuguese viceroys created a rift with the Mughal emperor.