March 29, 1999
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GOA Copycat Bhandari A pseudo-history of Goa that is both uniformed and unoriginal. By Mario Cabralesa GOA
The book sent to me is a modest 22 x 14 cm. Its production values, admittedly, are excellent though marred by incompetent proof-reading. Portuguese proper nouns are distorted, for instance the confusion between Joaquim and Joao Quin (page 120). The tenures of at least two viceroys have been extended by 10 years (pages 98-121). Another plus point: excellent cover, an unacknowledged (why we wonder?) reproduction of Mapa dos Mares da Asia, one of the best specimens of Portuguese cartography. Bhandari's book, indeed, is a steal. But not for the buyer. The book in fact is a brazen fraud on the innocent reader. Bhandari has no qualms in copying as unashamedly as would an errant schoolboy. And when he doesn't copy, he perverts, lies and misinforms. The publishers state, in good faith surely, that as governor of Goa (1995-96), Bhandari "had privileged access to rare research papers". Here is a sample of the "composite picture" his trusting publishers hope he will present the reader. On page 7, he writes with the airs of a studious researcher: "It (Goa) appears to have been derived from the name Govarashtra in Hindi, which was the ancient appellation for the southern Konkan region. According to Professor Wilson, Govarashtra is identical to Goparashtra which is the district of cowherds of nomadic tribes mentioned in the ancient Hindu epic, Mahabharata." The reader will now please read with me Jos Nicolau de Fonseca, a very scrupulous Goan scholar who wrote in 1879 A Historical and Archaeological Sketch of the City of Goa, page 114: "The term Goa appears to have been derived from Govarashtra, the ancient appellation of the southern Konkana which Professor Wilson surmises to be identical with Goparashtra, i.e 'the district of cowherds of nomadic tribes mentioned in the Mahabharata'." When Bhandari doesn't plagiarise, he just goofs. On page 101, he states with the abuse of authority he is so notorious for, "King John III had first thought of entrusting the assignment (the voyage to India, 1497-99) to Vasco da Gama's father." Obviously, Joao III couldn't entrust a voyage that began five years before he was born to da Gama's father, who was already dead. Actually Manuel I, Joao III's father, had first considered Paulo, Vasco's elder brother, to lead the voyage. On page 76, Bhandari writes,"There were then Brahmin Catholic churches, Kshatriya Catholic churches and churches for other castes." Yes, Goan Catholics retained their primal Hindu caste system but churches were never allotted or reserved caste-wise. Bhandari seems to suffer from lethal amnesia. On page 121, in the course of a genealogy of Portuguese viceroys and governors (23 pages of sheer garbage) he writes, "Vassalo e Silva (the last Portuguese governor general of Goa) with a few suitcases of personal belongings was escorted to Bombay and put on an aircraft to Lisbon." Actually, the pows, e Silva included, were taken to Karachi and repatriated to Portugal. A former foreign secretary should be expected to know all this. Prime Ministers: Nehru to Vajpayee Panchatantra The Rich Biker's Guide to Calcutta |
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When India Today rang to say that it
was sending me Romesh Bhandari's Goa for review, I expected a coffee table book with
pictures by Preti Bedi. Because that was the book Bhandari had promised us during his
tenancy of Palácio do Cabo, Raj Bhavan in desi nomenclature. Bhandari had told us -- some
of those interested in Goa's history, ethos and culture -- that it would be a book as
never before. At Rs 3,000 per copy, the price he had in mind, it would be a
"steal". 
