“The recent restoration work at Saptakoteshwar in Divar demonstrates why serious historical research matters. Archaeological remains dating between the 14th and 16th centuries have been discovered at the site, including architectural fragments associated with an earlier temple complex. The evidence points towards a much older religious and cultural landscape than what survives today.
This is precisely where Goa’s approach to history needs to mature.
Restoring a temple is important. Documenting the history of the temple is equally important. Preserving archaeological remains is important. Digitising old records and making them available to researchers is perhaps even more important for future generations.
The government has indicated that Portugal is willing to cooperate in providing access to historical records.”
Goa has never been short of history. What it has sometimes lacked is the willingness to confront that history honestly.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s statement that around 1,000 temples were destroyed during Portuguese rule has brought the question of Goa’s lost religious and cultural heritage back into public discussion. The issue deserves serious attention, not because history should become a weapon for present day politics, but because a society that forgets the destruction of its heritage risks losing an important part of its own identity.
There is little doubt that temple destruction and restrictions on Hindu religious practices took place during Portuguese rule, particularly in the areas that formed the Old Conquests. Historical accounts document the destruction of temples, restrictions on religious practices and attempts to suppress aspects of indigenous culture. An expert committee constituted by the Goa government has also referred to more than 1,000 temples destroyed during the Portuguese regime and recommended a memorial and museum to preserve their memory.
But the number itself must be approached with historical discipline.
If the government says approximately 1,000 temples were destroyed, then Goa deserves to know how that figure was established. Which temples have been identified? Where were they located? What records exist? Which structures were destroyed completely and which were subsequently rebuilt elsewhere? What happened to their idols, religious objects, inscriptions and architectural remains?
These are not inconvenient questions. They are necessary questions.
The recent restoration work at Saptakoteshwar in Divar demonstrates why serious historical research matters. Archaeological remains dating between the 14th and 16th centuries have been discovered at the site, including architectural fragments associated with an earlier temple complex. The evidence points towards a much older religious and cultural landscape than what survives today.
This is precisely where Goa’s approach to history needs to mature.
Restoring a temple is important. Documenting the history of the temple is equally important. Preserving archaeological remains is important. Digitising old records and making them available to researchers is perhaps even more important for future generations.
The government has indicated that Portugal is willing to cooperate in providing access to historical records. This opportunity should be pursued seriously. Goa should not merely depend on political statements about its past. It should build a comprehensive historical archive based on Portuguese records, church records, local documents, archaeological evidence, oral histories and research by independent historians.
There is another important distinction that Goa must maintain.
Remembering temple destruction does not mean blaming present generations of Goan Christians for the actions of a colonial administration centuries ago. Goa’s Christian community is as much a part of modern Goa as its Hindu community. The history of Portuguese rule must therefore be discussed without turning historical injustice into contemporary communal hostility.
The destruction of temples was an attack on a cultural landscape that existed before colonial rule. Remembering it should strengthen Goa’s understanding of itself, not divide Goans against one another.
The proposed memorial for temples destroyed during Portuguese rule could therefore become much more than a political symbol. It could become a centre of historical education. A museum could document the temples that disappeared, the traditions that survived, the communities that preserved their faith and the remarkable movement of sacred images and traditions from the Old Conquests to safer territories.
Goa must also remember that its history did not begin in 1510. The Chief Minister has rightly drawn attention to the Kadamba period and the ancient roots of Goa’s temple traditions.
But history should not end with another political narrative replacing the previous one.
Goa needs evidence, archives, archaeology and scholarship.
The question before the government is therefore bigger than whether 1,000 temples were destroyed. The real question is how many stories disappeared with them and how many can still be recovered.
If the government genuinely wants the younger generation to understand Goa’s history, this is the moment to do it properly.
Remember the temples. Restore what can be restored. Document what has been lost. Preserve what survives.
And above all, let history speak through evidence rather than slogans.
