page_title: Goa Inquisition
hierarchical_section_title: Goa Inquisition
caption_attribution_description: Left, the banner of the Spanish Inquisition; right banner of the Inquisition in Goa. Engraving by B. Picart, 1722. Iconographic Collections Keywords: Bernard Picart
context_page_description: The Goa Inquisition was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in colonial-era Portuguese India. The Inquisition was established to enforce Catholic orthodoxy in the Indian dominions of the Portuguese Empire.
  The Inquisition was instituted to counter the New Christians who were accused of "crypto-Hinduism" and the Old Christian Nasranis for "Judaising", by the colonial era Inquisition in Portuguese India. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774 to 1778, continued thereafter until finally abolished in 1820. The Inquisition punished those who had converted to Catholicism but were suspected by Jesuit clergy of practising their previous religion in secret. Predominantly, those targeted were accused of Crypto-Hinduism. A few dozen criminally-charged natives were imprisoned, publicly flogged and, dependent on the criminal charge, sentenced to death. The Catholic Christian missionaries also burnt any books written in Sanskrit, Arabic, Marathi, or Konkani that they could find in Goa, as well as restricted Protestant Christian books from entering Goa on Dutch or English merchant ships.
context_section_description: The Goa Inquisition (Portuguese: Inquisição de Goa) was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in colonial-era Portuguese India. The Inquisition was established to enforce Catholic orthodoxy in the Indian dominions of the Portuguese Empire.
   The Inquisition was instituted to counter the New Christians who were accused of "crypto-Hinduism" and the Old Christian Nasranis for "Judaising", by the colonial era Inquisition in Portuguese India. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774 to 1778, continued thereafter until finally abolished in 1820. The Inquisition punished those who had converted to Catholicism but were suspected by Jesuit clergy of practising their previous religion in secret. Predominantly, those targeted were accused of Crypto-Hinduism. A few dozen criminally-charged natives were imprisoned, publicly flogged and, dependent on the criminal charge, sentenced to death. The Catholic Christian missionaries also burnt any books written in Sanskrit, Arabic, Marathi, or Konkani that they could find in Goa, as well as restricted Protestant Christian books from entering Goa on Dutch or English merchant ships.
  While some sources claim the Goa Inquisition was requested by Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier (from his headquarters Malacca in a letter dated 16 May 1546 to King John III of Portugal ), the only letter that asked for a king's minister, with special powers to protect the newly converted Christians from the Portuguese commandants, was the one dated January 25th 1545. Between the Inquisition's beginning in 1561 and its temporary abolition in 1774, around 16,000 persons were charged before the Inquisition. Almost all of the Goa Inquisition's records were burnt by the Portuguese when the inquisition was abolished in 1820. It is impossible to know the exact number of those put on trial and the punishments they were prescribed. The few records that have survived suggest that at least 57 were executed for their religious crime, and another 64 were burned in effigy because they had already died in jail before sentencing. Other records such as those left by the French physician Charles Dellon, who was also a victim of the Goan Inquisition, and others, suggest that nearly 70% of those found guilty of Crypto-Hinduism were executed, many prisoners starved to death and racial discrimination against Indians was rampant during the Goa Inquisition proceedings.
  In Goa, the Inquisition also prosecuted violators of prohibitions against the observance of Hindu or Muslim rites or festivals, or interfered with Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to Catholicism. The Inquisition was the judicial system over Indian Catholics, Hindus and of Portuguese settlers from Europe (mostly New Christians and Jews). The Inquisition laws made reconversion to Hinduism, Islam and Judaism and the use of the Konkani language a criminal offense. The inquisition was also a method of confiscating property and enriching the Inquisitors. Although the Goa Inquisition ended in 1820, the religious discrimination and persecution of Indian Hindus and Muslims by the Portuguese Christian government continued in other forms such as the Xenddi tax.
caption: Seal of the Portuguese Inquisition in Goa.
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