page_title: Persecution of Hindus
section_title: Portuguese Goa
hierarchical_section_title: Persecution of Hindus / European colonial rule / Portuguese Goa
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial To St. Francis Xavier, Hirado, Nagasaki, Japan Русский: св. Франциск Ксаверий
context_page_description: Hindus have experienced historical and current religious persecution and systematic violence. These occurred in the form of forced conversions, documented massacres, demolition and desecration of temples, as well as the destruction of educational centres.
context_section_description: During the Portuguese rule of Goa, thousands of Hindus were coerced into accepting Christianity by the passage of laws that made it difficult for them to practice their faith, harassed them under false pretences or petty complaints, and gave favourable status to converts (indiacatos) and mestiços in terms of laws and jobs. The Goa Inquisition, was established in 1560 by Portuguese missionaries in the Estado Português da Índia. The Goa Inquisition was directed against backsliding converts (that is, former Hindus and Muslims who had converted to Christianity), and it has been recorded that at least 57 Goans were executed over a period of three hundred years, starting in the year 1560. The inquisition was proposed by St. Francis Xavier.
  According to Teotónio de Souza the Hindus faced severe persecution with great fortitude under the Portuguese in Goa. Vicar general Miguel Vaz had written to the king of Portugal in 1543 from Goa requesting that the Inquisition be established in Goa as well. Three years later Francis Xavier made a similar request in view of the Muslims in the region and the Christians abandoning their faith. On hearing of the excesses of the Inquisition in Goa, Lourenco Pires, Portuguese ambassador at Rome, expressed his displeasure to the crown while warning that this zeal for religion was actually becoming a disservice to God and the kingdom. Again according to de Souza, the Inquisition led to the downfall of the Portuguese Empire in the East.
caption: St. Francis Xavier who requested the Inquisition in 1545
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