page_title: Christianization of Goa
section_title: Persistence of the caste system
hierarchical_section_title: Christianization of Goa / Impact of Christianity on the caste system / Persistence of the caste system
caption_attribution_description: English: Christian shrine outside Sarzora Village, Goa, India
context_page_description: The indigenous population of the erstwhile Portuguese colony of Goa underwent a large-scale conversion from Hinduism to Christianity after its conquest and occupation by the Portuguese Empire, led by admiral Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510. After conversion to Roman Catholicism, they were granted Portuguese citizenship. Almost all the present-day Goan Catholics are descendants of these local converts to the religion. They constitute the largest Christian community in Goa and account for 25 per cent of the total Catholic population in India. The Mangalorean Catholic and Karwari Catholic communities of the Indian state of Karnataka are also largely descended from these Goan converts. East Indian Catholics of northern Konkan districts and Christians of Damaon also have some Portuguese Goan ancestry and interaction, East Indians were formerly Portuguese overseas citizens until when Bombay was handed over as a royal dowry to the British East India Company by the Portuguese Viceroyalty.
context_section_description: Bound by their rigid caste rules, these local converts (particularly the Brahmins) retained pride of caste and race, and very seldom inter-married with the Portuguese. The Portuguese initially attempted to abolish caste distinctions among the local converts and homogenise them into a single entity, but soon found this to be an impossible task and were consequently forced to recognise them. Caste consciousness among the native Christians was so intense that they even maintained separate Church confraternities dedicated to the perpetuation of the existing caste hierarchy. In church circles, the Bamonns and Chardos were rivals and frequently discriminated against each other. Caste discrimination even extended to the clergy. For instance, while there is evidence of Chardo priests since the late 17th century, only Bamonns, Mestiços and foreigners were allowed to join the priesthood till then, and even from that period onwards, members of the clergy continued to hail overwhelmingly from the Bamonn caste. However, some non-Bamonn priests did achieve distinction. For instance, it was Fr. Estevão Jeremais Mascarenhas, a Gauddo by caste and member of parliament elected several times by public demand; who spoke of self-determination in 1853. The Portuguese church authorities decided to recruit Gauddos and Sudirs into the priesthood, to offset the increasing hostilities of the Bamonn and Chardo clerics. At least three Sudir priests trained by the Jesuits are known to have been condemned by the Inquisition in 1736. The church authorities initially used the Bamonns and following the example of St. Francis Xavier,  Chardos as Konkani and Marathi interpreters in their parishes and missions.
caption: A typical white Sant Khuris (Holy Cross), of a Goan Catholic family, constructed using olden-style Portuguese architecture
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