My Grandad's Dossier

How does an expat Goan go about tracing his roots? Says Dr Teotonio R. de Souza, former director of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research in Goa and now a professor in Lisbon: "Start with oral traditions in the family or in the village. They provide clues for further research on family links." One start could be made from the village 'comunidades' (age-old land-controlling village groups) or 'vangods' (extended clan). Hindu Goans are connected with a temple deity which could be another line of inquiry. Judicial records like 'inventarios' (family-property inheritances), priestly ordination records and land registers (called 'forais', 'tombos') are other important sources for tracing families that owned lands in various villages right from the 16th century. Then there are civil registration records, church data and marriage certificates.

In Portugal, de Souza recently came across a "whole dossier of the Inquisition from the mid-19th century" which mentioned many north Goa families. (Goa's Catholic Inquisition is believed to have been among the worst in severity, after Spain's.) Says Lilia Maria D'Souza, librarian at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research: "We have a few books on Goan genealogy (written) whenever Goans chose to write about their ancestors. There are also some works on the Portuguese who came here during colonial rule."

Mariano Dias, a retired bank manager, agrees that the Portuguese, despite all the failings of colonial rule in Goa, were great record-keepers. Searching for roots in Goa, he says, is becoming something of a craze, with up to 200 people dropping into the Goa archives in a day. Some, though, "have no idea of what they want". Says Dias: "There is ample material (in the archives). It's just like in the Gospel—the harvest is great, but the labourers (to go through the frail pages) are none!"