[Goanet-News] Goanet Reader: Yesterday's Goa -- communidades, landlords, Desais and inheritance

[Goanet Reader]

YESTERDAY'S GOA: COMMUNIDADES, LANDLORDS, DESAIS AND INHERITANCE

Ethnography of Goa, Daman and Diu
is a translated version of
Ethnographia da India Portuguesa.
Its translator, Maria Aurora Couto,
writes: "(It) is a classic book in
Portugueses. Its translation was
thus undertaken by me with great
trepidation -- at the insistence of
Armando Felix Braganca Pereira, the
author's son...." Below is an extract
from Chapter Five of the book titled
'Social Life'. It is reproduced here
with the permission of the translator
and publishers Penguin-Viking. The
section below looks at the village
communidade, bhatkars and mundkars,
Desai landholdings and inheritence and
property rights, succession and
evidence in Goa of the yesteryears. --FN

Property

The Village Communidade: The Portuguese gave the name of
communidade to the Goan ganvponn/ganvkari. The British
translated communidade de aldeia into 'village community'.

Torof means a collection/an association of several village
communidades in a single administrative unit or a cluster of
several villages in a single communidade.

At present, the village communidade (as defined by the
Portuguese Code of Communidades promulgated on 1 December
1904), is basically a simple agricultural association; it was
a 'republic', in the felicitous expression of Sir Charles
Metcalfe. The village communidades, autonomous in their
internal management, were under the protection of the Indian
kings to whom they paid tribute, which the Portuguese called
foro. The tribute was misunderstood as the emphyteutic canon
to such an extent that the decree of 15 September 1880
considered the state the direct owner of the communidade
lands in accordance with the feudal conception of eminent
domain and vassalage.

In the Foral dos usos e costumes (Charter of Usages and
Customs) promulgated by the Goa Revenue Commissioner, Afonso
Mexia, dating back to 1526, the Portuguese identified the
village communidades with Portuguese municipalities. This
resembled the Foral in Portugal, a charter which incorporated
the rights, privileges and precedents. The king promised its
enforcement to the people.

Hence both cultivable lands which they leased out as well as
wastelands which, according to the Portuguese Civil Code, are
held in common, that is, they can only be allowed to be used
by individuals designated within certain administrative
areas, continued to remain in the possession of the
communidades.

The Code of Communes stipulates in Article 291:

The following lands cannot be leased out:

* Lands of common use.
* Those indispensable to and already earmarked for pasture.
* Those allotted for free passage to neighbours.

Therefore, the village communidades defray expenses of a
municipal character such as roads, health, education, rural
police, and so on.

The study of the various forms of landed property described
in the previous pages confirms the existence of a
co-ownership among the ancient tribes, which seemed to
impress Henry Maine greatly. But it is not correct to say
that these co-owners constituted an unchangeable social
group.

Generally, apart from the tribal sector, we have not found
property held in common except in a very special case where
marriage among blood relatives existed in a group but it was
mixed with the larger community. Often, too, the special
rights of the owner are shared among the different
corporations, groups of close relatives, unilateral among the
Ewe for instance or bilateral as seems the case among the
Ifugao.

This means that communism did not exist among the territorial
groups but only among a strictly limited group of genuine
relatives. Co-ownership in others, although frequent, was not
universal. We also find individual rights to property, as in
the case of Rewa or in the Torres straits, more often in the
pastures of the Kirghiz, where communism and individualism
co-exist. It is up to those who believe in the universality
of common property, as prior to individual land property, to
prove their statements ...

The studies on India, carried out by Baden-Powell, permit us
to demonstrate that quite probably, in this region, the law
pertaining to landed property was quite the opposite of what
the sociologists wrongly assume.

Baden-Powell draws attention to the fact that the area
allotted as common property to the villages was not half as
extensive as that covered by individual property. The latter
was particularly prevalent among the more primitive peoples
...

Besides this individual property belonging to indigenous
farmers, there was also in certain localities the principle
of multiple possession by the village; it often happened that
a group of non-agricultural conquerors would take possession
of the land and lower the owners to the rank of mere tenants.

In such cases, the land owners would form a fraternity to
which would belong the village area and the land contained in
it, the entire portion forming a functioning land unit.

Parts are assigned to individuals proportionally, each
household receiving an amount proportionate to the number of
its members, or else ancestral legacy is valued according to
the lineage, although, for example, the only heir of the
original proxy possesses a piece of land bigger than the one
attributed to each of the three heirs.

Baden-Powell declares that there is no common landed
property, in the strict sense of the term, belonging to any
important group, though there is an understanding of the
family relationship and the need for mutual assistance.

Coownership never goes beyond a certain degree of kinship.

Its winding up is equally important. In cases where
coownership predominates, it does not originate but follows
the title of a single property previously owned by the
founder or the beneficiary of the village: co-ownership is
the result of several ancestral legacies to a single founder.

Thus the intensive study of a single vast territory leads to
a historical reconstruction which is in direct opposition to
the dogma of the primitive common property. This situation
does not seem to be universal; but it seems to represent a
very particular case, a late development rather than an
ancient one.27

João de Barros discovered the following tradition which
throws light on the origin of the village communidades of
Goa: ... the first inhabitants of these lands in the
foothills of the Ghats were poor people who came down from
the flat uplands known as Kanara. Since they were lying
fallow, without an owner, they worked to improve these
waterlogged lands, building embankments similar to the dykes
of Flanders and cultivating the reclaimed fields.

In time, the continued effort made them fertile and
luxuriant.  In due course when the population increased and
the benefits from good methods of cultivation became
apparent, these poor people were subjugated by the headmen
and overlords from the interior kingdom of Kanara; such was
their greed that they sold the inheritance that they and
their fathers had acquired and developed by the sweat of
their brow.

This transfer of lands was effected by entering into a
permanent contract between themselves and the prince who had
annexed them to his kingdom. Each clan then took charge of a
certain portion of the land, for which they undertook to pay
the prince and his successors a certain amount per year,
which would neither be increased nor reduced, whether the
lands were productive or not. This payment was called
khoxivorad.28 The communidades own cultivable and pasture
lands of the village, lowlands in which rice is cultivated
and hills where the villagers find firewood for their use.

In all the communidades, neighbours are entitled to graze
cattle on hillsides during the rains and in paddy fields
after the harvest. Land that lies at a higher level, on which
coconut trees, areca nut trees and other fruit-bearing trees
are grown and even those where rice can be cultivated, were
leased out to private parties who paid an amount called
kuttumban or limited rent (Foral, V, IX).

The Foral also refers to other orchards, coconut groves and
paddy fields that pay a fixed amount of revenue and are
compelled to contribute if there are losses (Foral, V, IX).
The Foral refers to other orchards, coconut groves and paddy
fields where rents are fixed from time to time, but they are
also responsible for meeting losses whenever these occur
(Foral, V). These are known as current rent (foro corrente).

Finally, the Foral alludes to transfers which the said
gaunkars can gift free of charge to any person of their
choice for which no rent is charged nor is there any
compulsion/obligation to contribute towards losses (Foral, V).

Lands known as miras, nellis, namoshi and imams are
communidade lands granted free of charge to those who work
for the communidade and temples. Members of the communidade
are the gaunkars, kulachari and the shareholders.

The gaunkars are descendants of the founders of the
communidades.

'The gaunkars who hold these posts are not liable t forfeit
them notwithstanding any shortcomings in their management
since the gaunkars are considered the pioneers, and have held
these posts from generation to generation' (Foral, VIII).

On 20 January 1680, the General Council of the Goa Islands on
behalf of the communidade complained to the king of Portugal
that the kulachari employed by the gaunkars to help with work
and the administration of the villages harassed them with
demands.

This document proves that the kulachari were workers in
ancient times and their rights and duties are specified in
the customary statutes of each association. In the Goltim
communidade, for instance, there are kulachari who are
workers even today.

The official title of gaunkar and kulachari is permanent and
hereditary.

The membership of a communidade by right of birth is
nontransferable (Art. 51 of the Code of Communidades).

The shares of the communidade are transferable and alienable
(Art. 32 of the Code of Communidades).

Bhous are compulsory associations of leaseholders of paddy
fields known as khazan which are protected by embankments or
bunds from being flooded by rivers that flow alongside.
Kamati (Camotim) are those who guard embankments and paini
are those who distribute water and guard the sluice-gates.

In some communidades these occupations are hereditary. 'The
gaunkars may grant any vacant land from his own village, free
of charge, to be used or which is already in use, to village
officials in recognition of their sustained duties to the
village, namely, the Brahmin priest of the temple, the clerk
of the registrar, the door-man, the toddy-tapper, the
washerman, the shoemaker, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the
mahar who is the servant of the temple, and even to the women
of the temple who are mistresses, and the jester' (Foral, XII).

The servants of the villages and the temples were paid from
the usufruct of specified lands (namoshi, miras, nellis,
inams) and with assured and hereditary pensions (voton, jonos
fateusin). They were duty bound to serve the gaunkars free of
charge. As the post was hereditary, the remuneration was also
hereditary. The perquisites of the post were not favours done
to the family of the servant, but were inherent in the
office. The Foral observes aptly:

'And each village shall not have more of these posts than the
above for obtaining these inheritances free of charge, nor
shall they be able to give them more inheritances without
payment of the rent than those they have now, so that if the
inheritances remain without heirs or if someone wishes to
leave them, they shall be given to other officials of that
profession' (Foral, XII).

The 1882 Rules and Regulations of the Communidades abolished
the hereditary services which were paid from the usufruct of
specified lands.

The amount left over after deducting the expenses is
distributed by the communidade according to the statutes of
the association in three categories: vangodd, zonn and tanga.

The vangodd or clan, as João de Barros called it, is a group
of members who claim descent from a common family tree --
that of one of the founders of the association.

          The net profit is divided among the clan or
          vangodd. Zonn is the right to a hereditary
          dividend, inalienable and individual; the word
          derives from the Konkani zann that indicates a
          person, an individual. The holder of the zonn is
          called the zonnkar/jonoeiro.

The tanga de cunto is the inalienable interest or stake in
the profits of the association. The tanga is subdivided into
4 bargani/barni and 1 barni into 24 leais.

The holders of the tangas known as khunttkars or stakeholders
may have been neither gaunkars nor kulacharis. Recent
legislation upgraded the status of the khunttkars to that of
shareholders.

The tangas and other inalienable interests -- pits, melagas,
palm trees, areca nut trees, magos and jonos fateusin were
converted into shares of nominal value of Rs 20.

For these reasons, the Code of Communidades of 1904 states:

The constituents of the communidades are the following:

1. Those who have personal zonn whether per capita or per
stirpes.

2. Those who hold alienable shares in the communidade (Art. 4
and Art. 28).

Khatem is the book of current accounts of the constituent
communidade. Among the liabilities of the communidade the
following are of note:

i. Land revenue payable to the Public Revenue Office.

ii. Property tax.

iii. Hak, formas, voton, sodnadkarn, tainat, dharmadan,
vorsason, sod, pensions and fees, which are all fixed and
non-variable pensions that are paid to the Dessais, to the
priests and to the temples which represent offerings in cash
granted by the communidade or by the old rulers or
obligations imposed by the ancestors of the pensioners.

iv. Pensions to male orphans and to widows of the members.

v. Expenditure on worship, education, health and roads of the
concerned locality. The landed properties of the communidades
are leased out from time to time at public auction. Leases
are customarily taken on auction by the gaunkars and by the
stakeholders who in turn sublet them to the farmers. The
association of tenants (sub-lessees) is called the bhous. The
profit derived from the subletting is known as alca. The
offer of more or less money amounting to one-sixth of the
value of the first estimate is known as the sexima
(one-sixth).

The management of the communidade is entrusted to an
administrative board of three or five members selected by the
Governor-General after they have been proposed by the
administrator who supervises and inspects the affairs of the
communidade of each district. He is appointed by the
Governor-General.

Besides the president and members, the administrative board
is composed of an attorney and a clerk. The last two
mentioned only have a consultative vote.

The attorney elected by the communidade is its representative
and inspector of the board. The resolutions of the
communidades were called nem and the clerk functioned as both
notary and as registrar of property taxes of the village.

The communidade has security guards who are responsible for
ward and watch of the landed properties according to
conditions prescribed by each communidade. They are paid a
certain fee by the communidade or by the landowners
concerned.

The Code of Communidades abolished the general or agrarian
councils which were the federal councils of the communidades.

The constitution of the communidades is simple as ancient
systems usually are. The absence of written statutes,
excessive centralization, the tendency to unify the most
varied types of communidades created by the diversity of
environmental conditions, all this has caused serious
problems in the management of these associations and has
adversely affected the welfare of the people.

The most simple matters are tangled in a maze of complicated
legislation and convoluted judicial rulings.

It is as daunting a task as unifying the statutes of the
metropolitan agricultural unions.

It is high time that the communidades functioned strictly
within their objectives. They should be converted into
organizations dedicated to the development of agriculture and
the expenditure incurred by them should be exclusively on
infrastructure for development of agriculture. Therefore they
should be free from municipal functions and of managing
uncultivated lands, which more appropriately should be
undertaken by separate administrative organizations who are
given responsibilities and funds for public services such as
roads, health.

If it is true, to quote Oliveira Martins, associations are
necessary to manage the efficient exploitation of land, and
since the communidades enjoy the advantages of owning large
tracts of land, it therefore follows that their activities,
if focussed on agricultural development, will be more useful
both socially and politically than when it is divided between
two functions -- the municipal and the agricultural. However
the reform suggested for dividing the responsibilities
between the two bodies is based on the salutary principles of
division of labour.

Bhatkars and Mundkars: The bhatkar is the owner of landed
property. The word is derived from the Konkani bhatt meaning
a coconut grove. However, it is applicable not only to the
owners of coconut groves but also to those who own other
landed properties.

The mundkar or royt is a person who resides in an allotted
dwelling in the landed property belonging to another, mainly
in order to cultivate land or to guard it. The dwelling is
either built on his own account or at the cost of the
landowner, who may have assisted either with cash or
materials (subsidy of mundd) for its construction and
establishment.

The mundkar is also one who pays the landowner an amount that
may not be the land revenue or rent for the house he dwells
in, within that landed property or for the contiguous lands
that he is permitted to cultivate or enjoy the usufruct
thereof. Such is the definition given by the decree dated 24
August 1901, which regulates the legal relations between
bhatkars and mundkars.

The mundkar is not tied down to the plot of land allotted to
him; he may leave the land by giving the bhatkar three
months' notice in advance through the administrator of the
concerned subdistrict. He does not have any right to the land
occupied by his dwelling, but only to the material used in
the construction of his residence. Nor does he own the piece
of land called bhattulem/porsum that the bhatkar granted him
free of charge or for a nominal rent to grow vegetables.

          The mundkar is responsible for guarding the
          property and must make himself available for manual
          labour when the bhatkar needs him before he seeks
          employment elsewhere.

The bhatkar is the protector of his mundkars. He helps them
in times of adversity and in illness, and sorts out disputes
that may arise among them. He has the right to evict the
mundkars from his property by intimating the administrator of
the district of notice given to the mundkar six months in
advance.

The dwelling of the mundkar is not treated as urban property
for tax purposes but is included in the assessment of landed
property in which it is situated, and hence its value and
collectible income increases.

The social condition of the mundkars resembles that of the
clients of Rome a great deal.

Lessees/Renters in part of the lands of their masters and in
part were also entrusted with commercial affairs, on a large
or small scale. Their relationship with their masters was
underpinned by religion. The clients took part in the
religious services of their masters... The client who owed
allegiance and respect to his master was compelled to render
him certain specified services. The master had in turn to
respect the clients' rights, represent them in courts of law,
take paternal care of their interests and give them every
protection possible. The master and the client could not
fight against each other in court, or depose as witness for
each other.29

The overseer is called mukadam in Goa.

Dessai Landholdings: The Dessais and the Sardessais are title
holders to fiefdoms granted to them by the old rulers. They
represent the central government and collect the revenues of
the state in a fixed area of jurisdiction. They correspond to
such title holders in Europe who, as a reward for military
services rendered by them, receive benefits of lands and
rights on condition that they assist their sovereign with men
and arms in times of war.

When the Portuguese annexed the lands in the region that is
known as Novas Conquistas, the Dessais in the region swore
the prescribed oath of allegiance to the king of Portugal.

          If the Brahmins occupy the first place in the
          theocratic order, constituting the religious
          aristocracy, the civil nobility of military origin,
          like the one in Europe, is represented by the
          Dessais, descendants of the companions-at-arms of
          the Indian kings and conquerors. The Dessais are of
          Maratha or Brahmin castes, but their secretaries
          are always Brahmins. The Portuguese utilized their
          services in times of war and respected their rights
          as evidenced from a document quoted below:

Francisco Antonio da Veiga Cabral, Governor-and
Captain-General of India, etc.

As it is desired that Satroji Rane should be rewarded in
deference to the service rendered by his grandfather,
especially Dessai Satroji Rane who died in action in the
royal service of this Majestic State, and for performing
distinguished acts of valour and loyalty, I deem it proper to
grant the favour to the said Satroji Rane by appointing him
SarDessai of Sanquelim and administrator of the old Dessai
fiefdom, in the hope that he and his entire family prove that
they deserve this great distinction that I grant him by
employing himself in the royal service of this Majestic State
with the same loyalty, love and zeal of which their family
has a long tradition. Given in the Palace in Panjim on 2
October 1806 S/d. Francisco Antonio da Veiga Cabral

However, since the privileges inherent in the Dessai fiefdoms
are no longer relevant, 'nor do they serve the purposes for
which these benefits were bestowed, for it is a long time now
that all or most of the Dessais have ceased to perform
certain duties that these fiefdoms entailed', the decree
dated 15 December 1880 came into force to regulate the rights
and duties of the Dessais.

Pursuant to this decree: The properties of the Dessai
fiefdoms (mokaso), all the revenues, taxes, pensions, rents
from or rights to the agricultural communes or private
properties are alienable, divisible and transferable by
succession, whatever may be their denominations.

The monetary obligations of privileges and duties to pay
revenue, whatever the liability, whether they amount to
tributes or taxes of a similar nature were abolished and
commuted on payment of indemnity if they were a burden on
trade and industry, on the arts and the professions, on
personal services and any type of work, on markets, road
networks and voyages by river or sea.

By special concession granted by the government of the state,
the hak or fixed pensions payable from the state exchequer
are transferable by succession only to those who are of
legitimate descent directly from the present hakdars in the
lifetime of the individual. This is effective when the
legitimate heirs have been legally authorized, the right of
the first-born male always prevailing over that of others.

If the lineal descent of the first hakdar becomes extinct,
the said hak reverts to the state. The rights that members of
the families of the mercenaries had by virtue of the general
laws or according to their usages and customs were
safeguarded. These rights enabled them to contest the
division of the whole mass of family properties and incomes
held in common, including the hak and other properties
belonging to the concerned Dessai fiefdoms.

The division of the hak rights grants the hakdar
administrator the exclusive right to one-fourth of the whole
amount besides the portion that is his due.

Mercenaries of the state forfeit all benefits from the public
exchequer and the rights that they might have had to the
properties or taxes emanating from the benefits granted to
them if they have been rebels or naturalized themselves in a
foreign country or engaged themselves in gainful employment,
profession, post, trade or industry there, or ultimately left
the state without permission from the Governor-General.

The Dessai fiefdoms entitled to the hak are:

PERNEM SUBDISTRICT

Dessai fiefdom of the subdistrict of Pernem (Arabo)
Dessai fiefdom of the village of Parcem

SANQUELIM SUBDISTRICT

SarDessai fiefdom of the Sanquelim subdistrict

* First branch of Maulinguem
* Second branch of Saleli
* Third branch of Kerim
* Fourth branch of Gululem
* Fifth branch of Sanvordem
* Sixth branch of Poriem
* Seventh branch of Advoi

Dessai fiefdom of the subdistrict of Bicholim (First branch)

* Second branch of Naroa

Dessai fiefdom of the village of Maulinguem (Gauntona)
Dessai fiefdom of the village of Lamgaum
Dessai fiefdom of the subdistrict of Sattari (Rivem)

PONDA SUBDISTRICT

SarDessai fiefdom of the subdistrict of Ponda

* First branch of Bandora
* Second branch of Combharjua
* Third branch of Marcaim
* Fourth branch of Rasaim
* First sub-branch of Vaddi
* Second sub-branch of Aturli
* Third sub-branch of Loutulim
* Fourth sub-branch of Adpoi
* Fifth sub-branch of Borim

          The SarDessais of Sanquelim and the Dessais of
          Sattari are Marathas and the rest of them are
          Brahmins. There are many Dessais, both Brahmins and
          Marathas, who are not entitled to hak. Relations
          between the Dessais and the royts are analogous to
          those of the comites and the princeps mentioned by
          Tacitus with reference to the Germans.

The clientele that we see in German law was essentially
military. It was constituted by an act, by virtue of which
many warriors promised unconditionally to follow one chief,
undertaking to defend him, and not to survive him, by getting
themselves killed or by killing themselves in the event of
his losing his life in war.

Tacitus names these warriors as comites and princeps, and the
relationships that were established between the former and
the latter as comitatus.... Tacitus considered the Germanic
tribes as gifted with a freedom that Rome did not possess
since many centuries.

He appreciated the fact that this royalty was never absolute
and had no real power; it was shared among the heads of the
family, the heads of a canton, or of a troop, all of whom
were noble or priests, all who exercised a particular kind of
authority which the Germans termed as 'mund', all of whom
were followed by a numerous escort of clients, companions and
servants. That was power, that was discipline for that
society. Freedom, which was apparent in the public sphere,
was in reality non-existent before local chiefs or domestic
heads. Much has been said about the independent spirit of the
Germans; yet the majority of these men were bound by personal
subjection.

As slaves, peasants attached to the land, freed slaves, war
mates, they were subjected not to the king or the state, but
to another man: they had a master. What dominated in Germany,
even if it appeared to be freedom, was subordination.30

The Englishman seeks to take advantage of the natural
prestige of feudal lords to maintain law and order in rural
settlements in the same manner as they did with the
traditional ancestors of the rajahs in India. He protects
them, educates them, placing them under his authority, and
imposes himself on indigenous people. He thereby eliminates
banditry which is common in the region of the Novas
Conquistas and creates an environment of peace essential for
productive work and the progress of peoples.

          The feudal system can be born only in a stratified
          society, its structure is completely alien to
          homogenous communities and consequently it has
          nothing in common with the most basic forms of
          human communities. But it is immediately evident in
          stratified societies. The real economic cause of
          the feudal system in different forms is that most
          of the transactions were carried out in kind and
          the higher class would claim all the cattle and all
          the land. The rise of feudalism was brought about
          by the political system when this system permitted
          economic exploitation. As the class system is the
          necessary condition to feudalism, the latter is
          linked with aristocracy.

However, the upheavals that took place in traditional
aristocracy are not followed by similar events in the feudal
system and thus the balance in political unity is not
destroyed. The aristocratic feudal system can be replaced by
the allotment of fiefs to officials. Anyway, the relations
between the feudal lord and the vassal are always based on
protection and allegiance.

In fact, in societies where officials received such
conferment, the personal bond is still more true because it
is determined by the fact that the weaker one assures for
himself the protection of the stronger one by means of gifts.
Given the fact that the feudal lord is interested in assuring
the support of the greatest number of men to himself, not
only to accompany him in war but to increase his revenue, the
vassal always finds in his lord a protection against the
other chiefs.

The contributors always find in their lord a protector
against the other chiefs.

The contributors find compensation in gifts, favours, feasts.
Since the lord as well as the dependant are comfortable in
this regime, there is no hostility between them...

Only when economic factors begin to play a part, when trade
develops and the use of cash is widespread, landed property
begins to be exploited. When finally the individual's
attitude with regard to the community is changed, the system
is then destined to be ruined...

India offers us a good example of what a feudal state in the
ancient East has been in the third century BC. Due to
difficult communication, it would have been impossible to
rule over the vast Ashokan empire (which covered a major
portion of contemporary India) through other than provincial
governments. The only centralization possible consisted in a
certain amount of control from the government and in the
contributions that it received. In everything else, each part
of the country observed its own customs, traditions and
framed its own special laws.31

Inheritance and Property Rights: Generally, private
properties are leased out from the communidade of the village
which owns the land. In areas where a village communidade
does not exist, the state leases out lands. Land revenues are
paid in cash.

As a rule paddy fields are leased out to cultivators
(bhageli/tenants) for a period of one to three years. The
owner is paid the equivalent of half or two-thirds of the
produce. The lessee cannot carry on with the harvest without
the owner's permission (chitt).

In exceptional cases when there is no labour available or the
owner lives away from his homeland, coconut groves are leased
out.

Land is cultivated individually or in groups depending on the
size of the properties. When the property is too large to be
leased out to a group of individuals, it is divided into
plots and leased out individually to the tenants. During the
Ganesha festival in the New Conquests, lessees usually
present the landowner with a bunch of bananas, areca nut and
other fruits depending on what is produced on the plot leased
out to them. This practice is known as formas.

The registration fee in the case of sale is paid by the
purchasers. In money lending, the loan is guaranteed by
pawning jewellery, shares of the communidade or by general
mortgage; one-tenth on the interest is paid indirectly by the
debtor. There is a penal clause which enforces double the tax
on the interest in case of delayed payment.

It is usual to charge one rupee per day from the date of
agreement incurring the loan until its repayment.

Law suits for delivery of possession, stay orders sought by
third parties, executive action and the execution of
mortgages are common court procedures.

Sometimes, paddy fields are divided into plots, which
correspond to a certain number of landowners with alternating
holdings. In such cases, each one of the landowners
cultivates one of them in a certain year, followed by another
the next year, and so on, until the rotation is completed.

When there is an amicable settlement of patrimony, it is not
unusual to reserve selected items, such as parts of the
house, items of furniture, trees to be held in common by all
heirs, or bequeath these to one of the heirs while the land
is left to the other. It was also quite common to divide
property taking into account not the size of the property but
the number of trees on it. Hence, for example, a coconut
grove could be divided so that one share had ten coconut
trees dispersed in different parts of the property and the
second share had the rest of the coconut trees interspersed
with ten other trees considered equal in worth.

Succession

Generally a Hindu does not make a will. Among the Christians,
those who are unmarried and those who are married and have
daughters do write down their wills, making their nephews,
sons and grandsons their heirs. The most common form of will
is the one enclosed in a sealed envelope, but not one in
articulo mortis done by a dying person.

Among the Hindus, the daughter renounces her paternal
inheritance, contenting herself with the dowry. The sons
divide the property without the intervention of their married
sisters, whose tacit renunciation they presume. Among the
Christians, it is commonly laid down that the married
daughter has to bring to the collective coffer the dowry and
the interest if and when she wishes to be a part of the
division. In the past it was common to

have the succession pacts included in pre-nuptial agreements.

The Foral de Tissuari (Charter of Tiswadi) of Afonso Mexia
records the following customs: The ancestors do not inherit
from descendants, nor brothers from each other, except when
they are co-owners. In the absence of ascendant heirs, the
state inherits it.

Persons of female sex do not inherit.

In the case of polygamy, the properties of the father are
divided equally by the beds (meaning women) and not by the
sons, which means that an only son from one woman inherits as
much as all the sons from another (XXXIII). According to the
Carta de Sentença (Letter of Judgement) dated 14 August 1534
(Livro das Monções no. 76, fl. 56) there was also the
custom of the properties of the parents being divided equally
by sons from various women.

Evidence

In India the following is admissible evidence: documents,
arbitration, deposition of witnesses and swearing on oath.
The types of swearing on oath are:

EYEWITNESS: Consisted of touching the eyes lightly with the
thumb and index fingers of the right hand. It was believed
that perjury would be punished with blindness.

CIRCLE/WHEEL: A person swears by standing, with rice, areca
nut and betel nut in hand, in the middle of a circle traced
on the ground. It was believed that anyone who committed
perjury after this would be meted out divine punishment which
would deprive him of basic needs. Brahmins swear on the
Bhagavad Gita.

In the Mhalsa temple in Mardol swearing takes place after
ablutions in the tank adjoining the temple. The person stands
below a bell and takes the oath in the presence of the
mahajans and the communidade of the village.

ROVO: This oath is taken while receiving a red-hot iron on
both palms. The iron rod is covered by betel nut leaves,
smeared with butter. The oath is taken in the temple of
Bhumika of Poriem (Sattari) after ablutions. ON THE HEADS OF
WIVES AND SONS: The oath is taken by placing the right hand
on their head.

ONE THE HEAD OF A BLACK COW: This oath is taken by placing
the right hand on the body of the cow. The Muslims of Goa
swear on the Al-Koran and on the sword. An oath is sworn by
the Dhere of Daman on cereals and legumes, invoking the god
Bauli-Mata. The Bhangias of Daman place a blade of hay on the
head and invoke their deity. The Muslims swear on the
Al-Koran. The Banias, the Chunars, the Vankars and the
Vanjars in Diu take the oath on rice, areca nut and betel
nut.

The Kolis, the Dheres and other lower castes swear the oath
on a wheel or by touching the eyes. The Muslims swear by
touching iron and on the Al-Koran.

Among the Parsees, there are two types of oath-taking: First,
standing with hands joined together near the chest, uttering
the following words in Persian: manasni, govosni and konosni.
Second, on the Zend Avesta through a minister of religion.

The Foral de Tissuari records the following peculiarities: If
there is any dispute or difference of opinion in some
villages on some immoveable properties or inheritance, one
shall not proceed with the dispute through any witness but
only on the basis of deeds or acknowledgements and by the
book of the village, and when there is no deed or
acknowledgement and the book of the village is found to be
lost, the holder of the inheritance would be sworn to declare
on oath what he feels should be done or needs to be done for
the truth to be known, and in such a case and other similar
ones, they shall swear on a temple called Uzoo (XXII).

If any person lends money to another on the basis of an
understanding and is careless about asking for it to be
returned, and if it is not demanded through legal means
within the time limit laid down in the understanding, so that
when he goes to ask for the said money the debtor denies it,
in such a case an oath shall be taken by the one who effected
the understanding that he shall state the truth about the
matter. He shall take an oath on the temple referred to above
(XXIII).


Nobody shall lend anyone money exceeding 50 tangas without
acknowledgement. A person or persons shall show
acknowledgement or witnesses if they wish to file a suit
against anyone up to 50 tangas. A debt of more than 50 tangas
without acknowledgement cannot be collected from others
unless the parties to the dispute can come to an agreement by
choosing two men acceptable to both, to be sworn on oath, to
determine among them after hearing them and judging what is
right and proper (XXIV).

Persons who are not qualified to be witnesses are males aged
sixteen years or less; a drunkard; a blind man, as also one
who is dumb and deaf; a ruffian; labourer; gardener; gambler;
son of a prostitute; one who is considered dishonourable. A
man wishing another ill cannot give testimony against him,
and these will be treated as men of little substance (XXVI).

There are some interesting superstitions that relate to the
manner of giving evidence: A sup or winnowing fan (a bamboo
artefact) is fixed between the blades of a pair of scissors
that serves as a fulcrum in such a way that when the pair of
scissors is held in the hand, the sup can move freely. After
the sup has been placed in this position, the names of all
those who are suspects are repeated. It is believed that the
sup moves when the name of the culprit is uttered.

The cock placed under a pan crows when the hand of the
culprit touches the pan. The corpse of the victim perspires
blood when the assassin comes near it.

Though hardly falling under the heading of serious crime and
sorcery, a case from Secunderabad is worth recording here,
because divination was involved, and combined with rough
handling led to a court case. A Goan Christian of sorts
(being descended from the wholesale converts made at the
point of the sword by the Portuguese), accused two lads of
stealing his wristwatch. He took them to a house and there
performed the ancient Christian rite of divination, known as
'Bible and key'. This was employed as late as the 1840s in
the English Midlands, but was there only used for the
harmless purpose of finding out the initials of one's lover
on Midsummer Eve and Halloween.

The Goan used a pair of scissors instead of a key, suspended
in the Bible by string, but the process was the same. He held
it over a fire containing incense, muttering a number of
names, and when he came to those of each of the two boys, the
Bible turned. He thereupon found them guilty, and caned
them.32

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Excerpted with the permission of Penguin Books India from
Ethnography of Goa, Daman and Diu by A.B Bragança Pereira;
Translated by Maria Aurora Couto Viking Rs 699. Available in
bookshops in Goa.
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