{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 69,
  "chapterName": "1808. Buchanan on the Inquisition at Goa",
  "pageFrom": 84,
  "pageTo": 86,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 84,
      "ocrText": "84\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nThe poor and the injured looked up to him as an unfailing\nfriend and advocate.\nThe great and powerful concurred in yielding him the highest\nhomage ever paid in this quarter of the globe to European virtue.\nThe late Hyder Ali Cawn, in the midst of a bloody and vindictive\nwar with the Carnatic, sent orders to his officers to permit the\nvenerable father Schwartz to pass unmolested, and show him\nrespect and kindness, for he is a holy man and means no harm to\nmy Government.'\nThe late Tuljajee, Raja of Tanjore, when on his death-bed,\ndesired to entrust to his protecting care his adopted son, Serfogee,\nthe present Raja, with the administration of of all the affair affairs of his\ncountry. On a spot of ground, granted to him by the same prince,\ntwo miles east of Tanjore, he built a house for his residence\nand made it an Orphan Assylum. Here the last twenty years of\nhis life were spent in the Education and Religious Instruction of\nchildren, particularly those of indigent parents, whom he gratui-\ntously maintained and instructed; and here, on the 13th of February,\n1798, surrounded by his infant flock and in the presence of several\nof his disconsolate brethren, entreating them to continue to make\nreligion the first object of their care, and imploring with his last\nbreath the divine blessing on their labours, he closed his truly\nChristian career in the 72nd year of his age.\nThe East India Company, anxious to perpetuate the memory\nof such transcendent work, and gratefully sensible of the public\nbenefits which resulted from his influence, caused his monuments\nto be erected ANN. DOM., 1807.\n69. BUCHANAN ON THE INQUISITION AT GOA\n(1808 A.D.)\nClaudius Buchanan visited the Great Hall of the Inquisition in Goa\nin the company of the Inquisitor. He did not himself see the Inqui-\nsition in progress, depending upon Dellon for this kind of information.\nC. Buchanan, Christian Researches in Asia, pp. 177-180.\nThis morning after breakfast my host (the Inquisitor) went to\ndress for the Holy Office, and soon returned in his inquisitorial\nrobes. He said he would go half an hour before the usual time\nfor the purpose of showing me the Inquisition. I thought that his\ncountenance was more severe than usual; and that his attendants\nwere not so civil as before. The truth was, the midnight scene was\nstill on my mind. The Inquisition is about a quarter of a mile",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 85,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n85\ndistant from the Convent, and we proceeded thither in our Manjeels.\nOn our arrival at the place, the Inquisitor said to me, as we were\nascending the steps of the outer stair, that he hoped I should be\nsatisfied with a transient view of the Inquisition, and that I would\nretire whenever he should desire it. I took this as a good omen,\nand followed my conductor with tolerable confidence.\nHe led me first to the Great Hall of the Inquisition. We were\nmet at the door by a number of well dressed persons, who, I after-\nwards understood, were the familiars, and attendants of Holy Office.\nThey bowed very low to the Inquisitor, looked with surprise at me.\nThe Great Hall is the place in which the prisoners are marshalled\nfor the procession of the Auto da Fe. At the procession described\nby Dellon in which he himself walked barefoot, clothed with the\npainted garment, there were upwards of one hundred and fifty\nprisoners. I traversed his hall for some time, with a slow step,\nreflecting on its former scenes, the Inquisitor walking by my side\nin silence. I thought of the fate of the multitude of my fellow-\ncreatures who had passed through this place, condemned by a\ntribunal of their fellow-sinners, their bodies devoted to the flames\nand their souls to perdition. And I could not help saying to him,\n'Would not the Holy Church wish, in her mercy, to have those\nsouls back again, that she might allow them a little further proba-\ntion?' The Inquisitor answered nothing, but beckoned me to go\nwith him to a door at one end of the hall. By this door he conduc-\nted me to some small rooms and thence to spacious apartments of\nthe chief Inquisitor. Having surveyed these he brought me back\nagain to the Great Hall; and I thought he seemed now desirous\nthat I should depart. 'Now, Father,' said I, 'lead me to the\ndungeons below; I want to see the captives.' 'No,' said he,\n'that cannot be'. I now began to suspect that it had been in in the\nmind of the Inquisitor, from the beginning, to show me only a\ncertain part of the Inquisition, in the hope of satisfying my inquiries\nin a general way. I urged him with earnestness, but he he steadily\nresisted, and and seemed to be offended, or rather agitated by my\nimportunity. I intimated to him plainly, that the only way to do\njustice to his own assertions and arguments, regarding the present\nstate of the Inquisition, was to shew me the prisoners and the\ncaptives. I should then describe only what I saw; but now the\nsubject was left in awful obscurity. Lead me down', said I, 'to\nthe inner building, and let me pass through the two hundred\ndungeons, ten feet square, described by your former captives. Let\nme count the number of your present captives, and converse with\nthem. I want to see if there be any subjects of the British Govern-\nment, to whom we owe protection. I want to ask how long they\nhave been here, how long it is since they beheld the light of the sun,\nand whether they ever expect to see it again. Shew me the chamber\nof Torture; and declare what modes of execution, or of punishment,",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 86,
      "ocrText": "86\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nare now practiced within the walls of the Inquisition, in lieu of the\npublic Auto da Fe. If, after all that has passed, Father, you resist\nthis reasonable request, I shall be justified in believing, that you are\nafraid of exposing the real state of Inquisition India. To these\nobservations the Inquisitor made no reply; but seemed impatient\nthat I should withdraw. 'My good Father,' said I, 'I am about\nto take my leave of you, and to thank you for your hospitable\nattentions, (it had been before understood that I should take my\nfinal leave at the door of the Inquisition, after having seen the\ninterior) and I wish always to preserve on my mind a favourable\nsentiment of your kindness and candour. You cannot, you say,\nshew me the captives and the dungeons; be pleased then merely\nto answer this question for I shall believe your word:- How\nmany prisoners are there now below, in the cells of the Inquisition?'\nThe Inquisitor replied, 'That is a question which I cannot answer.'\nOn his pronouncing these words, I retired hastily towards the door,\nand wished him farewell. He shook hands with as much cordiality\nas we could at the moment assume; and both of us, I believe, were\nsorry that our parting took place with a clouded countenance.\nFrom the place of Inquisition I went to the place of burning, in\nthe Camp Santo Lazaro, on the river side, where the victims were\nbrought to the stake at the Auto da Fe. It is close to the Palace,\nthat the viceroy and his court may witness the execution; for it has\never been the policy of the Inquisition to make these spiritual\nexecutions appear to be the executions of the State. An old priest\naccompanied me, who pointed out the place and described the\nscene. As I passed over this melancholy plain, I thought on the\ndifference between the pure and benign doctrine, which was first\npreached to India in the Apostolic age, and that bloody code,\nwhich, after a long night of darkness, was announced to it under\nthe same name; and I pondered on the mysterious dispensation,\nwhich permitted the ministers of the Inquisition, with their racks,\nand flames, to visit these lands, before the heralds of the Gospel of\nPeace. But the most painful reflection was, that this tribunal\nshould yet exist, unawed by the vicinity of British humanity and\ndominion. I was not satisfied with what I had seen or said at the\nInquisition, and I determined to go back again. The Inquisitors\nwere now sitting on the tribunal, and I had some excuse for return-\ning; for I was to receive from the chief Inquisitor a letter, which\nhe said he would give me before I left the place, for the British\nResident in Travancore, being an answer to a letter from that\nofficer.\nWhen I arrived at the Inquisition, and had ascended the outer\nstairs, the door keepers surveyed me doubtingly, but suffered me\nto pass, supposing that I had returned by permission and appoint-\nment of the Inquisitor. I entered the Great Hall, and went up",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}