{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 42,
  "chapterName": "1608-1610. Francois Pyrard’s Account of the Goa Inquisition",
  "pageFrom": 46,
  "pageTo": 47,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 46,
      "ocrText": "46\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nreceive me as their master. I hope from the Divine Mercy that,\nwithout considering my sins, He will deign to make use of this\nclumsy instrument, for I know that the more worthless and incapable\nI am (and so I am indeed) the greater will be God's glory.\n42. FRANCOIS PYRARD'S ACCOUNT OF THE GOA\nINQUISITION (1608-1610 A.D.)\nFrancois Pyrard's account of the Goa Inquisition was based on\nhis personal observations while visiting Goa from July 1608 to\nJanuary 1610. It is translated by Albert Gray as The Voyage of Francois\nPyrard to the East Indies, the Maldives, the Molucas and Brazil. The\nportion quoted is from Vol. II, part I, pp. 92-95. Cited in A. K.\nPriolkar, The Goa Inquisition, pp. 27-30.\nThe Inquisition consists of two fathers, who are held in great\ndignity and respect; but the one is a much greater man than the\nother, and is called Inquisitor Major. The procedure is much more\nsevere than in Portugal; they often burn Jews, whom the Portu-\nguese call Christianos noeuous, that is to say, 'New Christians'.\nThe first time they are taken before the holy Inquisition, all their\ngoods are seized at the same time; they are seldom arrested unless\nthey are rich. The king supplies the cost of this process to every-\none who has not wherewithal. But ordinarily they attack them\nnot except they learn that they have massed much property. Nothing\nin the world is more cruel and pitiless than this process. For the\nleast suspicion, the slightest word, whether of a child or of a slave\nwho wishes to do his master a bad turn, is enough to hang a man;\nand they give credence to a child, however young, so only he can\nspeak. Sometimes thay are accused of putting their crucifixes in\nthe cushions whereon they sit and kneel; sometimes of striking\nthe images; or of refraining from eating bacon; in short that they\nare still secretly observing their ancient law, though they conduct\nthemselves in public as good Christians. I verily believe that\nwhatever is desired is assumed of them. Only the rich are put to\ndeath, while the poor get off with some penance. And, what is\nmost cruel and wicked, a man who would do evil to another will,\nin revenge, go and accuse him of his crime. When the other is\narrested, there is no friend will dare say a word for him, or will\nvisit him, or lift a hand in his behalf, no more than for a person\ncharged with treason. The people durst not speak in public of\nthis Inquisition but with very great honour and respect; and if a\nchance word should escape a man, having but the smallest reference\nto it, he must forthwith go, accuse and denounce himself, if he\nsuspect that any one has heard him. Otherwise, if another de-\nnounce you, you will be at once arrested. It is a terrible and fearful",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 47,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n47\nthing to be there even once for you have no proctor or advocate\nto speak for you, while they are judges and parties at once. The\nform of the procedure is all the same as in Spain, Italy and Portugal.\nSometimes men are kept prisoners two or three years without\nknowing the case, visited by none but officers of the Inquisition,\nand in a place where they never see a fellow creature. If they have\nno means of livelihood, the king gives it them. The Indian Gentiles\nand Moors, of whatsoever religion, are not subject to this Inquisi-\ntion unless they have become Christians, and even then are not so\nrigorously dealt with as the Portuguese or New Christians from\nPortugal or other Christians from Europe. But if peradventure\nan Indian, Moor, or Gentile inhabitant of Goa, had disuaded or\nhindered another that was minded to become Christian, and that\nwas proved against him, he would be punished by the Inquisition,\nas would be he who has caused another to quit Christianity; such\ncases often happen. The reason why they treat these Indians thus\nrigorously is that they suppose that they cannot be so steadfast in\nthe faith as the old Christians; also that it will prevent the rest\nfrom being led astray. For the same reason, too, they permit\nthem to retain some of their petty Gentile and Mohamedan super-\nstitions, such as not eating pork or beef, not drinking wine, and\nkeeping to their former dress and ornaments, that is among men\nas well as women that are become Christians.\nIt would be impossible to calculate the number of all those\nput to death by the Inquisition in ordinary course at Goa. I shall\ncontent myself with the single example of a Hollander jeweller or\nlapidary, that had resided there five-and-twenty years more, and\nwas married to a Portuguese Metice, by whom he had an exceedingly\npretty daughter of marriageable age, and had amassed goods to\nthe amount of about thirty or forty thousand crusadoes. Being\nat that time on bad terms with his wife, he was accused of having\nthe books of the pretended religion, whereupon he was arrested\nand his goods seized. One half was left to his wife, the other to\nthe Inquisition. I know not what befell him, but I am inclined to\nbelieve that he was put to death, or at the least lost all his property;\nhe was a Hollander. They did not treat in like sort a Portuguese\nsoldier, who had married both in Portugal and in the Indies;\nbut he was poor. They sent him in our carrack to Portugal as a\nprisoner to Lisbon; had he been rich, they had never taken the\npains to send him. For the rest, all the other Inquisitions of the\nIndies depend upon that of Goa. It is upon all the great feast-days\nthat they carry out their judgements. Then they cause all these\npoor culprits to march together in shirts steeped in sulphur and\npainted with flames of fire; the difference between those that have\nto die and the rest being that their flames are turned upwards and\nthe other downwards. They are led straight to the great church\nor A See which is hard by the prison, and are there during the mass",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}