Verdant Glory

By Late Prof. L. M. Afonso

Amidst the picturesque islands of Goa surrounded by the magnificent and placid waters of the River Mandovi one comes across a colourful island with a colourful history. The isle of Jua today glories in the memories of old kingdoms and mighty kings. The story goes back to the sixth century when it was known to the people around Konkan desh as “Shakecho Jumvo”. This green jewel originally consisted of three small islets viz Jua, Tolto and Vantso with a canal connecting them. It has been observed thanks to the silt deposits of the River Mandovi, that these small islets have been joined together into one island - that of Santo Estevam which has expanded rapidly, especially since the Second World War.

Around the hill on which stands the imposing statue of Christ The King is a vast expanse of rice fields and in the distance rise small hillocks and dunes covered with forests, which are fast vanishing. Relieving the monotony of the scene there are lines of trees, pathways across the fields, and somewhere a forlorn farmer at work or a cowherd grazing his cattle. Time here seems to stand still. The motorable road up the hill and the old flight of stairs made of big slabs of stone are in a state of disrepair at places. The charm of the monument that has enshrined the memory of the late Rev. Fr. Rosa and adorning the only hill has been tampered with by the march of time. At the foot of the hill on one side lies the historic passage through which Shivaji and later his son Sambhaji invaded the island to drive the Portuguese out of Goa.

Jua is the fourth largest island in Goa. With an area of roughly three sq. miles, it is today the abode of about 8,000 people. The countryside has a lot to offer to the traveller and the farmer. The soil is alluvial and fertile dense forest that once covered the island have now been cleared for cultivation. And the river that rims it lends charm and beauty to the island.

The remnants of an ancient heritage, the ruins of various convents and monasteries, schools and colleges scattered all over the erstwhile isle of Tolto are but silent reminders and milestones of the glory that was when this was a suburb of the flourishing city of Goa under the Muslim ruler, Saboya. Even during the days of Afonso de Albuquerque it was a land of peace, prosperity and plenty where people lived in a luxury unknown to contemporary man. It was a paradise, where one could sit on the verandah listening to the soft music of the breeze blowing in from the river Mandovi.

The island of Santo Estevam mothered some of the most eminent sons of Goa. Dr. Miguel Caetano Dias was the Dean of the Goa Medical College and Chief of Health services. He was the only Goan to have been given the rank of General by the Portuguese Government with the rare distinction of having, during his lifetime, a monument erected in his honour at Panjim. His illustrious son Lt. Col. Dr. Victor Dias was also a Dean of the Goa Medical College and Chief of Health Services having been entrusted by the Goa Government with the sanatorium scheme at Old Goa. Rev. Fr. Antonio Leandro da Rosa was the last Goan to be awarded the degree of “Bacharel em sagrada Teologia”. Angelo da Fonseca, another illustrious son, was a well- known exponent of Indo-Christian art.

Nature has always smiled on Santo Estevam. The island retains its verdant glory the year round. Soon after the rains, as the harvest is gathered, the ground becomes green again through the magic of ancient irrigational methods. During the long summer a profuse variety of vegetables are grown including onions, brinjals, chillies, pumpkins, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber, carrots, melons, sweet potatoes, koitubal, ossande feijao, gonsaim, poddoim, kartim and of course, the ubiquitous bhendde. That’s why it was known to the medieval kings of Konkan Desh and Deccan as Shakecho Jumvo or the Isle of Vegetables. Almost all of the produce is exported to the neighbouring villages and towns.

The island is very young as human habitation here came about only four centuries ago. Even in 1510 when the Portuguese conquered the island, they did not think it worthwhile to occupy it. It was only in 17th Century that the Portuguese monarch D.Afonso VI thought it wise to occupy the island and for reasons of security ordered the building of the only fort, the ruins of which, besides focusing the attention of the casual traveler on the island’s glorious past, also commands a fine view of Old Goa, Divar, Panjim, Bicholim and of the surrounding landscape.

The island was converted to Christianity at the end of the 16th century by the apostolic zeal of the Jesuits or to use the traditional term, Paulists, who built the first church in Santo Estevam in the year 1575.

Jua has been in the past an important strategic area of the Marathas and the Ranes of Sattari. In his attempt to drive out the Portuguese Shivaji after subduing the Governors of Sanquelim, Bicholim and Ponda, crossed into Santo Estevam on May 11, 1663 and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Portuguese in the memnorable encounter known today as the Battle of Santo Estevam in which 500 Portuguese were put to the sword. Subsequently, Sambhaji followed the example of his warrior father and maintained the Maratha supremacy over the island putting to fight the Portuguese garrisons under the command of Viceroy Francisco Tarvora who had advanced from Old Goa against him on 25th November, 1683. The Goan historian, Professor S. Suria Rao in his booklet “A Historia de India Portuguesa” had this to say of the Maratha King: “Sambhaji Maharaj invaded the island of Santo Estevam, took possession of the fort by defeating the Portuguese troops that were guarding the fort”. But on the evening of the same day Sambhaji raised the siege and hurried over the ghats to meet the Moghul troops who had come in great numbers to invade his kingdom.

In the year 1705, Kema Sawant Bounsulo tried to expand his realm by attacking the weakly held territory of Goa under the Viceroy D. Caetano Melo e Crasto. He entered the island of Santo Estevam on a Sunday after the early morning mass. Bounsulo, mistaking the menfolk gathered in the chuch compound for Portuguese troops (he saw them from afar) retreated towards Piligao to ransack Mapusa. Then again in the year 1740 Fondu Sawant Bounsulo invaded the island of Santo Estevam on his way to Old Goa. He was intercepted at Daujim by Portuguese forces under the command of Viceroy Joao Saldanha De Gama. Fondu Sawant Bounsulo crossed into Cumbarjua, and from there to Ponda.

Santo Estevam has thus made its unique mark in the pages of Goa’s history.

Soon after liberation this island was linked to Ponda taluka by a bridge. The ferry that was plying between Santo Estevam and Khandola has been shifted to ply from Sarmanos in Bicholim taluka to Santo Estevam and Khandola. Tremendous progress has been made in the field of education and the island today boasts 100 percent literacy having among its people engineers, doctors, teachers, priests and hoteliers of repute.

This article was published in Goa Today in its August 1992 issue. Reproduced with kind permission of Goa Today.