Bandel of Ugolim: An initiative of Portuguese traders in Bengal

Mission Musings Bandel of Ugolim: An initiative of Portuguese traders in Bengal

Fr. Dr. Francis Carvalho, SFX

Part I

1. Introduction While on an annual retreat, at the Retreat Centre at Bandel in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, I happened to read on a marble plaque on the walls of the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Bandel, an ‘acknowledgement’ on behalf of the Indo-Portuguese Association of Bengal. It refers to the pioneering evangelization done among the people of Bengal by the Padroado Missionaries from Goa and Mylapore. Acquainted as I was with Portuguese surnames, such as Gomes, D’Costa, D’Rozario, etc. among the natives of Bengal and Bangladesh, I got inquisitive to know if there was any connection between these Portuguese surnames and this Basilica of Our Lady of Bandel. On enquiry, I found a book entitled ‘Bandel Church and Hooghly. A Historical Study of the Foundation of Hooghly, its Golden Days, its Destruction and the Miracle of Our Lady of Bandel’ by Fr. S. A. Carvalho sdb (Krishnagar, W. Bengal, 5th Ed., 2013). 2. Commercial Gains: The Sole Purpose of Portuguese Traders in Bengal Historians find it difficult to trace the beginnings of Portuguese presence in Bengal. Portuguese colonial historians of the 16th century (viz., Joao de Barros, Diogo da Couto, etc.) hardly mention anything about the Portuguese in Bengal. According to these colonial historians, Portugal as such was not interested in this part of India. However, considering their propensity to maritime trade and their mastery over sea routes, the Portuguese could not have missed the sea ports in the Bay of Bengal, which was already a hub for maritime trade for Indian traders with the countries of the Far East, like China, Moluccas, Borneo, Macau, Timor, Japan, etc. By the end of the 16th century, thousands of Portuguese had settled in the Sunderbans of Bengal. These Portuguese were among those who were outlawed by their own government for showing dissatisfaction towards Spanish domination of their Portuguese nation. 2.1 First Portuguese Settlement at Satgaon in 1537 The Bengal, which was watered by major Indian rivers, like Ganges, Saraswati, Brahamputra, etc., was so fertile that made the Mogul Emperor Akbar to describe it as the paradise of India. He divided it into twelve petty kingdoms - half of them governed by Muslim rulers and the other half by Hindu rulers.

Mohammed Shah, the Pathan Nawab of Gaur is said to have gifted Satgaon to the Portuguese for their first settlement in Bengal – in return to their military support their Admiral Sampaio from Goa had rendered to him in defeating his arch-rival, Sher Khan. The waters of the legendary river Saraswati are said to have rendered Satgaon fertile and prosperous - until it changed its course after 16th century. By 1537 the Portuguese – or Firangi for the locals – had settled in Satgaon, about four kilometers away from Bandel, and had set up a factory there. The Portuguese, under the direction of Joao Correia, built a customs-house and opened a trading centre there. However, gradually, Satgaon began to lose its importance, and the Portuguese began to look for a more convenient place for their commercial activities (cf. S. A. Carvalho 2013, 7). 2.2 Second Portuguese Settlement at Bandel of Ugolim (1579) The Mogul Emperor Akbar was knowledgeable of the Portuguese way of trading goods to and fro India and Far Eastern countries as well as European countries from the banks of river Hooghly. When some Portuguese delegates, under the leadership of Captain Pedro Tavares from Goa, were invited to his court in Agra, Emperor Akbar was greatly pleased with the gifts the Portuguese had brought for him. In return he issued firmans/decrees permitting the Portuguese to choose whichever land they required for their new commercial centre as well as for their churches and convents.

The Portuguese chose the land by the banks of river Hooghly – which the Portuguese pronounced as Ugolim. With the help of skilled Pedro Tavares, the Portuguese re-built the original salt-port by this river and re-named it as Bandel – from the Persian original Bandar for a sea-port. Hence: Bandel for Bandar and Ugolim for Hooghly. Bandel, situated about 150 kilometers up-stream from the Bay of Bengal, was easily accessible to vessels coming from other parts of the globe and thus became a great commercial centre. Vessels from the rest of India, China, Malacca and Manila touched its shores carrying such precious goods as pepper from Ceylon and the Maldives, silk from Malabar, sandalwood and porcelain from China, nuts from Timor, brocades, velvet carpets, porcelain, jewels, cotton, sugar, rice and wax from the Moluccas. Greater part of these goods was shipped up-stream the river Ganges to feed the markets of the vast Mogul Empire, with its capital at Agra. Encouraged by the Mogul Emperor Akbar, the Portuguese carried on this lucrative trade, thus bringing an annual customs-duty of thousands of tangas into the Mogul treasury. The Portuguese, also, carried on the slave trade, which was in vogue in those days. Such slave trade was sanctioned by both the Hindu and Muslim laws. These laws, therefore, permitted these traders to buy and sell slaves and transport them from one zone to another or from one country to another. These slaves also served the traders in rowing their sail boats (cf. S.A. Carvalho 2013, 13-14). By the turn of the 16th century, the naval superiority of the Portuguese and the patronage extended to the Portuguese by the local chiefs of Bengal, contributed much to the growth of the Portuguese trade both inland and overseas. They popularized foodstuff and products manufactured in Bengal in the countries of South East Asia.

Furthermore, the Portuguese opened various waterroutes of Bengal to trade and commerce, which brought other ports, like Hijli, Sondip, Chittagong, and Dacca to greater commercial importance. Thus, the Portuguese traders augmented the revenue of Mogul empire in the form of custom-duties (cf. S.A. Carvalho, 16-18). (To be continued).

The writer is a member of the Society of Pilar. He has a Doctorate in Canon Law and is a visiting professor at Pilar Theological College, Pilar-Goa)