Hindu-Catholic encounters in Goa : religion, colonialism, and modernity /​ Alexander Henn.

Originally published by "Indiana University Press".

Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-205) and index.

1.Vasco da Gama's Error: Conquest and Plurality
2.Image Wars: Iconoclasm, Idolatry, and Survival
3.Christian Puranas: Hermeneutic, Similarity, and Violence
4.Ganv: Place, Genealogy, and Bodies
5.Demotic Ritual: Religion and Memory
6.Crossroads of Religions: Shrines and Urban Mobility.

"The state of Goa on India's southwest coast was once the capital of the Portuguese-Catholic empire in Asia. When Vasco Da Gama arrived in India in 1498, he mistook Hindus for Christians, but Jesuit missionaries soon declared war on the alleged idolatry of the Hindus. Today, Hindus and Catholics assert their own religious identities, but Hindu village gods and Catholic patron saints attract worship from members of both religious communities. Through fresh readings of early Portuguese sources and long-term ethnographic fieldwork, this study traces the history of Hindu-Catholic syncretism in Goa and considers its implications for our understanding of power, religion, and postcoloniality"--