05/12/2016
Article in Times of India, Goa Edition dated Oct 12, 2014, 01.00 AM IST
They wrote their history in STONE
TOI, Andrew Pereira | Oct 12, 2014, 01.00 AM IST
Away from the libraries and history textbooks available to today's generation of Goans lie stories that remain unknown and undocumented. A lot of events that transpired in Goa may remain hidden forever in its hills and jungles. These are the stories that will continue to be handed down through folklore or songs. Stories that, over time, turn into legends.
But for the people of Maina in Socorro, a quiet, leafy village in Bardez, a historical event that saved the vaddo (ward), a story that has been handed down from generation to generation, has been marked in stone.
It occurred at a time which remains undated. Nobody knows when the event took place, except for the fact that the story has been handed down from father to son, mother to daughter and even mother-in-law to the new daughter-in-law, who married into the village.
Finding the origin of the rock carvings found atop the Serula plateau, which is a piece of land nudged between the little vaddo of Maina and the neighbouring village of Salvador do Mundo, was getting increasingly difficult as many residents couldn't offer much explanation beyond "it was something to do with robbers".
The key to this mystery was, however, revealed, by turning the pages of history etched deeply in the minds of the older generation. Several elderly residents, some of whom have passed away, offered insights that made the blurry origins of these rock carvings far clearer.
Village elders say that the village was constantly being attacked by the Ranes. The late Antonio Vaz of Arrarim, Socorro, popularly known as 'Anton Vaz', recounted: "The villagers were constantly being harassed by a group of dacoits who were causing havoc in Maina."
The late Flora de Souza, who died well after turning 90, said that the vaddo of Maina did not exist in its present-day location. "There is a spring in the forest situated behind the vaddo, and the old vaddo was previously centred around that spring," she said. "There were frequent raids by the dacoits and we could not live in peace. One night, a huge number of dacoits descended upon our vaddo. As there were no banks then, people used to store their gold in a cordo (huge vessel to store rice)."
She continued, "My grandfather Andre Sebastiao de Souza and his brother Jaqui Joao (Joaquim Joao) were beaten up by the dacoits. The robbers also surrounded the other houses in the vaddo so that none could come to the rescue of their neighbours who were being attacked," she said. De Souza added that it is after that incident that the entire vaddo took a decision to relocate to a safer location and settled much lower in the valley.
The dacoits were not far off. They had been camping at a place on the Serula plateau known as the Connir, not far from the vaddo of Maina. Anton Vaz said, "One day, a villager spotted the dacoits camping at the Connir. He rushed back and informed the others about it. The men from the village gathered in a large number, and took the dacoits by surprise. The dacoits were either caught or killed on the spot. They numbered twelve. Our ancestors recorded the event on a rock at the spot which is visible even today," said Vaz.
The villagers marked the event in stone, and carved out twelve little crosses, twelve marble-sized holes to symbolize heads, one large axe and a one-foot-deep large hole on a piece of rock.
While most families shifted to their new settlement in Maina, some went as far as Porvorim and other places in Goa. "It was a hard decision to shift their homes. One can imagine an entire vaddo shifting. I've been told stories about the attacks by the Ranes. I've also heard stories that there was some contagious illness which forced the people to move away. Many families went far away. Today, their descendants still come to the Serula comunidade to collect their zonn (dividend from surplus of revenue earned by the village). Their current places of residence registered in the comunidade books will be varied, but they all point out that their vaddo is Maina and they are Mainekars," says Vivian de Souza, 75, of Maina.
A few years later after the incident at the Connir, the villagers built a cross near the site of the carvings and offered a laidainha (litany) as thanksgiving. The cross came to be known as the Bara Zannancho Khuris (The Cross of 12 Persons), or Bara Chorancho Khuris (12 Robbers' Cross) over a period of time.
The tradition of offering a laidanha at the cross as thanksgiving is followed even today with the residents of Maina, young and old, making a trip to the Connir in the month of January every year.
Clara Barcellos, 81, the oldest resident of the vaddo, was a young bride when she married and came to the village in 1951. "I was told the story then by my late mother-in-law Luiza Andrade e Barcellos. I really don't know much, except that there were 12 robbers who were killed there," she said.
In the vaddo of Maina, Socorro, generations will come and go. But, the story of the slaying of the 12 robbers that saved the village will be passed down and live forever.
