The Role of Purity and Pollution Rituals in Religious Conversions of Goa During Portuguese Colonization: A Probe Through Select Goan Novels

Abstract

The Colonial period of Goa, a small southwestern state of India, colonized by Portugal for over 450 years, is often considered a period of pollution and impurity. This essay seeks to understand the role of purity and pollution rituals in the religious conversions of sixteenth-century Goa. We undertake to closely analyze the fictionalized instances of conversions in the select novels and draw references from historical documents. The essay combines socio-literary and historical approaches to the subject to present a broader tapestry of the religious upheavals in Goa, mainly in the sixteenth century.