Review of The Last Prabhu by Dr. Sandra Fonseca

This review was published of 24 May 2020 on Goanet Reader. Many thanks to Dr. Sandra Fonseca for her insightful review and the enormous amount of time she has invested to meticulously read and analyse The Last Prabhu.

The Last Prabhu, A Hunt for roots: DNA, ancient documents
and migration in Goa
Second Revised Edition
Bernardo Elvino de Sousa
--
Review by Dr Sandra Fonseca
sfons073@uottawa.ca

"Undra mojea mama, ani aum sangtam tuca...  ani mazorechea
piliean taca eka gansan khailo." These are words of a
popular, well-loved Goan song, sung even today at every Goan
get-together.  Yet many Goans probably don't dwell on the
meaning and significance of the words of the song.  In his
well-researched 2020 scientific treatise, "The Last Prabhu, A
Hunt for roots: DNA, ancient documents and migration in Goa",
the author Dr Bernardo Elvino de Sousa sheds light on the
meaning of this song, explaining how and why the Portuguese
conquerors were able to capture Goa.

          The author traces the history of his ancestors
          through a multidisciplinary approach utilising
          revolutionary developments in genetics, deep
          ancestry DNA test results, written documentary
          evidence and orally transmitted history.

With his amazing skill in deciphering scripts and translating
languages -- Konkani, Marathi and Portuguese, de Sousa puts
together pieces of the puzzle of the peopling of Goa and
India in painstaking, precise detail.

In a personal search for his own ancestral roots in the
village of Aldona (in Bardez, Goa), de Sousa provides a
glimpse into the migratory paths and the history of the life
of people in the villages of Goa in the late 16th and early
17th century.  The book also reveals the origins of the
church and the circumstances around conversions to
Christianity, the condition of women, and the caste system.

Although de Sousa explains the complexity of DNA in plain,
simple terms using analogies and examples in his multifaceted
book written through the lens of history, geography,
literature and science, it is a book that requires several
re-reads as the readers are taken on a mind-boggling
chronological journey of migration patterns of early Goan
settlers, an analysis of haplogroups and mitochondrial DNA
and the realities of the life and death decisions made under
the Portuguese rule of Goa.

Based on scientific evidence, de Sousa traces his ancestry to
the Indus Valley Civilisation population as well as the
Yamnaya and Sintashta cultures in the Steppes that migrated
through the Fertile Crescent to Goa around 700 BCE.

de Sousa also demonstrates that "all Indians irrespective of
their caste consist of ANI [Ancestral North Indian] and ASI
[Ancestral South Indian] mixtures in different proportions
belonging to different haplogroups, resulting from ancestors
who migrated out of Africa through different routes and
different epochs." (p.128).

          In his search to understand how the people of Goa
          were so easily conquered and ruled by foreign
          invaders, de Sousa uncovers the covert help given
          by the Hindus to the Portuguese to avoid the
          excessive tax demands of Adil Shahi that sounded
          the death knell for Goa.  In the process, de Sousa
          discovers that his ancestors were self-governing,
          skilled, sophisticated, literate in Sanskrit,
          experienced agriculturalists, environmentalists --
          a people resilient in the face of enormous
          challenges and limited choices offered by their
          conquerors.

In a rendering of the truth, while de Sousa describes the
brutality of the Portuguese conquerors, the forced
conversions to Christianity, explaining how "the fury of the
Inquisition spared no one -- women, children nor the
deceased" (p.163), he also sheds light on other uncomfortable
truths such as the deplorable condition of Brahmin women
under a dominant patriarchal system and the rigidity of the
caste system.

Meetings in the 1600s

The descriptions of the meetings recorded in the Tombo de
Aldona are detailed and vivid transporting the reader back to
the 1600s where one can visualize the meetings that took
place under the shade of a banyan tree in the village of
Aldona.  For any Goan interested in tracing their ancestral
roots, the book offers details on pre-conversion ancestral
Hindu names, vangads, and gotras and a fascinating account of
the efficient functioning of the gaunkari system and the
comunidades.

At a broader level, the book is a story of migration
triggered by climatic changes and a quest of human survival,
a quintessential story of human migration.  de Sousa reveals
how historically migrants have brought expertise, new ideas
and skills that foster innovation and progress and history
has demonstrated time and again that those countries that
recognize and utilize this tremendous human capital will
flourish and thrive. de Sousa offers important cautionary
lessons here for nations and peoples about the need to
embrace new ideas and innovation to prosper.

Goa, not the same

          As de Sousa relates, "Goa of today is not the same
          as Goa of the past and will not be the Goa of the
          future." (p.175).  He states that the fast pace and
          rate of change with emigration to Goa is inevitable
          unless living conditions in other places also
          improve.  This sentiment is echoed in the reasons
          for migration around the world as people are forced
          to leave their homes seeking refuge, stability and
          better lives.

To persevere in the writing of this book despite so much of
the evidence being lost and fragmented is a commendable feat
by the author.

In the search for his descendants and in tracing his
ancestral roots that lead de Sousa to his identity as a
descendant of Ramu Prabhu and to "The Last Prabhu", he
provides a glimpse of a rich history of the peopling of Goa
that is a story of a people with a strong intellect and
tremendous resilience who survived oppression and fought for
self-preservation against great odds. It is a great gift
that future generations of Goans can add and build upon.

I would encourage the reader to reach out to the author at
his blog http://thelastprabhu.blogspot.com with any questions
or to leave a comment.

[The ebook version is available at amazon.com]
--
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