XCHR: Studying yesterday

The Xavier Centre of Historical Research (XCHR) came into existence in November 1979 with the aim of providing the research in history and in related disciplines with special emphasis on the period of Portuguese involvement in Asia.

It soon initiated an interdisciplinary and analytical study of history through its seminars, publication, exhibitions and its research facilities in the library and documentation center.

In its sixteen years of existence, the XCHR has conducted two international seminars (the third and seventh international seminars on Indo-Portuguese History); national seminars (on themes like East Coast and the Sea; Jesuits in Indian historical perspective, and Sources and Problems; and Discoveries, Missionary Expansion, and Asian Cultures).

A number of local seminars in its annual series include “Problems of Goa Historiography” (on themes such as Sources for a History of Goa; the press in Goa; Goa’s freedom struggle, the labor movement in Goa; Church and Goan Society and Francis Xavier: Issues for Today). The lecture series has seen some eminent Indian and foreign scholars deliver lectures and conduct workshops on themes of Indo-Portuguese history.

Ever since its recognition in April 1986 as a post-graduate institute for research of the Goa University, the XCHR has provided guidance and other assistance to scholars working for a doctorate from universities at home and abroad. Three students have completed their Ph.D. work at the center. Portuguese classes (monthlong) have been held twice a year since 1981 and one Dutch course was also conducted in 1995.

The center has published 15 research books including five in its XCHR studies series. The titles are Medieval Goa, Joao de Barros, Coastal Western India, Sawant’s of Wadi and the Portuguese, Indo-Portuguese history, The Black Legend of Portuguese India, Essays in Goan History, Goa Through the Ages (Vol 2), In Quest of Freedom, Jesuits in India: In Historical Perspective, Discoveries, Missionary Expansion and Asian Cultures, Goa to Me, The Economics of the Goa Jesuits 1542-1759, Health and Hygiene in Colonial Goa, and Trade and Finance in Portuguese India.

The international seminar in Indo-Portuguese history newsletter was published twice yearly between 1981 and 1988 and carried a review of the latest books in the field and information about trends and seminars world-wide dealing with Indo-Portuguese history.

The XCHR-Sussen historical research library has over 16,000 books most of these coming from some 100 donors (institutes, Jesuit houses, and families in India and abroad).

This library possesses rare atlases, maps, government reports, seminar papers, dissertations, bibliographies, paper clippings and photocopies of rare material and articles. It has a floor devoted to over two hundred journals in English and Portuguese, many of which are rare and out of print.

A priceless collection of manuscripts known as the Mhahmai House Papers (for the late 18^th-19^th centuries) deal with the business and family correspondence of the Mhahai Kamat family and contains about two hundred thousand documents in Portuguese, French, English, Kannada, Modi, Gujarati and Persian.

The Mhahmais had an agency house that maintained business contacts all along the west coast and with places like Brazil, East Africa, and Macau. They were also revenue farmers for the Portuguese administration in Goa and acted as ‘savkars’ and political informers for the French East India Company during the period of Anglo-French rivalry.

The center’s museum has a philatelic, numismatic and antique collection. These include a series of originals of the late pioneering Indian Christian artist, Angelo da Fonseca.

There are also palm-leaf manuscripts, commemorative medallions and stone inscriptions. Some of the items date back to the pre-Portuguese period including some early gold coins of the Kadamba rulers. The stone inscriptions including the ban edict of the Maratha ruler Sambhaji. It is in old Marathi and Persian.

A cultural protocol for the conservation of art was signed in January 1992 at the XCHR by the Xavier Centre, INTACH and the Instituto Rainha Dona Leonar, a semi-autonomous body set up to help in the documentation and other types of historical evidence needed for the preservation of art.

The XCHR is run by the Jesuits of the Goa Province who provide personal and financial support. The Jesuit staff has often visited places abroad and in India for seminars and conferences.

Visitors to the XCHR have included the Superior- General of the Society of Jesus, Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ (in December 1987), the President of Portugal, Mario Soares (In Jan 1992).

Each year a number of scholars and interested persons visit the center to consult the library, view the 16th-18th-century Christian art exhibits in the museum or discuss issues in Goan and Indo-Portuguese history.