Four silent sentinels of St Cruz

PANAJI

: Many an interesting tale is linked to the ‘

char khambe

’, built in 1896 by a prominent citizen of the village of Calapur to commemorate the arrival of a Portuguese prince to the Goa colony


The four pillars, or ‘char khambe’, that have existed for over a century on the boundary between the erstwhile village of Calapur (now St Cruz) and the city of Panaji, need scant introduction. Just the words, ‘four pillars’, conjure up the image of these whitewashed, minaret-style obelisks that stand in pairs on either side of the road leading to St Cruz from the capital city. However, what is probably lesser known is that they are an excellent study in the socio-economic and political history of Portuguese Goa of the late 1800s.
The story behind the minarets’ construction itself unveils a very telling chapter from the history of Goa, one that talks of financially powerful Hindu barons, a Portuguese prince, a peace treaty with the rebelling Ranes, and strange colonial customs.

The year was 1896, and the Portuguese colony of Goa was expecting a royal visitor, no less than the son of the monarch of Portugal — Afonso de Braganca, the duke of Porto. The news, it is said, fired up the baron of Calapur, Purushottam Quencro, who promptly decided to set out a grand welcome for the visiting dignitary. That is how the ‘char khambe’ of Calapur came to be.
In her book, ‘Santa Cruz - Calapor: Profile of a Village of Goa’, Teresa Albuquerque writes that the prince arrived in Goa to personally sign a peace treaty with the “Ranes of Sattari in the wake of a revolt they had staged”. After being feted by every important person, the duke of Porto proceeded to St Cruz to pay a courtesy call on the village’s two eminent citizens, barons Quencro and Krishnagiri Dempo.
Why would a prince of the ruling country pay a personal visit to two villagers of one of its far-flung colonies? The answer is found in the financial dynamics of the impoverished Portuguese who depended on the powerful Dempo and Quencro for monetary aid. “The visit was in consideration to the relevant services rendered to the Portuguese at the time of an ongoing financial crisis. They (Quencro and Dempo) — one may say — were the local mini versions of the World Bank,” writes Vasco Pinho in his book, ‘Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History’.
The pillars thus reveal an entire chapter of post-inquisition Goa where, as Albuquerque writes, “We notice a phenomenal leap of Hindus in the commercial and political life of Goa.”
On a lighter note, the site of the pillars was where a peculiar custom was birthed considering the colonial restriction that enforced a strict dress protocol within city limits. Coincidentally, the ‘char khambe’ marked the boundary between the village and city. “Citizens were not allowed to enter a city bare-chested. Thus, the farmers of the primarily agrarian village of St Cruz devised the practice of changing out of their ‘kashti’ or loin cloth here,” says historian Sanjeev Sardesai. Every day at the boundary, they would cover their working ‘kashti’ with a long, knee-length shirt that they would carry in the basket bearing their produce. The same practice was followed by the palanquin bearers, who would don a pair of pants.
Today, as life literally zooms by it, the pavilion sits forlorn and forgotten, surrounded by the beautiful paddy fields of St Cruz, with the chapter from its royal history, which saw visits by princes and governors, shut for good.

First stop
The four pillars at St Cruz are testimony to two of Goa’s biggest sporting celebrations.
When Goa won the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for the first time in 1983, fans gathered at the Four Pillars to receive their heroes. Even then chief minister Pratapsingh Rane along with his wife Vijayadevi and opposition leader Ramakant Khalap gathered there, waiting for the heroes to set foot at the historic venue.
Goa had won the Santosh Trophy jointly with Bengal after the teams failed to break the deadlock in the final. But a year later, Goa finally broke the jinx and won the trophy outright for the first time at the expense of Punjab. Again, the Four Pillars remained central to Goa’s celebrations. But while the fans gathered in large numbers again, politicians and bureaucrats were denied their share of the limelight.
Education minister Harish Zantye, speaker Dayanand Narvekar and chief secretary K K Mathur were waiting to garland the victorious team but failed promises from the government meant the team refused to step down from the decorated vehicle.

TWIST In the Tale?
Local account, for as long as memory stretches, has stated that the four pillars were built in honour of the visit of the prince of Portugal to the village of St Cruz in 1896. However, historian Prajal Sakhardande says he got a new insight into the history of the structure quite by chance. “I was fighting to protect the pillars after a car had rammed into one of them, and had happened to reach the site a little before the authorities,” Sakhardande said, adding that while casually clearing some deep-seated dust from one of the pillars, he stumbled on an interesting plaque. “It had the name of the Portuguese governor, Conde de Torres Novas, on it and stated that it was built in 1864,” he said. This little fact brings a new twist in the history of the pillars as Novas was the governor of Goa from 1860 to 1864. “The new angle to the history has to be further studied,” Sakhardande said.
OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Of the many stories built around these pillars, including many involving ghosts, there is one that stands out, which has been related by Albuquerque in her book on St Cruz. It deals with an incident from the life of the then governor general. The story goes that the ‘Char Khambe’ used to be his favourite haunt and he would spend many an evening relaxing here. Passers-by would stop to salute him, but there was one who always failed to acknowledge his presence. One evening, after the governor’s aide commented on this unusual behaviour, he laughingly commented, “He must be the sacristan.” And right enough, he was. When asked how he knew, the governor is known to have said, “…the man who does not normally pause in the course of his duty to genuflect to God Almighty, only that man would neglect to salute the governor general of Goa, Daman and Diu!”


ROYAL ARCHWAY
From Panaji, past Rua de Ourem, on the long, snaking road to St Cruz, right in the midst of rice fields, sit the four pillars in a semi-circular bend in the road
The four pillars are placed at the corners of a pair of stone seats placed facing each other on either side of the road
Seats are of a semi-circular shape
The pillars are concavely pyramidic in shape, starting upward from a round platform base placed one metre above the ground
The round platform rests on a conical base, which tapers to a smaller circumference as it enters the earth
The top end has a decorative filial that ends in a point
Albuquerque has referred to them as “twin obelisks over 20ft tall, elegantly tapering skywards to a minareted apex”
OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Of the many stories built around these pillars, including many involving ghosts, there is one that stands out, which has been related by Albuquerque in her book on St Cruz. It deals with an incident from the life of the then governor general. The story goes that the ‘Char Khambe’ used to be his favourite haunt and he would spend many an evening relaxing here. Passers-by would stop to salute him, but there was one who always failed to acknowledge his presence. One evening, after the governor’s aide commented on this unusual behaviour, he laughingly commented, “He must be the sacristan.” And right enough, he was. When asked how he knew, the governor is known to have said, “…the man who does not normally pause in the course of his duty to genuflect to God Almighty, only that man would neglect to salute the governor general of Goa, Daman and Diu!”


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