Colonialism in India was made possible, sustained, and strengthened by cultural technologies of rule as by the more obvious and brutal modes of conquest that initially established power on foreign shores. What factors enabled the British or Portuguese to rule Indian society for such an extended period? Despite the history of exploration and expropriations, why is there a presence of identification and admiration of the colonial past? Edward Said argued that it is culture that provides this kind of moral power, which achieves a kind of ‘Ideological Pacification.’ What distinguishes the modern European empires from the Roman or the Spanish or the Arab, according to Said, is that they do not move into a country, loot it and leave. What keeps them there is not greed but the reinforced notions of the civilising mission. (Ashcroft and Ahluwalia 2008: 82)
Portuguese Cultural Imperialism vs British Economic Imperialism
The imperial ideologies of the Portuguese differed significantly from those of the British in India. Christianization and acculturation were the dominant themes of Portuguese imperialism. In contrast, British colonial motivations were primarily driven by economic interests and consolidation of power.
The conquest of India was not a military or political conquest but a conquest of knowledge. In coming to India, unknowingly conquering territories, British believed they could explore the facts through translation, making the unknown knowable. The first step was to learn the local languages. The first educational institutions that the British established in India were to teach their officials Indian languages. The knowledge of the language, argues Cohn, enabled the British to classify, categorise, and bound the vast society of India so that it could be controlled.
As Bernard Cohn has argued in the context of the British Raj, “the important part of the colonial project of control and command” can also be seen in the case of Goa. The efforts of Jesuits, like Thomas Stephens, Miguel de Almeida and Antonio de Saldanha to study local languages and compile lexicographs and grammars exemplifies this aspect of colonialism. Jesuit educational institutions, became a strategy of conversion. (Kamat 1999: 44)
Colonial Linguistic legacy
The command of language and the language of command, stated by Bernard Cohn, emphasized how language is a powerful tool in exerting control and dominance. The British impact on some aspects of Indian life is much too radical and far-reaching to be erased. Perhaps, the single greatest and most enduring impact of British rule over India is that it created the Indian nation, in the modern political sense. The educated classes of this vast territory, argues M. S Rajan, spoke one common language, that is English, in one fact that is keeping the people of India united as a nation.
Similarly, Today, the Konkani language people speak at home in Goa has many Portuguese words. (Example: Janel, codel, mez, vestido, cop, saban, chavi and mez). Goans, as Manohar Malgaonkar remarks, are markedly different from other Indians. It is the legacy of their language Konkani and it is the influence of the informal ways of the Portuguese national character, that has taken root in the soil of Goa. The Portuguese not only ruled Goa but also deeply embedded their culture—through language, religion, and lifestyle—into Goan society. The presence of Portuguese words in Konkani, the influence on Goan attire, and the adoption of Portuguese cuisine signify a deeper cultural integration, leading to the affinity Goans feel towards their colonial past.
British did not follow Acculturation
By the last decades of the nineteenth century, there was a declining production of fine cotton textiles in India. Muslins of Dacca, printed clothes of south India, palampores, and woolen shawls of Kashmir and Punjab had all disappeared. Indian taste in clothes was rapidly changing. The thousands of clerks and functionaries working in the government in Calcutta and Bombay by the late nineteenth century developed a distinct form of dress. A mixture of Indian and European, including a mixture of unironed white European shirt, with a finely draped dhoti.
However, in Goa the natives who embraced Christianity wear shirts, trousers, dresses, boots and hats, to distinguish them from non-Christian. Goan cuisine symbolises the Portuguese influence. Beef and Pork were added to the diet of Christians. Portuguese dishes became a part of Goan Christian cuisine which is a blend of eastern and western cuisine.
British India was marked by a more radical and extractive approach. The British brought to India, Western science, technology, and various elements of a modern state, including railways, postal services, telegraphs, automobiles, large-scale factories, aviation, broadcasting, a British-modeled army, and an impartial civil service. These contributions became valuable assets for independent India, a foundation upon which the country has continued to build and modernize. However, the British remained largely detached from Indian society, focusing on how India could benefit England rather than fostering cultural amalgamation. This lack of cultural amalgamation may explain why there is no similar admiration for British rule in the rest of India.
Edward Said’s concept of “Ideological Pacification” also sheds light on how empires sustain control through moral power, leading to identification with aspects of the colonial past. In the case of Goa, this identification was more profound due to the Portuguese emphasis on cultural blending than that of the British in the rest of the country. The Goa Dourada (Golden Goa) explains the held belief that Goa is culturally and emotionally Lusitanian. The Portuguese essence remains in many corners of Goa, creating a cultural and emotional attachment to a distant European country. Often projected as a European ‘limpet’ clinging to India’s west coast. The name “Goa” is believed to have been coined to rhyme with “Lisboa.” This has resulted in a unique Goan identity that continues to stand apart from the broader Indian cultural landscape.
