PANAJI
More than a year after the Goa government-appointed expert committee recommended the construction of a memorial to commemorate temples destroyed during Portuguese rule, the state government is yet to identify a suitable site for the project.
The government is also silent on the museum – recommended by the committee - to showcase the ancient heritage temples in the state.
The committee’s report, submitted in October 2023, claimed that over 1,000 temples were razed by Portuguese rulers, leaving behind a fragmented archaeological legacy.
The Minister for Archives and Archaeology Subhash Phal Desai thereafter assured the Legislative Assembly that his department was in the process of identifying land for the memorial. However, sources in the Secretariat confirmed that no concrete progress has been made.
“The Revenue Department has been approached to identify government land for the memorial, but the process is still ongoing,” a senior official told The Goan.
The delay is also because of a major challenge of land acquisition in a state where government-backed projects are being opposed by the locals.
“We have thus prioritized using existing government land recorded with the Revenue Department. If government land is unavailable, we will explore other options but our first preference is state-owned land,” the official added.
The committee -- formed in January 2023 to assess applications and claims for temple reconstruction -- highlighted that the destruction of temples was particularly more in Salcette, Bardez and Tiswadi as these areas bore the brunt of Portuguese religious persecution.
It recommended the establishment of a “Smarak Devalaya” (memorial temple) in one of these historic regions and also proposed the reconstruction of the Saptakoteshwar temple on Divar Island, originally built during the Kadamba dynasty and demolished in the 16th century. Since the site is already under government protection, the committee deemed its restoration feasible.
Beyond temple reconstruction, the panel emphasized the need to safeguard remnants of Goa’s once-flourishing temple culture. Scattered archaeological evidence, including temple foundations and pillars, should be preserved and investigated further, the report stated.
However, it acknowledged the logistical and financial challenges of restoring all lost temples and thus recommended a single memorial structure instead.
In 2022, the Goa government earmarked Rs 20 crore for temple restoration. In February 2023, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant reiterated that Portuguese forces had destroyed a thousand temples.
