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Gandaulim is a village located on the western bank of the Cumbarjua Canal, within Ilhas in the state of Goa, India. Some Croatian writers have claimed that it was a colonial outpost of the Republic of Ragusa.
Gandaulim
Gaundalim | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Igreja de São Brás, Gandaulim | |
  Gandaulim | |
| Coordinates: 15°30′44.5″N 73°56′28.9″E | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Goa |
| District | North Goa |
| Sub District | Ilhas |
| Government | |
| • Type | Panchayat |
| • Sarpanch | unknown |
| Elevation | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | approx. 300 |
| Demonym | Gandaulicar |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Konkani |
| • Also spoken (understood) | English, Marathi, Hindi |
| • Historical | Portuguese |
| Religions | |
| • Dominant | Christianity |
| • Minor | Hinduism |
| • Historical | Roman Catholicism |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| Postcode | 403505 |
| Telephone code | 08343 |
Gandaulim might have been a spice trading post of the Republic of Ragusa in the early modern period.[1]
In the annals of 1605, Jakov Lukarević noted that Ragusan merchants invested in decorating a local church.[2] Portuguese traveler Gomes Catão documented the town to have a population of 12,000, where wealthy ladies were carried to the churches by slaves in canopies.[1] Catão also remarked the church to be modeled on an eponymous church in Dubrovnik.[1] These claims have since been adopted into the popular memory of the inhabitants of Gandaulim, and Ragusans are now credited for the very construction of the church; however, the factual accuracy of this remains disputed.[1][3][a]
Some historians have used these arguments to make assumptions about the existence of a Ragusan colony.[2][1][b] Serbian economic historian Nicholas Mirkovich had lamented in 1943 about the lack of contemporary Ragusan sources to draft a history of their exploits in India.[3]
Interest in the connection was revived in 1999, when Croatian Indologist Zdravka Matišić discovered a reference to ties between Ragusa and Goa by chance while studying Sanskrit texts in India.[1][4][5] That same year, Croatian author Karmen Bašić noted that while nothing definitive could be said about Ragusan arrival and departure from Goa, there was a "substantial body of evidence and sources vouching for Ragusa’s presence" and its role in the global spice trade, though the notion of a colony linked to the Saint Blaise (São Brás) church at Gandaulim remained "somewhat of a mystery".[1]
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In 2016, a bridge was constructed on the outskirts of the village, over the canal. This bridge now links the islands of Ilhas de Goa to Cumbarjua.[6][7]
Gandaulim was a site of a historical fortress, which was demolished in early 21st century for a road expansion project.
Gandaulim Fort Entrance Gate
Gandaulim Fort Entrance Gate after Demolition
Gandaulim Fort Entrance Gate post Demolition
- Croatian author Ivo Šišević has claimed an inspiration from St. Saviour Church, Dubrovnik.[1]
- A major proponent of this theory is Croatian diplomat-historian Darko Bekić, who proposed that the Ragusans reached Portuguese Goa sometime between 1530 and 1535 and went on to establish a colony, which declined in late 17th century.[1]
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