Gandaulim (Ilhas)

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

History

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] Goese historian 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]

Infrastructure

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]

Gallery

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

Notes

1. Croatian author Ivo Šišević has claimed an inspiration from St. Saviour Church, Dubrovnik.^[1]
2. 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]