INDIAN INQUISITION AND NATIONAL PRIDE

Abstract

In the context of Portuguese maritime expansion, history shows that there was a well delimited intention to evangelize the territories that fell under Portuguese flag. In this effort, it is usually well accepted that Royal Patronage had used Inquisition in these territories to control the incipient Catholicism in them, especially till the end of 17th century. Some of the most famous events took place in Goa, India, where the Inquisition growth is said to impose a new mode of culture rooted in Portuguese standards. There, as a reaction to the Portuguese standardization effort of Christianity, Nobili and Fernandes, two Jesuit Missionaries, We present in this research an alternative explanation for this phenomena, stating that the growth and strength of Inquisition in India had more to do with National pride by both involved (Portuguese and Indians) and much less with religious or theological issues.