Biography

- Manohar Malgaonkar

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Goa was arguably the richest segment of the earth’s surface. The flow of trade between Asia and Europe had to pass through Goa. In the mid-seventeenth century Goa was the world’s trade centre. But by the turn of the eighteenth century, Britain replaced Portugal as the controller of all trade between Europe and Asia. And Goa became a derelict hulk on the banks of the Mandovi.

The Mirandas soon won the approbation and trust of their new masters and over the years integrated themselves more and more into their culture and attitudes, so that they won acceptance as a part of the ‘establishment’ of the ruling power. They were thought of as assimilados. They were among the very few families whose sons were admitted to jobs in Goa’s administrative service.

One of the Miranda sons, Constancio, was the Administrador, of the Ponda district in the mid 19th century when he trapped Kustoba Rane a bandit to the Portuguese, and a freedom fighter to Liberated Goa. The Governor General of Goa rewarded and commended Constancio Miranda. The King of Portugal bestowed on him the special honour of being entitled to a family crest. That is the crest you see to this day, emblazoned on a tablet set in the portico of their ancestral house.

The tradition of some of the sons of the Miranda family taking office in Goa’s civil service continued well into the 20th century when Custodio Miranda joined it. He was posted as the Administrador of the colony of Daman on the coast of Gujarat when on the 2nd of May, 1926, his wife gave birth to their second child, a boy whom they named Mario. Their two other children were Peter and a daughter Fatima.

Under Portuguese patronage the Mirandas prospered and gained social prestige. In the new regime they made substantial additions to their original holdings; fields and plantations which were scattered all over the Salcette district. Even though some of their sons had taken service under the Government, as a family they had remained farmers, and their income came mainly from their lands. In their neighbourhood they were known as bhatkar which means landlord.

They tended to speak in Portuguese rather than in Konkani, which was their real mother tongue. The newspapers they read were Portuguese, O Debate and O Heraldo, which gave extensive coverage to news from Portugal. They wore dark suits for formal occasions, their women wore dresses and trimmed their hair. At their dinner parties they proudly brought out their bone china and served their guests Granjo and Macieira and Port.