Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said the coastal state’s peak was achieved not under European colonisers, but centuries earlier under the Hindu Kadamba dynasty.
“Goa’s golden period was between the 10th and 14th centuries during the rule of the Kadamba dynasty. The kings Jayaqueshi I, II, III and IV ruled Goa. If we say that the Portuguese destroyed a thousand temples, then who built these temples? It is the people of Goa during the rule of the Kadamba kings. That was the true golden period. Remember your history,” Sawant said on Friday at a foundation stone event for a temple restoration project on Divar Island.
Sawant added that the government plans to restore the ancient port of Gopakapattana, which served as the primary port on the western coast.
“If the Portuguese had not come here, we would have had a chance to witness temples in Goa even better than those seen in South India,” he said. The chief minister’s comments are an effort to counter the term ‘Goa Dourada’ or Golden Goa, a reference to the the first century of Portuguese rule when Goa was a major trading port between Asia and Europe and the capital of the Portuguese maritime empire in the east.
In September last year, Sawant announced government approval for the construction of the Koti-Tirth corridor to rebuild temples destroyed by the Portuguese.
“The corridor at Divar will be a devoted space that preserves the memory of Goa’s temples, once destroyed and lost in history, as a lasting tribute to faith and heritage,” Sawant said.
{{/usCountry}}“The corridor at Divar will be a devoted space that preserves the memory of Goa’s temples, once destroyed and lost in history, as a lasting tribute to faith and heritage,” Sawant said.
{{/usCountry}}On September 4, the Directorate of Archaeology set the ball rolling for the project with a Mahabhishek, Udakshanti, Mandovi Panchganga Aarti and a public meeting at Divar.
The site, on Divar Island, a riverine island on the River Mandovi that flows past the state capital, is locally known as an old pilgrimage site and is a monument protected by the Goa State Archaeology Department. According to historians, the temple was originally built by the kings of the Kadamba dynasty.
The site features wide steps leading to a large well or bath, surrounded by the remaining structures from a once-elegant construction by the Kadamba dynasty. There are 108 partially submerged niches found at the site.