Tensing Rodrigues
Let us get into the details of the division of the estate of Naik Pratap Rau Sardesai family that was executed at Rachol on October 16, 1708. We are not interested in the family matters per se; we study it as a case study of the sunset period of dessaiado. It gives us a very good insight into how the dessaiado lost its autonomy playing into the hands of the powers of the time. It also give us a glimpse into the immense wealth that had come to be accumulated in the hands of desais and sardesais, and how this led to internecine disputes within the ancestral families; a document in the official records of the Portuguese government notes that there was ‘much disorder, even deaths’ in the families (tinha seguido muitas desordens, e ainda mortes de alguns deles). [Informacao sobre a natureza dos bens do Dessaiado de Ponda e sua divisao (No 158), in Xavier, 1840: Colleccao De Bandos e Outras Differentes Providencias…, Vol. I] That lends an interesting twist to the folk story of the feud between the Desai of Lotli and the Desai of Vernem that we mentioned earlier. From what we have discussed up to now, both were probably distant scions of the same family, sparring for a slice of the large estate. The 1708 division was in response to a property dispute between two sub-families, one of which approached the Portuguese government seeking justice. The latter was only too happy to intervene, as that gave it an added opportunity to tighten the control over the desais and sardesais.
From the time the New Conquests became a part of the Estado de India, the Portuguese government moved slowly but surely to clip the wings of the desais and sardesais. Under the preceding regimes, they were exempted from paying land revenue tax to the monarch on the properties owned by them. By the ‘portaria’ (order) of January 12, 1841, the Portuguese government abolished this exemption; and decreed that all ‘sar-dessais, dessais e outras familias nobres’ (sardesais, desais and other noble families) irrespective of the ‘jerarchia, classe ou condicao alguma’ (hierarchy, class or any other attribute) shall have to pay the property taxes. [Xavier, 1840: Colleccao De Bandos e Outras Differentes Providencias…, Vol. I, 207]
But the harshest of all was the enacting of the provisions of the Codigo Dos Usos E Costumes dos Habitantes Das Novas Conquistas, which was the de facto Civil Code for the inhabitants of the New Conquests. What really undermined the interests of the desais and sardesais were the provisions governing the ‘succession, inheritance and division of the property’; these could be compared to Lord Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse. Under these provisions, whenever an ‘administrador’ (head of a sub-family) died without a legitimate son, the entire sub-family lost its hakka. This went against the practice of the desais and sardesais to adopt a boy from within the extended family to perpetuate the family and its hakka.
For detailing the division we shall draw not only from the summarized information given by Sardesai in his family history [Sardesai, unpublished: The Naik Pratap Rao Sardesai Family of Goa], but also extensively from the Portuguese records [Os Dessaiados Da India Portuguesa in 4 to Anuario da India Portuguesa, 1933: 229 – 256] and the Maratha records [Bokadbagkar Prataprav Mukhya Sardesai Yamce Kagadpatr in Joshi & Khare, 1930: Siva Caritr Sahitya, Vol. 3]. Lest we forget, it is very likely that many of the desais and sardesais were converted to Christianity by the Portuguese; as these no longer used the title (desai or sardesai) as a surname, it is easy to miss them; their religion changed, but their status, rights and wealth remained. We shall return to them later.
The estate – landed properties and rights to revenue – of the Naik Pratap Rau Sardesai family was divided into four equal parts in 1708 under the supervision of the Portuguese authorities. The division went as follows: ¼ to the Bamdodem branch; 1/4 to the Kumbharzuvem branch; 1/4 to the Madkai branch, and 1/4 to the Rasai branch. The share of the Rasai branch was further divided among five sub-branches at Vadi, Haturli, Lotli, Adpoi and Borye (Borim), each getting 1/5 part of the 1/4. [Os Dessaiados…: 246]
The Portuguese document explaining this division traces the history of the ‘dessaiado de Ponda’ and its patrimony, to one Vitol Naique (Viththal Naik) – not dated; all the later sardesais of Fonda are his descendants (“do qual descendem todos os Sardesais actuaes de Ponda”). [Xavier, 1840: 248] The original estate of Viththal Naik comprised of the patrimony – revenue rights (hakka/acas) and lands (entire or parts of villages) – with which the title of Sardesai of Ponda was created. To this were added the revenue rights and lands (inams and mokasos) received by the later sardesais of Ponda for their meritorious services to the Bijapuri, Moghul and Maratha kings. For the sake of clarity let us call the first the ‘patrimony’ and the second the ‘inams’ (including the ‘mokasos’). The basic principle of the division was that while the patrimony goes to all the four heirs of Viththal Naik in equal proportion, the inams are to be kept by those who received them. The patrimony was divided equally among the four heirs living then: Nagoji Naik, Nilba Naik, Rudraji Naik and Hirba Naik. But the first heir Nagoji Naik relinquished his share of patrimony in favour of the third heir Rudraji Naik, retaining the inams and mokasos; and divided his share, consisting exclusively of inams, equally between him and his nephew Vitoji Naik.
[Informação…, 249]
The division resulted in creation of four ‘sardesais’ in 1708: Nagoji Naik, Nilba Naik, Rudraji Naik and Hirba Naik. By the time of the Regulamento of 1880, with further divisions, there were eight sardesais: Sadassiva Narba Naik resident at Bamdodem (1° Sardesai); Lacoba Nagoji Naik resident at Kumbharzuvem; Ramagy Yasvamt Naik resident at Madkai; Ladcoba Balcrisn Naik resident at Vadi; Roghunath Naran Naik resident at Haturli; Nagoji Madaji Naik resident at Lotli; Balvamt Ragoba Naik resident at Adpoi; and Nilba Gopal Naik resident at Borye (deceased).
[Regulamento Para A Execucao De Decreto Com Forca De Lei De 15 Dezembro De 1880 (Ordinance for the Implementation of the Decree of December 15, 1880 With the Force of Law) in Os Dessaiados Da India Portuguesa in 4° Anuario da India
Portuguesa, 1933: 246]
