Goa Gold Goa Silver Her history her heritage from earliest time to 2019

This book features the entire history of Goa from earliest times to 2019, and is also designed to create awareness about Goan heritage

Goa Gold Goa Silver her history her heritage from earliest times to 2019 is a first book in Goans historiography featuring the entire history of Goa from earliest times to 2019. The book creates awareness of Goan heritage. The book ends with the end of the Parrikar era in March 2019. written by Prajal Sakhardande.

Goa Gold Goa Silver her history her heritage from earliest times to 2019 is a first book in Goans historiography featuring the entire history of Goa from earliest times to 2019. The book creates awareness of Goan heritage. The book ends with the end of the Parrikar era in March 2019. written by Prajal Sakhardande.
Prajal Sakhardande is the person to turn to when it comes to learning more about the history of Goa. With his years of research on the different facets of Goa, his latest book, ‘Goa Gold Goa Silver Her History Her Heritage - from Earliest Times to 2019’, will be released at the Sushegad Village, Veling, Ponda on May 13, 2019 at 5pm. He believes that the book will throw light on the realm of heritage that he defines as a positive legacy of history.

Prajal has been a professor of History since 1993. He is the president and co-founder of Goa Heritage Action Group and has been fighting for the preservation of Goa’s historical, natural and cultural heritage and environmental heritage. He is also a member of the Goa Board History Text Book Syllabus Drafting Committee and University Syllabus History Committee. He was awarded the Goenkarponn Award for History and Heritage on July 23, 2018.

“The book will fill in the gap in Goan historiography and will be the first book on the history of Goa to have a vast canvas offering a narrative from earliest times to 2019. No previous book has attempted this huge spectrum of Goa’s history, which focuses on the untold histories and the unsung people. It offers the vastness of a chequered history with the highlights being the Pre 1510 Goa and the hitherto not highlighted Andolans or people movements like the Opinion Poll of 1967,” says Prajal Sakhardande, Head of the Department of History at Dhempe College of Arts and Science, Miramar.

His first book, ‘Muslim History and Heritage of Goa’, was released in 2012, followed by ‘Matanhy Saldanha – the Legend’ with co author Santosh Sawant Wadkar in 2013. “I have been working on this book since 2003. I have consulted primary and secondary sources for this work. It was a huge challenge to obtain sources as I had to verify each and every fact and line I wrote. In fact, every word had to be authenticated,” adds Prajal.

The book is published by Broadway Publishing House and printed by Rama Harmalkar and has at least 50 coloured and black and white photographs. The book is written with students and general public in mind, to give an overview of the history of Goa. While most history books deal with a specific theme or a time period, this particular book offers the reader the complete story in simple language. “I feel every Goan should know the basics of Goan history, especially the younger generation. History of Goa was never taught in the pre 1991 days in schools,” he says.

What are the themes that are touched upon in the book? Readers can learn more about the Pre-Portuguese history with highlights of Kadamba era and pre-Kadamba era, Portuguese Goa, Etymology of Goan surnames, taluka wise heritage list, Freedom movement, Post Liberation Bandodkar Era, Shashikala Kakodkar, Rane regimes, Coalition politics and Parrikar era till his death on March 17, 2019.

He was also a part of various movements in Goa, which gave him a better understanding to write the book. “I had the first hand information on movements like Heritage movement, Goa Bachao Abhiyan, Anti SEZ movement, Goa’s movement for Special Status, Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan, etc. Readers can also gain knowledge about the various people’s movements that took place in the history of Goa like the Opinion Poll of 1967 with special reference to Dr Jack de Sequeira, student movements such as Half Ticket Agitation, Ramponkar, Konkani movement, Konkan Railway, Nylon 6,6 Movement, Save Coconut Chipko Andolan of 2016, etc,” explains Prajal.

Prajal formed the Goa Heritage Action Group on September 30, 2000 to pique the interest of students in history. “I strongly feel there is a huge interest in history now as compared to before. I am glad that a large percentage of the current generation is taking a keen interest in heritage trails, heritage walks, etc. We should preserve our heritage for posterity. Heritage tourism should be promoted by the government on a war footing as an alternative to boost its revenue so that its dependence on casinos for revenue generation should be stopped,” concludes Prajal.

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