In Goa’s capital, a historical artefact is discovered inside a dug-up pavement

• Workers digging up a pavement in Panaji, stumbled upon a carved stone slab estimated to date back several hundred years, when Goa was under Portuguese rule.

Key Highlights:

• This has led to a theory that the carving is that of a “Paulist” - missionaries from the Society of Jesus who worked to spread Catholicism in the Portuguese Empire’s Asian colonies.
• Jesuit missionaries came to Goa in the 16th century. “They were followers of St Paul who built the College of St Paul in Old Goa, and hence the term ‘Paulists’.
• The Paulists were earlier in Old Goa and later came to the Tiswadi area, where they built many churches.

Prelims Takeaway:

• Portuguese Rule
• Goa Liberation