By Pamela D'Mello

The Asian Age asianage at sancharnet.in Panaji: A spate of thefts in Christian chapels in the state have again focussed attention on a chronic problem --- the illegal trade in sacred art objects and antiques.

Last Monday, relic hunters reportedly ransacked a chapel in Pilerne, a quiet village in North Goa, stealing mainly sacred statues of Christian saints and gods, and pieces of ornate carved wood, initially estimated to be collectively worth Rs 1.5 million.

Wooden and ivory statues of the Indo Portuguese genre -- combining Indian craftmanship on Western iconic images -- have a huge market, with even small eight-inch statuetes  commanding at least Rs 200,000, according to one estimate.

This theft follows a series of similar break-ins reported in several other chapels and churches in the state over the past two months.Police have made no arrests so far, treating them as cases of simple theft being dealt with by area police stations.

"We treat them as simple cases of theft," state DIG Ujjwal Mishra told this newspaper. He was unaware of a trend in antique thefts, he said, adding that temples had been similarly targeted  with thieves stealing cash from donation boxes.

The lack of a centralized response mechanism to deal with relic thefts is a major lacuna.

Heritage conservationists have long cried hoarse about the steady and growing stream of antiques -- both sacred and secular -- making their way out of the state, into domestic and international private collections. Some of it is smuggled, some stolen and some sold says
long time Indian Heritage Society activist Percival Noronha.

Though there is concern from church authorities that oversee the functioning of 168 churches and 120 chapels here, it is accompanied by a feeling of helplessness.

"The thefts are very lamentable and have picked up off late," says Church spokesman Fr J Loiola Pereira. Small chapels without resident priests are particularly susceptible. But in earlier episodes unoccupied houses were broken into and family altars ransacked for wooden and ivory sacred statues.

Petty thefts are merely servicing the domestic and international demand for these antiques. Big time art dealers are no less involved,says Noronha.

Asia's only musuem of Christian sacred art was opened in Goa a decade ago to celebrate and create an appreciation and understanding of Indo-Portuguese craftsmanship, says Nascimento de Souza. Creating a combined inventory of Christian relics in the state remains an incomplete mission, he admits.

"Neither is this limited only to sacred Christian art objects. Christianity is just 400 years old. Objects dating to antiquity have also been stolen both from Goa and the rest of India, all the time", he adds.
 

Sent By: "Uvy Lopes" <unmlopes@sympatico.ca
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
 

Professor Yusuf Kassam (previously Dar-es-salaam University & currently Toronto)was an outstanding student at King George VI Grammar School, Zanzibar, during the early 60s. He was among the first Zanzibaris/Tanzanians to have published poems in English.

His latest poem is:
Paradise Lost

I left Zanzibar, island of spices,
To emigrate to Canada, land of opportunity.

Forsook the tropical sun
For cold frigid weather.
Left behind the warm ocean breeze
For the windchill of winter.

Abandoned white pristine beaches
For brown muddy shores.
Turned away from a turquoise ocean
For polluted lakes.

Gave up mangoes, papaya, shokishoki, guava and duriani For apples,
pears, grapes, peaches and cherries.
Gave up white snapper and king fish
For cod and sole.
Gave up drinking coconut water straight from the coconut And settled
for
bottled water.

Left behind the street coffee seller
For the office coffee pot.
Left behind the exotic fragrance of spices For the pungent smell of
sulfuric emissions.

Deprived of hearing the call to prayer
For the sound of police and fire sirens.

Deprived of seeing women clad in mysterious black buibui For women
dressed in jeans and miniskirts.

Deserted a slow relaxed pace of life
For the fast lane.
Gave up afternoon naps
For gym workouts.
Gave up riding a bicycle through the narrow streets For driving a
car on the highways.

Discontinued a course on the coral marine life For a course in
stress management.

Discarded mud and thatched dwellings
For concrete and steel.
Left behind a community-based life
For a human zoo.

It makes me wonder
If I have also left my soul behind in Zanzibar?

Yusuf Kassam
April 2005