Conspiracy of the Pintos, also known as the Pinto Revolt or the Pinto Conspiracy, and in Portuguese as ''A Conjuração dos Pintos'', was a rebellion against the Portuguese rule in

Portuguese Goa The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...

in 1787. The leaders of the plot were three prominent priests from the village of

Candolim Candolim is a census town in North Goa and is located in the Bardez taluka in the state of Goa, India. It is situated just south of Calangute, Calangute Beach and North of Sinquerim. History During the late 16th century, Candolim became the ...

in the ''

concelho Concelho () is the Portuguese-language term for municipality, referring to the territorial subdivision in local government. In comparison, the word ''município'' () refers to the organs of State. This differentiation is still in use in Portugal ...

'' of

Bardes ''Bardez'' or ''Bardes'' ( IPA: ) is a ''taluka'' of the North Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. Etymology The name is credited to the Saraswat Brahmin immigrants who emigrated to the Konkan via Magadha plains in northern India. Ba ...

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. They belonged to the

Pinto Pinto is a Portuguese, Spanish, Jewish (Sephardic), and Italian surname. It is a high-frequency surname in all Portuguese-speaking countries and is also widely present in Spanish-speaking countries, Italy, India (especially in Mangalore, Karnata ...

clan who were recognised as the noblest family in

by rank in 1770., hence the name of the rebellion. The Pintos were a Goan noble family and later vassals of Peshwa

Baji Rao II Baji Rao II (10 January 1775 – 28 January 1851) was the 13th and the last Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy . He governed from 1795 to 1818. He was installed as a puppet ruler by the Maratha nobles, whose growing power prompted him to flee h ...

in the

Maratha Confederacy The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent Maratha states under the nominal leadership of the former. ...

Pinto Family

The history of Christianity of

dates back to the conversion of Santu Sinay (

Shenoy Shenoy is a surname from coastal Karnataka and Goa in India. It is found among Hindus of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community following Smartha Sampradaya of Kavale Matha or Madhva Sampradaya of either Gokarna Matha or Kashi Matha. Th ...

), a

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

''ganvkar'' (

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

: freeholder) who belonged to the nobility of his people. He was the progenitor of the noble revolutionary Pinto family. Due to the services he provided to the Crown he was given a perpetual grave in Our Lady of Hope Church in

, Goa infront of the altar. Santu Sinay (1577–1640), was the son of Naru Sinay; who had earlier migrated from

Loutolim Loutolim or Loutulim (Konkani: ''Lottli'' pronounced:, Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Loutulim'') is a large village of South Goa district in the state of Goa, India. It is in the Salcete Talukas of Goa, sub-district. History Accordi ...

, Salcette, and established himself in Candolim, where he purchased the fifth ''vangodd'' (clan) of the '' comunidade'' on 13 August 1604. Naru Sinay died after 1624, and was survived by his wife, and three sons—Jeronimo de Souza, Santu Sinay, and Christovão d'Andrade. Santu Sinay was converted along with the rest of his family at the age of 8, and subsequently took the name of Salvador Pinto. His godfather was Fr. Manoel Pinto, a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

rector of the Church of Our Lady of Hope of

and the seminary of

Reis Magos Reis Magos is a village located on the northern bank of the Mandovi River in Bardez, Goa, opposite to the capital city of Panjim. The village is famous for two of Goa’s famous structures; the Reis Magos Fort, and the Reis Magos Church – the ...

. He was brought up in the seminary of

, where he developed a great devotion to

St. Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

. Salvador Pinto was tutored by two

priests, Fr. Pinto and Fr. Simão de Nazareth; who succeeded the former as rector of

parish. On 2 April 1770 and 6 April 1770 respectively, the two brothers Antonio Joao Pinto of Arpora and Ignacio Pinto of

were decorated with a

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

and styled with the rank of

Fidalgo ''Fidalgo'' (, ), from Galician and Portuguese —equivalent to a nobleman, but sometimes literally translated into English as "nobleman" —is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility and Brazilian nobility that refers to a member of the ...

. A

fidalgo ''Fidalgo'' (, ), from Galician and Portuguese —equivalent to a nobleman, but sometimes literally translated into English as "nobleman" —is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility and Brazilian nobility that refers to a member of the ...

titled as a

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

is comparable in some ways to the French '' gentilhomme'' (the word also implies nobility by birth or by charge), and to the Italian nobile but having a higher rank to the British

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

as being a part of the aristocracy, not a commoner. On 17 March 1866 Alvaro Xavier Pinto, another member of the family was decorated as a '' Fidalgo of the Royal House''.

Principal characters

* Caetano Vitorino de Faria, the mastermind * José Custódio de Faria, also known as

Abbé Faria Abbé Faria () (born José Custódio de Faria; 31 May 1756 – 20 September 1819) was a Portuguese Catholic priest who was one of the pioneers of the scientific study of hypnotism, following on from the work of Franz Mesmer. Unlike Mesmer, ...

, Caetano's son who was a priest * Caetano Francisco do Couto * José António Gonçalves, a priest from

Divar The island of Divar (formerly ''Piedade'') (, pronounced ) (derived from the word ''Dipavati'' or 'small Island' in Konkani) lies in the Mandovi river in the Indian state of Goa. It is one of six major islands within the Mandovi, the others ...

* Ignacio Pinto, head of the

clan and a fervent supporter of Fr. Faria, who was to be installed as the

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

post the revolt * José da Rocha Dantas e Mendonça, a Judge of the Goa High Court, who was in charge of the inquest into the conspiracy

Causes

P. Kamat writes that the protests of the various priests she studied for their non-submission to the Portuguese authority in Goa were by and large manifestations of personal grievances arising out of nepotism and class envy. Dr. Celsa Pinto states that the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

influenced many Goans living in Lisbon. There was also much anger against the government of

Portuguese India The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...

against the lack of using the fertile land for proper cultivation. This was one major cause of anger of Jose Antonio Pinto who saw it as a loss of earnings for the local

Goans Goans ( Romi Konkani: , ) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, formerly part of Portuguese India (''Estado Português da Índia''). They form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, ...

.While

Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal Dom (honorific), D. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal and 1st Count of Oeiras (13 May 1699 – 8 May 1782), known as the Marquis of Pombal ( ), was a Portuguese statesman and diplomat who Despotism, despotically ruled ...

, had issued laws known as the Pombaline reforms which allowed for all citizens of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

including Goans to be considered equal. The local colonial administration continued to follow a policy entrenched with colourism. This was prior to constitutionalism in Portugal with the

Portuguese Constitution of 1822 The Portuguese Constitution of 1822 (formally the Political Constitution of the Portuguese Monarchy) () approved on 23 September 1822 was the first Portugal, Portuguese constitution, marking an attempt to end Absolute monarchy, absolutism and int ...

. José António and Caetano visited Rome and Portugal to plead for their appointment as Bishops in Southern India dioceses, but these Goan priests were bypassed in favour of the local South Indian clerics (e.g. Bishop Joseph Kariattil) for the appointment to the vacant sees of Cranganore and Mylapore. As a result of this refusal, they hatched the conspiracy along with Abbé Faria. They also managed to obtain the sympathy of similarly disaffected Christians in the Army and local clergy. The conspirators also negotiated secretly with

Tippu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

, the ruler of

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

, inviting him to rule Goa after they had thrown Goa into disorder. The conspiracy was revealed by a Goan Catholic baker from Salcette to the authorities (the conspirators had approached him to poison the Army's bread supplies), thereby preventing invasion from the Muslim sultanate and similar ill-treatment of Goan Catholics as what was taking place during the

Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam The Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam (1784–1799) was a 15-year-long imprisonment of Mangalorean Catholics and other Christians at Seringapatam, in the Carnataca region of India by Tippu Sultan; who was the ''de facto'' ruler ...

Aftermath

The conspiracy being made known to the authorities; they took vigorous steps to pre-empt it. Some of the conspirators fled in disguise to British territory. However, the authorities arrested and punished 47 persons, including 17 priests and seven army officers. The area around the present-day GPO (General Post Office) in Panjim is called São Tomé. The present GPO building used to be the old tobacco house, and the building to its right was the Government Mint. The area in front of these buildings was the old Panjim pillory and used to be the site of public executions and was where fifteen conspirators of the failed revolt were executed. Gonçalves fled to British territory and lived the remainder of his life as an English teacher in Calcutta. Abbé Faria teamed up with the revolutionaries of the French Revolution and participated along with the "juring" clerics in the Revolutionaries' brutal persecution of the Catholic Church in France and elsewhere. Two Pinto brothers Lt. Col Francisco and Jose Antonio joined the army of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

under

and fought against the British in the

Second Anglo-Maratha War Second Anglo-Maratha War (from 1803 –1805) was a large conflict within the Maratha Confederacy, Maratha Empire involving the British East India Company. It resulted in major loss of territory for the Marathas, including regions around Delhi a ...

and

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire, Maratha Confederacy in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an in ...

Revolutionaries who received death sentences on 13th December 1788

* Tenete Manoel Caetano Pinto, son of Inacio Pinto. * Tenete Pedro Luiz Gonzaga * David Fransisco Viegas * Caetano Xavier da Costa * Nicolao Luis da Costa * Inacio Caetano Toscano * Miguel Antonio da Costa * Inacio Caetano Lopes * Salvador Alvares da Costa * Baltazar Caeiro * Manoel Ferrao * Antonio Fernandes * Joao Vas * Jose Monteiro * Bernado de Mesquita They were tied by ropes and dragged by horses for 40kms, after which their hands were chopped, head severed from their body and property confiscated and children and grandchildren branded by infamy.

Effects of the revolt

For decades after, the conspiracy was used as a stick to defame and denigrate

Goan Goans ( Romi Konkani: , ) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, formerly part of Portuguese India (''Estado Português da Índia''). They form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, ...

missionaries and priests in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

by their opponents, the Vicars Apostolic of the Propaganda party, Goans being of the

Padroado The ''Padroado'' (, "patronage") was an arrangement between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Portugal and later the Portuguese Republic, through a series of concordats by which the Holy See delegated the administration of the local churches and g ...

party. The incident was used to represent the Goans to the British government and to the Christians in British India as untrustworthy, rebellious and willing to compromise with their own enemies (Tipu Sultan). This became Goa's black legend. While the revolt failed, Goans did achieve stronger forms of Government and when the

was adopted, two native Goans

Bernardo Peres da Silva Bernardo Peres da Silva (15 October 1775 – 18 November 1844) was a Portuguese politician and former medical practitioner who served as a governor of Portuguese India from January to February 1835. He was the first and only native Goan to be ...

and Constâncio Roque da Costa were elected to the first parliament in Portugal, a practice that continued till the

Annexation of Goa The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the India, Republic of India annexed the Portuguese State of India, the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu, starting with the armed action carried out by the Indian Armed ...

. An account of this was done by the Portuguese civil servant Joaquim Heliodoro da Cunha Rivara which is one of the major accounts of the Pinto Revolt and subsequently translated into English by Dr. Charles Borges.

Heraldry

On 2 April 1770, Antonio Joao Pinto (of Arpora) and on 6 April 1770 his brother Ignacio Pinto (of Candolim) were separately awarded a

grant of arms A grant of arms or a governmental issuance of arms is an instrument issued by a lawful authority, such as an officer of arms or State Herald, which confers on a person and his or her descendants the right to bear a particular coat of arms or a ...

for their descendants by

Joseph I of Portugal '' Dom'' Joseph I (; 6 June 1714 – 24 February 1777), known as the Reformer (Portuguese: ''o Reformador''), was King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death in 1777. Among other activities, Joseph was devoted to hunting and the opera. ...

. The arms were composed, in the first and fourth quarters, of the arms of the Pintos (five red crescents in saltire on a silver ground), in the second quarter of those of the Sequeiras (five golden escallops in saltire on a blue ground), and in the third of the arms of the Maciels (two blue fleurs-de-lis in pale on a silver ground dimidiating a red double-headed eagle displayed, also on a silver ground) and reflect the coats of arms of the Pintos, Sequeiras and Maciels from whom the family is descended. The crest is a silver leopard decorated with torteaux (red spots) with a crescent on the shoulder and for contrast a blue blazon and silver harpoon.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20061214092018/http://www.goacom.com/culture/history/pinto.html * http://www.goacom.com/the-pinto-rebellion {{DEFAULTSORT:Conspiracy of the Pintos Conflicts in 1787 Colonial Goa 1787 in Portuguese India Conspiracies 1780s in Portuguese India 1780s in the Portuguese Empire