Second of February is
marked as a feast day of Our Lady of Agonizante which is commonly known as “Condoi
Saibinnichem Fest” celebrated on 2nd February in Candolim, at Pintos
Vaddo, Asilo Chapel. It is called Asilo
Chapel because it is attached to the Asilo or Old Age House for males only
existing since the Portuguese rule in Goa.
Both Asilo and Chapel are under
the control of Provedoria, a government
arm.
The Chapel of Condoi Saibinn.
Pintos Vaddo in
Candolim is a world renowned place especially for intellectuals and historians because this Vaddo gave birth to
the Pintos Revolt against Portuguese even before the French Revolution and
secondly because this Vaddo gave birth to the world renowned Hypnotist, Abade Faria. Opposite to the Asilo Chapel, about a century
back the much known in Goa, the Candolim “ Mandd” came into being. This Mandd is known for its miraculous Cross
called “ Manddailo Khuris” as shown in the picture below. Hundreds of people of all the religions flock
there with flowers in their hands to pray and ask favours from God thru
Manddailo Khuris. Though this Mandd was
formed not by any individual person yet it was promoted and developed more by
two individual persons, one of them was my father and the other by Jose Rodrigues
(Kavllo) though others have also supported in their own ways to develop this Mandd.
In the initial stages
some elders from this Vaddo mainly the “Kaxttikar” manual workers were coming
at that particular spot and sitting on the ground and discussing their affairs including their
personal and family affairs. Gradually
these meetings became regular feature which used to end with a small
prayer. Then these people started
playing “Ghumott” music there, hence Ghumott music became a part of any
function organized at the Mandd. During
those days “Bamonn Bhattkarshai” was suffering from pride complex and to show
their brute power the next door Bhattkar stopped the activities of this
Mandd. Hurt by this rude action of the
Bhattkar, the Mandd people cursed the Bhattkar saying “Tumguer Sath-Chouda-Ekvis”
Ceddvanch zaunk”. Incidentally, this cursed came into reality
when the Bhattkar’s wife gave birth to all the seven girls only. Then the Bhattkar realized his folly and
openly offered his apology to the Mandd.
Then only they got a boy.
Traditionally as per its history, this
Mandd is very punishing for the wrong doers.
The first Tiatro at
Mandd was organized in 1946, 2nd February to be precise, to mark the feast of Condoi Saibinn. The proposal and initiative for this
first ever Tiatro was given by my father who encouraged one Santan Fernandes
known as Genddo Santan to stage his Tiatro because he was an established
Tiatrist of that time at local level.
Then on the advice of
my father the profit made from this Tiatro a fund was established as Death Benefit,
that is to purchase the Coffin for the dead members coming from Pintos-Araddy
Vaddo only. During those days many
people could not afford a decent burial for their dead due to abject poverty
because of which their burial was done thru the coffin borrowed from the
Fabrica – a rented Coffin from the Fabrica.
Currently the death benefit
amount is Rs. 20,000/-
My father during those
days was the rare man among all the
members of Mandd and he was the most intelligent as well having a very good
vernacular educational background and fluency in spoken Portuguese language and
hence he was a big asset for the Mandd then. The intelligence of those people
of the Mandd can be gauged from the contents and clauses of the Rules and
Regulations of the Mandd which looked as if they are framed by the great legal
luminaries. They were born genii. I
salute them. Because
of these Rules there is a system still existing at the Mandd and every
member is bound to act within the boundary of these Rules to avoid disciplinary
action and castigation, even dismissal. In the earlier
stages due to their backwardness educationally and socially, some of the
members were acting like uncivilized and uncultured men and to control such
members the intelligent members drafted these rigid Rules. Some of the Rules state that “No to use foul
and vulgar language at the Mandd, No to raise one’s voice, no to show physical aggressiveness while
discussing any topic, no to raise the topic of one’s Caste, no to talk on
personal matters of the invividuals and etc”.
The feast of Manddailo
Khuris is celebrated by the administrators of this Mandd by staging a Tiatro there.
Since a long time now it is a regular event at Candolim Mandd which starts at
10.30 PM approximately but preceded by playing of traditional Gumott music. This Ghumott music consisting of three
traditional instruments namely “Ghumott, Madyem & Kanxaem”, starts from two centres, one in Araddy next to my
house and the other in Pintos Vaddo only, about 1000 metres away from the Mandd
location, approximately 3 hours before the start of the Tiatro. This music is called “Sunvari” coming from
two different directions as said above and converge at the particular location
about 100 metres from the Mandd.
After reciting prayers
there and playing the Gumott music with gusto for about 30 minutes, the entire
Sunvari walks up to the Mandd by playing its music and with the rousing welcome by the people
attending the Tiatro, finally enters the Tiatro Stage to the total excitement
and pleasure of the people gathered there. They then play their traditional music for
about 30 minutes on the Stage and after a short prayer for the success of the
event, the first part ends and the second part that is Tiatro then begins.
From the time of the
first ever Tiatro in 1946, the Stage preparation for the Mandd Tiatro was organized
by Jose Rodrigues and Lights thru Petromax was provided by my father, rented
for this purpose from the neighboring village till electricity came.
It is said, “my enemy
is within me” and this was what had exactly happened in 1964. Some people wanted to destroy and liquidate
the Mandd out of jealousy for the smooth running of the Mandd affairs under my
father and Jose Rodrigues and their likeminded members. In 1963 following the
Chinese incursion and grabbing of a vast tract of land by China, Morarjee Desai
the Finance Minister of India introduced the Gold Control by which the pure
gold was taken by the government as a means to boost the foreign exchange.
One of the major
advantages for the members of the Mandd provided by the elders was the facility
of Loans by mortgaging their gold. Thru
this loan many of the members fulfilled their personal financial
obligations. Since this was the case,
the Box containing Mandd money and the mortgaged gold kept at the residence of one reliable member, annually
brought to the Mandd for the annual general body meeting and if necessary to
take inventory openly. This Wooden Box had three Keys with three different members and only they could open it. In order to
create a disaster of the Mandd and also to create problem for the Mandd
leadership for keeping the gold against the prevailing law, some members
informed Police to confiscate the gold and arrest the leaders. When the Police Inspector in a civilian dress
came to Candolim Tinto before proceeding to the Mandd, he met both my elder
brothers who happened to be the good friends of that Police Inspector. When that Police Inspector confided in my brothers the purpose of his
visit, my brothers impressed upon him to stop proceeding further and brought
him to my place for the Lunch. In this
way, the tragic incident thru the mighty power of miraculous Manddailo Khuris
was averted and Mandd existence was saved. Immediately those who were found
guilty of this foul play were shown the exit
door of the Mandd.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.
