Portuguese Inquisition of Goa - A forgotten holocaust

The Goa Inquisition was started by the Portuguese with an objective to enforce Catholic Orthodoxy and allegiance to the Apostolic See of Rome (Pontifex) in Portuguese India. The inquisition primarily focused on the New Christians accused of secretly practicing their former religions, and Old Christians accused of involvement in the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774 to 1778, continued thereafter until it was finally abolished in 1812.

Goan Inquisition is regarded as the most violent inquisition ever executed by the Portuguese Church. A total of around 16000 people were charged and subjected to heinous punishments, including public flogging, being ‘put on the rack’, burnt on stakes and having one’s nails and eyes crushed. In some cases, entire villages were burnt with the women and children taken as slaves. Victims were tied on large wheels and spun with almost every bone of victim being crushed. Even Sephardic Jews living in Goa, who had fled the Iberian Peninsula to escape the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition, were also persecuted in case they, or their ancestors, had fraudulently converted to Christianity. Several Jewish synagogues were burned down or converted to catholic churches.
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