Goa govt to build new temple at site of temple destroyed by the Portuguese as 'memorial'

THe Goa regime has sanctioned the twist of a ‘Koti-Thirtha corridor’ (ritualistic pilgrim's journey land site) and a new temple on the ruins of the Saptakoteshwar temple at Divar, an island village on the Mandovi river, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday.The decision follows a recommendation made by a “committee of experts” set up by the archives and archaeology department to set up a single ‘memorial’ for all the temples said to have been destroyed during the Portuguese rule since there were a “large number” of temples that were destroyed and it was not possible to reconstruct them all."The government has decided that the corridor will be built in the place where the Saptakoteshwar temple used to be. The corridor at Divar will be a devoted space that preserves the memory of Goa’s temples, once destroyed and lost in history, as a lasting tribute to faith and heritage,” Sawant said.“The main temple was the Saptakoteshwar temple which was completely destroyed but that temple was re-established in Narve (Bicholim) during the era of Shivaji, who personally visited the site. But a temple was not rebuilt at the old site. It was everyone's opinion, that if so many temples were broken down, this kind of a koti tirth corridor will be established and a big temple will be built on 10,000 square metres of land by the government in order that we have a memorial so that the people can worship,” Sawant added.While Sawant said that the cost of the project has not been finalised, he had mentioned in his budget speech delivered earlier this year that ₹20-crore had been set aside for the project.The Goa government had set up a committee of experts, which had appealed to the public to come forward with information on sites allegedly destroyed by the Portuguese. In response, however, 19 people came forward, with information on temples ruins while only two locations including Divar were found to be sites of temples likely destroyed by the Portuguese.As regards the Divar site, the committee, in its report, noted that “the site of the temple of Shri Saptakoteshwar (locally known as pornetirtha (old site) is already one of the notified sites under the Department of Archaeology.”“The committee was informed by the Department of Archaeology that the site admeasuring 9800 sq m is in the possession of the Department. The committee visited the hillock opposite the site of the temple of Shri Saptkoteshwar and found several dressed stones which appear of the earlier structure which existed there; depression in the earth level in the vicinity needs to be checked archaeologically to explore the possibility of a water tank,” the committee noted.The committee which had a year-long mandate that ended in December 2023, recommended that “a temple memorial (Smarak-Devalaya) to be built anywhere in the erstwhile Old Conquests, consisting of the modern Salcete, Bardez and Bicholim talukas, which bore the brunt of the temple destruction spree... Of the colonial policies during which more than a thousand temples were destroyed and re-establishing those deities whose original sites have been usurped by colonial rule.”The state government, in a statement, said “a new Saptakoteshwar temple will be constructed on the original site that was destroyed during Portuguese rule… ensuring that devotees can visit their family deity at the original location.”“We will have to sit with the committee again to take everyone into confidence before going forward. The temple will belong to all Goans. The area has been finalised. There will be only one such memorial at this place and nowhere else,” Sawant also said.