The village of Reis Magos in Goa‘s Bardez taluka is exquisitely located on the waterline across the bay from Panjim, and is named after the three biblical Magi Kings. Among its treasures are the eponymous church and fort.

The beautiful Church of Reis Magos, built in 1555, is among Goa‘s oldest. Symbols in bas relief around the steps leading up reveal the existence of an earlier Hindu temple at the site. The handsome east-facing façade must be seen in the warm glow of the rising sun (first image below). The annual feast at the church in the first week of January is an important event in the Goan calendar.

The Reis Magos Fort was built by the Portuguese in 1551 soon after their conquest of Bardez and later revitalized in 1703. When the Marathas took over Bardez in 1739, the Portuguese used the redoubts of Reis Magos and Aguada to barely hold on.

The archival photo adduced below discloses the glorious setting. Too bad the barbarians are now at the door, shovels in hand and trucks of concrete in tow.

Church of Reis Magos, Goa
5D, 35L

Seen from Reis Magos fort
5D, 24-105L

Devotion
5D, 24-105L

Reis Magos Fort - first rays of the sun
5D, 24-105L

Art by Mario Miranda
Reproduced with permission of the Mario Gallery

Reis Magos Church and Fort c. 1900
© Souza & Paul (Central Library Archives)

Legend has it that a group of sages on the island of Divar in Goa undertook penance to propitiate Shiva. It took seven crore (sapta-kot) years for the Great Yogi to take notice of their exertions. When He finally showed up, the sages petitioned Him to take up residence in the village of Naroa (also called Narve). Thus came about the great temple of Saptakoteshwar in Naroa-Divar, one that enjoys a special place in the Goan psyche for its singular role in our land’s turbulent history.

Saptakoteshwar weathered intrusions first by the Bahmani sultans, and later by the Portuguese who destroyed it. The first mass conversion of Goan Hindus to Christianity took place here on August 15, 1560, cleverly engineered by the Portuguese on the day of Gokulashtami, traditionally the most important celebration at the temple. The provenance of one of Goa‘s popular folk tunes, Hanv Saiba poltodi vaita, can be traced to this event.

At the original temple site in Naroa-Divar today stands the Chapel of Our Lady of Candelaria, and nearby lie the remains of the temple tank. The ancient linga has its own tale of woes to tell, even serving as a pulley for a nearby well. Finally it made its way across the river to be reinstalled at a new site which came to be known as New Naroa, today’s Narve in Bicholim taluka. The temple was restored by Shivaji in 1668.

Saptakoteshwar Temple at Narve, Goa
5D, 24-105L

Saptakoteshwar
5D, 24-105L

Saptakoteshwar Temple by Mario Miranda
(Reproduced with permission of the Mario Gallery)

Temple musician Dattaram Ramkrishna Narvekar
5D, 24-105L

The Church of Nossa Senhora de Saúde (Our Lady of Health) in the village of Sancoale, Goa, was built in 1606 and destroyed in a fire in 1834. All that remains today is the shell of its façade. It enjoys a delightful setting by the Zuari river, and the ruins provide clues to what must have been a magnificent edifice.

I photographed the site several times over a number of years. The first image below was taken handheld on a dark monsoon morning from the bridge across the Zuari river.

Nossa Senhora de Saúde at Sancoale, Goa
5D, 300L f/4 IS

First rays of the rising sun
5D, 300L f/4 IS

The remains
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Ruins of Nossa Senhora de Saúde
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP

Frontispiece
5D, 24-105L

Hallgrímskirkja was built in 1937 and is a Reykjavík landmark. Architect Guðjón Samúelsson patterned its façade after the basaltic lava columns that are common in Iceland.

The first two photographs were taken close to midnight in the beautiful light of the low summer sun. Maintaining the verticals of such a tall structure is made possible by the use of the Canon Tilt-Shift 17mm lens.

In the church compound ahead of the entrance, a statue of the legendary Icelandic explorer Leifur Eiríksson greets all visitors (the shadow it casts is seen in the first image). It was a gift by the USA to the people of Iceland. Leifur is today regarded as the first European discoverer of North America, long before Columbus.

Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Draped in the light of the midnight sun
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Looking down from the church tower towards Leifur Eiríksson
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

One of the very few surviving structures of Goa‘s Muslim era, the Safa Shahouri mosque in the town of Ponda was built in 1560 during the reign of Ibrahim Adilshah, sultan of Bijapur. The photograph below was shot on a serene winter morning in 2007. Notice the Goan touch, such as the tiled roof and the laterite masonry at the base and around the tank.

Safa Shahouri Mosque (1560) in Ponda, Goa
5D, 24-105L

Although I hadn’t seen it at the time the photo was taken, I thought the marvelous sketch of the mosque made by the recently departed Mario Miranda provides an interesting point of artistic interpretation. It is taken from the book Inside Goa (1982) by Manohar Malgonkar with illustrations by Mario, and reproduced here with permission of the Mario Gallery. Mario’s work may be purchased online at http://www.mariodemiranda.com.

Illustration by Mario Miranda from 'Inside Goa'
(Reproduced with permission of the publisher)

Merry Christmas to all!

These are images from Dec 24, 2007.

Midnight mass at Mãe de Deus church in Saligao
5D, 35L

Midnight mass celebration at Aldona
5D, 35L

Christmas spirits
5D, 35L

December is a festive time in the historic village of Old Goa, now a World Heritage site. Sé Cathedral was elevated to the rank of a cathedral in 1533, and the final structure was completed in 1619. It is the largest church in India.

The second image below was taken from the hill at the Chapel of Mount Mary overlooking the Mandovi river. To the left of the frame is the Church of St Francis of Assisi.

Sé Cathedral, Old Goa
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

First rays of the morning sun
5D, 300L f/4 IS

The ancient parsonage and farm of Holt in Önundarfjörður in the Westfjords of Iceland. It was the birthplace of Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson (1605-1675). In the mountains behind the church is what is known as a hanging valley (I shall have more on that in a future post).

Holt í Önundarfirði
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 Makro Planar

Vanxim – pronounced “Vaanshi(m)” – is a speck of an island in Goa within a stone’s throw of another island, Divar. It is the last unmolested piece of real estate remaining in Goa, but plans are afoot to cure that situation.

In the second and third images below, notice the difference in colour rendition. It can be partly attributed to the manner in which Canon and Zeiss handle colour.

Cross on Mandovi river at Vanxim, Goa
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 100 f/2 Makro Planar

The prayer in Konkani inscribed on the façade says: Have Mercy on Us, O Protector of the World’s Indigent.

Church of Santo Cristo (1879)
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 100 f/2 Makro Planar

Church of Santo Cristo, Vanxim
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

With its fields, hills, and a lovely beach, the historic village of Candolim in Goa was once a picture of serenity and beauty. The beach has now vanished through erosion and encroachment, and the fields & hills scarred by ugly concrete.

The Church of Our Lady of Hope (Nossa Senhora da Esperança) was built in 1667 in what is referred to as a Neo-Mannerist style. (For details, see The Parish Churches of Goa by José Lourenço, Amazing Goa Publications, 2005.)

This kind of photograph – where the vertical lines are held vertical – is made possible by Tilt-Shift lenses.

Our Lady of Hope, Candolim (1667)
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

This image of the same church, from across the Nerul river, was taken on a murky monsoon morning. [Added: If you look carefully at the image below, the church appears slightly tilted. That is because the towers are not both exactly parallel, and furthermore, there is a small divergence in the facets of each tower as well. Therefore, I had to make a choice while leveling the image. One easy fix would have been to use the Puppet Warp tool in Photoshop.]

A monsoon morning in Candolim, Goa
5D Mark II, Zeiss ZE 100 f/2 Makro Planar