A Book Review

“The Last Prabhu, A Hunt for roots: DNA, ancient documents and migration in Goa” Second Revised Edition -Bernardo Elvino de Sousa 

Review by Dr. Sandra Fonseca

“Undra mojea mama, ani aum sangtam tuca...ani mazorechea piliean taca eka gansan khailo” - These are words of a popular, well loved Goan song, sung even today at every Goan get-together, yet many Goans probably don’t dwell on the meaning and significance of the words of the song. In his well-researched 2020 scientific treatise,“The Last Prabhu, A Hunt for roots: DNA, ancient documents and migration in Goa '', the author Dr. Bernardo Elvino de Sousa sheds light on the meaning of this song, explaining how and why the Portuguese conquerors were able to capture Goa. 

The author traces the history of his ancestors through a multidisciplinary approach utilising revolutionary developments in genetics, deep ancestry DNA test results, written documentary evidence and orally transmitted history. With his amazing skill in deciphering scripts and translating languages- Konkani, Marathi and Portuguese, de Sousa puts together pieces of the puzzle of the peopling of Goa and India in painstaking, precise detail.

In a personal search for his own ancestral roots in the village of Aldona, de Sousa provides a glimpse into the migratory paths and the history of the life of people in the villages of Goa in the late 16th and early 17th century. The book also reveals the origins of the church and the circumstances around conversions to Christianity, the condition of women, and the caste system. 

Although de Sousa explains the complexity of DNA in plain simple terms using analogies and examples in his multifaceted book written through the lens of history, geography, literature and science, it is a book that requires several re-reads as the readers are taken on a mind boggling chronological journey of migration patterns of early Goan settlers, an analysis of haplogroups and mitochondrial DNA and the realities of the life & death decisions made under the Portuguese rule of Goa. Based on scientific evidence de Sousa traces his ancestry to the Indus Valley Civilisation population as well as the Yamnaya and Sintashta cultures in the Steppes that migrated through the Fertile Crescent to Goa around 700 BCE. de Sousa also demonstrates that “all Indians irrespective of their caste consist of ANI [Ancestral North Indian] and ASI [Ancestral South Indian] mixtures in different proportions belonging to different haplogroups, resulting from ancestors who migrated out of Africa through different routes and different epochs.”(p.128).

In his search to understand how the people of Goa were so easily conquered and ruled by foreign invaders, de Sousa uncovers the covert help given by the Hindus to the Portuguese to avoid the excessive tax demands of Adil Shahi that sounded the death knell for Goa. In the process, de Sousa discovers that his ancestors were self-governing, skilled, sophisticated, literate in Sanskrit, experienced agriculturalists, environmentalists - a people resilient in the face of enormous challenges and limited choices offered by their conquerors. 

In a rendering of the truth, while de Sousa describes the brutality of the Portuguese conquerors, the forced conversions to Christianity, explaining how “the fury of the inquisition spared no one- women, children nor the deceased '' (p.163), he also sheds light on other uncomfortable truths such as the deplorable condition of Brahmin women under a dominant patriarchal system and the rigidity of the caste system. The descriptions of the meetings recorded in the Tombo de Aldona are detailed and vivid transporting the reader back to the 1600s where one can visualize the meetings that took place under the shade of a banyan tree in the village of Aldona. For any Goan interested in tracing their ancestral roots, the book offers details on pre-conversion ancestral Hindu names, vangads, and gotras and a fascinating account of the efficient functioning of the gaunkari system and the comunidades. 

At a broader level, the book is a story of migration triggered by climatic changes and a quest of human survival - a quintessential story of human migration. de Sousa reveals how historically migrants have brought expertise, new ideas and skills that foster innovation and progress and history has demonstrated time and again that those countries that recognize and utilize this tremendous human capital will flourish and thrive. de Sousa offers important cautionary lessons here for nations and peoples about the need to embrace new ideas and innovation to prosper.

As de Sousa relates, “Goa of today is not the same as Goa of the past and will not be the Goa of the future.”(p.175). He states that the fast pace and rate of change with emigration to Goa is inevitable unless living conditions in other places also improve. This sentiment is echoed in the reasons for migration around the world as people are forced to leave their homes seeking refuge, stability and better lives.

To persevere in the writing of this book despite so much of the evidence being lost and fragmented is a commendable feat by the author. In the search for his descendants and in tracing his ancestral roots that leads de Sousa to his identity as a descendant of Ramu Prabhu and to “The Last Prabhu”, he provides a glimpse of a rich history of the peopling of Goa that is a story of a people with a strong intellect and tremendous resilience who survived oppression and fought for self-preservation against great odds. It is a great gift that future generations of Goans can add and build upon.

I would encourage the reader to reach out to the author at his blog thelastprabhu.blogspot.com with any questions or to leave a comment.

The Denaming of Goans by Bernardo Elvino de Sousa