Corjuem Fort

Corjuem Fort
Forte da Assunção de Corjuem
Part of Goa
Bardez, Goa
Aerial view of the fortress
Site information
Type	Fortress battery
Controlled by	Portuguese India(1705–1961) India(1961–present)
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Partial Ruin
Location
Corjuem Fort Location of Corjuem Fort in Goa
Coordinates	15°35′48″N 73°53′34″E / 15.5968°N 73.8928°E / 15.5968; 73.8928
Site history
Built	1705 (1705)
Built by	Caetano de Melo e Castro
In use	Abandoned in 1894
Demolished	No

Fort Assunção^[1] or Corjuem Fort is a fortress situated 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the village of Aldona on the river island of Corjuem, Goa. It was a military fortress for the defense of Portuguese India. It is smaller than the other forts in Goa, but it gives a good view of the surrounding river and land. It is a protected monument under the Goa, Daman and Diu Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act.^[2]

Corjuem Fort is 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Panjim.

Location

The Fort of Corjuem (Portuguese: Forte de Corjuem) is situated on an island with the same name in Bardez, to the east of the village of Aldona, from which it is separated by the Mapuçá River (a tributary of the Mandovi). It is one of the only two inland forts that are surviving that are made of pitted laterite.

Etymology

Corjuem or Khorjuve maintains its old pre-colonial name and signifies a rocky island. Cor means hard rock and Juem is the konkani word for island. Historically Corjuem's rocky surface which can be seen if a visitor travels to the Fort gave it strong advantages as a border defense area but was not very conducive to agriculture.

History

Amita Kanekar’s book ‘Portuguese Sea Forts: Goa, with Chaul, Korlai and Vasai’summarises the history of the island. As Kanekar summarises in her book, Corjuem Island was under the sway of the Sultanate of Bijapur at the time of the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510, and later fell to their feudatories, the Bhonsales of Sawantwadi, who sometimes allied with either the Marathas or the Portuguese. after the Mughal defeat of the Marathas in 1689, several forts along the Estado’s periphery were captured by the then Viceroy Caetano de Mello e Castro. Corjuem Fort fell to them in 1705. What stands today is a complete rebuilding from the early 19th century in what Kanekar called the classic ‘trace italienne’ manner.^[3]

Under the Portuguese Viceroy Caetano de Mello e Castro, the control of the island came back under Portuguese India's administration.^[4][5] This fort built in 1705, by the Portuguese, as a defense against Maratha aggression, and was subsequently rebuilt and reinforced by them to boost up defenses along Panjim. In the eighteenth century, this fort successfully protected the Portuguese from the Bhonsles and the Ranes, who were camped just beyond the Mandovi River.

The inscription on the portico of the Fort says "Esta Ilha Anexiov ao estado sendo vice rei dele o Exmo Senhor Caetano de Mello de Castro e no Mesmo Tempo de Seo Governo Se Fes esta Fortaleza no Ano de 1705" (This island was annexed to the state when its Viceroy being His Excellency Caetano De Mello during the same period of his government built this Fort in 1705).

Along with Corjuem, another island Ponolem was also added to the Aldona area.

In the early 1800s, the fort was used as a Military School and had in its defenses a battery of four guns. The fortress defended the town of Corjuem and also has a chapel under the parochial church of Aldona. The fort fell into disuse after the success of Novas Conquistas, as it had lost its purpose as a border defense.^[7]

Development of Corjuem

Since 1835^[8] the custodian of the island and Fort have been Joao Filippe Ferreira and his descendants^[9][10] a lawyer whose family roots lay in Divar and Aldona. For nearly a century, Corjuem was a plantation, with cashews, mangoes, and rice forming the backbone of its agricultural economy.

They encouraged families from across Goa to settle here, building roads and providing land for homes, chapels, temples, and community institutions. Much of the family’s estate was sold or donated at nominal rates, allowing the island to evolve into an inclusive and thriving community.

Historically, Corjuem was not listed as a separate village, being considered part of Aldona. It first appeared as an independent entry in the 1971 Census, with a population of 467. By 2011, that number had grown nearly sixfold to 2,725. Today it comes under the jurisdiction of the Aldona Panchayat and in the Aldona Assembly Constituency.

The Chapel of Mãe de Deus (Mother of God) is one of Corjuem’s most cherished landmarks. Built in 1854 by Adv. João Filippe Ferreira, with support from the island’s other residents, the chapel has stood as a symbol of faith and community for over a century and a half.

Adv. Ferreira, who played a key role in shaping the island’s history, is laid to rest in a perpetual grave beneath the chapel’s altar. Located opposite Residência Ferreira, the chapel remains a place of prayer and heritage for the people of Corjuem.

The highlight of the year is the chapel’s feast, celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, when the community gathers to honor its patron and preserve a tradition that continues to unite generations.^[11] he also installed the altar of St. Anthony in the Fort. His family was influential in the construction of the 5 chapels and 3 temples in the village as well as being the benefactors of the Corjuem Gymkhana and the Mae de Deus School Corjuem.^[12] The Fort is currently under restoration by the Directorate of Archaeology Govt of Goa with backing from the Alvares Ferreira and Ferreira Rangel families.^[13]

Folklore

The fort also has an interesting incident in which an ambitious Portuguese woman named Ursula e Lancastre, who determined to see the man's world, dressed as a male and took up navigation and military roles. She landed up at Corjuem as a soldier and many years later, voluntarily revealed her gender as she wished to marry a man.^[14]

Born in Rio de Janeiro, died in Goa. As the story goes she was the only daughter of a wealthy Brazilian family. In 1700, she left her home secretly and, dressing herself in male costume, took the name of Balthazar do Couto Cardoso and sailed for Portugal. In Lisbon, she enlisted as a volunteer in an expedition to India and soon afterward took part in the attack on amboina [ambon in modern-day Indonesian province of Maluku] and in the occupation of the islands of Corjuem and Panelem. For these deeds, she was promoted to captain, and in 1703 she was appointed governor of an important castle. In 1704, the fortress Mae de Deus [in Chaul] was put under her charge and from that time till 1714 she performed many great exploits that made her assumed name wellknown.

In 1714, she fell in love with the captain Alfonso Teixeira arras de Mello, who was of the castle S. João Baptiasta, and disclosing her sex, she received permission from the king to marry. On March 8, 1718, the Portuguese king João V granted her a pension for her services to the nation, with permission to bequeath it to her heirs.”

The story has been ‘fortified’ if one looks elsewhere, to state that our intrepid swashbuckling hero/ heroine was “a descendant of the English House of Lancaster”, “her idea was to live the adventures of Cavalry and Crusades that she had read from books, adventures that were forbidden to the women of her time.” The title ‘a Senhora de Pangim’ (The Lady of Pangim) was also the title of a 1940 book about Úrsula, written by Brazilian writer Gustavo Adolfo Luiz Dodt da Cunha Barroso. In his Preface, Barroso quotes the ‘national Ephemeres’ of Teixeira de Mello, in which an entry dated September 1, 1700 confirms her existence, and that she was the daughter of João de abreu Oliveira. He quotes another source (the Baron of Rio Branco) who corroborates this and adds she fled Brazil due to “o despero de um amor contrariado”, a “thwarted” love affair.

Furthermore, we learn from the Preface that d. João V awarded her “the palace of Pangim” for a period of six years an “a xerafim per day” from the alfandega de Goa. The book publication year (1940) is significant: the tricentennial of the 1640 ‘Restoration’ of Portugal. Barroso mentions that “much of what makes up the plot and development of the action is the stewing of my fantasy.” If it were not so, it would be “a biography, not a romance”. But his parting shot is that “documents about d. Maria Úrsula exist in Portuguese archives.^[15]

Santuário de Santo António de Lisboa

There is a Shrine dedicated to St. Anthony within the walls of the fort, at its entrance. It is under the ownership of the Parish of Aldona and is regularly patronized and renovated. This was installed by the benefactor of the Island Dr. Joao Filippe Ferreira, a lawyer and Minister of Finance for Tiswadi.

Hanv Saiba Poltoddi Vetam

One of the best known Dekhnnî songs is "Hanv Saiba Poltoddi Vetam" by Carlos Eugenio Ferreira (1869–1932) first published in Paris in 1895 and then in Goa in 1926 by Tipografia Rangel. The song was adapted by Raj Kapoor as Na mangoon sona chandi in his Hindi movie Bobby.^[16] The story that is depicted in this song is about two temple dancers who want to go for Damu's wedding and they approach the boatman to ferry them across the river. The boatman says, "No! The river is rough!" The dancers offer the boatman their gold jewellery; but the boatman is still firm. "No!" he says. So the dancers dance for the boatman and this time he ferries them across the river.

This song is set in Corjuem where prior to the bridges being built in the 21st century, boats used to take the people to and from the island.

References

^[1]

15°35′48″N 73°53′34″E / 15.59678°N 73.89281°E / 15.59678; 73.89281