Here is a note submitted to the Cultural Affairs department of
Kerala government with regard to restoration
of some 16th-17th century Portuguese
gravestones, now dumped in a government museum in Trissur. It was submitted to Mr K C Joseph,
Cultural Minister, on April 17, 2012 and so far no action
has been taken, though the government had
promised to do so.
WE the undersigned, Dr John Cantwell Roberts of New York and N P Chekkutty, Calicut , have been working on a project for
the proper recording and analysis of the European gravestones and cemeteries in
the erstwhile British Malabar and Nilgiri districts for the past two
years. Dr John C Roberts is a retired
social anthropologist who has served in various centers of learning including
the universities of Oxford and Columbia and is the author of scholarly articles and books like the Early Cantwells
in Ireland ,
a major work on medieval European prosopography. N P Chekkutty has worked in India for
almost three decades as a journalist. Two books —Malabar: The Christian Burials and Memorials in
Kannur,Thalassery & Mahe 1723-1950 and The Nilgiris: Christian Burials and
Memorials in Gudalur, Ootacamund, Wellington, Coonoor & Kotagiri 1822-2000,
will be published by the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA), London, later this
year, as part of our work. We are now
working on the European burials in the rest of old Malabar, comprising areas
from Calicut to
Angengo in the south.
The present work has academic as well as economic
aspects: As we try to restore the
genealogy of the families and individuals buried here, we are also providing a
handbook for potential tourists who are looking for details on the final
resting place of their ancestors who died in India in the centuries past. There are tens of thousands of such people
buried in the Malabar coast, who came from all parts of Europe ,
dating back to early 16th century. Some of these monuments are of
great historical value and ought to be preserved for the benefit of future
studies.
In this connection, we would like to bring your attention to
half a dozen gravestones of Portuguese origin, removed by the authorities from
an old graveyard near Kodungallur and now stored in the Government Murals
Museum
Of the six gravestones, we could properly identify the one
that belonged to Felipe Perestrelo, who was vicar and school teacher in the
region in late 16th century.
His life and family connections are most exciting and evoke historical
memories of the period, as he came from a noble Italian family that was related
to the Portuguese crown as well as to Christopher Columbus, the great navigator
who charted a new route to the Americas
in 1492 opening up a new chapter in world history. Other interesting finds in
this collection, though broken, include the coat of arms of the Costa family,
the burial stone of a navigator who sports the intriguing insignia of the skull
and cross bones, a late 17th century symbol that denoted sea
pirates. This must be one of the
earliest such symbols ever used and hence of great value in the study of the
history of navigation and piracy.
We earnestly call upon the Government of Kerala to take
notice of the manner in which these historical relics are handled making them
almost inaccessible to scholars and visitors. These stones need to be properly
cleaned and mounted, using concrete base fixed with iron bars which will hold
the broken pieces in a proper shape so
that visitors and scholars can inspect them at their leisure. You can see that
it would cost next to nothing to the exchequer while it would attract large numbers
of new visitors to the state.
We do hope the government will take steps for their proper
upkeep and we assure every help from scholarly community in India and
outside for the restoration of these gravestones.
With sincere thanks,
Dr John Cantwell Roberts, New York
N P Chekkutty, Calicut .
