Tangents
The Portuguese Connection
Portuguese connections: agave flower and St. Nicholas Tolentino church. Photo: Ihtisham Kabir
I admire the agave plant. Its tall leaves are sleek and elegant; its bright yellow flowers delightful. When the flowers wilt and drop, new plants sprout from them. But I have often wondered how this plant, so distinctively American, came to be here.
Then I discovered, in The History of the Portuguese in Bengal, that it was the Portuguese who brought the agave from the New World to our shores. Reading the book, I realized that the Portuguese connection with our land runs deep. The first Europeans in Bengal, they brought not just agave but many other fruits and vegetables and left lasting influences on our culture and life.
My curiosity in this matter was sparked recently when Shakhawat Hossain, Honorary Consul of Portugal, mentioned that the first Bangla grammar was written by a Portuguese missionary. It was written in a village that was actually discussed in this column last year. Nagori, about thirty kilometres from Dhaka in Kaliganj, is the site of the annual St. Anthony's festival.
The Portuguese church at Nagori, St. Nicholas Tolentino church, dates back to 1663. While serving as bishop there from 1734-1742, Manual de Assumpcao wrote the first grammar of Bangla language. It was published from Lisbon in 1743 in two volumes: a Bangla grammar and a Bangla-Portuguese dictionary.
The Portuguese arrived in Bengal in the early 1500s. Seafaring traders came first; missionaries soon followed. This region was, at that time, undergoing political upheaval and power struggles. The powers included the Sultans of Bengal, the Moghuls, Tripura kings and the Arakans near Chittagong. The Portuguese built settlements in inland (mainly Hooghly) and coastal parts of Bengal (mainly Chittagong) and traded in spices, muslin and rice from there.
Because of shifting balance of powers and their search for better trading opportunities, the Portuguese, particularly in and around Chittagong, often became involved in local conflicts. They sometimes fought on behalf of one power group or another – or for their own interest – occasionally attacking ships which earned them notoriety as pirates.
They were, however, different from other European visitors in a number of ways. They exported our goods instead of shifting manufacturing to their homeland. Portuguese men married local women and assimilated into our culture after converting their wives. Many Bengali Catholics have Portuguese surnames, such as D'Costa, Pinheiro and Rosario, reflecting these conversions.
The Portuguese were also instrumental in introducing New World ingredients into our cuisine. The fruits and vegetables they brought include pineapples, potatoes, guava, cashew nuts, and kamranga. Balachao, a dish made from shutki, is derived from Bacalao, the salt-cod dish of Portugal and Spain, and “pudding” made from eggs is a variation of flan which is popular in Portugal and Spain.
Perhaps nowhere is the Portuguese connection more evident in our daily life than in our language. Numerous Bangla words are derived from the Portuguese, including everyday words such as closet (almari), key (chabi), nail (perek), and window (janala.) Food-related words include pineapple (anaras), cauliflower (kopi) and bread (pauruti.)
So, while it may seem like a far-away country, Portugal is not that far after all, is it?
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