A 1629 tombstone, stumbled upon in a dusty, neglected corner of a compound in Bolar by Ivan Saldanha Shet, tells a story. It also leaves a story untold.
Tombstone as discovered 2. Discovered and neglected
The thick granite slab, 1.8 metre long and 0.7 metres wide has been inscribed with a court of arms, and below it the legend
“AQI IAS DOMINg / OS DE MOVRÁo / COVTINHO CAPI / TAO QE FOI DEST / A FOrTAIEZA DE / MÁgAIOr . FAL / ECEo A 30 DE A / BRIL D 629” (AQI IAS DOMINGOS DE MOURÃO COVTINHO CAPITÃO QE FOI DESTA FORTALEZA DE MÃGALOR FALECEO A 30 DE ABRIL D 629).
Translation: “Here lies Domingos de Mourão Coutinho, Captain of this fort of Mangalore. Died on April 30, 1629.”
This tombstone would have once lain over the bones of Domingos de Moura Coutinho, buried either within a church or in the cemetery of Portuguese Mangalore. Link. Ten years earlier, the fort had succumbed to Venkatappa Nayaka but had been allowed to remain under Portuguese control. The captain of the fort in 1618 was Salvador Ribeiro Marinho.1 When Pietro della Valle visited the fort in 1623, the captain was “an old man all gray, by name Pero Gomes Pasagna.2 Portuguese officials were usually appointed for a three-year term.
A letter of February 6, 1620, from Governor Fernão de Albuquerque to the king, mentions Domingos De Moura Coutinho among several other officials appointed in the king's service. Further archival research may provide more information. For now, we can only uncover a little more information from the court of arms inscribed on the tombstone.
The court of arms carries the emblems of both, the Mouras (five castles in gold (here brought to seven) with as crest a castle) and the Coutinhos (five red stars with five points on a golden field). The Moura Coutinhos were a prominent noble family of Northern Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries. The city of Moura is said to have been named after Princess Salúquia, a Moor (fem: Moura). She jumped to her death from the castle tower when the city had been taken over by Christians and her lover killed.
The untold story
What do we know of the local stonecutter who laboriously inscribed this hard stone with an unfamiliar symbol and in an unfamiliar language? Nothing. Had he met and spoken to Domingos? How many hours did it take him to record the death of someone else when his own would be unrecorded and soon forgotten? Why?
Grateful to:
· Ivan Saldanha Shet, finder of the stone and attempts to preserve it
· John Monteiro (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil, Pedro Mascarenhas, and Rafael Moreira (Portugal) for the translations and other inputs in researching this article.
References:
Panduronga S. S. Pissurlencar. Assentos do Conselho do Estado Vol I (1618-1633) doc 5 page 15
The Travels of Pietro della Valle in India .Vol 2, P 302
Livro das Monções N.° 22-B (1620-1653), Arquivo do Estado da Índia
Commentaires