Image: India Portugueza – Inauguraçáo Do Caminho De Ferro De Mormugáo — 31 De Outubro De 1882 (segundo Uma Photographia), 19th Century, Unknown, © Sarmaya Arts Foundation. (2016.23.12)
On this day in 1502, Vasco Da Gama returned to Calicut and defeated the Zamorin, marking the beginning of Portuguese naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean. Three centuries later, the Portuguese empire was fighting for its life in the Subcontinent. And the scene painted in this artwork describes the tail-end of that downfall.
The print’s original Portuguese title translates to ‘Portuguese India – Inauguration of the Mormugão Railway — October 31, 1882 (according to a photograph)’. The first thing you notice when viewing this image is the pier jetting into the bay of Mormugão, Goa. And naturally, your eye moves to the bay and the sea itself. However, if you zoom in, right below the pier you’ll spot a black railway engine with its train of carriages lining behind.
The print depicts the inauguration of work on Goa’s first railway line. This line, known as the West of India Portuguese Railway, set off from Mormugão, hugged the coast and then climbed up the Western Ghats into British India, finally coming to a halt at New Hubli via Castle Rock.
Built on Portuguese insistence and capital, the train was supposed to stimulate trade to Goa, thereby reducing the burden on the Portuguese exchequer in Lisbon by connecting it to the British Indian hinterland. From the glory days of Portuguese supremacy in the Indian Ocean, where even the Mughals had to get a cartaz or license from the Portuguese to sail/trade, Goa had become unviable for trade, with the concomitant rise of Bombay. According to a 2013 paper by railway historians Dr Hugo Silveira Pereira and Dr Ian J Kerr, “Mormugão had become a minor port used primarily by small vessels engaged in coastal shipping up and down the West Coast whose main destination was often Bombay, the great entrepot.” These local circumstances mirrored the Portuguese empire’s global fall and the British Empire’s rise.
Reflecting this shifting power hierarchy, the Portuguese, alongside many other concessions to the British, had to hire a British company to build the line. And, furthermore, guarantee a return of 5% till the investment of the company was recouped, regardless if the line turned profitable or not. The line was finally completed in 1887 and inaugurated at Castle Rock at the border with much fanfare. The building of the track was indeed an accomplishment, especially the section that snaked up through the Western Ghats, with seven bridges, five viaducts, and twelve tunnels. Despite the hard work and the capital invested into the project, the line turned out to be unprofitable well into the 20th century. Similarly, the trade to the port of Mormugão never picked up either. Goa remained a backwater to Bombay, which retained its position as the supreme port on the western seaboard of India.
References
Pearson, M. N. “CAFILAS AND CARTAZES.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 30, 1968, pp. 200–07. JSTOR. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024
Pereira, Hugo & Kerr, Ian. (2013). Railways and Borders in the Colonies: The West of India Portuguese Guaranteed Railway, c. 1878-c. 1902.
Pearson, M. N. “PORTUGUESE INDIA AND THE MUGHALS.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 59, 1998, pp. 407–26. JSTOR,. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.
Kamalakaran, A. (2023) Goa’s entry into the railway age was set in motion with an Engineering Marvel, Scroll.in. (Accessed: 30 October 2024).
Records of the West of India Portuguese Guaranteed Railway Company, 1869-1960, Science Museum Group
