A organização religiosa do primeiro Estado da Índia. Notas para uma investigação

Abstract

This work aims at discussing a set of problems previous to the historical reconstitution of the religious organization of Estado da Índia until 1521. I start with an analysis of the letters of D. Duarte Nunes, the 1st Portuguese arriving there, which provide an overview of its religious situation, the priests, the friars, the believers, the few conversions, and their problems. However, some of the implicit meanings of these letters are inaccessible to our understanding, and it is from this absence of meaning that emerges the true object of this research: The actual sphere of the Portuguese patronage in these lands before and after 1514, and its relation with the foundation of religious temples, the social type of priests and friars that went to these places, and mainly with the goals behind the king’s policy. I believe that only after having discussed these problems – and of being aware of its importance– it becomes possible to reconstitute the religious sphere of the Estado da Índia.