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Vasco da Gama landed on the southwest coast of India in 1498 and the Portuguese stayed until the Indian army finally chased them out in 1961. This is the hand carved wooden pulpit of the Church of St. Cajetan in the city of Old Goa, which was the original capital until the 17th century when outbreaks of malaria and cholera forced it to be abandoned in favor of Panjim. But in its heyday this city was said to have rivaled Lisbon in its grandeur. Catholicism is still the most popular religion in Goa and pilgrims travel here from other parts of India and beyond to visit the burial site of St. Francis Xavier. I had to laugh when I saw a large sign inside the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Panjim which read: |
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