Colva - Etymology and History

Etymology and History

Colvá was a vast barren land with a beautiful Arabian Sea beach that had beach plants such as scaevola sericea and a land that had no human settlement until a few Goud Saraswat Brahmin were first to settle on this land as migrants as majority of them had migrated, settled and lived in the village of Benaulim, which is the neighboring village. The mughals, the people of Adil Shahi dynasty preferred the north and the hilly regions of Goa (where they built forts and defense) rather than settling by the coastal belt and hence had not touched the barren land of Colvá. It was the Portuguese conquest that established the western regions of South Goa as a full fledged human settlement and developed it to the fullest. This village was under Portuguese conquest and further Provincial administration as a Province of Portuguese-Goa from 1510 until 1961 (was under dispute till 1974/75 and represented in the Parliament of Portugal) and was the village of the Portuguese Roiz family, the descendants of D.Diogo Rodrigues and its villagers. The village belonged to D.Diogo Rodrigues from 1550 who was the Lord of Colvá (Landlord of Colvá) . He built the first Portuguese architecture residential house in 1551 facing the opposite side of the sea and at a distance from the shore, this was tactfully done to avoid any enemy attacks from the Arabian sea. The entire beach called praia da Colvá belonged to him. In the 18th century, one of Diogo's decedents namely Sebastião José Roiz ordered his village people to plant coconut trees on the entire coastline, the villagers thought it was foolish as the soil was white (in-fertile) and would not sustain the plantation growth. However today the shore line is a serene beauty of those plantations of coconut trees. The entire Colvá shore and beach property till betalbatim was inherited by various descendants of the Roiz family until the late 20th century after which parts were handed over to the Government of Goa under Indian administration post 1974/75 settlement of Goa, as Colvá was annexed as a part of Goa during the 1961 annexation of Goa by India and the rest of the land was sold.

Colvá is still famous for the white washed Our Lady Of Mercy church also known as Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Piedade that was founded in 1630 and later rebuilt at the village square in the eighteenth century. It houses the miraculous statue of 'Menino Jesus' (Baby Jesus) which is believed to have healing powers that was founded by a Jesuit missionary. According to local legend the statue at Our Lady of Mercy church was found in the mid-seventeenth century in the coast of Mozambique, when Rev Fr. Bento Ferreira and his party had been shipwrecked off the coast. After swimming to safety they spotted it as it was washed ashore after being dumped by Muslim pirates into the sea. In 1648 when Father Ferreira was posted to Colvá he placed the statue on the altar and it soon started drawing large crowds of devotees as it granted their favors. The Menino Jesus statue is kept for public viewing in October for the annual Fama ('Fame') festival for which thousands of people assemble. This is the only time that it is removed from the triple vault locks of the Church. It is then dipped into a nearby river after a procession and the pilgrims use this water for anointment and good luck.