Early life and background

Tansen as a historical personality is difficult to extract from the extensive legend that surrounds him. It is reasonably certain that he was born into a Hindu Brahmin family, possibly in 1506, though some legends give it as 1493; possibly in the village Behat near Gwalior. His father Mukund Mishra was a poet and accomplished musician, who for some time was a temple priest in Varanasi. Tansen’s name as a child was Ramtanu (he may have had other nicknames/names like Tanna and Mukul).

He was born at a time when a number of Persian and Central Asian motifs were fusing with Indian classical music, his influence was central to creating the Hindustani classical ethos as we know today. A number of descendants and disciples have also considerably enriched the tradition. Almost all gharanas of Hindustani classical music claim some connection with the Tansen lineage. According to legend, he was noted for his imitations of animal calls and birdsong.

Career

Picture: Akbar watching as Tansen receives a lesson from Swami Haridas. Imaginary situation depicted in Mughal miniature painting style (Rajasthani, c. 1750 AD).

 At some point, he was discipled for some time to Swami Haridas, the legendary composer from Vrindavan and part of the stellar Gwalior court of Raja Mansingh Tomar (1486-1516 AD), specializing in the dhrupad style of singing. One legend has that Haridas was passing through the forests when the five-year old Ramtanu’s imitation of a tiger impressed the musician saint. Another version is that his father sent him to Haridas. From Haridas, Tansen acquired not only his love for dhrupad but also his interest in compositions in the local language. This was the time when the Bhakti tradition was fomenting a shift from Sanskrit to the local idiom (Brajbhasa and Hindi), and Tansen’s compositions also highlight this trend. At some point during his apprenticeship, Tansen’s father died, and he returned home, where it is said he used to sing at a local Shiva temple.

In any event, Tansen went to Muhammad Ghaus who eventually became his spiritual mentor. He also married Husseini (lit. beautiful one), "However, beyond a reference of Tansen’s name in a list of his disciples Miyan Tansen’s name is not found among the names of the Mureeds (Fans) of the Shuttari Tariqat - a Sufi spiritual lineage founded by Shaykh Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior."

The burial of Tansen in his shaykh’s mausoleum is thought to indicate proof of his conversion to the faith of his spiritual guide. Usually, the most prominent disciples of a saint are buried near the master’s mausoleum, not much historical detail is known about their actual encounter.

The interaction with Ghaus in the Sufi tradition and the earlier training with Swami Haridas in the Bhakti tradition led to a fusion of these streams in the work of Tansen. As it is, the mystic streams of Sufism and Bhakti had considerable philosophical and stylistic overlap; Ghaus in his text Bahr-ul-Hayat (Ocean of Life) devotes several chapters to Yoga practices. In Tansen’s music, we find he continues to compose in Brajbhasha invoking traditional motifs such as Krishna or Shiva.

Tansen was also influenced by other singers in the Gwalior court and also the musically proficient queen, Mriganayani (lit. doe-eyed), whose romance with the king had been forged on her singing; she remained a friend even after the death of the king. Other musicians at Gwalior may have included Baiju Bawra.

Eventually, he joined the court of King Ramachandra Baghela of Rewa, India, where he remained from 1555-1562. It appears that the Mughal emperor Akbar heard of his prowess and sent his emissary Jalaluddin Qurchi to Ramachandra, who had little choice but to acquiesce, and Tansen went to Akbar’s court in 1562.

Another legend is that Akbar’s daughter Meherunnissa was enamoured by Tansen and had a role in his coming to Akbar’s court. Tansen later converted to Islam from Hinduism, apparently on the eve of his marriage with Akbar’s daughter.

Tansen joined Akbar’s court eventually becoming one of the treasured Navaratnas (lit. nava=nine, ratna=jewel) of his court. It was Akbar who gave him the honorific title Miyan, and he is usually referred to today as Miyan Tansen. Legend has it that in his first performance, he was gifted one lakh (100,000) gold coins.

The presence of musicians like Tansen in Akbar’s court has been related by historians to the theoretical position of making the empire’s audible presence felt among the population, a mechanism related to Naubat or ritual performance.

The fort at Fatehpur Sikri is strongly associated with Tansen’s tenure at Akbar’s court. Near the emperor’s chambers, a pond was built with a small island in the middle, where musical performances were given. Today, this tank, called Anup Talao, can be seen near the public audience hall Diwan-i-Aam - a central platform reachable via four footbridges. It is said that Tansen would perform different ragas at different times of day, and the emperor and his select audience would honour him with coins. Tansen’s alleged residence is also nearby.

Family

Picture: Tansen’s tomb in Gwalior, near the tomb of his Sufi master Muhammad Ghaus

 Tanras Khan, Bilas Khan, Hamirsen, Suratsen and Saraswati Devi, all musicians. Bilas Khan is said to have created raga Bilaskhani Todi after Tansen’s death; an interesting legend of this improvisation (it differs only in detail from Tansen’s Todi), has it that Bilas composed it while grief-stricken at the wake itself, and that Tansen’s corpse moved one hand in approval of the new melody.

Tansen’s blood descendants – the Senia gharana - held considerable prestige in musical circles for several centuries. The royal courts of Rewa, India, Rampur and Jaipur among others, retained many noted members of Tansen lineage, including Nayak Wazir Khan (guru of Allauddin Khan) and Mohammed Ali Khan. Wazir Khan, who is of Saraswati Devi lineage, was also a musicologist who wrote the Risala Mousibi. One of the last of the line, Dr Dabir Khan, (1905-1972, Saraswati Devi lineage) was a dhrupadiya and a beenkar, at Radio Calcutta.
Musical legacy

The legendary musical prowess of Tansen surpasses all other legends in Indian and Pakistani music. In terms of influence, he can be compared only to the prolific sufi composer Amir Khusro (1253-1325), or to bhakti tradition composers such as Kabir or Haridas. The sitar is said to have been invented by Amir Khusro (1253-1325), a devotee of the Chistiyya order, after the Persian ‘Setar’, from the saz group of musical instruments

Several of his raga compositions have become mainstays of the Hindustani/Ancient Pakistani tradition, and these are often prefaced with Miyan ki ("of the Miyan"), e.g. Miyan ki Todi, Miyan ki Malhar, Miyan ki Mand, Miyan ka Sarang; in addition he is the creator of major ragas like Darbari Kanada, Darbari Todi, and Rageshwari. Tansen also authored Sangeeta Sara and Rajmala which constitute important documents on music.

Almost every gharana (school) tries to trace its origin to him, though some try to go further back to Amir Khusro. As for the Dhrupad style of singing, this was formalized essentially through the practice by composers like Tansen and Haridas, as well as others like Baiju Bawra who may have been a contemporary.

After Tansen, some of the ideas from the rabab were fused with the traditional Indian stringed instrument, veena; one of the results of this fusion is the instrument sarod, which does not have frets and is popular today because of its perceived closeness to the vocal style. The famous qawwals, the Sabri Brothers of Pakistan claim lineage from Miyan Tansen

Tansen

The bulk of Tansen’s biography as it is handed down in the musical literature consists of legends. Among the legends about Tansen are stories of his bringing down the rains with Raga Megh Malhar and starting fires with the legendary raga Deepak . Other legends tell of his ability to bring wild animals to listen with attention (or to talk their language). Once, a wild white elephant was captured, but it was fierce and could not be tamed. Finally, Tansen sang to the elephant who calmed down and the emperor was able to ride him. Many aficionados are convinced that his death was caused by a conflagration while he was singing the raga Deepak.

Death

According to one version of the story, Tansen died on 26 April 1586, and that Akbar and much of his court attended the funeral procession. Other versions give 1589 as the year of his death. Tansen was buried in the mausoleum complex of his Sufi guru Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus in Gwalior. According to legend, Tansen’s son Bilas Khan, in his grief, composed Bilaskhani Todi. Every year in December, an annual festival, the Tansen Samaroh, is held in Gwalior to celebrate Tansen

Popular Culture
Tansen’s story was extensively researched and showcased in a Pakistani Televisions series in the late 80’s where the classical singer’s entire life was explored.

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Tansen

Some years ago I read about the inmates of a home for mentally handicapped. The directors, or someone of that ilk, decided to sterilize all the women inmates because they were repeatedly getting pregnant. The unscrupulous men who were forcing themselves upon these helpless women were not blamed because the directors, presumably, discovered that the act of getting pregnant was more serious than the act of rape. It also did not occur to them that sterilizing the men could have the same result. Even if that had occurred to them, they would not have dared to do that because imposing a punishment on normal people is not as easy as imposing a solution on hapless women.

The other day when private buses in our city went on strike for a small increase in the fare they can charge (which is strictly controlled by the government in the Kerala state), there was a big cry from commuters that all private buses should be nationalized. It never occurred to them that there are plenty of nationalized buses already in Kerala, and that their only contribution is to mock passengers standing at the bus stands because instead of stopping for them, the drivers vie with airplanes.

It is the private bus operators in Kerala who stop buses at every place and who are always sympathetic to the passengers, but the solution suggests that the helpless traffic system be eliminated so as to INCREASE passenger comfort. Idiotic solutions for real problems!

Coming to Compulsory Voting, pray tell me, what is the difference between the compulsory sterilization drive of the Sanjay Gandhi era, the coerced voting in communist countries, or forced emperor-worship in dictatorships?

What is more important, bringing reluctant people to the voting machine, or permitting them their freedom of choice. Why should a person vote if he does not feel like doing it. Why should the government make rules that all the people should take a bath twice a day so as to foster better health in the country? Or for that matter why should a government restrict the number of times a couple can cohabit per month so as to control population growth? What if one is forced to seek "government-permit" for such things that fall into the area of personal freedom!

Imagine the predicament of a surgeon on the day of election, who has to attend to five emergency life-saving surgeries that cannot be postponed, or the medical staff that attends to the procedures with him. What about the single mother or father who is attending to a very sick child. The pilot who is in the air, or all the people lying in a hospital, some on medical support systems. What about the tens of thousands who are on trains. What about people who are on shift duty away from home, leave alone those in the military or on the seas. Each one of them will be required to get a "clearance" from a bureaucracy that has already enslaved Indians from birth to death (and even after that). The number of new government departments and staff needed to handle clearance for the tens of millions who cannot vote due to genuine problems is mind boggling. It will open a new method to enslave free Indians. New methods to harass people, fine them,  new modes of corruption, novel ways to milk people out of their time and money, all will become a possibility through this kind of a dictatorial order.

Other than opposing and punishing moral/ethical wrongs, the government has no business interfering in personal freedom. There is no difference between compulsory voting and government/dictatorial coercion.  It is a kind of government fatwa.  Every enlightened person needs to oppose it with all his might.

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Tāj Mahal: Agra’s Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world, the mausoleum of Shah Jahān’s favorite wife, Mumtāz Mahal. It is one of the New Seven Wonders of the world, and one of three World Heritage Sites in Agra.

Completed in 1653 CE., the Tāj Mahal was built by the Mughal king Shāh Jahān as the final resting place for his beloved wife, Mumtāz Mahal. Finished in marble, it is perhaps India’s most fascinating and beautiful monument. This perfectly symmetrical monument took 22 years (1630-1652) of hard labour and 20,000 workers, masons and jewellers to build and is set amidst landscaped gardens. Built by the Persian architect, Ustād ‘Īsā, the Tāj Mahal is on the bank of the Yamuna River.

It can be observed from Agra Fort from where Emperor Shāh Jahān gazed at it, for the last eight years of his life, a prisoner of his son Aurangzeb. It is an acknowledged masterpiece of symmetry. Verses of the Koran are inscribed on it and at the top of the gate are twenty-two small domes, signifying the number of years the monument took to build. The Tāj Mahal was built on a marble platform that stands above a sandstone one. The most elegant dome of the Tāj Mahal has a diameter of 60 feet (18 m), and rises to a height of 80 feet (24 m); directly under this dome is the tomb of Mumtāz Mahal. Shah Jahān’s tomb was erected next to hers by his son Aurangzeb. The interiors are decorated by fine inlay work, incorporating semi-precious stones.

Agra Fort: Agra Fort (sometimes called the Red Fort), was commissioned by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1565, and is another of Agra’s World Heritage Sites. A stone tablet at the gate of the Fort states that it had been built before 1000 but was later renovated by Akbar. The red sandstone fort was converted into a palace during Shāh Jahān’s time, and reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque, the Dīwān-e-’Ām and Dīwān-e-Khās (halls of public and private audience), Jahāngīr’s Palace, Khās Mahal, Shīsh Mahal (mirrored palace), and the Musamman Burj.

The great Mughal Emperor Akbar commissioned the construction of the Agra Fort in 1565 CE., although it was converted into a place by his grandson Shāh Jahān, being reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque or Motī Masjid, the Dīwān-e-’Ām and Dīwān-e-Khās (halls of public and private audience), Jahāngīr’s Palace, Khās Mahal, Shīsh Mahal (mirrored palace), and the Musamman Burj. The forbidding exteriors of this fort conceal an inner paradise. The fort is crescent shaped, flattened on the east with a long, nearly straight wall facing the river. It has a total perimeter of 2.4 km, and is ringed by double castellated ramparts of red sandstone punctuated at regular intervals by bastions. A 9 m. wide and 10 m. deep moat surrounds the outer wall.

ChhatrapatiShīvajī visited the Agra Fort, as a result of the conditions of the Treaty of Purandar entered into with Mirzā Rājā Jaisingh to meet Aurangzeb in the Dīwān-i-Khās (Special Audience Chamber). In the audience he was deliberately placed behind men of lower rank. An insulted Shīvajī stormed out of the imperial audience and was confined to Jai Sing’s quarters on 12 May 1666. Fearing the dungeons and execution he escaped on the 17th of August 1666. A heroic equestrian statue of Shīvajī has been erected outside the fort.

The fort is a typical example of Mughal architecture.It shows how the North Indian style of fort construction differentiated from that of the South.In the South the majority of the beautiful forts were built on the seabed like the one at Bekal in Kerala.

GFDL Information With Additions And Revisions

By Air: Agra Airport at Kheria is about 6 km from the city centre, but is not very well connected. Now one can catch connecting flights to Agra via Delhi or Jaipur from most of the major cities of India. Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi is the best option. Agra is very well connected to Delhi both by rail and road.

Picture: Diwan-i-Khas – Hall of Private Audience

By Rail: Agra is on the main train line between Delhi (Station Code : NDLS) and Mumbai (Bombay) (Station Code : CSTM) and between Delhi and Chennai (Station Code : MAS) and many trains connect Agra with these cities every day. Some east-bound trains from Delhi also travel via Agra, so direct connections to points in Eastern India (including Kolkata) (Calcutta) are also available. There are close to 20 trains to Delhi every day, and at least three or four to both Mumbai and Chennai. There are three stations in Agra:

Agra Cantt (Station Code : AGC) is the main railway station and lies southwest of the Taj and Agra Fort, both of which are a short ride from the station by car, auto-rickshaw, or cycle rickshaw. There’s a prepaid taxi stand right outside that charges a flat Rs.120 to any hotel in the city. The station has a pretty good Comesum food court that also sells cheap, hygienic takeaway snacks (sandwiches, samosas, etc).
Agra Fort Railway Station (Station Code : AF) near Agra Fort, is infrequently serviced by the interstate express trains. The station serves trains to the east (Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Kolkata, Guwahati) some of these trains also stop at Agra Cantt.
Raja Ki Mandi (Station Code : RKM) is a small station. Some of the trains which stop at Agra Cantt also stop here. It is a very laid back station and springs into life at the arrival of Intercity Express and Taj Express.
The luxury trains - the Palace on Wheels, and the Royal Rajasthan On Wheels also stop at Agra on their eight day round trip of tourist destinations in Rajasthan and Agra. The Buddhist Special Train also visits Agra.

By Road: Idgah Bus Stand is the biggest Bus Stand in Agra and is connected to most of the bigger cities in North India.

From Delhi: NH2, a modern divided highway, connects the 200 km distance from Delhi to Agra. The drive is about 4 hours. The primary access to the highway is along Mathura Road in Delhi but, if coming from South Delhi or Delhi Airport, it is easier to take Aurobindo Marg (Mehrauli Road) and then work up to NH2 via Tughlakabad.

From Jaipur: National Highway 11, a two lane undivided highway, connects Agra with Jaipur via the bird sanctuary town of Bharatpur. The distance of around 255 km can be covered in around 4–5 hours.

From Gwalior A distance of around 120 km, takes around 1.5 hours on the National highway 3, also known as the Agra - Mumbai Highway.

From Lucknow / Kanpur NH2, the divided modern highway, continues on to Kanpur (285 km, 5 hours) and from there to points East ending in Kolkata.

From Kanpur, NH25 heads for the city of Lucknow (90 km, 2 hours).

Local Transportation

Auto rickshaw and Cycle Rickshaw are the main modes of transport in Agra and are readily available.

While passengers need to negotiate rates for the rickshaws and they are usually expensive, there is a system of (what is called) ‘Tempo’ which are autorickshaws that run on specific routes called out by drivers. Tempos take around 6 people simultaneously and work out to be most economical and practical.

There are City Buses but they are infrequent.

Polluting vehicles are not allowed near Tāj Mahal, so one needs to take electric Auto’s or Tanga (Tonga) from a few kilometres outside the Tāj Mahal.

GFDL Information With Additions And Revisions

Picture: Amar Singh Gate, one of two entrances into Agra’s Red Fort

In the year 1556, the great Hindu warrior, Hemu Vikramaditya also known as Hem Chander Vikramaditya won Agra as the Prime Minister cum Chief of Army of Adil Shah of the Afghan Sūrī Dynasty. The commander of Humāyūn / Akbar’s forces in Agra was so scared of Hemu that he ran away from the city without a fight. This was Hemu’s 21st continuous win, and he later went on to conquer Delhi, having his coronation at Purānā Qil’a in Delhi and re-established the Hindu Kingdom and the Vikramaditya Dynasty in North India.

The golden age of the city began with the Mughals. It was known then as Akbarabād and remained the capital of the Mughal Empire under the Emperors Akbar, Jahāngīr and Shāh Jahān. Shāh Jahān later shifted his capital to Shāhjahānabād in the year 1649.

Since Akbarabād was one of the most important cities in India under the Mughals, it witnessed a lot of building activity. Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty laid out the first formal Persian garden on the banks of river Yamuna. The garden is called the Arām Bāgh or the Garden of Relaxation. His grandson Akbar raised the towering ramparts of the Great Red Fort, besides making Agra a center for learning, arts, commerce and religion. Akbar also built a new city on the outskirts of Akbarabād called Fatehpūr Sikrī. This city was built in the form of a Mughal military camp in stone.

His son Jahāngīr had a love of gardens and flora and fauna and laid many gardens inside the Red Fort or Lāl Qil’a. Shāh Jahān ,known for his keen interest in architecture, gave Akbarabād its most prized monument, The Tāj Mahal. Built in loving memory of his wife Mumtāz Mahal, the mausoleum was completed in 1653.

Shāh Jahān later shifted the capital to Delhi during his reign, but his son Aurangzeb moved the capital back to Akbarabād, usurping his father and imprisoning him in the Fort there. Akbarabād remained the capital of India during the rule of Aurangzeb until he shifted it to Aurangabad in the Deccan in 1653. After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the city came under the influence of Marathas and Jats and was called Agra, before falling into the hands of the British Raj in 1803.

In 1835 when the Presidency of Agra was established by the British, the city became the seat of government, and just two year later it was the witness to the Agra famine of 1837–38. During the Indian rebellion of 1857 British rule across India was threatened, news of the rebellion had reached Agra on 11 May and on the 30th of May two companies of native infantry, the 44th and 67th regiments, rebelled and marched to Delhi. The next morning native Indian troops in Agra were forced to disarm, on 15 June Gwalior (which lies south of Agra) rebelled. By 3 July the British were forced to withdraw into the fort. Two days later a small British force at Sucheta were defeated and force to withdraw, this lead to a mob sacking the city. However the rebels moved onto Delhi which allowed the British to restore order by the 8th of July. Delhi fell to the British in September, the following month rebels who had fled Delhi along with rebels from Central India marched on Agra - but were defeated. After this British rule was again secured over the city until the independence of India in 1947.

Agra is the birth place of the religion known as Dīn-i Ilāhī, which flourished during the reign of Akbar and also of the Radhaswami Faith, which has around two million followers worldwide. 

GFDL Information With Additions And Revisions

Agra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It finds mention in the epic Mahābhārata where it was called Agrevaṇa  or ‘the border of the forest’. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Rājā Badal Singh (around 1475), whose fort, Badalgarh, stood on or near the site of the present Fort. However, the 11th century Persian poet Mas’ūd Sa’d Salmān writes of a desperate assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by the Shāhī King Jayapala, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. Sultan Sikandar Lodhī was the first to move his capital from Delhi to Agra in the year 1506; he died in 1517 and his son Ibrāhīm Lodhī remained in power there for nine more years, finally being defeated at the Battle of Panipat in 1526.

It achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal emperors from 1526 to 1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Tāj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpūr Sikrī, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Climate: Agra, located on the Indo-Gangetic plain has a continental climate, with long, hot summers from April to September when temperatures can reach as high as 45 °C (113 °F). During summers dry winds (loo) blow in this region. The monsoon months from July to September see about 69 cm (27 inches) of rainfall annually. Winters last from November to February, with day time temperatures comfortably warm, but temperatures below freezing are not uncommon during the night. Agra is also prone to dense fog during the winter months of December & January.

A major tourist destination, Agra is best visited in the months of October, November, February and March, when the average temperatures are between 16-25 °C (60-75 °F). The monsoon season should be avoided by non-Indians due to the risk of disease and flooding, and the months of April to June due to the extreme heat. The months of December and January are to be avoided due to the dense fog and often freezing temperatures, especially since much of the city has no heating system.

Demographics: As of the 2000 Indian census, Agra had a population of 1,800,000. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Agra has an average literacy rate of 65%, higher than the national average of 63.5%; with 76% males literate. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. Hindi is spoken by virtually everyone; English and Urdu are also spoken.

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Early life: He was born on January 2, 1878 to Eswaran Namboothiri of Nilavana Illam and mannathu Parvathy Amma of a respectable Nair family near Changanassery, in North Travancore.

Padmanabhan started his career as a teacher in 1893 in a Government Primary School. After a few years he changed his profession and took up legal practice from 1905 onwards. He started practising law in the Magistrates’ Courts and soon became an established member of the Bar.

NSS: In 1914, he with the help of a few others, established the Nair Service Society, his main ambition was to uplift the Nairs and to regain the lost power of this former ruling sect. From 1915 onwards, he gave up a lucrative practice and became full-time secretary of the Nair Service Society.

In 1924 he took part in the Vaikom and Guruvayoor temple-entry and anti-untouchability agitation. He even opened his family temple for everyone irrespective of any caste distinction. He became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1947 and took part in the Travancore State Congress agitation against Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer’s administration in Travancore.

In 1949 Padmanabhan became a member of the Travancore Legislative Assembly. In 1959 he led a united opposition against the State Communist Ministry. This struggle is called Vimochana Samaram which means liberation struggle. The immediate cause of the outbreak of the Vimochana Samaram was the introduction of an Education Bill by the Minister of Education Joseph Mundassery. The immediate effect of the Vimochana Samaram was the dismissal of the Communist government under E.M.S. on July 31, 1959 and the beginning of President’s rule in the state under Article 356 of the Indian Constitution. One notable feature of the movement was its massive student participation led by the student leaders like A.K. Antony, Oommen Chandy, etc.

Padmanabhan was involved with Nair Service Society as its Secretary for 31 years and as its President for 3 years. He was honoured with the title ‘Bharata Kesari’ from the President of India. He also received Padma Bhushan in 1966. He died on February 25, 1970.

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[Edited with additions from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannathu_Padmanabhan]

Goa, along with West Bengal and Kerala. is the locus of football in the country and is home to many football club in India’s National Football League, including three of the ten Premier Division teams. The state’s football powerhouses include Salgaocar, Dempo, Churchill Brothers, Vasco Sports Club and Sporting Clube de Goa. The state’s main football stadium, Fatroda (or Nehru stadium), is located at Margao and also hosts cricket matches.

A number of Goans have represented India in football, and four of them, namely Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, Bruno Coutinho, Mauricio Afonso, and Roberto Fernandes have all captained the national team at one time or another.

In recent decades, a growing influence of cricket is visible, in large part fuelled by the massive coverage this sport gets on national television, thus making an impact even in a part of South Asia which hardly had any contact with the British Empire. Goa now has its own cricket team. Swapnil Asnodkar played an important role in helping the Rajasthan Royals win the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008 and Shadab Jakati fron Vasco made an immediate impact for the Chennai Superkings in IPL 2009 in South Africa. That said, Dilip Sardesai remains the only Goan till date to play international cricket for India.

Government and Politics: In the Parliament of India, Goa has two seats in the Lok Sabha, one representing each district, and one seat in the Rajya Sabha. Goa’s capital is Panaji, known as Panjim in English and earlier called Pangim in Portuguese times, and known in the local language as Ponnje is the administrative capital of Goa lying on the left bank of the Mandovi near Panaji. Goa’s legislative assembly building is located in Porvorim – the seat of the Goa assembly, which lies across the Mandovi River. The state’s judicial hierarchy relates to Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay, which is the capital of Goa’s neighbouring Maharashtra state), as the state comes under the Bombay High Court.

A bench of the High Court is present in Panaji. Unlike other states, which follow the British Indian model of civil laws framed for individual religions, the Portuguese Uniform Civil Code, based on the Napoleonic code, has been retained by the Goa government. Goa has a unicameral legislature consisting of a forty member Legislative Assembly, headed by a Chief Minister who wields the executive power. The present Chief Minister of Goa is Mr. Digambar Kamat and the Leader of Opposition is Mr. Manohar Parrikar. The ruling government consists of the party or coalition garnering the most seats in the state elections and enjoying the support of a simple majority of the House. The governor is appointed by the President of India.

The governor’s role is largely ceremonial, but plays a crucial role when it comes to deciding who should form the next government or in suspending the legislature as has happened in the recent past. After having stable governance for nearly thirty years up to 1990, Goa is now notorious for its political instability having seen fourteen governments in the span of the fifteen years between 1990 and 2005. In March 2005 the assembly was dissolved by the governor and President’s Rule was declared, which suspended the legislature. A by-election in June 2005 saw the Congress coming back to power after winning three of the five seats that went to polls. The Congress party and the BJP are the two largest parties in the state. In the assembly pole of 2007, Congress-led coalition won and started ruling the state. Other parties include the United Goans Democratic Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.

Media and Communication: Goa is served by almost all television channels available in India. Channels are received through cable in most parts of Goa. In the interior regions, channels are received via satellite dishes. Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster, has two free terrestrial channels on air.

DTH (Direct To Home) TV services are available from Dish TV, Tata Sky & DD Direct Plus. The All India Radio is the only radio channel in the state, broadcasting in both FM and AM bands. Two AM channels are broadcast, the primary channel at 1287 kHz and the Vividh Bharati channel at 1539 kHz. AIR’s FM channel is called FM Rainbow and is broadcast at 105.4 MHz. Private FM radio channels available are Big FM at 92.7 MHz, Radio Mirchi at 98.3 MHz, and Radio Indigo at 91.9 MHz. There is also an educational radio channel, Gyan Vani, run by IGNOU broadcast from Panaji at 107.8 MHz. In 2006, St Xavier’s College, Mapusa, became the first college in the state to launch a campus community radio station ‘Voice of Xavier’s’.

Major cellular service operators include Reliance Infocomm, Tata Indicom, Vodafone (previously Hutch), Bharti Airtel, BSNL and Idea cellular.

Local newspaper publications include the English language The Herald (Goa’s oldest, once a Portuguese language paper known as O Heraldo), the Gomantak Times and the Navhind Times. In addition to these, The Times of India and the Indian Express are also received from Bombay and Bangalore in the urban areas. The Times of India has recently started publication from Goa itself serving the local population news directly from the state capital. Among the list of officially-accredited newspapers are Sunaparant in Konkani(Devanagari script), The Navhind Times, The Herald Times and The Gomantak Times in English; and Gomantak, Tarun Bharat, Navprabha, Goa Times, Sanatan Prabhat, Govadoot (all in Marathi). All are dailies. Other publications in the state include Goa Today (English-language, monthly), Goan Observer (English, weekly), Vavraddeancho Ixtt (Roman-script Konkani, weekly) Goa Messenger, Gulab (Konkani, monthly), Bimb (Devanagiri-script Konkani) .

Education: According to the 2001 census, Goa has a literacy rate of 82% with 89% of males and 76% of females being literate. Each taluka is made up of villages, each having a school run by the government. Due to the low levels of corruption and the quality of the government schools, private schools are less in demand, compared to the rest of the country. All schools come under the state SSC whose syllabus is prescribed by the state Education department. There are also a few schools run by the all-India ICSE board. Most students in Goa complete their high school using English as the medium of instruction. Primary schools, on the other hand are largely run in Konkani and marathi (in private, but government-aided schools). As is the case in most of India, enrollment for vernacular media has seen a fall in numbers in favour of English medium education. As per a report published in the times of India, 84 % of Goan schools run without an administrative head.

After ten years of schooling, students join a Higher Secondary school, which offers courses in popular streams such as Science, Arts, Law and Commerce.A student may also opt for a course in vocational studies. Additionally, many join three year diploma courses. Two years of college is followed by a professional degree. Goa University is the sole university in the state located in Taleigao and all Goan colleges are affiliated to it. There are four engineering colleges and one medical college in the state. The Goa Engineering College and Goa Medical College are run by the state whereas the other three engineering colleges are run by private organisations.

Top schools in Goa are Almeida high school, People’s high school, Manovikas, Mushtifund high school etc.

Top colleges in Goa include G.V.M’s S.N.J.A higher secondary school,D.M’s college,St Xavier’s College, Carmel College, Chowgule College, Dhempe College, Damodar College, MES College, etc.

The private engineering colleges are Shree Rayeshwar Institute of Engineering and Information Technology, Shiroda, and Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Verna. There are also colleges offering pharmacy, architecture and dentistry along with numerous private colleges offering law, arts, commerce and science. There is also two National Oceanographic Science related centres, NCAOR and the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Vasco and Panjim. In 2004, BITS Pilani university started its first Indian satellite, BITS Pilani Goa Campus near Dabolim.

Many residents, however, choose to take up courses in other states as the demand for a course in Goa is more than that available. Goa is also well-known in India for courses in marine engineering, fisheries, hotel management and cuisine. The State also hosts a business school - the Goa Institute of Management which is autonomous and was founded in 1993 by Romuald D’Souza. Portuguese is taught as a part of the school curriculum, often as a third language in some schools. The Goa University also offers Bachelors and Masters degrees in Portuguese.

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[Edited with additions from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa]

People and Culture: The tableau of Goa showcases religious harmony by focusing on the Deepastambha, the Cross, Ghode Modni followed by a chariot. Western royal attire of kings and regional dances being performed depict the unique blend of different religions and cultures of the State. The festival of music and dance Shigmo Mel signifies unity in diversity. Besides Shigmo, festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi (Chavoth-Konkani), Diwali, Christmas, Easter, Samsar Padvo, and the Carnival are also celebrated in by the people of Goa. Goa is also known for its New Year’s celebrations. The Goan Carnival is known to attract a large number of tourists.

Dance and music: Mando and dulpod are traditional goan musical forms. Goan Hindus are very fond of Natak, Bhajan and Kirtan. Many famous Indian Classical singers hail from Goa, such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Kishori Amonkar, Kesarbai Kerkar, Jitendra Abhisheki, Pandit Prabhakar Karekar. Some traditional Goan dance forms are dekhnni, fugdi, and corridinho. It is also the birthplace of Goa Trance.

Theatre: Natak,Tiatr and Zagor are the chief forms of Goa’s traditional performance arts. Other forms are Ranmale, Dashavatari, Kalo, Goulankala, Lalit, Kala and Rathkala. Stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata along with more modern social subjects are narrated with song and dance. The drummers, keyboard artists, and guitarists are part of the show and give the background score.

Margao is the cultural center of drama arts. Famous dramatists include Prince Jacob, Rosefern, Joaquim Jack, Pascoal Rodrigues, Menino de Bandar, Mario Menezes And Mr Rosario Agnelo Dias one of the Most famous Actor Writer Director . At Around 50 new roman scripts are released and 100 Konkani music CDs and DVDs are released on the Goan market every year.

Food: Rice with fish curry (Xit kodi in Konkani) is the staple diet in Goa. Goan cuisine is famous for its rich variety of fish dishes cooked with elaborate recipes. Coconut and coconut oil are widely used in Goan cooking along with chili peppers, spices and vinegar giving the food a unique flavour. Pork dishes such as Vindaloo, Xacuti and Sorpotel are cooked for major occasions among the Goan Catholics. An exotic Goan vegetable stew, known as Khatkhate, is a very popular dish during the celebrations of festivals, Hindu and Christian alike. Khatkhate contains at least five vegetables, fresh coconut, and special Goan spices that add to the aroma. Sannas a variant of idli and Koilori a variant of dosa are native to Goa. A rich egg-based multi-layered sweet dish known as bebinca is a favourite at Christmas. The most popular alcoholic beverage in Goa is feni; Cashew feni is made from the fermentation of the fruit of the cashew tree, while coconut feni is made from the sap of toddy palms.

Architecture: The architecture of Goa is a combination of Indian, Mughal and Portuguese styles. Since the Portuguese ruled for four centuries, many churches and houses bear a striking element of the Portuguese style of architecture. Goa was also under the Mughal rule and thus one finds monuments built in the typical Mughal style complete with the domes. The typical Goan architecture is very simple and easy going and is visible in buildings like modern ones.

By the end of the 18th century, there was a change in the style of the buildings of Goa. Though the Portuguese essence remained, there was an overdose of colors and usage of tiles increased. Blue and red turned out to be favorite colors with many houses being painted in bright blues and the roofs being covered by red tiles. The houses are usually large and have spacious rooms with windows for ventilation. Each house also has a separate room or secluded space for keeping the idol or photographs of their Gods

The height of Goa’s glory was mutually linked with the Portuguese, but the Goan grandeur predated the Portuguese. Chieftains, kings and a host of Indian dynasties had made this little jewel glitter with royal pomp. The Batpuras, the Bhujas, Ashoka, the Mauryas and the Satyavahanas have ruled over Goa. The inscription of around A.D.1000 (when Shashtadeva of the Goa Kadamba dynasty sat on the throne), describes the early splendor of the capital: ‘Gardens on every side. White plastered houses, alleys, horse stables, flower gardens, markets, harlots’ quarters, and tanks.’ In his son’s reign, Goa is reputed to have commanded a powerful fleet and traded with fourteen foreign lands. In essence, it was a coveted land with the most sought after port in India. And as the word spread, this advantage was to become a liability. The friendly harbours that had sent out sparkling blue ripples to the world were to backflow and become the road of conquest and colonization.

On July 4, 1497 when Vasco da Gama set sail from the River Tagus in Lisbon commanding the flagship São Gabriel, no one could have imagined the implications of his voyage. At that time the potentates of the East were wealthier than the financially embarrassed Western kings. Vasco da Gama never actually visited Goa, though now there is a coastal city, Vasco (biggest city of Goa) by his name to commemorate his link with Portugal. It was Afonso de Albuquerque who is credited with sowing the seeds of the Portuguese empire in India, first by destroying, then creating. Little did anyone know that Goa would change face. Now a stranger on the throne was to remould the past, reshape the present and go so far as to influence the future psyche of the people of Goa.

The Portuguese brought to Goa the magnificence of the West and the might of a nation at the height of its imperial power. Their vision was lofty and ambition sky high, but it blazed a short trail like a meteor. An art historian remarked, ‘Portugal was a very small nation of a heroic people. However, at its peak, Goa was one of the wonders of the world, larger than Lisbon and even the London of its time! Some 300,000 people had made it their home. Goa resembled the ‘meeting upon the burse in Antwerpe’ wrote Linschoten, the Dutchman, and it was then that epithets like ‘Rome of Asia’ and ‘Pearl of the Orient’ were coined. ‘Goa Dourada’ or ‘Golden Goa’ sands was not an advertising slogan to beckon tourists, but more precisely the gilt-coated reredos and altars in the churches that displayed layers of the real gold Portugal had discovered in Africa.

Contemporary descriptions do not undertake this glitter. ‘Quem viu Goa escusa de ver Lisboa’, the word went round, ‘Who has seen Goa needn’t see Lisbon.’ In 1606 Goa got Santa Monica, the first nunnery in the East. The imposing Basilica of Bom Jesus impressed Christians and non-Christians alike. Fantastic Italian architecture typically renaissance modelled on architectural details from the churches circled the city’s skyline. There were compulsory orders to paint the mansions annually, after the monsoon had passed.

The regulations insisted that although white may be used for picking out architectural details like quoins and cornices, and window edges and balustrades to contrast with the wall surfaces of yellow-ochre, Indian red or pale green, no buildings but churches might be white all over. In 1839, Caption Marryat in his novel The Phantom Ship de described Goa: ‘The squares behind the palace and the wide streets were filled with living beings: elephants with gorgeous trappings; led or mounted horses with superb housings; palanquins carried by natives in splendid liveries; running footmen; syces; every variety of nation, from the proud Portuguese to the half-covered native; Musselmen, Arabs, Hindoos, Armenians; Officers and soldiers in their uniforms, all crowded and thronged together: all was bustle and motion. Such was the wealth, the splendor and luxury of the proud city of Goa - the Empress of the East.’ 

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[Edited with additions from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa]

Demographics: A native of Goa is called a Goan in English, Goenkar in Konkani, Goês (male) or Goesa (female) in Portuguese, and a Govekar in Marathi. Goa has a population of 1.344 million residents, making it India’s fourth smallest (after Sikkim, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh). The population has a growth rate of 14.9% per decade. There are 363 people for each square kilometre of the land. 49.77% of the population lives in urban areas. The literacy rate of Goa is over 82%. The sex ratio is 960 females to 1000 males. The birth rate is 15.70 per 1,000 people in 2007.

According to the 2001 census out of a total population of 1,343,998. 886,551 were Hindus, 359,568 were Christians, 92,210 were Muslims, 970 were Sikhs, 649 were Buddhists, 820 were Jains and 353 belonged other religious communities. Roman Catholicism reached Goa during the period of European colonisation, which began in 1498 when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived on the Malabar coast. With the establishment of Goa Inquisition in 1560, a large sections of the population became Roman Catholic. These Catholics, popularly known as Goan Catholics, account for the largest Christian community in Goa. A small community of Jews also live in Goa as well. Unlike the Jews of Cochin who trace their lineage to the Babylonian Exile, the Goan Jews originally came from Portugal and were well established in Goa by the 16th century.

Languages: The Goa, Daman and Diu Official Language Act, 1987 makes Konkani in the Devanagari script the sole official language of Goa, but provides that Marathi may also be used for "for all or any of the official purposes". The Government also has a policy of replying in Marathi to correspondence received in Marathi. However, whilst there have been demands for according Marathi and Konkani in Roman script co-equal status in the state, As of October 2008, Konkani remained the sole official language.

The most widely used languages are Konkani, Marathi and English. Konkani is the primary spoken language and official; Marathi and English are used for literary, educational and some official purposes. Other languages in wide use include Hindi, Kannada and Portuguese. Portuguese, the language of the colonial elite, is used by shrinking number of speakers, though a small number still prefer it as the medium for discourse at home, and a few Portuguese books have even been published in recent years.

Tourism: Tourism is generally focused on the coastal areas of Goa, with decreased tourist activity inland. In 2004 there were more than 2 million tourists reported to have visited Goa, 400,000 of which were from abroad.

Goa has two main tourist seasons: winter and summer. In the winter time, tourists from abroad (mainly Europe) come to Goa to enjoy the splendid climate. In the summertime (which, in Goa, is the rainy season), tourists from across India come to spend the holidays.

This tiny state is situated on the west coast of India, between the borders of Maharastra and Karnataka and is better known to the world as the former Portuguese enclave on Indian soil. With the rule of the Portuguese for over 450 years and the consequential influence of the Latin culture, Goa presents a somewhat different picture to the foreign visitor than any other part of the country. The state of Goa is famous for its excellent beaches, churches, and temples. The Bom Jesus cathedral is another famous attraction in Goa. The Fort Aguada too is a major tourist attraction. Recently a Wax Museum on Indian history, culture and heritage has also opened in Old Goa.

Beaches: The one reason to visit Goa is, its beaches. About 125 KM of the coast line is dotted with beaches. These beaches are divided into North Goa and South Goa Beaches. The further north or south you go, the more isolated the beaches get. However, if you’re looking for people, then visit some of the more popular beaches like Baga and Anjuna. These beaches are lined with shacks that provide fresh sea food and drinks. Some shacks arrange special events to attract more customers.

Historic sites and neighbourhoods: Goa has two World Heritage Sites: the Bom Jesus Basilica  and a few designated convents. The Basilica holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier, regarded by many Catholics as the patron saint of Goa (the patron of the Archdiocese of Goa is actually the Blessed Joseph Vaz). Once every twelve years, the body is taken down for veneration and for public viewing. The last such event was conducted in 2004. The Velhas Conquistas regions are also known for its Goa-Portuguese style architecture. There are many forts in Goa such as Tiracol, Chapora, Corjuem, Aguada, Gaspar Dias and Cabo de Rama.

In many parts of Goa, mansions constructed in the Indo-Portuguese style architecture still stand, though in some villages, most of them are in a dilapidated condition. Fontainhas in Panaji has been declared a cultural quarter, showcasing the life, architecture and culture of Goa. Some influences from the Portuguese era are visible in some of Goa’s temples, notably the Mangueshi Temple, although after 1961, many of these were demolished and reconstructed in the indigenous Indian style.

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[Edited with additions from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa]