Portuguese Collections in St Kuriakose Elias Chavara Archives and Research Centre, Mannanam

1. História do Descobrimento e Conquista da Índia pelos Portugueses

by Fernão Lopes de Castanheda is the earliest book on Portuguese in India written by a contemporary historian. The author was born in Santarém, Portugal as the son of Lopes de Fernandes de Castanheda who came to India as the first judge of Goa

2. Da Asia

The saga of the Portuguese in the East has been described by the officials of the Portuguese government in the collection called Da Asia at the orders given by the kings of Portugal from the time of Dom Manuel (1495-1522) till 1617. João de Barros was the first historian appointed by the Portuguese Crown. He covered the period up to 1539. His work, after his death, was resumed by Diogo de Couto, who was the archivist in Goa. He was followed by Antonio Bocarro who wrote the 13th decade of the History of India in two parts  covering the period of the viceroyalty of D. Jeronymo de Azevedo from 1612 to 1617. We shall discuss the importance of the work considering its authors.

a) Da Asia written by João de Barros occupies the prime of the place. Barros (1496-1570) acclaimed as the Livy of Portuguese historiography was born in Vizeu, near Coimbra in the north of Portugal

b) Da Asia of Diogo de Couto

St Kuriakose Elias Chavara Archives and Research Centre, Mannanam possesses multiple copies of the decadas of Barros edited by António Baião brought out by the Coimbra University in 1932 and  1974.

c) (13thDecada of the History of India)

Antonio Bocarro,who wrote the 13th Decade in two parts, was the chronicler and archivist of Portuguese India in Goa. King Philip III of Spain or Philip II of Portugal ordered Bocarro to write about what happened in Portuguese India  during the time Hieronymo de Azevedo was the viceroy covering the period from 1612 to 1617.

Documentos Remettidos da India

ou Livros das Monções (1600-1612)

The twelfth decade of Diogo de Couto posthumously published takes us only to 1600 A.D. The 13th Decade of Antonio Bocarro begins his narration from 1612. The void of 12 years between the period in which Decada of Diogo de Couto ended and 1612 from where Bocarro started his narration as per the orders of the Portuguese King, was proposed to be filled up with details collected from Documents remettidos da India, ou Livros das Monções as decided by the Royal Academy of Sciences, Lisboa (Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa). So at the orders issued by the  government of Portugal 60 manuscript volumes of the collection known as the Books of Monsoon preserved in the Portuguese archives in Goa were shifted to Lisbon. These documents have been published under the title Documents remettidos da India, ou Livros das Monções by the Academy. It is learnt that ten volumes have been brought out by now.

The St Kuriakose Elias Chavara Archives and Research Centre, Mannanam has the second (1884), third (1885) and fourth ((1893) volumes of the series running into more than ten volumes.