Are you mentioning the ruling elite of Calicut in Gama’s first voyage?
I recall that in the first voyage many Indians went to the Portuguese ships to sell fish and other merchandise. And that some Indians returned to Portugal with the Portuguese, if they were Hindus or Muslims, I don’t know.
One thing is curious is that the Portuguese often mentioned the Hindus as “gentiles”, and often on the first accounts they had difficulty to differentiate the Indians (even thought in the beginning that they were Christians).
A side note, I recall an interview of the Indian historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam (a biographer of Vasco da Gama) when he stated something that at the time somewhat surprised me: “...Hinduism is a recent invention, as religion did not exist 400 or 500 years ago. What existed in India was a series of small religions, and it was only during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that Hinduism was invented, a kind of agglomeration of the whole religion.” (translation by Google)
The quote is from the interview that is partially online: ″Até ao século XX, Vasco da Gama não representava grande coisa para os indianos″ (sorry it is in Portuguese).
I recall that in the first voyage many Indians went to the Portuguese ships to sell fish and other merchandise. And that some Indians returned to Portugal with the Portuguese, if they were Hindus or Muslims, I don’t know.
One thing is curious is that the Portuguese often mentioned the Hindus as “gentiles”, and often on the first accounts they had difficulty to differentiate the Indians (even thought in the beginning that they were Christians).
A side note, I recall an interview of the Indian historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam (a biographer of Vasco da Gama) when he stated something that at the time somewhat surprised me: “...Hinduism is a recent invention, as religion did not exist 400 or 500 years ago. What existed in India was a series of small religions, and it was only during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that Hinduism was invented, a kind of agglomeration of the whole religion.” (translation by Google)
The quote is from the interview that is partially online: ″Até ao século XX, Vasco da Gama não representava grande coisa para os indianos″ (sorry it is in Portuguese).
Although, coining a single term for it such as Hinduism can be justified, as in one can't really find fault in that idea
Indian traditional faith followers are usually able to visit any corner of the country without feeling any sense of discomfort on the faith front. You may be from the northern parts and be present in Rajahmundry or even Cochin, you would have no difficulty finding a temple to suit your religious inclinations
Since this sort of a unity exists even though the country and deities are at times diverse, it suits the definition of a single faith even though that definition is not strictly required
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Tulius