Mangalorean Catholics

Mangalorean Catholics (Konkani: Kōdiyālcheñ Kathōlikā) are an ethno-religious community of Latin Christians from the Diocese of Mangalore and the erstwhile South Canara area, by the southwestern coast of present-day Karnataka, India.^[2][3]

Contemporary Mangalorean Catholics descend mainly from the New Christians of Portuguese Goa, who migrated to South Canara between 1560 and 1763, throughout the courses of the Goan Inquisition, the Portuguese–Adil Shahi War & the Mahratta Invasion of Goa and Bombay.^[4] They learned Tulu and Kanarese whilst in Canara, but retained the Konkani language and preserved much of their Konkani way of life, which had undergone Christianisation in Goa. Their 15-year-long captivity at Seringapatam imposed by Tippu Sultan, usurper of the Kingdom of Mysore; brought the flourishing community close to decimation. Following Tippu's defeat and death at the Siege of Seringapatam (1799) by the English East India Company, the Nizam of Hyderabad & other allies; most of them resettled in South Canara during the Company rule in India. A lesser number sailed to the seven islands of Bombay and its adjacent metropolitan area in the northern Konkan region, for higher studies or for superior career prospects.

Although early assertions of a distinct identity date from the migration period, a fully formed Mangalorean Catholic identity emerged only after liberation from captivity, which has been a mix of Mangalorean and Goan cultures. The younger generation of present days at Poona, Bangalore & the Bombay metro area; and the diaspora in Persian Gulf countries and the Anglosphere, can be described as an increasingly anglo-americanised Konkani sub-culture, with lingering Portuguese Christian influence and design.