Nuno Grancho
Resumo: Desde a sua chegada, o ‘olhar’ dos europeus nunca esteve preparado para o ‘encontro’ com o Oriente. A viagem dos europeus pela Índia foi uma apreciação social da experiência científica de perceção da paisagem implantada por estes nos seus territórios coloniais no Oriente. Gyan Prakash argumentou que “ a emergência da ciência como sinal do poder Ocidental no final do século XIX, constituiu o ‘nativo’ como objet o do discurso científico” e ainda “ se a re- apresentação de objetos [...] produziu os sinais de t ornar a ciência ‘nativa’, a ambivalência desse processo não podia deixar de afetar a conceção projet ada do olhar e da resposta do Europeu” . Sendo assim, a representação da paisagem colonial na Índia tornou-se um produto e um resultado da presença colonial Portuguesa (e europeia), onde antes de mais, aconteceu um processo de inquérito e investigação. Essa foi a mais importante e singular peça distintiva entre o pensamento do português (e europeu) e o pensamento ‘ilusório’ do Outro. Como o Outro não teria observado com objetividade, rigor e conhecimentos científicos, o levantamento e o registo da paisagem colonial teve de ser feito pelo português (e europeu).
48
A cidade colonial portuguesa de Diu, está localizada num ‘lugar de fronteira’ na costa ocidental da Índia no atual estado do Guzerate. Nela, ‘zonas de contacto’ transculturais imperiais informaram arquitectura, cidade e paisagem num lugar colonial nunca ‘inteiramente’ colonizado e/ ou evangelizado. Nela, topografias difusas e híbridas misturaram-se numa paisagem colonial contestada e ambígua, ao invés de informada e/ ou esclarecida. Nela, foi exposta uma nova arquitectura, um “ modo de edificar […] destas partes orientais” citando João de Barros, um a nova cidade colonial e uma outra ordem das coisas. Caso contrário, a paisagem, os objetos e as pessoas não teriam sido apaziguados de um modo articulado e claro.
As representações (escritas e desenhadas) da paisagem de Diu fizeram parte da produção de conhecimento que se tornou parte importante no discurso colonial da modernidade do Império Português na Índia (Estado da Índia). Usando os termos narração e representação de forma intercambiável, sugerimos que as representações da paisagem de Diu, foram muito para além da mera função de registo de características peculiares ou fat os interessantes do lugar, isto é, entraram no território da ‘tradução’. Através do estudo duma seleção de documentos pictóricos de paisagem, produzidos durante o final do século XVIII e início do XIX por viajantes franceses, iremos analisar como foi feita a narração da paisagem colonial de Diu pela autoridade colonial portuguesa. Referimo-nos especificamente, às intrincadas interações entre as arquitect uras de Diu, narradas através das suas negociações na cidade colonial, e aos igualmente complexos vínculos entre as arquitecturas de Diu, na construção do assentamento urbano "Português/ católico" contra as arquitecturas de representação ‘Orientalista’ do assentamento urbano Guzerate. Durante o século XIX, os termos de compromisso da representação da paisagem colonial foram diferentes daqueles do século anterior e viriam a mudar ainda mais durante o século seguinte, embora a Índia continuasse a ser o mundo do gosto ‘exótico’ onde novas vidas tiveram lugar.
49
THE ARTIST AS A PRODUCER OF URBAN COLONIAL LANDSCAPE IN DIU
Nuno Grancho
At the outset , Diu’s history was described in pict orial terms as a progression of scenes so that the city could be likened to a stage set where Portuguese history happened with political connotations in the context of Estado da Índia.6 The role of the authors from such representation was to capture, through drawings the story already in progress, and to explicate colonization in terms of political stance, material culture, and natural history. The abstract idea of India found in texts was to be made real by the traveller unveiling the face of the place by revealing Indian corporeality.
There was a pattern, quite predictable in fact, in the choice of the ‘picturesque’ referents that made these representations appealing to the audience. Although the notion of the ‘picturesque’ was tied to the currency of ideas in the empire at that time, the authors gave visuality to a new vocabulary linked to the ideological function of representing empire, and therefore, demanded a special role for architectural and urban representation in colonial exploration. Art made the unseen visible, bringing to light those inhabitants of an ancient land until now jealously kept hidden. Art became an indispensable tool for enabling the Portuguese ‘civilizing mission.’7 The sovereign eye of the Portuguese was, in fact, the sovereignty of discourse. The process of asserting authority over space worked at several levels. But before sovereignty could be claimed, its domains had to be demarcated and well-defined. That is why Portuguese so often previously appealed to the logic of novel encounter and to the inherent difference between Portuguese and the Gujaratis to structure their narratives about Diu. To justify one’s claim and expertise, the city’s colonial space had to be intellectually and materially ‘invented,’8 i.e., seen through
6 The Rot eiro de Goa a Diu, aut hored by João de Cast ro, t ext and drawing, is t he first t ool t o discuss Diu’s early “ European life” .
7 For a similar argument consult W. J. T. M it chell’s “ Imperial Landscape,” and David Bunn’s, “ ‘Our Wat t led Cot ’: M ercant ile and Dom est ic Space in
Thomas Pringle’s African Landscapes,” In M it chell, W. J. T. (ed.). Landscape and Pow er. Chicago: Chicago Universit y Press.
8 To see t he cit y as art efact or, t o put it anot her way t o apply mat erial-cult ure met hods t o t he cit y would be t o raise different quest ions about t he
relat ionship bet ween t he object and individual makers. See Upt on, Dell. 1992. “ The Cit y as M at erial Cult ure.” In The Art and M yst ery of Hist orical Archaeology: Essays in Honour of James Deet z, Yent sch, Anne Elizabet h and Beaudry, M ary C., (ed.). Boca Rat on: CRC Press. 51-74; 1991. “ Archit ect ural Hist ory or Landscape Hist ory.” In Journal of Archit ect ural Educat ion 44/ 4: 195-199.
50
Portuguese eyes and organized through Portuguese expertise so that the land was transformed into ‘landscape.’ The authors of maps and drawings struggled to create a safe and familiar sphere in this unknown or unfamiliar land, a vantage of authority from which one could explore and explain the city. The newness of Diu could on occasion even pass as novelty. What irked the Portuguese most was not the unfamiliarity, but the suggestion of certain familiar practices in unexpected places. Although what made the landscape memorable was its pictorial portrayal, the analytic structure set up by language preceded and was seen through the filter of the Portuguese eyes.
The desire to produce a purely visual mastery of Diu was essential and derisory from the Portuguese conceptual, symbolic and rhetoric repertoire. The skill displayed in the large majority of Diu’s portraits scrutinizing Portuguese topography is difficult to conceive, unless they are inserted within the frame of the Portuguese imperial architectural representation. The repetition in visual and textual descriptions of comparable codes of spatial relationships indicates their matching function that served to enhance its suggestion effect. When it became necessary to propose the making and suggest the difficulties of an urban set tlement for the Portuguese and catholic population, the heat, the sounds, and t he smells that assailed vision could be retrieved. Visual framing that attempted to set tle the ‘chaotic’ ‘Gujarat’ urban settlement of the colonial city of Diu and bring it within colonial order, supressed the multi- sensory experience on the environment only provisionally.
The ultimate telos of Portuguese travellers, since they were merchants, accommodated both initial catholic evangelization, work of trade, and knowledge production. To ensure the distinction between the primary objectives and occupations, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries authors of Diu’s images relied on a symbolic and rhetoric repertoire of artistic disinterestedness that aligned them with the eighteenth century proponents of Oriental scholarship. This distinction within a rhetoric of cont inuity sustained an imperial innocence. Eighteenth and nineteenth century authors of drawings and maps were careful to distinguish their Indian adventure from that of earlier sixteenth century European travellers, merchants and adventurers although their primary objective was similar.
The eighteenth and nineteenth century maps and draw ings, particularly surveys on Diu are read in narrowly functional terms, detached from the larger Portuguese imperial context, implying that if a particular representation, as profusely happened with João de Castro (1500-1548)9,
9 First global scient ist , cosmographer and cart ographer. viceroy of Est ado da Índia (1545-1548). In 1538, Cast ro t raveled t o India and part icipat ed in
milit ary effort s including t he first siege of Diu. His most import ant writ ings are: 1529-1536 -“ Trat ado da Esfera ...” : prepared during t he classes by t he mat hemat ician Pedro Nunes, st ruct ured as a t eaching manual in a dialogue bet ween mast er and disciple, alt hough it reveals scient ific archaism s t o Pedro Nunes work (1537); 1536 -“ Da Geografia por modo de diálogo” ; 1538 -“ Rot eiro de Lisboa a Goa” , wit h a t ribut e t o prince Luís and ref erence t o Cosmography; 1538-1539 -“ Rot eiro de Goa a Diu” ; 1541 -“ Rot eiro do M ar Verm elho” , or “ Rot eiro de Goa a Suez ou do M ar
51
Gaspar Correa (1495-1563)10 and João de Barros (1496-1570)11 during the sixteenth century was not explicitly related to any political agenda it was faithful in its correspondence to reality and unaffected by political aims. The tropes of spoil, sacrilege and suppression were recoded with the positive eighteenth European Enlightenment values. Through these depictions, Diu as a
Roxo” . Archit ect ure would always be one of Cast ro's concerns (he even writ es about Indian art , which he compares wit h Ant ique art ). His dedicat ion of Rot eiro de Goa a Diu t o prince Luís accurat elly follows t he model from De Archit ect ura preface,9 where he quot es Vit ruvius (from
Book I). In February 28, 1545, Cast ro was appoint ed t hirt eent h governor of India by João III, succeeding t o Sousa and aft er prince Luís proposal. From his governance st ands out t he second siege of Diu milit ary vict ory in 1546.9 During November and short ly aft er t he siege of Diu, he began
t he const ruct ion of t he cit adel. Thus, he undert ook in 1547 t he more “ robust and modern fort ress built in India so far” and a mast erpiece of milit ary Renaissance archit ect ure out side Europe. M oreira, Rafael. 2007. “ Arquit ect ura: Renascim ent o e Classicismo.” In Pereira, Paulo (dir.), Hist ória da Arte Port uguesa. Lisbon: Círculo de Leit ores. vol. II, 55; Garcia, José M anuel. 1995. “ D. João de Cast ro: Um hom em de guerra e ciência” . Tapeçarias de D. João de Cast ro. exhibit ion cat alogue. Lisbon: Port uguese M useums Inst it ut e. 13 and aft er.
10 Hist orian, chronicler and Lendas da Índia aut hor. He wished t o “ writ e and rem em ber t he mat t ers of India” [Correa, Gaspar (1495-1561). 1975. Lendas
da Índia. Almeida, Lopes (int . and rev.), Port o: Lello & Irmão, “ Prologue” , Vol. I, 1]; “ Illust rat e [...] t he Port uguese deeds look more miraculous [...] brief mem ories” [Correa, Gaspar (1495-1561). 1975. Lendas da Índia. Almeida, Lopes (int . and rev.), Port o: Lello & Irmão, Vol. I, 2]; “ writ e a chronicle about t he discovery of India, as miraculous [...] I made t his brief summary of Lendas” [Correa, Gaspar (1495-1561). 1975. Lendas da Índia. Almeida, Lopes (int . and rev.), Port o: Lello & Irmão, Vol. III, part I, 7]. M aint ained a neut ral posit ion dealing wit h polit ical ideas of t he monarchs,M anuel and João III. In 1512, Correa em barked t o India. He great ly admired Albuquerque: “ As t he Governor was curious about t hings, he asked Dom Gracia t o order what he would t ake t o t he arrayal [part y] and went t o see how t he ships were being repaired” [Bell, Aubrey. 1924. Gaspar Corrêa, “ Hispanic Port uguese Series.” Oxford Universit y Press: Humphrey M ilford. V, 307]; “ t he Governor ordered t hat [João de la Camara, condest abre mor [officer] from India, ent it led by viceroy D. Francisco d'Almeida would break t hat shot from t he M oors.” [Bell, Aubrey. 1924. Gaspar Corrêa, “ Hispanic Port uguese Series.” Oxford Universit y Press: Hum phrey M ilford. V,308]. Correa was convict t hat M anuel I was t he most prosperous monarch of all Christ endom [Correa, Gaspar (1495-1561). 1975. Lendas da Índia. Almeida, Lopes (int . and rev.), Port o: Lello & Irmão . Vol. I, 526] and t herefore wrot e Chronicle of D. M anuel, t he king's “ polit ical t est ament ” . The drawings in Lendas relat e t o “ t wo hist oric apparat us galleries [which] D. João de Cast ro ordered [...] t o Gaspar Correa.” José M anuel Garcia st at es t hat Lendas was “ […] sequent ial t o t he vict ory in t he second siege of Diu and […] similar […] t o ot her European court s.” Garcia, José M anuel. 2006. A Hist oriografia Port uguesa dos Descobriment os e da Expansão (Séculos XV a XVII): Aut ores, Obras e Especializações M emoriais. Unpublished Ph.D. dissert at ion. Port o: Universit y of Port o. 525]. Similarly t o Lendas, Correa describes Lisbon also from paint ing wit h a ‘naive look’ [There is no dat a about t his paint ing (place, aut hor, owner). Avelar, Ana Paula. 2003. Figurações da Alt eridade na Cronística da Expansão. Lisbon: Universidade Abert a. 70].
In 1522, Correa inspect ioned building works in Coromandel [Bell, Aubrey. 1924. Gaspar Corrêa, “ Hispanic Port uguese Series.” Oxford Universit y Press: Humphrey M ilford. V, 8. He writ es in Lendas in 1518: “ […] Heyt or Rodrigues was ready and Correa was sended t o st art working while t he Governor was checking everyt hing; and behind t he t ower he ordered t o be built a new st rong wall […] and close t o a small house t hat was from apost le Saint Thomas […]. Correa, Gaspar (1495-1561). 1975. Lendas da Índia. Almeida, Lopes (int . and rev.), Port o: Lello & Irmão. Vol. II. 577. In 1547, during Cast ro's vice-royalt y, Correa’s presence is obvious in “ t he Governor recorded past governors and himself and want ed t o be done port rait s wit h legends of each” , since he wrot e: “ he called me due t o my skills drawing and also because I had met all t he previous Governors which rule in t hese places. He ordered port rait s […] what I t ook care wit h a local art ist .” [Correa, Gaspar (1495-1561). 1975. Lendas da Índia. Almeida, Lopes (int . and rev.), Port o: Lello & Irmão. Vol. IV. 596-7]. Correa was appoint ed for t his t ask, because “ he underst ood how t o draw and because he has seen t here all t he governors who had governed in t hese part s” . Correa m ust have died in Goa in 1563.
11 Humanist and hist orian of t he Port uguese presence in t he East . He covered hist orical event s since t he voyage t o India by Vasco da Gama in 1497, up
t o t he Ot t oman and first siege of Diu in 1538. Friend, eulogist and spokesman of João III [Saraiva, Ant ónio José. 1950-1962. Hist ória da Cult ura em Port ugal. Lisbon: Jornal do Fôro. Vol. III. 277-335] and of t he king's imperial ideology.
His most import ant writ t en work was Décadas da Ásia, t he most ambitious syst emat izat ion of t he memory of t he achievem ent s of t he Port uguese in India, becoming, t herefore, a reference encyclopedia for all fields of knowledge from archit ect ure t o ant hropology. The second volumeof Décadas is it s most import ant as it deals wit h founding years of t he Port uguese Empire, from 1505 t o 1515. The t hird part of t he Fourt h Década, print ed aft er Barros’ deat h (1615), cont ains informat ion about Nuno da Cunha (1487-1539), sevent h governor of Port uguese India from 1529 t o 1538. [About Barros life and work, see int er alia: “ Vida de João de Barros” included in Faria, M anuel Severim de (c. 1583-1655). (1624). 1999. Discursos vários polít icos. Vieira, M aria Leonor Soares Albergaria (int ro.). Lisbon: Port uguese Nat ional Press.; Barros, João de, (1496-1570). 1973-1975. Da Ásia. Lisbon: Livraria Sam Carlos. Vol. IX; Baião, Ant ónio. 1917. “ Docum ent os inédit os sobre João de Barros, sobre o escrit or seu hom ónim o cont emporâneo, sobre a família do hist oriador e sobre os cont inuadores das suas ‘Décadas’.” In Bullet in of t he Sciences Academy of Lisbon. vol. XL. 202-355.; Andrade, Ant ónio Albert o Banha de. 1980. João de Barros. Hist oriador do Pensament o. Humanist a Port uguês de Quinhent os. col. Subsídios para a Hist ória Port uguesa, 17. Lisbon: Port uguese Academ y of Hist ory; Boxer, Charles R. 1981. João de Barros: Port uguese Humanist and Hist orian of Asia. Xavier Cent re of Hist orical Research Series, 1. New Delhi: Concept Publishing; Coelho, Ant ónio Borges. 1992. Tudo é M ercadoria: sobre o Percurso e a Obra de João de Barros. Lisbon: Caminho; 1997. João de Barros: Vida e Obra. Lisbon: Working group from t he M inist ry of Educat ion for t he Com mem orat ion of Port uguese Discoveries; Buescu, Ana Isabel. 1996. “ João de Barros: Humanismo, mercância e celebração imperial.” In Ferreira, Ant ónio M ega (dir.), João de Barros e o Cosmopolit ismo do Renasciment o. Oceanos 27. Lisbon: Nat ional Com mision for t he Com mem orat ions of t he Port uguese Discoveries (CNCDP). 10-26; Earle, T. F. 1996. “ A linguagem pict órica de João de Barros nas Décadas da Ásia.” In Ferreira, Ant ónio M ega (dir.), João de Barros e o Cosmopolit ismo do Renasciment o. Oceanos 27. Lisbon: Nat ional Com mision for t he Comm em orat ions of t he Port uguese Discoveries (CNCDP). 68-74; Ramalho, A. da Cost a. “ João de Barros, Humanist a.” In Ferreira, Ant ónio M ega (dir.), João de Barros e o Cosmopolit ismo do Renasciment o. Oceanos 27. Lisbon: Nat ional Commission for t he Com mem orat ions of t he Port uguese Discoveries (CNCDP). 84-91. Unlike coet aneous hist orians, Barros never left Port ugal. A ‘sedent ary’ hist orian [Lapa, M anuel Rodrigues. 1972. “ Prefácio” , Hist oriadores Quinhent ist as, Lisbon: Seara Nova. XV], Barros had held t he posit ions of t reasurer of what was t hen known as Casa da Índia (India House) in Lisbon bet ween 1525 and 1529, and Deput y Direct or bet ween 1533 and 1567. He had access t o t he records and report s pert aining t o t he Orient . These sources included report s, royal inst ruct ions, messages t o and by t he viceroys in India, original judicial summons and verdict s. M oreover, he succeeded in collect ing books, maps and manuscript s from all part s of Asia as t hey reached Lisbon during his t enure.
Barros was raised and educat ed in t he court residences, a place of exchange in lat e M edieval and early M odern Europe, and probably read Classical books. He also knew Christ ian aut hors of t he East like M arco Polo, t he chronicles of t he sult ans of Gujarat , Horm uz, Kilwa and Vijayanagar, and refers t o Lorigh or Tarigh, a summary from t he kings of Persia, “ w hich we have in Persian language” [Barros, João de (1496-1570). 1973-75. Da Ásia. Lisbon: Livraria Sam Carlos. Decade I, bk. I, chap. I]. Finally, he makes use of a Chinese cosmography book in his Geography “ which was brought t o us from t here and int erpret ed by a local.” [Barros, João de, (1496-1570). 1973-1975. Da Ásia. Lisbon: Livraria Sam Carlos. Decade I, bk. IX, chap. I, II and III. Also decade I, bk. III, chap. III e XII; decade I, bk. VIII, chap. VI, decade II, bk. II, chap. II; bk. IV, chap. IV; bk. V, chap. I; bk. VIII, chap. I; bk. X, chap. VII; decade III, bk. I, chap. I; Faria, M anuel Severim de, ca. 1583-1655 (1624). 1999. Discursos vários polít icos; Vieira, M aria and Albergaria, Leonor Soares, (int ro.). Lisbon: Port uguese Nat ional Press. fls. 39-41 v. He also employed clerks who were direct ly under t he king of Port ugal, and being ‘nat ive speakers,’ helped wit h t he t ranslat ion of docum ent s int o Port uguese.
52
compelled space was firmly grafted in the imaginary of the Portuguese empire. The visual and rhetorical drawing devices, motifs, clichés or codes that were consistently used in these architectural and urban representations of the colonial city, such as gloominess, illness and uninhabited nature, made a lasting impression on Portuguese and Gujaratis alike. The drawings of Diu depended on written accounts t o create the w orld of meaning that enlivened the mild drawings.
‘Pure’ visualisation was scarce to create the needed redundancy for that colonial discourse to become often encountered or experienced. What was important in portraying the scenes truthfully was the aptitude to evaluate the significance of the elements that were to be inserted in the field, so they could be assigned suitable roles and adequate meaning and consequence. Connotation was to be imparted through the act of organizing, by the creation of a visual field in which predictable roles of subjection and authority were taken. And that was only possible if one had previous knowledge of what one was supposed to be seeing.
In the later part of the nineteenth century, these devices of empire were magnified by