Salcete ( Konkani: ''Saxtti''/''Xaxtti''; pt, Salcette) is a sub-division of the district of South Goa, in the state of Goa, situated by the west coast of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The Sal river and its backwaters dominate the landscape of Salcete. Historically, the sixty-six settlements south of the River Zuari formed the original Salcette territory. Salcete forms a part of the bigger

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

region that stretches along the western shoreline of peninsular India. In erstwhile

Portuguese Goa Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa. T ...

, the Salcette '' concelho'' (county) located in the '' Velhas Conquistas'' (Old Conquests) was co-terminous with the undivided Salcette territory (Salcete and Mormugaõ ''talukas''). In 1917, the ''concelho'' was bifurcated into the present-day ''talukas'' of Mormugao and Salcette. The contemporary Salcete ''taluka'' has been classified as a rurban area. Margao serves as the administrative headquarters of both Salcete ''taluka'' and the South Goa district.

Etymology

"Salcete" is the modern anglicised spelling of the historical lusitanised version ''Salcette''. This word "Salcette" has been derived from the Konkani word ''Saxtti''; ; (

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners A ...

: )—a corruption of the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

word ""; ''ṣaṭa-ṣaṣṭi'' (

: )—meaning "sixty-six". According to the Hindu mythology of the Konkan, the original sixty-six settlements of the Salcette territory were established by sixty-six Saraswat Brahmin clans who had emigrated here from northern India. In Goan Konkani, the natives are referred to as ''Saxtticar'' or ''Xaxtticar''; /; (

: or ). The Salcete Konkani dialect of southern Goa known as "Saxtti" is notably different from the "Antruzi" ( Ponda) and "Bardescari" (

Bardez ''Bardez'' ( kok, Bardes; pt, Bardes; IPA: ) is a ''taluka'' of the North Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. It was a ''concelho'' in the Portuguese State of India before 1961. Etymology The name is credited to the Saraswat Brahmi ...

) dialects of northern Goa.

History

King Viramarmadeva of the Kadamba dynasty issued a copper-plate inscription in 1049 CE concerning a grant of a piece of land called ''Tudukapura'' in ''Kudtarika agrahara'' of ''Chhat sathi desha''. This inscription suggests that ''Chhat sathi'' refers to modern Salcete, known as "''Sāṣṭī''" in the local language.

Salcette territory

Historical Salcette

The original sixty-six settlements of Salcette are as follows:Rodrigues 1990, p. 245

Contemporary Salcete

Salcete taluka comprises nine ''comunidades'': Benaulim, Betalbatim, Colva, Curtorim, Loutolim, Margao, Nuvem, Raia, and Verna. The sub-district consists of two cities, eleven towns, and thirty-five villages as per the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Informatio ...

Notes

Citations

References

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External links

South Goa District : Census 2011 data
{{Goa topics Taluks of Goa Geography of South Goa district