Age of Frenzy

It’s 1510. The Portuguese arrive in Goa armed with guns, swords and crucifixes to the agricultural village of Adolshi. As tigers prowl about, cow bones appear in wells, chariot wheels break on festival day, a sense of foreboding fills the Hindus, who have been living there peacefully. The Portuguese king has licenced Jesuits to take over, and staunch white men move about preaching the word of the Son of God. Land is seized, families break. However, Padre Simao Peres is convinced that love and not force will bring about a change of heart. With the Inquisition looming like an axe over everyone’s heads, a saga of choice plays out for the people of the village. Recounting a forgotten history, Mahabaleshwar Sail’s epic novel, Age of Frenzy, documents a turbulent past of religious rifts, caste hierarchies and power shifts which changed the ethos of a significant part of the western coastline of India forever.