Canacona taluka
It is bounded on the north by the taluka of Quepem, on the northeast by Sanguem, on the south by the state of Karnataka, and on the west by the Arabian Sea.
When Soonda was invaded and partially occupied by Hyder Ali of Mysore, the heirless Raja ceded the remaining parts to Portugal; and these were incorporated into Goa as the districts of Quepem, Sanguem, and Canacona.
In Goa, generally, locals have mixed feelings though about the impact of tourism on the region, with views increasingly pointing to the environmental degradation and social distortions due to the growth of this sector; however, the discussion remains largely academic, with few people directly involved in the field being influenced by the debates.
Canacona was relatively left untouched by tourism until the early nineties as it was not easily accessible by public transport and the local economy wasn't enterprising enough to cater to tourists.
Palolem is a milder recreation of an east-meets-west Goan beach, with a rich variety of exotic food and accommodation to cater to the international palate.
Attached to the temples of Mashem, Mallikarjun and Zambaulim, rooms are available in Agrashalas ("Dharmashalas" or pilgrim-hostels), primarily for pilgrims.
The beach villages of Palolem and Agonda and the more deserted fort at the Cabo de Rama are developing as tourist destinations.
The Shantadurga temple at Fatorpa, resorted to by both Hindus and Christians, holds its Zatra (i.e., Rath-Yatra or Pilgrimage-festival) on the ninth day of the Hindu month of Margashirish.
Huge crowds from all over Goa make their way to this small remote village in the district of Quepem, some 5 km from Cuncolim.
During the Zatra, a tall, intricate, decorated, three-tiered wooden chariot (rath), into which the idol of the deity is placed, is and drawn by male devotees in a night procession.
The Hindu priests of the Shantadurga temple know many Goan Christian families by name, because they come to the festival yearly and donate money or goods.
American anthropologist Dr Robert S. Newman conducted detailed studies on this place and its phenomenon of syncretism.
[4] The Shantadurga temple was originally in the village of Cuncolim, located in the consuelho[check spelling] of Salsette a few kilometers away, but was relocated across the then 'international boundary' into the Kingdom of Soonda when the Goa government expelled the Hindus and ordered their shrines demolished.
In nearby Quepem, the temple of the Hindu deity Damodar, colloquially called Dam-bab, was relocated from Margao to the village of Zambaulim in what was then the Panchamahal district of the Kingdom of Soonda.
Margao's businessmen have close ties with the deity and often conduct their business invoking it.The Mallikarjun Temple is at Shristhal, some 2.5 km away from Chaudi on the main-road leading to Karwar and is one where devotees head for advice from oracles called the 'kaul'.
Canacona's supposedly aboriginal population, the Kunbis (with Gaonkar or Velip as their surnames) live in areas around Gaondongri, Cotigao, Chapoli (the site for a proposed new dam), Assali, Kulem, Khola and Agonda; the Velips are the priest class drawn from among the Kunbis.
This village's statues of the Hindu deity Betal itself possibly goes back to the seventh century if not earlier, according to "cultural-historian" Phaldessai.
