The Goa Inquisition () was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in Portuguese India. Its objective was to enforce Catholic Orthodoxy and allegiance to the Apostolic See of Rome (Pontifex). The inquisition primarily focused on the New Christians accused of secretly practicing their former religions, and Old Christians accused of involvement in the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774 to 1778, continued thereafter until it was finally abolished in 1812. Forced conversions led to crypto-Hinduism (practising Hinduism in secret while posing to be Christians); those accused of it were imprisoned and depending on the criminal charge, could even be sentenced to death if convicted. The Inquisitors also seized and burnt any books written in Sanskrit, Dutch, English, or Konkani, on the suspicions that they contained deviationist or Protestant material. The aims of the Portuguese Empire in Asia were combating Islam, spreading Christianity, and trading spices. The Portuguese were guided by missionary fervour and intolerance. Examples of this include the Madura Mission of Roberto de Nobili (nicknamed the White Brahman), as well as the Jesuit mission to the court of the Moghul emperor Akbar, with which the Inquisition enforced the subjection of the Syrian Church to the Roman Church at the Synod of Diamper in 1599. Between the Inquisition's beginning in 1561 and its temporary abolition in 1774, around 16,000 persons were charged. Most of the Goa Inquisition's records were burned by the Portuguese when the Inquisition was abolished in 1812. It is therefore impossible to know the exact number of those put on trial and the punishments that they were given. The few records that have survived suggest that at least 57 were executed for religious crimes, and another 64 were burned in effigy because they had already died in jail before sentencing. It is estimated that by the end of the 17th century, the Christianisation of Goa meant that there were less than 20,000 people who were non-Christians out of the total Goan population of 250,000. From the 1590s onwards, the Goan Inquisition was the most intense, as practices like offerings to local deities were perceived as witchcraft. This became the central focus of the Inquisition in the East in the 17th century. In Goa, the Inquisition also prosecuted violators observing Hindu or Muslim rituals or festivals, and persons who interfered with Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to Catholicism. The