Curdi

The village is located in Sanguem taluka, and is accessible by bike via the Curchorem-Ponda road. It is located approximately {{convert|5|km|mi}} from Salaulim Dam's catchment area and has become a tourist destination when it resurfaces from under the water in May.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/tourists-throng-goas-curdi-village-that-remains-submerged-for-11-months-in-a-year/article27956345.ece|title=Tourists throng Goa's Curdi village that remains submerged for 11 months in a year|date=16 June 2019|work=The Hindu|access-date=17 June 2019|agency=PTI|issn=0971-751X}}

File:Curdi village, before being abandoned due to Selaulim Dam, Early 1920s.jpg

Kurdi was a prosperous agricultural village with a population of approximately 3,000. It had a main Hindu temple, smaller temples, a Christian chapel, and a Muslim shrine.

In the 1960s, Dayanand Bandodkar, the then Chief Minister of Goa, decided to build the Salaulim dam to supply water to a large part of the state. Understanding that the villages of Curdi and Kurpem would be submerged by the reservoir, he offered the villagers rehabilitation in the nearby villages of Valkinim and Vaddem. The families were compensated with {{convert|10000|sqm|sqft|comma=}} of agricultural land by the government. With all plans in place, the people of Curdi began moving out by 1971, making way for the construction of the dam by 1975.{{Cite web|url=http://www.navhindtimes.in/a-tale-of-two-submerged-villages/|title=A tale of two submerged villages|work=The Navhind Times|date=19 May 2016|last=Naik|first=Sachi|access-date=16 May 2019}}

The reservoir submergence involved 20 villages which were partially or fully submerged. 3000 people (over 450 families) were displaced and resettled.{{cite book|author=B.R. Sinha|title=Encyclopedia of Professional Education Volume 7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mdjGoXN3y1AC&pg=PA268|year=2003|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=978-81-7625-410-6|page=268}} The {{Convert|2.5|m}} tall figure of Mother Goddess (dated to 5th century BC), a 16 tonne image, in the village was relocated to Verna.{{cite book|author1=Robert Bradnock|author2=Roma Bradnock|title=Footprint Goa Handbook: The Travel Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWAnvOJD1qwC&pg=PA171|date=May 2002|publisher=Footprint Travel Guides|isbn=978-1-903471-22-7|page=171}} Another temple (dedicated to Mahadev), archaeologically dated to the 10th–11th century of the Kadamba period, at Curdi, Angod, was also relocated to a site {{Convert|17|km}} away. The relocation was done by dismantling of the original temple and then reassembling it at the new location after methodically numbering each stone, over a period of 11 years.{{Cite web|url=http://www.exoticgoa.co.in/mahadeva-temple-Kurdi-angod-goa.php|title=The Mahadeva Temple, Kurdi – Goa|accessdate=8 February 2011|publisher=Exoticgoa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129084954/http://www.exoticgoa.co.in/mahadeva-temple-Kurdi-angod-goa.php|archive-date=29 January 2011|url-status=dead}}

The village also has a {{Convert|10|km}} long irrigation canal that was cut through laterite stone and is more than {{Convert|10|m}} deep at most parts and winds its way through the religious structures. The canal's water was diverted by bunding it annually, until a man named Bosle built the permanent Bosle bund 150 years ago.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Review/Curdi-amcho-ganv-An-emotional-return-to-their-true-home/146985.html|title=Curdi amcho ganv An emotional return to their true home|first=Abel|last=Barretto|date=2 June 2019|website=oHeraldo|access-date=17 June 2019}}

Devabhag, Stristal, Karemal, Unan, Akrimal, Dhapode, Talsai and Kaman, among others, were the various smaller colonies of the village. Of these, Talsai and about half of Kurpem were not submerged by the reservoir.

In 2017, the remains of a temple dedicated to Ganesha were discovered about {{Convert|500|m}} away from the Shree Someshwar Temple. The temple's existence was not known as it was covered with thick vegetation before the submergence of the village.{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/submerged-for-a-century-a-lost-temple-rises-in-kurdi/articleshow/58618171.cms|title=Submerged for a century, a lost temple rises in Kurdi |date=11 May 2017|first=Govind |last=Kamat Maad |website=The Times of India|access-date=17 May 2019}}

In the initial days of relocation, the original inhabitants of Curdi village had to survive in rehabilitation homes provided by the government in the town of Vaddem. To date, they face problems with drinking water, irrigation, healthcare, employment, network coverage and electricity. This is partly due to the fact that the village does not receive water from the Salaulim Dam project.{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/displaced-by-selaulim-dam-locals-thirst-for-water/articleshow/63141403.cms|title=Displaced by Selaulim dam, locals thirst for water |date=3 March 2018|first=Johnny |last=M. |website=The Times of India|access-date=17 May 2019}}

When parts of the submerged village appear above the water level during May, the original inhabitants go back with their families to picnic at the various standing structures of the village. They celebrate the feast of a chapel, which lies just above the water line on a hillock.{{Cite web|url=https://goastreets.com/curdi-a-goan-atlantis/|title=Curdi – A Goan Atlantis|last=Lourenco|first=Jose|date=2 May 2013|website=GoaStreets.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515121023/https://goastreets.com/curdi-a-goan-atlantis/|archive-date=15 May 2019|url-status=dead|access-date=15 May 2019}} The original villagers also celebrate the utsava of the Someshwar Temple in this village.{{Cite web|url=http://www.goa365.tv/general/E/curdi-villagers-reunite-at-their-submerge-village…/00480.html|title=Curdi villagers reunite, at their submerge village…|date=29 May 2017|website=Goa365|access-date=15 May 2019}} A Muslim shrine is also present here.

In 2016, young filmmaker Saumyananda Sahi chose to make a documentary about the village, after reading the thesis on the village written by Venisha Fernandes, whose family originally hails from the village. Fernandes chose her ancestral village as the subject for her dissertation as part of her Masters in Sociology at Goa University. Titled Remembering Kurdi, it is produced by the Films Division of India and has interviews of the original inhabitants interspersed with the scenery of the village when it is above the water level in May.{{Cite web|url=https://scroll.in/reel/817405/houses-fields-and-a-way-of-life-lost-forever-come-alive-in-a-documentary-on-a-goan-ghost-town|title=Houses, fields and a way of life lost forever come alive in a documentary on a Goan ghost town|last=D'souza|first=Nupur|website=Scroll.in|date=25 September 2016|access-date=16 May 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/A-river-through-reality/article15472409.ece|title=A river through reality|last=Nathan|first=Archana|date=6 October 2016|work=The Hindu|access-date=16 May 2019|issn=0971-751X}} It also has excerpts from a film shot at the village in 1977 by Vinay Dhumale, titled Gana Tapaswini. It features the Someshwar temple, the house of Mogubai Kurdikar, and village plantations. Sahi also organised a screening of the film for the original inhabitants living at Vaddem.{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Once-upon-a-time-a-village/articleshow/53790906.cms|title=Once upon a time, a village |date=24 August 2016|first=Lisa |last=Monteiro|website=The Times of India|access-date=16 May 2019}}

• Mogubai Kurdikar
• Kishori Amonkar

File:Island in the Salaulim reservoir , Goa.jpg|Someshwar Temple seen submerged

File:Someshwar Temple, Curdi.jpg|Someshwar Temple as seen today

File:Someshwar Temple, Curdi, from 1984.jpg|Someshwar Temple as seen in 1984

File:Never Ending Journey.jpg|Path to the Someshwar Temple seen in summer

File:Mahadev Temple at Kurdi, Goa (Front View).jpg|Mahadev Temple at Kurdi. The temple was translocated brick by brick when the locals learned that the village would be submerged.

File:Curdi, a village in Goa which was submerged by the (Salaulim) dam, resurfaces in summer when the dam waters are low.jpg|Remains of a structure

• Salaulim Dam

{{reflist}}

• {{commons category-inline|Curdi}}
• {{Vimeo|170348198|Remembering Kurdi - Official Trailer}}
• {{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/under-water-for-11-months-a-year-goa-village-questions-sacrifice-for-dam/articleshow/69794562.cms|title=Under water for 11 months a year, Goa village questions 'sacrifice' for dam|website=The Times of India|last=Maad|first=Govind|date=15 June 2019}}

Category:Villages in South Goa district

Category:Submerged places