Which customs of Goa’s village communities did Portuguese rulers leave unchanged?

Portuguese colonial administrators, beginning with Afonso de Albuquerque, largely left the existing customs and constitutions of the 30 village communities on the island of Goa unchanged. The only specific practice that the Portuguese rulers abolished was the rite of suttee, which involved the immolation of widows on their husbands' funeral pyres.12

These traditional practices were formally documented in 1526 in a register known as the Foral dos usos e costumes ("Charter of Usages and Customs"), compiled by Alfonso Mexia, which remains a valuable historical record of these communities.1