There's a centuries-old legend from Sanvordekar Wada in Sanvordem that lives and breathes in the stories shared by its occupiers. Goa-based heritage activist Heta Pandit, who has had the rare opportunity of visiting the wada, tells us that it’s a unique structure, with five inter-connected homes around a main courtyard, and another for women called the bailancho aangan. “The village was named after the family, not the other way round. They were wealthy with huge plantations,” she says. “Legend is that dacoits once arrived on horseback, fully-armed at the front door of the wada. But suddenly they stopped, because they saw a lady, sitting on the second step. It was late into the night, and normally a woman wouldn’t be seated there at that hour. She was dressed beautifully in a nine-yard saree, decked in gold, her hair left open, and a big red bindi on her forehead. They knew right then that it was Goddess Shree Shantadurga, and so they quietly left,” says Pandit. Ever since, nobody has set foot on that second step.

Trikaya, Bennita, Feni, Ganesh and Trusha on the front steps of the restored Neemrana Arco Iris, Curtorim