The year is 1973, and a young first-year theology student from Goa is assigned room number 65 at the Papal Seminary in Pune. There he sees a mysterious object: a pearl-white statuette of an elegant lady, wearing an Indian crown, standing on a lotus, draped in a saree. She appeared to be a Hindu goddess, but for the halo behind her head, and under her feet a crescent moon. This stunning image was the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, with the rising sun behind her crowned head and crescent moon at her feet. This "Nirmala Mata", with her humble vernacular name, represents how Indian Christians were very much part of the transformation of Indian art in the twentieth century. Let's dive in, in Konkani.