Goa, July 10 -- One step into any of Goa's centuries-old churches, and you're likely to be drawn instantly to their grand gilded altars, intricately carved pulpits, or glittering chandeliers. But beyond the visual opulence lies a nearly forgotten layer of the state's Christian heritage-gravestones embedded in the church floors, often overlooked, hidden beneath rows of pews or tiled over in the name of renovation.

In earlier centuries, it was customary to bury the dead inside churches, with the positioning of graves closely linked to the social status of the deceased. Church interiors were divided into zones-Class I, II, and III-marking burial privileges, often determined by caste or social hierarchy. The closer one was buried to the alta...