Part 4 out of 8



for the conquest and destruction of Vijayanagar. The marriages were
celebrated in due course, and the Sultans began their preparations
for the holy war.

"Ali Adil Shaw, preparatory to the war, and to afford himself a
pretence for breaking with his ally, dispatched an ambassador to
Ramraaje, demanding restitution of some districts that had been wrested
from him. As he expected, Ramraaje expelled the ambassador in a very
disgraceful manner from his court; and the united sultans now hastened
the preparations to crush the common enemy of the Islaam faith."

Ibrahim Qutb Shah had also joined the coalition, and the four princes
met on the plains of Bijapur, with their respective armies. Their
march towards the south began on Monday, December 25, A.D. 1564.[322]
Traversing the now dry plains of the Dakhan country, where the cavalry,
numbering many thousands, could graze their horses on the young crops,
the allied armies reached the neighbourhood of the Krishna near the
small fortress and town of Talikota, a name destined to be for ever
celebrated in the annals of South India.[323]

It is situated on the river Don, about sixteen miles above its
junction with the Krishna, and sixty-five miles west of the point
where the present railway between Bombay and Madras crosses the great
river. The country at that time of the year was admirably adapted
for the passage of large bodies of troops, and the season was one of
bright sunny days coupled with cool refreshing breezes.

Here Ali Adil, as lord of that country, entertained his allies in royal
fashion, and they halted for several days, attending to the transport
and commissariat arrangements of the armies, and sending out scouts
to report on the best locality for forcing the passage of the river.

At Vijayanagar there was the utmost confidence. Remembering how often
the Moslems had vainly attempted to injure the great capital, and how
for over two centuries they had never succeeded in penetrating to the
south, the inhabitants pursued their daily avocations with no shadow
of dread or sense of danger; the strings of pack-bullocks laden with
all kinds of merchandise wended their dusty way to and from the several
seaports as if no sword of Damocles was hanging over the doomed city;
Sadasiva, the king, lived his profitless life in inglorious seclusion,
and Rama Raya, king de facto, never for a moment relaxed his attitude
of haughty indifference to the movements of his enemies. "He treated
their ambassadors," says Firishtah, "with scornful language, and
regarded their enmity as of little moment."[324]

Nevertheless he did not neglect common precautions. His first action
was to send his youngest brother, Tirumala, the "Yeltumraj" or
"Eeltumraaje" of Firishtah, to the front with 20,000 horse, 100,000
foot, and 500 elephants, to block the passage of the Krishna at all
points. Next he despatched his second brother, Venkatadri, with another
large army; and finally marched in person towards the point of attack
with the whole power of the Vijayanagar empire. The forces were made
up of large drafts from all the provinces -- Canarese and Telugus
of the frontier, Mysoreans and Malabarese from the west and centre,
mixed with the Tamils from the remoter districts to the south; each
detachment under its own local leaders, and forming part of the levies
of the temporary provincial chieftain appointed by the crown. According
to Couto, they numbered 600,000 foot and 100,000 horse. His adversaries
had about half that number. As to their appearance and armament, we
may turn for information to the description given us by Paes of the
great review of which he was an eye-witness forty-five years earlier
at Vijayanagar,[325] remembering always that the splendid troops
between whose lines he then passed in the king's procession were
probably the ELITE of the army, and that the common soldiers were
clad in the lightest of working clothes, many perhaps with hardly
any clothes at all, and armed only with spear or dagger.[326]

The allies had perhaps halted too long. At any rate, their scouts
returned to their sovereigns with the news that all the passages of the
river were defended, and that their only course was to force the ford
immediately in their front. This was in possession of the Hindus, who
had fortified the banks on the south side, had thrown up earthworks,
and had stationed a number of cannon to dispute the crossing.

The defenders of the ford anxiously awaited intelligence of their
enemy's movements, and learning that he had struck his camp and marched
along the course of the river, they quitted their post and followed,
keeping always to the south bank in readiness to repel any attempt to
cross directly in their front. This manoeuvre, a ruse on the part of
the Mussulmans, was repeated on three successive days. On the third
night the Sultans hastily left their camp, returned to the ford,
and, finding it deserted, crossed with a large force. This movement
covered the transit of the whole of their army, and enabled them to
march southwards to the attack of Rama Raya's main body.

Rama Raya, though surprised, was not alarmed, and took all possible
measures for defence. In the morning the enemy was within ten miles
of his camp, and Venkatadri and Tirumala succeeded in effecting a
junction with their brother.

On the following day, Tuesday, January 23; 1565,[327] both sides
having made their dispositions, a pitched battle took place[328] in
which all the available forces of both sides were engaged. In one of
his descriptions Firishtah estimates the Vijayanagar army alone as
amounting to 900,000 infantry, 45,000 cavalry, and 2000 elephants,
besides 15,000 auxiliaries; but he himself varies so greatly in the
numbers he gives in different parts of his narrative that there is no
necessity to accept these figures as accurate. There can be little
doubt, however, that the numbers were very large. The Hindu left,
on the west, was entrusted to the command of Tirumala; Rama Raya in
person was in the centre, and the right was composed of the troops
of Venkatadri. Opposed to Tirumala were the forces of Bijapur under
their Sultan Ali Adil; the Mussalman centre was under the command of
Hussain Nizam Shah; and the left of the allied army, in Venkatadri's
front, consisted of the forces brought from Ahmadabad and Golkonda by
the two Sultans, Ali Barid and Ibrahim Qutb. The allied forces drew
up in a long line with their artillery in the centre, and awaited
the enemy's attack, each division with the standards of the twelve
Imams waving in the van. The Nizam Shah's front was covered by six
hundred pieces of ordnance disposed in three lines, in the first of
which were heavy guns, then the smaller ones, with light swivel guns
in the rear. In order to mask this disposition two thousand foreign
archers were thrown out in front, who kept up a heavy discharge as the
enemy's line came on. The archers fell back as the Hindus of Rama's
division approached, and the batteries opened with such murderous
effect that the assailants retreated in confusion and with great loss.

Rama Rajah was now a very old man -- Couto says "he was ninety-six
years old, but as brave as a man of thirty" -- and, against the
entreaties of his officers, he preferred to superintend operations from
a litter rather than remain for a long time mounted -- a dangerous
proceeding, since in case of a reverse a rapid retreat was rendered
impossible. But he could not be induced to change his mind, remarking
that in spite of their brave show the enemy were children and would
soon be put to flight. So confident was he of victory that it is
said he had ordered his men to bring him the head of Hussain Nizam,
but to capture the Adil Shah and Ibrahim of Golkonda alive, that he
might keep them the rest of their lives in iron cages.

The battle becoming more general, the Hindus opened a desolating fire
from a number of field-pieces and rocket-batteries. The left and right
of the Muhammadan line were pressed back after destructive hand-to-hand
fighting, many falling on both sides. At this juncture Rama Raya,
thinking to encourage his men, descended from his litter and seated
himself on a "rich throne set with jewels, under a canopy of crimson
velvet, embroidered with gold and adorned with fringes of pearls,"
ordering his treasurer to place heaps of money all round him, so
that he might confer rewards on such of his followers as deserved his
attention. "There were also ornaments of gold and jewels placed for the
same purpose." A second attack by the Hindus on the guns in the centre
seemed likely to complete the overthrow of the whole Muhammadan line,
when the front rank of pieces was fired at close quarters, charged
with bags of copper money; and this proved so destructive that 5000
Hindus were left dead on the field in front of the batteries. This
vigorous policy threw the Hindu centre into confusion, upon which
5000 Muhammadan cavalry charged through the intervals of the guns and
cut their way into the midst of the disorganised masses, towards the
spot where the Raya had taken post. He had again changed his position
and ascended his litter; but hardly had he done so when an elephant
belonging to the Nizam Shah, wild with the excitement of the battle,
dashed forward towards him, and the litter-bearers let fall their
precious burden in terror at the animal's approach. Before he had
time to recover himself and mount a horse, a body of the allies was
upon him, and he was seized and taken prisoner.

This event threw the Hindus into a panic, and they began to give
way. Rama Raya was conducted by the officer who commanded the artillery
of Hussain Nizam to his Sultan, who immediately ordered his captive
to be decapitated, and the head to be elevated on a long spear,
so that it might be visible to the Hindu troops.

On seeing that their chief was dead, the Vijayanagar forces broke
and fled "They were pursued by the allies with such successful
slaughter that the river which ran near the field was dyed red with
their blood. It is computed on the best authorities that above one
hundred thousand infidels were slain in fight and during the pursuit."

The Mussulmans were thus completely victorious, and the Hindus fled
towards the capital; but so great was the confusion that there was not
the slightest attempt made to take up a new and defensive position
amongst the hills surrounding the city, or even to defend the walls
or the approaches. The rout was complete.

"The plunder was so great that every private man in the allied army
became rich in gold, jewels, effects, tents, arms, horses, and slaves,
as the sultans left every person in possession of what he had acquired,
only taking elephants for their own use."

De Couto, describing the death of Rama Raya, states[329] that Hussain
Nizam Shah cut off his enemy's head with his own hand, exclaiming, "Now
I am avenged of thee! Let God do what he will to me!" The Adil Shah,
on the contrary, was greatly distressed at Rama Raya's death.[330]

The story of this terrible disaster travelled apace to the city of
Vijayanagar. The inhabitants, unconscious of danger, were living in
utter ignorance that any serious reverse had taken place; for their
leaders had marched out with countless numbers in their train, and
had been full of confidence as to the result. Suddenly, however, came
the bad news. The army was defeated; the chiefs slain; the troops in
retreat. But still they did not grasp the magnitude of the reverse;
on all previous occasions the enemy had been either driven back,
or bought off with presents from the overstocked treasury of the
kings. There was little fear, therefore, for the city itself. That
surely was safe! But now came the dejected soldiers hurrying back
from the fight, and amongst the foremost the panic-stricken princes
of the royal house. Within a few hours these craven chiefs hastily
left the palace, carrying with them all the treasures on which they
could lay their hands. Five hundred and fifty elephants, laden with
treasure in gold, diamonds, and precious stones valued at more than
a hundred millions sterling, and carrying the state insignia and the
celebrated jewelled throne of the kings, left the city under convoy
of bodies of soldiers who remained true to the crown. King Sadasiva
was carried off by his jailor, Tirumala, now sole regent since the
death of his brothers; and in long line the royal family and their
followers fled southward towards the fortress of Penukonda.

Then a panic seized the city. The truth became at last apparent. This
was not a defeat merely, it was a cataclysm. All hope was gone. The
myriad dwellers in the city were left defenceless. No retreat, no
flight was possible except to a few, for the pack-oxen and carts
had almost all followed the forces to the war, and they had not
returned. Nothing could be done but to bury all treasures, to arm
the younger men, and to wait. Next day the place became a prey to
the robber tribes and jungle people of the neighbourhood. Hordes of
Brinjaris, Lambadis, Kurubas, and the like,[331] pounced down on the
hapless city and looted the stores and shops, carrying off great
quantities of riches. Couto states that there were six concerted
attacks by these people during the day.

The third day[332] saw the beginning of the end. The victorious
Mussulmans had halted on the field of battle for rest and refreshment,
but now they had reached the capital, and from that time forward for
a space of five months Vijayanagar knew no rest. The enemy had come
to destroy, and they carried out their object relentlessly. They
slaughtered the people without mercy, broke down the temples and
palaces; and wreaked such savage vengeance on the abode of the kings,
that, with the exception of a few great stone-built temples and walls,
nothing now remains but a heap of ruins to mark the spot where once
the stately buildings stood. They demolished the statues, and even
succeeded in breaking the limbs of the huge Narasimha monolith. Nothing
seemed to escape them. They broke up the pavilions standing on the
huge platform from which the kings used to watch the festivals, and
overthrew all the carved work. They lit huge fires in the magnificently
decorated buildings forming the temple of Vitthalasvami near the
river, and smashed its exquisite stone sculptures. With fire and
sword, with crowbars and axes, they carried on day after day their
work of destruction. Never perhaps in the history of the world has
such havoc been wrought, and wrought so suddenly, on so splendid a
city; teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full
plenitude of prosperity one day, and on the next seized, pillaged,
and reduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage massacre and horrors
beggaring description.

Caesaro Federici, an Italian traveller -- or "Caesar Frederick," as he
is often called by the English -- visited the place two years later,
in 1567. He relates that, after the sack, when the allied Muhammadans
returned to their own country, Tirumala Raya tried to re-populate
the city, but failed, though some few people were induced to take up
their abode there.

"The Citie of BEZENEGER is not altogether destroyed, yet the houses
stand still, but emptie, and there is dwelling in them nothing,
as is reported, but Tygres and other wild beasts."[333]

The loot must have been enormous. Couto states that amongst other
treasures was found a diamond as large as a hen's egg, which was kept
by the Adil Shah.[334]

Such was the fate of this great and magnificent city. It never
recovered, but remained for ever a scene of desolation and ruin. At
the present day the remains of the larger and more durable structures
rear themselves from amongst the scanty cultivation carried on by
petty farmers, dwellers in tiny villages scattered over the area once
so populous. The mud huts which constituted the dwelling-places of by
far the greater portion of the inhabitants have disappeared, and their
materials overlie the rocky plain and form the support of a scanty and
sparse vegetation. But the old water-channels remain, and by their aid
the hollows and low ground have been converted into rich gardens and
fields, bearing full crops of waving rice and sugar-cane. Vijayanagar
has disappeared as a city, and a congeries of small hamlets with an
industrious and contented population has taken its place.




Here my sketch of Vijayanagar history might well end, but I have
thought it advisable to add a few notes on succeeding events.

Tirumala took up his abode at Penukonda, and shortly afterwards
sent word to the Portuguese traders at Goa that he was in need of
horses. A large number were accordingly delivered, when the despotic
ruler dismissed the men to return to Goa as best they could without
payment. "He licensed the Merchants to depart," writes Federici,
"without giving them anything for their Horses, which when the poore
Men saw, they were desperate, and, as it were, mad with sorrow and
griefe." There was no authority left in the land, and the traveller
had to stay in Vijayanagar seven months, "for it was necessarie to
rest there until the wayes were clear of Theeves, which at that time
ranged up and downe." He had the greatest difficulty in making his
way to Goa at all, for he and his companions were constantly seized
by sets of marauders and made to pay heavy ransom for their liberty,
and on one occasion they were attacked by dacoits and robbed.

Tirumala being now with King Sadasiva in Penukonda, the nobles of the
empire began to throw off their allegiance, and one after another to
proclaim their independence. The country was in a state of anarchy. The
empire, just now so solid and compact, became disintegrated, and from
this time forward it fell rapidly to decay.

To the Portuguese the change was of vital importance. Federici has
left us the following note on their trade with Vijayanagar, which I
extract from "Purchas's Pilgrims:" --

"The Merchandize that went every yeere from Goa to Bezeneger were
Arabian Horses, Velvets, Damaskes, and Sattens, Armesine[335]
of Portugall, and pieces of China, Saffron, and Scarletts; and
from Bezeneger they had in Turkie for their commodities, Jewels and
Pagodas,[336] which be Ducats of Gold; the Apparell that they use in
Bezeneger is Velvet, Satten, Damaske, Scarlet, or white Bumbast cloth,
according to the estate of the person, with long Hats on their heads
called Colae,[337] &c."

Sassetti, who was in India from 1578 to 1588, confirms the others as
to Portuguese loss of trade on the ruin of the city: --

"The traffic was so large that it is impossible to imagine it; the
place was immensely large; and it was inhabited by people rich, not
with richness like ours, but with richness like that of the Crassi
and the others of those old days.... And such merchandise! Diamonds,
rubies, pearls ... and besides all that, the horse trade. That alone
produced a revenue in the city (Goa) of 120 to 150 thousand ducats,
which now reaches only 6 thousand."

Couto tells the same story:[338] --

"By this destruction of the kingdom of Bisnaga, India and our State
were much shaken; for the bulk of the trade undertaken by all was
for this kingdom, to which they carried horses, velvets, satins and
other sorts of merchandize, by which they made great profits; and
the Custom House of Goa suffered much in its Revenue, so that from
that day till now the inhabitants of Goa began to live less well;
for paizes and fine cloths were a trade of great importance for
Persia and Portugal, and it then languished, and the gold pagodas,
of which every year more than 500,000 were laden in the ships of the
kingdom, were then worth 7 1/2 Tangas, and to day are worth 11 1/2,
and similarly every kind of coin."

Sassetti gives another reason, however, for the decay of Portuguese
trade and influence at Goa, which cannot be passed over without
notice. This was the terrible Inquisition. The fathers of the Church
forbade the Hindus under terrible penalties the use of their own sacred
books, and prevented them from all exercise of their religion. They
destroyed their temples and mosques, and so harassed and interfered
with the people that they abandoned the city in large numbers,
refusing to remain any longer in a place where they had no liberty,
and were liable to imprisonment, torture, and death if they worshipped
after their own fashion the gods of their fathers.[339]

About this period, therefore (1567), the political condition of
Southern India may be thus summed up: -- The Muhammadans of the Dakhan
were triumphant though still divided in interest, and their country
was broken up into states each bitterly hostile to the other. The
great empire of the south was sorely stricken, and its capital was
for ever destroyed; the royal family were refugees at Pennakonda;
King Sadasiva was still a prisoner; and Tirumala, the only survivor
of the "three brethren which were tyrants,"[340] was governing the
kingdom as well as he could. The nobles were angry and despondent,
each one seeking to be free; and the Portuguese on the coast were
languishing, with their trade irretrievably injured.

Firishtah summarises the events immediately succeeding the great
battle in the following words: --

"The sultans, a few days after the battle, marched onwards into the
country of Ramraaje as far as Anicondeh,[341] and the advanced troops
penetrated to Beejanuggur, which they plundered, razed the chief
buildings, and committed all manner of excess. When the depredations
of the allies had destroyed all the country round, Venkatadri,[342]
who had escaped from the battle to a distant fortress, sent humble
entreaties of peace to the sultans, to whom he gave up all the places
which his brothers had wrested from them; and the victors being
satisfied, took leave of each other at Roijore (Raichur), and returned
to their several dominions. The raaje of Beejanuggur since this battle
has never recovered its ancient splendour; and the city itself has been
so destroyed that it is now totally in ruins and uninhabited,[343]
while the country has been seized by the zemindars (petty chiefs),
each of whom hath assumed an independent power in his own district."

In 1568 (so it is said) Tirumala murdered his sovereign, Sadasiva,
and seized the throne for himself; but up to that time he seems to
have recognised the unfortunate prince as his liege lord, as we know
from four inscriptions at Vellore bearing a date corresponding to
5th February 1567 A.D.[344]

And thus began the third dynasty, if dynasty it can be appropriately
called.



CHAPTER 16

The Third Dynasty

Genealogy -- The Muhammadan States -- Fall of Bankapur, Kondavid,
Bellamkonda and Vinukonda -- Haidarabad founded -- Adoni under the
Muhammadans -- Subsequent history in brief.

The following is the genealogy of this third family.[345] They came
apparently of the old royal stock, but their exact relationship to
it has never been conclusively settled. The dates appended are the
dates of inscriptions, not necessarily the dates of reigns.



The present Rajah of Anegundi, whose family name is Pampapati, and who
resides on the old family estate as a zamindar under H.H. the Nizam
of Haidarabad, has favoured me with a continuation of the family tree
to the present day.

Ranga VI., or, as he is generally styled, Sri Ranga, is said to have
been the youngest of three brothers, sons of Chinna Venkata III.,
Vira Venkatapati Raya being the eldest. Gopala, a junior member of
the family, succeeded to the throne and adopted Ranga VI., who was
thus a junior member of the eldest branch. The eldest brother of
Ranga VI. was ousted.

I have no means of knowing whether this information is correct,
but the succession of the eldest is given on the following page.

Pampapati Rajah is recognised by his Government as head of the family
for two reasons: first and foremost, because the elder line is extinct
and he was adopted by his sister Kuppamma, wife of Krishna Deva of the
elder line; secondly, because his two elder brothers are said to have
resigned their claims in his favour. The title of the present chief
is "Sri Ranga Deva Raya." Whether or no he has better title than his
nephew, Kumara Raghava, need not here be discussed. The interest to
the readers of this history lies in the fact that these two are the
only surviving male descendants of the ancient royal house.

To revert to the history, which need only be shortly summarised since
we have seen Vijayanagar destroyed and its territories in a state of
political confusion and disturbance.



I omit altogether the alternate political combinations and
dissolutions, the treacheries, quarrels, and fights of the various
Muhammadan states after 1565, as unnecessary for our purpose and
in order to avoid prolixity, summarising only a few matters which
more particularly concern the territories formerly under the great
Hindu Empire.

According to Golkonda accounts, a year after the great battle which
resulted in the destruction of Vijayanagar, a general of the Qutb Shah,
Raffat Khan Lari, ALIAS Malik Naib, marched against Rajahmundry, which
was finally captured from the Hindus in A.D. 1571 -- 72 (A.H. 979).

Shortly after his return to Bijapur (so says Firishtah), Ali Adil
Shah moved again with an army towards Vijayanagar, but retired on the
Ahmadnagar Sultan advancing to oppose him; and not long afterwards he
made an ineffectual attempt to reduce Goa. Retiring from the coast,
he marched to attack Adoni, then under one of the vassal chiefs of
Vijayanagar, who had made himself independent in that tract. The
place was taken, and the Nizam Shah agreed with the king of Bijapur
that he would not interfere with the latter's attempts to annex the
territories south of the Krishna, if he on his part were left free
to conquer Berar.

In 1573, therefore, Ali Adil moved against Dharwar and Bankapur. The
siege of the latter place under its chief, Velappa Naik, now
independent, lasted for a year and six months, when the garrison,
reduced to great straits, surrendered. Firishtah[346] states that
the Adil Shah destroyed a "superb temple" there, and himself laid
the first stone of a mosque which was built on its foundation. More
successes followed in the Konkan. Three years later Bellamkonda was
similarly attacked, and the Raya in terror retired from Penukonda to
Chandragiri. This campaign, however, resulted in failure, apparently
owing to the Shah of Golkonda assisting the Hindus. In 1579 the king
of Golkonda, in breach of his contract, attacked and reduced the
fortresses of Vinukonda and Kondavid as well as Kacharlakota and
Kammam,[347] thus occupying large tracts south of the Krishna.

In 1580 Ali Adil was murdered. Firishtah in his history of the Qutb
Shahs gives the date as Thursday, 23rd Safar, A.H. 987, but the true
day appears to have been Monday, 24th Safar, A.H. 988, corresponding
to Monday, April 11, A.D. 1580. This at least is the date given
by an eye-witness, one Rafi-ud-Din Shirazi, who held an important
position at the court at the time. (The question is discussed by
Major King in the INDIAN ANTIQUARY, vol. xvii. p. 221.) Ibrahim Qutb
Shah of Golkonda also died in 1580 and was succeeded by Muhammad
Quli, his third son, who in 1589 founded the city of Haidarabad,
originally carted Bhagnagar. He carried on successful wars in the
present Kurnool and Cuddapah districts, capturing Kurnool, Nandial,
Dole, and Gandikota, following up these successes by inroads into
the eastern districts of Nellore.

King Tirumala of Vijayanagar was in 1575 followed apparently by his
second son, Ranga II., whose successor was his brother Venkata I.[348]
(1586). The latter reigned for at least twenty-eight years, and
died an old man in 1614. At his death there were widespread revolts,
disturbances, and civil warfare, as we shall presently see from the
account of Barradas given in the next chapter. An important inscription
of his reign, dated in A.D. 1601 -- 2, and recorded on copper-plates,
has been published by Dr. Hultzsch.[349]

In 1593 the Bijapur Sultan, Ibrahim Adil, invaded Mysore, which then
belonged to the Raya, and reduced the place after a three months'
siege. In the same year this Sultan's brother, Ismail, who had been
kept prisoner at Belgaum, rose against his sovereign and declared
himself independent king of the place. He was besieged there by the
royal troops' but owing to treachery in the camp they failed to take
the place, and the territories in the neighbourhood were for some
time a prey to insurrections and disturbances. Eventually they were
reduced to submission and the rebel was killed. Contemporaneously
with these events, the Hindus again tried to obtain possession of
Adoni, but without success;[350] and a war broke out between the
rival kingdoms of Bijapur and Ahmadnagar.

With this period ends abruptly the narrative of Firishtah relating to
the Sultans of Bijapur. The Golkonda history[351] appears to differ
widely from it, but I have not thought it necessary here to compare
the two stories.

The history of the seventeenth century in Southern India is
one of confusion and disturbance. The different governors became
independent. The kings of the decadent empire wasted their wealth and
lost their territories, so that at length they held a mere nominal
sovereignty, and nothing remained but the shadow of the once great
name -- the prestige of family. And yet, even so late as the years
1792 and 1793, I find a loyal Reddi in the south, in recording on
copper-plates some grants of land to temples, declaring that he did so
by permission of "Venkatapati Maharaya of Vijayanagar;"[352] while I
know of eight other grants similarly recognising the old Hindu royal
family, which were engraved in the eighteenth century.[353]

The Ikkeri or Bednur chiefs styled themselves under-lords of
Vijayanagar till 1650.[354] A Vijayanagar viceroy ruled over Mysore
till 1610, after which the descendants of the former viceroys became
Rajahs in their own right. In Madura and Tanjore the Nayakkas became
independent in 1602.

All the Muhammadan dynasties in the Dakhan fell under the power of the
Mogul emperors of Delhi towards the close of the seventeenth century,
and the whole of the south of India soon became practically theirs. But
meanwhile another great power had arisen, and at one time threatened to
conquer all India. This was the sovereignty of the Mahrattas. Sivaji
conquered all the Konkan country by 1673, and four years later he
had overthrown the last shreds of Vijayanagar authority in Kurnool,
Gingi, and Vellore; while his brother Ekoji had already, in 1674,
captured Tanjore, and established a dynasty there which lasted for
a century. But with this exception the Mahrattas established no real
domination in the extreme south.

Mysore remained independent under its line of Hindu kings till the
throne was usurped by Haidar Ali and his son and successor, "Tippoo,"
who together ruled for about forty years. After the latter's defeat
and death at Seringapatam in 1799, the country was restored by the
English to the Hindu line.

The site on which stands Fort St. George at Madras was granted to
Mr. Francis Day, chief factor of the English there, by Sri Ranga Raya
VI. in March 1639, the king being then resident in Chandragiri.

The first English factory at Madras had been established in 1620.



CHAPTER 17

The Story of Barradas (1614)

Chandragiri in 1614 -- Death of King Venkata -- Rebellion of Jaga
Raya and murder of the royal family -- Loyalty of Echama Naik --
The Portuguese independent at San Thome -- Actors in the drama --
The affair at "Paleacate." -- List of successors -- Conclusion.

The following note of occurrences which took place at Chandragiri
in 1614 on the death of King Venkata I. will be found of singular
interest, as it relates to events of which we in England have hitherto,
I think, been in complete ignorance. In consists of an extract from a
letter written at Cochin on December 12, A.D. 1616, by Manuel Barradas,
and recently found by Senhor Lopes amongst a quantity of letters
preserved in the National Archives at Lisbon.[355] He copied it from
the original, and kindly sent it to me. The translation is my own.

"I will now tell you ... about the death of the old King of
Bisnaga, called Vencattapatti Rayalu,[356] and of his selection
as his successor of a nephew by name Chica Rayalu; setting aside
another who was commonly held to be his son, but who in reality was
not so. The true fact was this. The King was married to a daughter
of Jaga Raya by name Bayama, and though she eagerly longed for a
son she had none in spite of the means, legitimate or illegitimate,
that she employed for that purpose. A Brahman woman of the household
of the Queen's father, knowing how strong was the Queen's desire
to have a son, and seeing that God had not granted her one, told
her that she herself was pregnant for a month; and she advised her
to tell the King, and to publish it abroad, that she (the Queen)
had been pregnant for a month, and to feign to be in that state, and
said that after she (the Brahman woman) had been delivered she would
secretly send the child to the palace by some confidant, upon which
the Queen could announce that this boy was her own son. The advice
seemed good to the Queen, and she pretended that she was pregnant,
and no sooner was the Brahman woman delivered of a son than she sent
it to the palace, and the news was spread abroad that Queen Bayama
had brought forth a son. The King, knowing all this, yet for the love
he bore the Queen, and so that the matter should not come to light,
dissembled and made feasts, giving the name 'Chica Raya' to the boy,
which is the name always given to the heir to the throne.[357] Yet he
never treated him as a son, but on the contrary kept him always shut
up in the palace of Chandigri,[358] nor ever allowed him to go out
of it without his especial permission, which indeed he never granted
except when in company of the Queen. Withal, the boy arriving at the
age of fourteen years, he married him to a niece of his, doing him
much honour so as to satisfy Obo Raya, his brother-in-law.[359]

"Three days before his death, the King, leaving aside, as I say, this
putative son, called for his nephew Chica Raya, in presence of several
of the nobles of the kingdom, and extended towards him his right hand
on which was the ring of state, and put it close to him, so that he
should take it and should become his successor in the kingdom. With
this the nephew, bursting into tears, begged the King to give it to
whom he would, and that for himself he did not desire to be king,
and he bent low, weeping at the feet of the old man. The King made
a sign to those around him that they should raise the prince up, and
they did so; and they then placed him on the King's right hand, and
the King extended his own hand so that he might take the ring. But the
prince lifted his hands above his head, as if he already had divined
how much ill fortune the ring would bring him, and begged the King
to pardon him if he wished not to take it. The old man then took the
ring and held it on the point of his finger offering it the second
time to Chica Raya, who by the advice of the captains present took
it, and placed it on his head and then on his finger, shedding many
tears. Then the King sent for his robe, valued at 200,000 cruzados,
the great diamond which was in his ear, which was worth more than
500,000 cruzados, his earrings, valued at more than 200,000, and his
great pearls, which are of the highest price. All these royal insignia
he gave to his nephew Chica Raya as being his successor, and as such
he was at once proclaimed. While some rejoiced, others were displeased.

"Three days later the King died at the age of sixty-seven years. His
body was burned in his own garden with sweet-scented woods, sandal,
aloes, and such like; and immediately afterwards three queens burned
themselves, one of whom was of the same age as the King, and the
other two aged thirty-five years. They showed great courage. They went
forth richly dressed with many jewels and gold ornaments and precious
stones, and arriving at the funeral pyre they divided these, giving
some to their relatives; some to the Brahmans to offer prayers for
them, and throwing some to be scrambled for by the people. Then they
took leave of all, mounted on to a lofty place, and threw themselves
into the middle of the fire, which was very great. Thus they passed
into eternity.

"Then the new King began to rule, compelling some of the captains to
leave the fortress, but keeping others by his side; and all came to him
to offer their allegiance except three. These were Jaga Raya, who has
six hundred thousand cruzados of revenue and puts twenty thousand men
into the field; Tima Naique, who has four hundred thousand cruzados of
revenue and keeps up an army of twelve thousand men; and Maca Raya,
who has a revenue of two hundred thousand cruzados and musters six
thousand men. They swore never to do homage to the new King, but, on
the contrary, to raise in his place the putative son of the dead King,
the nephew of Jaga Raya,[360] who was the chief of this conspiracy. In
a few days there occurred the following opportunity.

"The new King displeased three of his nobles; the first, the Dalavay,
who is the commander of the army and pays a tribute of five hundred
thousand cruzados, because he desired him to give up three fortresses
which the King wished to confer on two of his own sons; the second,
his minister, whom he asked to pay a hundred thousand cruzados,
alleging that he had stolen them from the old King his uncle; the
third, Narpa Raya, since he demanded the jewels which his sister,
the wife of the old King, had given to Marpa. All these three answered
the King that they would obey his commands within two days; but they
secretly plotted with Jaga Raya to raise up the latter's nephew to
be King. And this they did in manner following: --

"Jaga Raya sent to tell the King that he wished to do homage to him,
and so also did Tima Maique and Maca Raya. The poor King allowed
them to enter. Jaga Raya selected five thousand men, and leaving
the rest outside the city he entered the fortress with these chosen
followers. The two other conspirators did the same, each of them
bringing with them two thousand selected men. The fortress has two
walls. Arrived at these, Jaga Raya left at the first gate a thousand
men, and at the second a thousand. The Dalavay seized two other
gates of the fortress, on the other side. There being some tumult,
and a cry of treason being raised, the King ordered the palace
gates to be closed, but the conspirators as soon as they reached
them began to break them down. Maca Raya was the first to succeed,
crying out that he would deliver up the King to them; and he did so,
seeding the King a message that if he surrendered he would pledge his
word to do him no ill, but that the nephew of Jaga Raya must be King,
he being the son of the late King.

"The poor surrounded King, seeing himself without followers and
without any remedy, accepted the promise, and with his wife and
sons left the tower in which he was staying. He passed through the
midst of the soldiers with a face grave and severe, and with eyes
downcast. There was none to do him reverence with hands (as is the
custom) joined over the head, nor did he salute any one.

"The King having left, Jaga Raya called his nephew and crowned him,
causing all the nobles present to do him homage; and he, finding
himself now crowned King, entered the palace and took possession of
it and of all the riches and precious stones that he found there. If
report says truly, he found in diamonds alone three large chests full
of fine stones. After this (Jaga Raya) placed the deposed King under
the strictest guard, and he was deserted by all save by one captain
alone whose name was Echama Naique, who stopped outside the fortress
with eight thousand men and refused to join Jaga Raya. Indeed,
hearing of the treason, he struck his camp and shut himself up in
his own fortress and began to collect more troops.

"Jaga Raya sent a message to this man bidding him come and do homage to
his nephew, and saying that if he refused he would destroy him. Echama
Naique made answer that he was not the man to do reverence to a boy
who was the son of no one knew whom, nor even what his caste was;
and, so far as destroying him went, would Jaga Raya come out and meet
him? If so, he would wait for him with such troops as he possessed!

"When this reply was received Jaga Raya made use of a thousand gentle
expressions, and promised honours and revenues, but nothing could turn
him. Nay, Echama took the field with his forces and offered battle to
Jaga Raya; saying that, since the latter had all the captains on his
side, let him come and fight and beat him if he could, and then the
nephew would become King unopposed. In the end Jaga Raya despaired
of securing Echama Naique's allegiance, but he won over many other
nobles by gifts and promises.

"While Jaga Raya was so engaged, Echama Naique was attempting to obtain
access to the imprisoned King by some way or other; but finding this
not possible, he sought for a means of at least getting possession of
one of his sons. And he did so in this manner. He sent and summoned
the washerman who washed the imprisoned King's clothes, and promised
him great things if he would bring him the King's middle son. The
washerman gave his word that he would so do if the matter were kept
secret. When the day arrived on which it was the custom for him to
take the clean clothes to the King, he carried them (into the prison)
and with them a palm-leaf letter from Echama Naique, who earnestly
begged the King to send him one at least of the three sons whom
he had with him, assuring him that the washerman could effect his
escape. The King did so, giving up his second son aged twelve years,
for the washerman did not dare take the eldest, who was eighteen years
old. He handed over the boy, and put him in amongst the dirty clothes,
warning him to have no fear and not to cry out even if he felt any
pain. In order more safely to pass the guards, the washerman placed on
top of all some very foul clothes, such as every one would avoid; and
went out crying 'TALLA! TALLA!' which means 'Keep at a distance! keep
at a distance!' All therefore gave place to him, and he went out of
the fortress to his own house. Here he kept the prince in hiding for
three days, and at the end of them delivered him up to Echama Naique,
whose camp was a league distant from the city, and the boy was received
by that chief and by all his army with great rejoicing.

"The news then spread abroad and came to the ears of Jaga Raya, who
commanded the palace to be searched, and found that it was true. He
was so greatly affected that he kept to his house for several days;
but he doubled the guards on the King, his prisoner, closed the gates,
and commanded that no one should give aught to the King to eat but
rice and coarse vegetables.[361]

"As soon as it was known that Echama Naique had possession of the
King's son, there went over to him four of Jaga Raya's captains
with eight thousand men; so that he had in all sixteen thousand,
and now had good hope of defending the rightful King. He took,
therefore, measures for effecting the latter's escape. He selected
from amongst all his soldiers twenty men, who promised to attempt to
dig an underground passage which should reach to where the King lay in
prison. In pursuance of this resolve they went to the fortress, offered
themselves to the Dalavay as entering into his service, received pay,
and after some days began to dig the passage so as to gain entrance
to the King's prison. The King, seeing soldiers enter thus into his
apartment, was amazed, and even more so when he saw them prostrate
themselves on the ground and deliver him a palm-leaf letter from Echama
Naique, in which he begged the King to trust himself to these men,
as they would escort him out of the fortress. The King consented. He
took off his robes hastily and covered himself with a single cloth;
and bidding farewell to his wife, his sons, and his daughters, told
them to have no fear, for that he, when free, would save them all.

"But it so happened that at this very moment one of the soldiers
who were guarding the palace by night with torches fell into a hole,
and at his cries the rest ran up, and on digging they discovered the
underground passage. They entered it and got as far as the palace,
arriving there just when the unhappy King was descending into it
in order to escape. He was seized and the alarm given to Jaga Raya,
who sent the King to another place more confined and narrower, and
with more guards, so that the poor prisoner despaired of ever escaping.

"Echama Naique, seeing that this stratagem had failed, bribed heavily a
captain of five hundred men who were in the fortress to slay the guards
as soon as some good occasion offered, and to rescue the King. This
man, who was called Iteobleza,[362] finding one day that Jaga Raya
was leaving the palace with all his men in order to receive a certain
chief who had proffered his submission, and that there only remained
in the fortress about five thousand men, in less than an hour slew
the guards, seized three gates, and sent a message to Echama Naique
telling him to come at once and seize the fortress. But Jaga Raya was
the more expeditious; he returned with all his forces, entered by a
postern gate, of the existence of which Iteobleza had not been warned,
and put to death the captain and his five hundred followers.

"Enraged at this attempt, Jaga Raya, to strengthen the party of his
nephew, resolved to slay the King and all his family. He entrusted this
business to a brother of his named Chinaobraya,[363] ordering him to
go to the palace and tell the poor King that he must slay himself,
and that if he would not he himself would kill him with stabs of
his dagger.

"The prisoner attempted to excuse himself, saying that he knew
nothing of the attempted revolt. But seeing the determination of
Chinaobraya, who told him that he must necessarily die, either by
his own hand or by that of another -- a most pitiful case, and one
that I relate full of sorrow! -- the poor King called his wife, and
after he had spoken to her awhile he beheaded her. Then he sent for
his youngest son and did the same to him. He put to death similarly
his little daughter. Afterwards he sent for his eldest son, who was
already married, and commanded him to slay his wife, which he did by
beheading her. This done, the King took a long sword of four fingers'
breadth, and, throwing himself upon it, breathed his last; and his
son, heir to the throne, did the same to himself in imitation of his
father. There remained only a little daughter whom the King could
not bring himself to slay; but Chinaobraya killed her, so that none
of the family should remain alive of the blood royal, and the throne
should be secured for his nephew.

"Some of the chiefs were struck with horror at this dreadful deed, and
were so enraged at its cruelty that they went over to Echama Naique,
resolved to defend the prince who had been rescued by the washerman,
and who alone remained of all the royal family. Echama Naique, furious
at this shameful barbarity and confident in the justice of his cause,
selected ten thousand of his best soldiers, and with them offered
battle to Jaga Raya, who had more than sixty thousand men and a number
of elephants and horses. Echama sent him a message in this form: --
'Now that thou hast murdered thy king and all his family, and there
alone remains this boy whom I rescued from thee and have in my keeping,
come out and take the field with all thy troops; kill him and me,
and then thy nephew will be secure on the throne!'

"Jaga Raya tried to evade this for some time; but finding that Echama
Naique insisted, he decided to fight him, trusting that with so great
a number of men he would easily not only be victorious, but would
be able to capture both Echama Naique and the prince. He took the
field, therefore, with all his troops. Echama Naique entrusted the
prince to a force of ten thousand men who remained a league away,
and with the other ten thousand he not only offered battle, but was
the first to attack; and that with such fury and violence that Jaga
Raya, with all the people surrounding his nephew, was driven to one
side, leaving gaps open to the enemy, and many met their deaths in
the fight. Echama Naique entered in triumph the tents of Jaga Raya,
finding in them all the royal insignia belonging to the old King
and these he delivered to the young prince, the Son of Chica Raya,
proclaiming him rightful heir and King of all the empire of Bisnaga.

"The spoil which he took was very large, for in precious stones alone
they say that he found two millions worth.

"After this victory many of the nobles joined themselves to Echama
Naique. So much so, that in a short time he had with him fifty thousand
fighting men in his camp; while Jaga Raya, with only fifteen thousand,
fled to the jungles. Here, however, he was joined by more people, so
that the war has continued these two years,[364] fortune favouring
now one side now the other. But the party of the young prince has
always been gaining strength; the more so because, although the great
Naique of Madura[365] -- a page of the betel to the King of Bisnaga,
who pays a revenue every year of, some say, 600,000 pagodas, and has
under him many kings and nobles as vassals, such as he of Travancor --
took the side of Jaga Raya, and sustained him against the Naique of
Tanjaor. Yet the latter, though not so powerful, is, with the aid of
the young King, gradually getting the upper hand. Indeed there are now
assembled in the field in the large open plains of Trinchenepali[366]
not only the hundred thousand men that each party has, but as many
as a million of soldiers.

"Taking advantage of these civil wars, the city of San Thome[367] --
which up to now belonged to the King of Bisnaga, paying him revenues
and customs which he used to make over to certain chiefs, by whom
the Portuguese were often greatly troubled determined to liberate
itself, and become in everything and for everything the property
of the King of Portugal. To this end she begged the Viceroy to send
and take possession of her in the name of his Majesty, which he did,
as I shall afterwards tell you. Meanwhile the captain who governed
the town, by name Manuel de Frias, seeing that there was close to the
town a fortress that commanded it, determined to seize it by force,
seeing that its captain declined to surrender it. So he laid siege
to it, surrounding it so closely that no one could get out."

In the end the Portuguese were successful. The fortress was taken,
its garrison of 1500 men capitulated, and a fleet came round by sea
to complete the conquest.




The foregoing story relates to events never before, I think, made
known to English readers, and so far is of the highest interest. Let
us, for the moment, grant its accuracy, and read it by the light of
the genealogical table already given.[368]

King Venkata I. (1586 -- 1614) had a sister who was married to a
chief whom Barradas calls "Obo" (perhaps Obala) Raya. So far as
we know, his only nephews were Tirumala II. and Ranga III., sons
of his brother, Rama III. Since Tirumala II. appears to have had
no sons, and Ranga III. had a son, Rama IV, who is asserted in the
inscriptions to have been "one of several brothers," it is natural
to suppose that the nephew mentioned by Barradas, who was raised to
be king on the death of the old King Venkata I. in 1614, and who had
three sons, was Ranga III., called "Chikka Raya" or "Crown-prince"
in the text. He, then, succeeded in 1614, but was afterwards deposed,
imprisoned, and compelled to take his own life. His eldest son at the
same time followed his example, and his youngest son was slain by his
father. The "middle son" escaped, and was raised to the throne by a
friendly chief named Echama Naik. This second son was probably Ranga
IV. Two of King Venkata's wives were Bayama, daughter of Jaga Raya,
and a lady unnamed, sister of Narpa Raya. A niece of Venkata I. had
been given in marriage to a Brahman boy, who had been surreptitiously
introduced into the palace by Bayama and educated in the pretence
that he was son of King Venkata. The plot to raise him to the throne
was temporarily successful, and Ranga III. and all the royal family
were killed, saving only Ranga IV., who afterwards came to the throne.

How much of the story told is true we cannot as yet decide; but it
is extremely improbable that the whole is a pure invention, and we
may for the present accept it, fixing the date of these occurrences
as certainly between the years 1614 and 1616 A.D. -- the date of
Barradas's letter being December 12 in the latter year.

It will be observed that the inscriptions upon which the genealogical
table given above, from the EPIGRAPHIA INDICA, is founded do not yield
any date between A.D. 1614 and 1634, when Pedda Venkata II. is named
as king. In 1883 I published[369] a list of Vijayanagar names derived
from reports of inscriptions which had then reached me. I am by no
means certain of their accuracy, and it is clear that they must all
be hereafter carefully examined. But so far as it goes the list runs
thus: --


A.D.
Ranga 1619
Rama 1620, 1622
Ranga 1623
Venkata 1623
Rama 1629
Venkata 1636


The last-mentioned name and date are apparently correct.

In 1633 the Portuguese, encouraged by the Vijayanagar king, still
at Chandragiri, attempted to eject the Dutch from "Paleacate," or
Pulicat. An arrangement was made by which the Portuguese were to
attack by sea and the Rajah by land; but while the Viceroy sent his
twelve ships as agreed on, the Rajah failed to attack, alleging in
explanation that he was compelled to use his army to put down internal
disturbances in the kingdom. A second expedition met with no better
success, the plans of the Portuguese being again upset by the non
fulfilment of the king's part of the bargain. On the departure of the
fleet the king did attack the Dutch settlement, but was bought off by
a large payment, and the Hollanders remained subsequently undisturbed.

Senhor Lopes tells me that he has found in the National Archives
in the Torre do Tombo, amongst the "Livros das Moncoes," a number
of papers bearing on this subject. The most interesting are those
contained in Volume xxxiv. (fol. 91 -- 99). These were written by the
Captain-General of Meliapor (St. Thome), by Padre Pero Mexia of the
Company of Jesus, and by the Bishop; and amongst the other documents
are to be seen translations of two palm-leaf letters written by the
king of Vijayanagar, then at Vellore. It appears from these that
the king was devoid of energy, and that one Timma Raya had revolted
against him.

We know that in 1639 the king of Vijayanagar was named Ranga or
Sri-Ranga, and that he was at that time residing at Chandragiri;
because in that year Mr. Day, the head of the English trading station
a Madras, obtained from the king a grant of land at that place,
one mile broad by five miles long, on which Fort St. George was
afterwards constructed. The country about Madras was then ruled over
by a governor or Naik, and so little heed did he pay to the wishes or
commands of his titular sovereign, that although the Raya had directed
that the name of the new town should be "Srirangarayalapatnam" ("city
of Sri Ranga Raya"), the Naik christened it after the name of his own
father, Chenna, and called it "Chennapatnam," by which appellation it
has ever since been known to the Hindus. Such, at least, is the local
tradition. This king was probably the Ranga VI. of the Epigraphia list,
mentioned as living in 1644 A.D.

After this date my (doubtful and unexamined) inscriptions yield the
following names and dates: --


A.D.
Ranga 1643, 1647, 1655, 1662, 1663, 1665, 1667, 1678
Venkata 1678, 1680
Ranga 1692
Venkata 1706
Ranga 1716
Mahadeva 1724
Ranga 1729
Venkata 1732
Rama 1739 (?)
Venkata 1744
Venkata 1791, 1792, 1793


From Sir Thomas Munro's papers I gather that the territory about the
old family estate of Anegundi was early in the eighteenth century
held by the Rayas from the Mogul emperor of Delhi as a tributary
state. In 1749 it was seized by the Mahrattas, and in 1775 it was
reduced by Haidar Ali of Mysore, but continued to exist as a tributary
quasi-independent state till the time of Tipu (Tippoo Sultan).

Tipu, who never suffered from an excess of compunction or compassion
when his own interests were at stake, annexed the estate bodily to his
dominions in 1786. Thirteen years later he was killed at Seringapatam,
and in the settlement that followed the little territory was made over
to the Nizam of Haidarabad, the English Government retaining all lands
on their side of the Tungabhadra. Partly in compensation for this loss
of land the Government has till very recently paid an annual pension
to the head of the Anegundi family. This has now been abolished.



Chronicles of Paes and Nuniz


Letter

(? to the historian Barros) which accompanied the Chronicles when
sent from India to Portugal about the year 1537 A.D.

Since I have lived till now in this city (? Goa), it seemed necessary
to do what your Honour desired of me, namely, to search for men who had
formerly been in Bisnaga; for I know that no one goes there without
bringing away his quire of paper written about its affairs. Thus I
obtained this summary from one Domingos Paes, who goes there, and who
was at Bisnaga in the time of Crisnarao when Cristovao de Figueiredo
was there. I obtained another from Fernao Nuniz, who was there three
years trading in horses (which did not prove remunerative). Since one
man cannot tell everything -- one relating some things which another
does not -- I send both the summaries made by them, namely, one in
the time of Crisnarao, as I have said, and the other sent from there
six months since. I desire to do this because your honour can gather
what is useful to you from both, and because you will thus give the
more credit to some things in the chronicle of the kings of Bisnaga,
since they conform one to the other. The copy of the summary which
he began to make[370] when he first went to the kingdom of Bisnaga
is as follows: --



Narrative of Domingos Paes

(written probably A.D. 1520 -- 22)

Of the things which I saw and contrived to learn concerning the kingdom
of Narsimga, etc.[371]

On leaving India[372] to travel towards the kingdom of Narsymga from
the sea-coast, you have (first) to pass a range of hills (SERRA),
the boundary of the said kingdom and of those territories which are
by the sea. This SERRA runs along the whole of the coast of India,
and has passes by which people enter the interior; for all the rest
of the range is very rocky and is filled with thick forest. The said
kingdom has many places on the coast of India; they are seaports with
which we are at peace, and in some of them we have factories, namely,
Amcola, Mirgeo, Honor, Batecalla, Mamgalor, Bracalor, and Bacanor. And
as soon as we are above this SERRA we have a plain country in which
there are no more ranges of hills, but only a few mountains, and these
small ones; for all the rest is like the plains of Ssantarem.[373] Only
on the road from Batecala[374] to a town called ZAMBUJA, there are some
ranges with forests; nevertheless the road is very even. From Batecala
to this town of Zambur[375] is forty leagues; the road has many streams
of water by its side, and because of this so much merchandise flows
to Batecala that every year there come five or six thousand pack-oxen.

Now to tell of the aforesaid kingdom. It is a country sparsely wooded
except along this SERRA on the east,[376] but in places you walk for
two or three leagues under groves of trees; and behind cities and towns
and villages they have plantations of mangoes, and jack-fruit trees,
and tamarinds and other very large trees, which form resting-places
where merchants halt with their merchandise. I saw in the city of
Recalem[377] a tree under which we lodged three hundred and twenty
horses, standing in order as in their stables, and all over the country
you may see many small trees. These dominions are very well cultivated
and very fertile, and are provided with quantities of cattle, such as
cows, buffaloes, and sheep; also of birds, both those belonging to the
hills and those reared at home, and this in greater abundance than
in our tracts. The land has plenty of rice and Indian-corn, grains,
beans, and other kind of crops which are not sown in our parts; also an
infinity of cotton. Of the grains there is a great quantity, because,
besides being used as food for men, it is also used for horses, since
there is no other kind of barley; and this country has also much wheat,
and that good. The whole country is thickly populated with cities and
towns and villages; the king allows them to be surrounded only with
earthen walls for fear of their becoming too strong. But if a city
is situated at the extremity of his territory he gives his consent
to its having stone walls, but never the towns; so that they may make
fortresses of the cities but not of the towns.

And because this country is all flat, the winds blow here more than
in other parts. The oil which it produces comes from seeds sown and
afterwards reaped, and they obtain it by means of machines which they
make. This country wants water because it is very great and has few
streams; they make lakes in which water collects when it rains, and
thereby they maintain themselves. They maintain themselves by means
of some in which there are springs better than by others that have
only the water from rain; for we find many quite dry, so that people
go about walking in their beds, and dig holes to try and find enough
water, even a little, for their maintenance. The failure of the water
is because they have no winter as in our parts and in (Portuguese)
India, but only thunder-storms that are greater in one year than
in another. The water in these lakes is for the most part muddy,
especially in those where there are no springs, and the reason why it
is so muddy is because of the strong wind and the dust that is in this
country, which never allows the water to be clear, and also because of
the numbers of cattle, buffaloes, cows, oxen, and other small cattle
that drink in them. For you must know that in this land they do not
slaughter oxen or cows; the oxen are beasts of burden and are like
sumpter-mules; these carry all their goods. They worship the cows,
and have them in their pagodas made in stone, and also bulls; they
have many bulls that they present to these pagodas, and these bulls go
about the city without any one causing them any harm or loss. Further,
there are asses in this country, but they are small, and they use them
only for little things; those that wash clothes lay the cloths on them,
and use them for this more than for anything else. You must know that
this kingdom of Narsymga has three hundred GRAOS of coast, each GRAO
being a league, along the hill-range (SERRA) of which I have spoken,
until you arrive at Ballagate and Charamaodel,[378] which belong to
this kingdom; and in breadth it is one hundred and sixty-four GRAOS;
each large GRAO measures two of our leagues, so that it has six
hundred leagues of coast, and across it three hundred and forty-eight
leagues... across from Batacalla to the kingdom of Orya.[379]

And this kingdom marches[380] with all the territory of Bengal, and on
the other side with the kingdom of Orya, which is to the east, and on
the other side to the north with the kingdom of Dakhan, belonging to
which are the lands which the Ydallcao[381] has, and Ozemelluco.[382]
Goa is at war with this Ydallcao, because that city was his, and we
have taken it from him.

And this kingdom of Orya, of which I have spoken above, is said
to be much larger than the kingdom of Narsymga, since it marches
with all Bengal, and is at war with her; and it marches with all the
kingdom of Pegu and with the MALLACA Sea. It reaches to the kingdom of
Cambaya, and to the kingdom of Dakhan; and they told me with positive
certainty that it extends as far as Persia. The population thereof
is light coloured, and the men are of good physique. Its king has
much treasure and many soldiers and many elephants, for there are
numbers of these in this country. (My informants) know this well,
and they say that there is no ruler greater than he. He is a heathen.

Coming back to our subject, I say that I will not mention here the
situation of the cities, and towns, and villages in this kingdom
of Narsymga, to avoid prolixity; only I shall speak of the city
of Darcha,[383] which has a monument such as can seldom be seen
elsewhere. This city of Darcha is very well fortified by a wall,
though not of stone, for the reason that I have already stated. On the
western side, which is towards (Portuguese) India, it is surrounded
by a very beautiful river, and on the other, eastern side the interior
of the country is all one plain, and along the wall is its moat. This
Darcha has a pagoda, which is the monument I speak of, so beautiful
that another as good of its kind could not be found within a great
distance. You must know that it is a round temple made of a single
stone, the gateway all in the manner of joiners work, with every art of
perspective. There are many figures of the said work, standing out as
much as a cubit from the stone, so that you see on every side of them,
so well carved that they could not be better done -- the faces as well
as all the rest; and each one in its place stands as if embowered in
leaves; and above it is in the Romanesque style, so well made that
it could not be better. Besides this, it has a sort of lesser porch
upon pillars, all of stone, and the pillars with their pedestals[384]
so well executed that they appear as if made in Italy; all the cross
pieces and beams are of the same stone without any planks or timber
being used in it, and in the same way all the ground is laid with
the same stone, outside as well as in. And all this pagoda, as far
round as the temple goes, is enclosed by a trellis made of the same
stone, and this again is completely surrounded by a very strong wall,
better even than the city has, since it is all of solid masonry. It
has three entrance gates, which gates are very large and beautiful,
and the entrance from one of these sides, being towards the east and
facing the door of the pagoda, has some structures like verandahs,
small and low, where sit some JOGIS;[385] and inside this enclosure,
which has other little pagodas of a reddish colour, there is a stone
like the mast of a ship, with its pedestal four-sided, and from thence
to the top eight-sided, standing in the open air. I was not astonished
at it, because I have seen the needle of St. Peters at Rome, which
is as high, or more.[386]

These pagodas are buildings in which they pray and have their idols;
the idols are of many sorts, namely, figures of men and women, of
bulls, and apes, while others have nothing but a round stone which
they worship. In this temple of Darcha is an idol in the figure of a
man as to his body, and the face is that of an elephant with trunk and
tusks,[387] and with three arms on each side and six hands, of which
arms they say that already four are gone, and when all fall then the
world will be destroyed they are full of belief that this will be,
and hold it as a prophecy. They feed the idol every day, for they
say that he eats; and when he eats women dance before him who belong
to that pagoda, and they give him food and all that is necessary,
and all girls born of these women belong to the temple. These women
are of loose character, and live in the best streets that there are
in the city; it is the same in all their cities, their streets have
the best rows of houses They are very much esteemed, and are classed
amongst those honoured ones who are the mistresses of the captains;
any respectable man may go to their houses without any blame attaching
thereto. These women (are allowed) even to enter the presence of the
wives of the king, and they stay with them and eat betel with them,
a thing which no other person may do, no matter what his rank may
be. This betel is a herb which has a leaf like the leaf of the pepper,
or the ivy of our country; they always eat this leaf, and carry it in
their mouths with another fruit called areca. This is something like a
medlar, but it is very hard, and it is very good for the breath and has
many other virtues; it is the best provision for those who do not eat
as we do. Some of them eat flesh; they eat all kinds except beef and
pork, and yet, nevertheless, they cease not to eat this betel all day.

Afterwards going from this city of Darcha towards the city of
Bisnaga,[388] which is eighteen leagues distant, and is the capital
of all the kingdom of Narsymga, where the king always resides,
you have many cities and walled villages; and two leagues before
you arrive at the city of Bisnaga you have a very lofty SERRA which
has passes by which you enter the city. These are called "gates"
(PORTAS). You must enter by these, for you will have no means of
entrance except by them. This range of hills surrounds the city
with a circle of twenty-four leagues, and within this range there
are others that encircle it closely. Wherever these ranges have
any level ground they cross it with a very strong wall, in such a
way that the hills remain all closed, except in the places where
the roads come through from the gates in the first range, which are
the entrance ways to the city. In such places there are some small
pits (or caves?)[389] which could be defended by a few people; these
SERRAS continue as far as the interior of the city. Between all these
enclosures are plains and valleys where rice is grown, and there are
gardens with many orange-trees, limes, citrons, and radishes (RABAOS),
and other kinds of garden produce as in Portugal, only not lettuces
or cabbages. Between these hill-ranges are many lakes by which they
irrigate the crops mentioned, and amongst all these ranges there
are no forests or patches of brushwood, except very small ones, nor
anything that is green. For these hills are the strangest ever seen,
they are of a white stone piled one block over another in manner most
singular, so that it seems as if they stood in the air and were not
connected one with another; and the city is situated in the middle
of these hills and is entirely surrounded by them.

The SERRAS reach as far as the kingdom of Daquem,[390] and border upon
the territories belonging to the Ydallcao, and upon a city called
Rachol that formerly belonged to the king of Narsymga; there has
been much war over it, and this king took it from the Ydallcao. So
that these ranges are in a way the cause (of the two kingdoms) never
uniting and always being at war; and even on the side of Orya also
there are ranges, but they are different from these, since like ours
they have scrub and small patches of brushwood; these ranges are low
and between them are great plains. On the extreme east of these two
kingdoms you must know that the country is all covered with scrub,
the densest possible to be seen, in which there are great beasts,
and (this) forms so strong a fortress for it that it protects both
sides; it has its entrances by which they pass from one kingdom to
the other. In these passes on the frontier the king of Narsymga has
a captain with a quantity of troops, but on the side of (Portuguese)
India he has none, except as I have said.

Now turning to the gates of the first range, I say that at the entrance
of the gate where those pass who come from Goa, which is the principal
entrance on the western side; this king has made within it a very
strong city[391] fortified with walls and towers, and the gates at the
entrances very strong, with towers at the gates; these walls are not
like those of other cities, but are made of very strong masonry such as
would be found in few other parts, and inside very beautiful rows of
buildings made after their manner with flat roofs. There live in this
many merchants, and it is filled with a large population because the
king induces many honourable merchants to go there from his cities,
and there is much water in it. Besides this the king made a tank[392]
there, which, as it seems to me, has the width of a falcon-shot,[393]
and it is at the mouth of two hills, so that all the water which comes
from either one side or the other collects there; and, besides this,
water comes to it from more than three leagues by pipes which run
along the lower parts of the range outside. This water is brought
from a lake which itself overflows into a little river. The tank has
three large pillars handsomely carved with figures; these connect above
with certain pipes by which they get water when they have to irrigate
their gardens and rice-fields. In order to make this tank the said
king broke down a hill which enclosed the ground occupied by the said
tank. In the tank I saw so many people at work that there must have
been fifteen or twenty thousand men, looking like ants, so that you
could not see the ground on which they walked, so many there were;
this tank the king portioned out amongst his captains, each of whom
had the duty of seeing that the people placed under him did their work,
and that the tank was finished and brought to completion.

The tank burst two or three times, and the king asked his Brahmans
to consult their idol as to the reason why it burst so often,
and the Brahmans said that the idol was displeased, and desired
that they should make a sacrifice, and should give him the blood
of men and horses and buffaloes; and as soon as the king heard this
he forthwith commanded that at the gate of the pagoda the heads of
sixty men should be cut off, and of certain horses and buffaloes,
which was at once done.

These Brahmans are like friars with us, and they count them as holy men
-- I speak of the Brahman priests and the lettered men of the pagodas
-- because although the king has many Brahmans, they are officers of
the towns and cities and belong to the government of them; others are
merchants, and others live by their own property and cultivation, and
the fruits which grow in their inherited grounds. Those who have charge
of the temples are learned men, and eat nothing which suffers death,
neither flesh nor fish, nor anything which makes broth red, for they
say that it is blood. Some of the other Brahmans whom I mentioned,
who seek to serve God, and to do penance, and to live a life like
that of the priests, do not eat flesh or fish or any other thing that
suffers death, but only vegetables[394] and butter and other things
which they make of fruit,[395] with their rice. They are all married,
and have very beautiful wives; the wives are very retiring, and very
seldom leave the house. The women are of light colour, and in the
caste of these Brahmans are the fairest men and women that there are
in the land; for though there are men in other castes commonly of
light complexion, yet these are few. There are many in this country
who call themselves Brahmans, but they lead a life very different
from those of whom I have spoken, for these last are men to whom the
king pays much honour, and he holds them in great favour.

This new city that the king made bears the name of his wife for love of
whom he made it,[396] and the said city stands in a plain, and round it
the inhabitants make their gardens as the ground suits, each one being
separate. In this city the king made a temple with many images. It is
a thing very well made, and it has some wells very well made after
their fashion; its houses are not built with stories like ours, but
are of only one floor, with flat, roofs and towers,[397] different
from ours, for theirs go from storey to storey. They have pillars,
and are all open, with verandahs inside and out, where they can easily
put people if they desire, so that they seem like houses belonging to
a king. These palaces have an enclosing wall which surrounds them all,
and inside are many rows of houses. Before you enter the place where
the king is there are two gates with many guards, who prevent any one
from entering except the captains and men who have business there;
and between these two gates is a very large court with its verandahs
round it, where these captains and other honoured people wait till
the king summons them to his presence.

This king is of medium height, and of fair complexion and good figure,
rather fat than thin, he has on his face signs of small-pox. He is
the most feared and perfect king that could possibly be, cheerful of
disposition and very merry; he is one that seeks to honour foreigners,
and receives them kindly, asking about all their affairs whatever
their condition may be He is a great ruler and a man of much justice,
but subject to sudden fits of rage,[398] and this is his title --
"Crisnarao Macacao,[399] king of kings, lord of the greater lords of
India, lord of the three seas and of the land." He has this title[400]
because he is by rank a greater lord than any, by reason of what he
possesses in (?) armies and territories, but it seems that he has (in
fact) nothing compared to what a man like him ought to have, so gallant
and perfect is he in all things. This king was constantly at war with
the king of Orya, and entered his kingdom, taking and destroying many
cities and towns; he put to rout numbers of his soldiers and elephants,
and took captive his son, whom he kept for a long time in this city of
Bisnaga, where he died; and in order to make a treaty and (preserve)
peace, the king of Orya gave him a daughter whom the king of Bisnaga
married and has as his wife.

This king has twelve lawful wives, of whom there are three principal
ones, the sons of each of these three being heirs of the kingdom,
but not these of the others; this is (the case) when there are sons
to all of them, but when there is only one son, whosesoever he may
be, he is heir. One of these principal wives is the daughter of the
king of Orya, and others daughters of a king his vassal who is king
of Serimgapatao; another wife is a courtezan whom in his youth he had
for mistress before he became king, and she made him promise that if
he came to be king he would take her to wife, and thus it came to
pass that this courtezan became his wife. For love of her he built
this new city, and its name was ... (SIC IN ORIG.) ... Each one of
these wives has her house to herself, with her maidens and women of
the chamber, and women guards and all other women servants necessary;
all these are women, and no man enters where they are, save only the
eunuchs, who guard them. These women are never seen by any man, except
perhaps by some old man of high rank by favour of the king. When they
wish to go out they are carried in litters shut up and closed,[401]
so that they cannot be seen, and all the eunuchs with them fully
three or four hundred; and all other people keep a long distance
from them. They told us that each of these queens has a very large
sum of money and treasure and personal ornaments, namely armlets,
bracelets, seed-pearls,[402] pearls and diamonds, and that in great
quantity: and they also say that each of them has sixty maidens
adorned as richly as could possibly be with many jewels, and rubies
and diamonds and pearls and seed-pearls. These we afterwards saw,
and stood astonished; we saw them at certain festivals which I will
afterwards speak of, and of the manner in which they came. Within,
with these maidens, they say that there are twelve thousand women;
for you must know that there are women who handle sword and shield,
and others who wrestle, and others who blow trumpets, and others
pipes, and others instruments which are different from ours; and in
the same way they have women as bearers (BOOIS) and washing-folk,
and for other offices inside their gates, just as the king has the
officers of his household. These three principal wives have each
the same, one as much as the other, so that there may never be any
discord or ill feeling between them; all of them are great friends,
and each one lives by herself. It may be gathered from this what a
large enclosure there must be for these houses where so many people
live, and what streets and lanes they must have.

The king lives by himself inside the palace, and when he wishes to have
with him one of his wives he orders a eunuch to go and call her. The
eunuch does not enter where she is, but tells it to the female guards,
who make known to the queen that there is a message from the king,
and then comes one of her maidens or chamber-women and learns what
is wanted, and then the queen goes where the king is, or the king
comes where she is, and so passes the time as it seems good to him
without any of the others knowing. Amongst these eunuchs the king
has some who are great favourites, and who sleep where he sleeps;
they receive a large salary.

This king is accustomed every day to drink QUARTILHO (three-quarter
pint) of oil of GINGELLY[403] before daylight, and anoints himself
all over with the said oil; he covers his loins with a small cloth,
and takes in his arms great weights made of earthenware, and then,
taking a sword, he exercises himself with it till he has sweated out
all the oil, and then he wrestles with one of his wrestlers. After this
labour he mounts a horse and gallops about the plain in one direction
and another till dawn, for he does all this before daybreak. Then he
goes to wash himself, and a Brahman washes him whom he holds sacred,
and who is a great favourite of his and is a man of great wealth; and
after he is washed he goes to where his pagoda is inside the palace,
and makes his orisons and ceremonies, according to custom. Thence
he goes to a building made in the shape of a porch without walls,
which has many pillars hung with cloths right up to the top, and
with the walls handsomely painted; it has on each side two figures of
women very well made. In such a building he despatches his work with
those men who bear office in his kingdom, and govern his cities,
and his favourites talk with them. The greatest favourite is an
old man called Temersea;[404] he commands the whole household,
and to him all the great lords act as to the king. After the king
has talked with these men on subjects pleasing to him he bids enter
the lords and captains who wait at the gate, and these at once enter
to make their salaam to him. As soon as they appear they make their
salaam to him, and place themselves along the walls far off from him;
they do not speak one to another, nor do they chew betel before him,
but they place their hands in the sleeves of their tunics (CABAYAS)
and cast their eyes on the ground; and if the king desires to speak
to any one it is done through a second person, and then he to whom the
king desires to speak raises his eyes and replies to him who questions
him, and then returns to his former position. So they remain till the
king bids them go, and then they all turn to make the salaam to him
and go out. The salaam, which is the greatest courtesy that exists
among them, is that they put their hands joined above their head as
high as they can. Every day they go to make the salaam to the king.

When we came to this country the king was in this new town, and
there went to see him Christovao de Figueiredo[405] with all of us
Portuguese that came with him, and all very handsomely dressed after
our manner, with much finery; the king received him very well, and
was very complacent to him. The king was as much pleased with him as
if he had been one of his own people, so much attention did he evince
towards him; and also towards those amongst us who went with him he
showed much kindness. We were so close to the king that he touched us
all and could not have enough of looking at us. Then Christovao de
Figueiredo gave him the letters from the Captain-Major[406] and the
things he had brought for him, with which he was greatly delighted;
principally with certain organs[407] that the said Christovao de
Figueiredo brought him, with many other things (PECAS). The king was
clothed in certain white cloths embroidered with many roses in gold,
and with a PATECA[408]of diamonds on his neck of very great value,
and on his head he had a cap of brocade in fashion like a Galician
helmet, covered with a piece of fine stuff all of fine silk, and he
was barefooted; for no one ever enters where the king is unless he has
bare feet, and the majority of the people, or almost all, go about the
country barefooted. The shoes have pointed ends, in the ancient manner,
and there are other shoes that have nothing but soles, but on top are
some straps which help to keep them on the feet. They are made like
those which of old the Romans were wont to wear, as you will find on
figures in some papers or antiquities which come from Italy. The king
gave to Christovao de Figueiredo on dismissing him a CABAYA (tunic)
of brocade, with a cap of the same fashion as the king wore,[409]
and to each one of the Portuguese he gave a cloth embroidered with
many pretty figures, and this the king gives because it is customary;
he gives it in token of friendship and love.

When Christovao de Figueiredo had been dismissed by the king we
came to the city of Bisnaga, which is a league from this new city,
and here he commanded us to be lodged in some very good houses; and
Figueiredo was visited by many lords and captains, and other persons
who came on behalf of the king. And the king sent him many sheep
and fowls, and many vessels (CALOEES) full of butter and honey and
many other things to eat, which he at once distributed amongst all
the foot-soldiers and people whom he had brought with him. The king
said many kind and pleasant things to him, and asked him concerning
the kind of state which the king of Portugal kept up; and having been
told about it all he seemed much pleased.

Returning then to the city of Bisnaga, you must know that from it
to the new city goes a street as wide as a place of tourney, with
both sides lined throughout with rows of houses and shops where they
sell everything; and all along this road are many trees that the
king commanded to be planted, so as to afford shade to those that
pass along. On this road he commanded to be erected a very beautiful
temple of stone,[410] and there are other pagodas that the captains
and great lords caused to be erected.

So that, returning to the city of Bisnaga, you must know that before
you arrive at the city gates there is a gate with a wall that encloses
all the other enclosures of the city, and this wall is a very strong
one and of massive stonework; but at the present time it is injured
in some places. They do not fail to have citadels[411] in it. This
wall has a moat of water in some places, and in the parts where it was
constructed on low ground. And there is, separate from it, yet another
(defence) made in the following manner. Certain pointed stones of great
height are fixed in the ground as high as a man's breast; they are
in breadth a lance-shaft and a half, with the same distance between
them and the great wall. This wall rises in all the low ground till
it reaches some hill or rocky land. From this first circuit until
you enter the city there is a great distance, in which are fields
in which they sow rice and have many gardens and much water, which
water comes from two lakes. The water passes through this first line
of wall, and there is much water in the lakes because of springs; and
here there are orchards and a little grove of palms, and many houses.

Returning, then, to the first gate of the city, before you arrive at
it you pass a little piece of water and then you arrive at the wall,
which is very strong, all of stonework, and it makes a bend before
you arrive at the gate; and at the entrance of this gate are two
towers, one on each side, which makes it very strong. It is large and
beautiful. As soon as you pass inside there are two little temples;
one of them has an enclosing wall with many trees, while the whole
of the other consists of buildings; and this wall of the first gate
encircles the whole city. Then going forward you have another gate with
another line of wall, and it also encircles the city inside the first,
and from here to the king's palace is all streets and rows of houses,
very beautiful, and houses of captains and other rich and honourable
men; you will see rows of houses with many figures and decorations
pleasing to look at. Going along the principal street, you have one
of the chief gateways,[412] which issues from a great open space[413]
in front of the king's palace; opposite this is another which passes
along to the other side of the city; and across this open space pass
all the carts and conveyances carrying stores and everything else,
and because it is in the middle of the city it cannot but be useful.

This palace of the king is surrounded by a very strong wall like
some of the others, and encloses a greater space (TERAA MOOR CERCA)
than all the castle of Lisbon.

Still going forward, passing to the other gate you see two temples
connected with it, one on each side, and at the door of one of these
they kill every day many sheep, for in all the city they do not kill
any sheep for the use of the heathen (Hindus), or for sale in the
markets, except at the gate of this pagoda. Of their blood they make
sacrifices to the idol that is in the temple. They leave the heads
to him, and for each sheep they give a SACO (CHAKRAM), which is a
coin like a CARTILHA (QUARTILHA -- a farthing).

There is present at the slaughter of these beasts a JOGI (priest)
who has charge of the temple, and as soon as they cut off the head
of the sheep or goat this JOGI blows a horn as a sign that the idol
receives that sacrifice. Hereafter I shall tell of these JOGIS,
what sort of men they are.[414]

Close to these pagodas is a triumphal car covered with carved work
and images, and on one day in each year during a festival they drag
this through the city in such streets as it can traverse. It is large
and cannot turn corners.

Going forward, you have a broad and beautiful street, full of rows
of fine houses and streets of the sort I have described, and it
is to be understood that the houses belong to men rich enough to
afford such. In this street live many merchants, and there you will
find all sorts of rubies, and diamonds, and emeralds, and pearls,
and seed-pearls, and cloths, and every other sort of thing there
is on earth and that you may wish to buy. Then you have there every
evening a fair where they sell many common horses and nags (ROCIS E
SEMDEIROS), and also many citrons, and limes, and oranges, and grapes,
and every other kind of garden stuff, and wood; you have all in this
street. At the end of it you have another gate with its wall, which
wall goes to meet the wall of the second gate of which I have spoken
in such sort that this city has three fortresses, with another which
is the king's palace. Then when this gate is passed you have another
street where there are many craftsmen, and they sell many things; and
in this street there are two small temples. There are temples in every
street, for these appertain to institutions like the confraternities
you know of in our parts,[415] of all the craftsmen and merchants;
but the principal and greatest pagodas are outside the city. In this
street lodged Christovao de Figueiredo. On every Friday you have a
fair there, with many pigs and fowls and dried fish from the sea,
and other things the produce of the country, of which I do not know
the name; and in like manner a fair is held every day in different
parts of the city. At the end of this street is the Moorish quarter,
which is at the very end of the city, and of these Moors there are
many who are natives of the country[416] and who are paid by the king
and belong to his guard. In this city you will find men belonging
to every nation and people, because of the great trade which it has,
and the many precious stones there, principally diamonds.

The size of this city I do not write here, because it cannot all
be seen from any one spot, but I climbed a hill whence I could see
a great part of it; I could not see it all because it lies between
several ranges of hills. What I saw from thence seemed to me as large
as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight; there are many groves of
trees within it, in the gardens of the houses, and many conduits of
water which flow into the midst of it, and in places there are lakes
(TAMQUES); and the king has close to his palace a palm-grove and other
rich-bearing fruit-trees. Below the Moorish quarter is a little river,
and on this side are many orchards and gardens with many fruit-trees,
for the most part mangoes and areca-palms and jack-trees, and also
many lime and orange trees, growing so closely one to another that
it appears like a thick forest; and there are also white grapes. All
the water which is in the city comes from the two tanks of which I
have spoken, outside the first enclosing wall.

The people in this city are countless in number, so much so that I
do not wish to write it down for fear it should be thought fabulous;
but I declare that no troops, horse or foot, could break their way
through any street or lane, so great are the numbers of the people
and elephants.

This is the best provided city in the world, and is stocked with
provisions such as rice, wheat, grains, Indian-corn, and a certain
amount of barley and beans, MOONG,[417] pulses, horse-gram,[418]
and many other seeds which grow in this country which are the food
of the people, and there is large store of these and very cheap;
but wheat is not so common as the other grains, since no one eats
it except the Moors. But you will find what I have mentioned. The
streets and markets are full of laden oxen without count, so that you
cannot get along for them, and in many streets you come upon so many
of them that you have to wait for them to pass, or else have to go by
another way. There is much poultry; they give three fowls in the city
for a coin worth a VINTEM,[419] which coins are called FAVAOS;[420]
outside the city they give four fowls for a VINTEM.

In this country there are many partridges, but they are not of the
same sort or quality as ours: they are like the ESTARNAS[421] of Italy.

There are three sorts of these: one class has only a small spur such
as those of Portugal have; another class has on each foot two very
sharp spurs, almost as long and thick as one's finger; the other class
is painted, and of these you will find the markets full; as also
of quails, and hares, and all kinds of wild fowl, and other birds
which live in the lakes and which look like geese. All these birds
and game animals they sell alive, and they are very cheap, for they
give six or eight partridges for a VINTEM, and of hares they give two
and sometimes one. Of other birds they give more than you can count,
for even of the large ones they give so many that you would hardly
pay any attention to the little ones they give you, such as doves
and pigeons and the common birds of the country. The doves are of
two kinds; some are like those in Portugal, others are as large as
thrushes; of the doves they give twelve or fourteen for a FAVAO; the
pigeons are the same price as the other birds. Then the sheep that
they kill every day are countless, one could not number them, for in
every street there are men who will sell you mutton, so clean and so
fat that it looks like pork; and you also have pigs in some streets of
butchers' houses so white and clean that you could never see better
in any country; a pig is worth four or five FANAMS.[422] Then to see
the many loads of limes that come each day, such that those of Povos
are of no account,[423] and also loads of sweet and sour oranges,
and wild BRINJALS, and other garden stuff in such abundance as to
stupefy one. For the state of this city is not like that of other
cities, which often fail of supplies and provisions, for in this one
everything abounds; and also the quantity of butter and oil and milk
sold every day, that is a thing I cannot refrain from mentioning; and
as for the rearing of cows and buffaloes which goes on in the city,
there is so much that you will go very far before you find another
like it. There are many pomegranates also; grapes are sold at three
bunches a FANAM, and pomegranates ten for a FANAM.

On the north side of the city is a very great river with much water,
in which are many fish, which fish are very unwholesome, and in
this river there is that which passes for ... (SIC. IN ORIG.); other
streams flow into it, which make it very large.

Now as to the places on the bank of this river. There is a city built
there which they call SENAGUMDYM,[424] and they say that of old it
was the capital of the kingdom, but there now live in it few people;
it still has good walls and is very strong, and it lies between two
hill-ranges which have only two entrances. A captain lives in this
city for the king. People cross to this place by boats which are
round like baskets;[425] inside they are made of cane, and outside
are covered with leather; they are able to carry fifteen or twenty
persons, and even horses and oxen can cross in them if necessary,
but for the most part these animals swim across. Men row them with
a sort of paddle, and the boats are always turning round, as they
cannot go straight like others; in all the kingdom where there are
streams there are no other boats but these.[426]

There are also in this city places where they sell live sheep; you
will see the fields round the city full of them, and also of cows and
buffaloes -- it is a very pretty sight to see, -- and also the many
she-goats and kids, and the he-goats so large that they are bridled
and saddled. Many sheep are like that also, and boys ride them.

Outside the city walls on the north there are three very beautiful
pagodas, one of which is called VITELLA,[427] and it stands over
against this city of Nagumdym; the other is called AOPERADIANAR,[428]
and this is the one which they hold in most veneration, and to which
they make great pilgrimages.

In this pagoda, opposite to its principal gate which is to the
east, there is a very beautiful street of very beautiful houses with
balconies and arcades, in which are sheltered the pilgrims that come
to it, and there are also houses for the lodging of the upper classes;
the king has a palace in the same street, in which he resides when
he visits this pagoda. There is a pomegranate tree [429] above this
first gate, the gate has a very lofty tower all covered with rows of
men and women and hunting scenes and many other representations, and
as the tower goes narrowing towards the top so the images diminish
in size. Passing this first gate, you come at once into a large
courtyard with another gate of the same sort as the first, except
that it is rather smaller throughout; and passing this second gate,
there is a large court with verandahs all round on pillars of stone,
and in the middle of this court is the house of the idol.

Opposite the principal gate stand four columns, two gilded and the
other two copper, from which, owing to their great age as it seems to
me, the gold has worn off; and the other two are also of copper, for
all are of copper. That which stands nearest the gate of the temple
was given by this King Crisnarao who now reigns here, and the others
by his predecessors. All the outer side of the gate of the temple up
to the roof is covered with copper and gilded, and on each side of the
roof on the top are certain great animals that look like tigers, all
gilt. As soon as you enter this idol-shrine, you perceive from pillar
to pillar on which it is supported many little holes in which stand
oil lamps, which burn, so they tell me, every night, and they will
be in number two thousand five hundred or three thousand lights. As
soon as you pass this shrine you enter another small one like the
crypt (CINZEYRO)[430] of some church; it has two doors at the sides,
and thence onward this building is like a chapel, where stands the
idol which they adore. Before you get to it there are three doors;
the shrine is vaulted and dark without any light from the sky; it is
always lit with candles. At the first gate are doorkeepers who never
allow any one to enter except the Brahmans that have charge of it,
and I, because I gave something to them, was allowed to enter. Between
gate and gate are images of little idols. The principal idol is a
round stone without any shape; they have great devotion for it. This
building outside is all covered with copper gilt. At the back of
the temple outside, close to the verandahs of which I have spoken,
there is a small idol of white alabaster with six arms;[431] in one
it has a ...[432] and in the other a sword, and in the others sacred
emblems (ARMAS DE CASA), and it has below its feet a buffalo, and a
large animal which is helping to kill that buffalo. In this pagoda
there burns continually a lamp of GHEE, and around are other small
temples for houses of devotion.

The other temples aforesaid are made in the same manner, but this one
is the principal one and the oldest; they all have many buildings
and gardens with many trees, in which the Brahmans cultivate their
vegetables[433] and the other herbs that they eat. Whenever the
festival of any of these temples occurs they drag along certain
triumphal cars which run on wheels, and with it go dancing-girls and
other women with music to the temple, (conducting) the idol along the
said street with much pomp. I do not relate the manner in which these
cars are taken, because in all the time that I was in this city none
were taken round. There are many other temples in the city of which
I do not here speak, to avoid prolixity.

You should know that among these heathen there are days when they
celebrate their feasts as with us; and they have their days of fasting,
when all day they eat nothing, and eat only at midnight. When the
time of the principal festival arrives the king comes from the new
city to this city of Bisnaga, since it is the capital of the kingdom
and it is the custom there to make their feasts and to assemble. For
these feasts are summoned all the dancing-women of the kingdom, in
order that they should be present; and also the captains and kings
and great lords with all their retinues, -- except only those whom the
king may have sent to make war, or those who are in other parts, or at
the far end of the kingdom on the side where (an attack) is feared,
such as the kingdom of Oria and the territories of the Ydallcao;
and even if such captains are absent in such places, there appear
for them at the feasts those whom I shall hereafter mention.

These feasts begin on the 12th of September,[434] and they last nine
days, and take place at the king's palace.

The palace is on this fashion: it has a gate opening on to the open
space[435] of which I have spoken, and over this gate is a tower of
some height, made like the others with its verandahs; outside these
gates begins the wall which I said encircled the palace. At the gate
are many doorkeepers[436] with leather scourges in their hands, and
sticks, and they let no one enter but the captains and chief people,
and those about whom they receive orders from the Chief of the
Guard. Passing this gate you have an open space, and then you have
another gate like the first, also with its doorkeepers and guards;
and as soon as you enter inside this you have a large open space,
and on one side and the other are low verandahs where are seated the
captains and chief people in order to witness the feasts, and on the
left side of the north of this open space is a great one-storeyed
building (TERREA); all the rest are like it. This building stands on
pillars shaped like elephants and with other figures, and all open
in front, and they go up to it by staircases of stone; around it,
underneath, is a terrace (CORREDOR) paved with very good flagstones,
where stand some of the people looking at the feast. This house
is called the House of Victory, as it was made when the king came
back from the war against Orya, as I have already told you. On the
right side of the open space were some narrow scaffoldings, made of
wood and so lofty that they could be seen over the top of the wall;
they were covered at the top with crimson and green velvet and other
handsome cloths, and adorned from top to bottom. Let no one fancy that
these cloths were of wool, because there are none such in the country,
but they are of very fine cotton. These scaffoldings are not always
kept at that place, but they are specially made for these feasts;
there are eleven of them. Against the gates there were two circles in
which were the dancing-women, richly arrayed with many jewels of gold
and diamonds and many pearls. Opposite the gate which is on the east
side of the front of the open space, and in the middle of it, there
are two buildings of the same sort as the House of Victory of which
I have spoken; these buildings are served by a kind of staircase of
stone beautifully wrought, -- one is in the middle and the other at
the end. This building was all hung with rich cloths, both the walls
and the ceiling, as well as the supports, and the cloths of the walls
were adorned with figures in the manner of embroidery; these buildings
have two platforms one above the other, beautifully sculptured, with
their sides well made and worked, to which platforms the sons of the
king's favourites come for the feasts, and sometimes his eunuchs. On
the upper platform, close to the king, was Christovao de Figueiredo,
with all of us who came with him, for the king commanded that he should
be put in such a place as best to see the feasts and magnificence. That
I may not forget to tell of the streets that are in the palace I here
mention them. You must know that inside the palace that I have spoken
of is the dwelling of the king and of his wives and of the other women
who serve them; as I have already said, who are twelve thousand in
number; and they have an entrance to these rows of houses so that they
can go inside. Between this palace and the House of Victory is a gate
which serves as passage to it. Inside there are thirty-four streets.

Returning to the feasts, you must know that in this House of Victory
the king has a room (CASA) made of cloth, with its door closed,
where the idol has a shrine; and in the other, in the middle (of the
building), is placed a dais opposite the staircase in the middle; on
which dais stands a throne of state made thus, -- it is four-sided,
and flat, with a round top, and a hollow in the middle for the
seat. As regards the woodwork of it, you must know that it is all
covered with silk cloths (?SOAJES),[437] and has lions all of gold,
and in the spaces between the cloths (SOAJES) it has plates of gold
with many rubies and seed-pearls, and pearls underneath; and round
the sides it is all full of golden images of personages, and upon
these is much work in gold, with many precious stones. In this chair
is placed an idol, also of gold, embowered in roses and flowers. On
one side of this chair, on the dais below, stands a head-dress; this
also is made in the same manner; it is upright and as high as a span,
the top is rounded, it is all full of pearls and rubies and all other
precious stones, and on the top of it is a pearl as large as a nut,
which is not quite round. On the other side is an anklet for the foot
made in the same fashion; it is another state jewel, and is full of
large pearls and of many rubies, emeralds, and diamonds, and other
stones of value; it will be of the thickness of a man's arm. In front
of all this, at the edge[438] of the dais, resting on a support were
some cushions where the king was seated during all these feasts. The
feasts commence thus: --

You must know that when it is morning the king comes to this House
of Victory, and betakes himself to that room where the idol is with
its Brahmans, and he performs his prayers and ceremonies. Outside
the house are some of his favourites, and on the square are many
dancing-girls dancing. In their verandahs round the square are
many captains and chief people who come there in order to see; and
on the ground, near the platform of the house, are eleven horses
with handsome and well-arranged trappings, and behind them are four
beautiful elephants with many adornments. After the king has entered
inside he comes out, and with him a Brahman who takes in his hand a
basket full of white roses and approaches the king on the platform,
and the king, taking three handfuls of these roses, throws them to
the horses,[439] and after he has thrown them he takes a basket of
perfumes and acts towards them as though he would cense them; and when
he has finished doing this he reaches towards the elephants and does
the same to them. And when the king has finished this, the Brahman
takes the basket and descends to the platform,[440] and from thence
puts those roses and other flowers on the heads of all the horses,
and this done, returns to the king. Then the king goes again to where
the idol is, and as soon as he is inside they lift the curtains[441]
of the room, which are made like the purdahs of a tent, and the king
seats himself there where these are, and they lift them all. Thence
he witnesses the slaughter of twenty-four buffaloes and a hundred and
fifty sheep, with which a sacrifice is made to that idol; you must know
that they cut off the heads of these buffaloes and sheep at one blow
with certain large sickles which are wielded by a man who has charge
of this slaughter; they are so sure of hand that no blow misses. When
they have finished the slaughter of these cattle the king goes out
and goes to the other large buildings, on the platforms of which is a
crowd of Brahmans, and as soon as the king ascends to where they stand
they throw to the king ten or twelve roses -- those (that is) who are
nearest to him. Then he passes all along the top of the buildings,
and as soon as he is at the end he takes the cap from his head, and
after placing it on the ground turns back (to the place) where the
idol is; here he lies extended on the ground. When he has arisen he
betakes himself to the interior of the building, and enters a garden
(or walled enclosure -- QUYNTAL) where they say that a little fire has
been made, and he throws into the fire a powder made up of many things,
namely, rubies and pearls and all other kinds of precious stones,
and aloes and other sweet-scented things. This done, he returns to
the pagoda and goes inside and stays a little, at which time enter
by the other door some of his favourites who are in the building,
and they make their salaam. Then he goes back to the place whence he
threw the flowers to the horses, and as soon as he is here all the
captains and chief people come and make their salaam to him, and some,
if they so desire, present some gifts to him; then as they came so
they retire, and each one betakes himself to his own dwelling. And
the king withdraws to the interior of his palace by that gate which I
have already mentioned -- that which stands between the two buildings
that are in the arena (TERREYRO); the courtesans and bayaderes[442]
remain dancing in front of the temple and idol for a long time. This
is what is done during the morning of each day of these nine days,
with the ceremonies I have mentioned, and each day more splendid
(than the last).

Now, returning to the feasts. At three o'clock in the afternoon
every one comes to the palace. They do not admit every one at once
(they allowed us to go into the open part that is between the
gates), but there go inside only the wrestlers and dancing-women,
and the elephants, which go with their trappings and decorations,
those that sit on them being armed with shields and javelins, and
wearing quilted tunics.[443] As soon as these are inside they range
themselves round the arena, each one in his place, and the wrestlers
go close to the staircase which is in the middle of that building,
where has been prepared a large space of ground for the dancing-women
to wrestle. Many other people are then at the entrance-gate opposite to
the building, namely Brahmans, and the sons of the King's favourites,
and their relations; all these are noble youths who serve before the
king. The officers of the household go about keeping order amongst all
the people, and keep each one in his own place. The different pavilions
are separated by doors, so that no one may enter unless he is invited.

Salvatinica,[444] who is the principal person that enters the building,
supervises the whole, for he brought up the king and made him king,
and so the king looks on him like a father. Whenever the king calls
to him he addresses him as "Lord (SENHOR) Salvatinica," and all the
captains and nobles of the realm make salaam to him. This Salvatinica
stands inside the arena where the festivals go on, near one of the
doors, and from there gives the word for the admission of all the
things necessary for the festival.

After all this is done and arranged the king goes forth and seats
himself on the dais I have mentioned, where is the throne and the
other things, and all those that are inside make their salaam to
him. As soon as they have done this the wrestlers seat themselves
on the ground, for these are allowed to remain seated, but no other,
howsoever great a lord he be, except the king so commands; and these
also eat betel, though none else may eat it in his presence except
the dancing-women, who may always eat it before him. As soon as the
king is seated in his place he bids to sit with him three or four men
who belong to his race, and who are themselves kings and the fathers
of his wives; the principal of these is the king of Syrimgapatao and
of all the territory bordering on Malabar, and this king is called
Cumarvirya,[445] and he seats himself as far in front as the king on
the other side of the dais, the rest are behind.

There the king sits, dressed in white clothes all covered with
(embroidery of) golden roses and wearing his jewels -- he wears a
quantity of these white garments, and I always saw him so dressed --
and around him stand his pages with his betel, and his sword, and the
other things which are his insignia of state. Many Brahmans stand round
the throne on which rests the idol, fanning it with horsetail plumes,
coloured, the handles of which are all overlaid with gold; these plumes
are tokens of the highest dignity; they also fan the king with them.

As[446] soon as the king is seated, the captains who waited without
make their entrance, each one by himself, attended by his chief people,
and so on, all in order; they approach and make their salaams to the
king, and then take their places in the pavilions (VERAMDAS) which
I have previously described. As soon as these nobles have finished
entering, the captains of the troops approach with shields and spears,
and afterwards the captains of the archers; these officers are all
stationed on the ground around the arena in front of the elephants,
and they constitute the king's guard, for into such a place no man
may enter bearing arms, nor near to where the king is. As soon as
these soldiers have all taken their places the women begin to dance,
while some of them place themselves in the circular galleries that
I have said were (erected) at their gate of entrance. Who can fitly
describe to you the great riches these women carry on their persons? --
collars of gold with so many diamonds and rubies and pearls, bracelets
also on their arms and on their upper arms, girdles below, and of
necessity anklets on the feet. The marvel should be otherwise, namely
that women of such a profession should obtain such wealth; but there
are women among them who have lands that have been given to them,
and litters, and so many maid-servants that one cannot number all
their things. There is a woman in this city who is said to have a
hundred thousand PARDAOS,[447] and I believe this from what I have
seen of them.

Then the wrestlers begin their play. Their wrestling does not seem
like ours, but there are blows (given), so severe as to break teeth,
and put out eyes, and disfigure faces, so much so that here and
there men are carried off speechless by their friends; they give
one another fine falls too. They have their captains and judges,
who are there to put each one on an equal footing in the field,
and also to adjust the honours to him who wins.

In all this portion of the day nothing more is done than this wrestling
and the dancing of the women, but as soon as ever the sun is down many
torches are lit and some great flambeaux made of cloth; and these are
placed about the arena in such a way that the whole is as light as
day, and even along the top of the walls, for on all the battlements
are lighted lamps, and the place where the king sits is all full of
torches. As soon as these are all lit up there are introduced many very
graceful plays and contrivances, but these do not stop long; they only
approach where the king is and then go out. Then there enter others in
other fashion, with battles of people on horseback; these horses are
like the hobby-horses made in Portugal for the feast of the Corpo de
Dios; others come with casting-nets, fishing, and capturing the men
that are in the arena. When these amusements are ended, they begin to
throw up many rockets and many different sorts of fires, also castles
that burn and fling out from themselves many bombs (TIROS) and rockets.

When these fireworks are finished, there enter many triumphal cars
which belong to the captains, some of them sent by those captains
who are waging war in foreign parts; and they enter thus. The first
belongs to Salvatinica, and they come in one after the other. Some of
the cars appear covered with many rich cloths, having on them many
devices of dancing-girls and other human figures; there are other
cars having tiers one on top of another, and others all of one kind;
and so in their order they pass to where the king is. When the cars
have gone out they are immediately followed by many horses covered
with trappings and cloths of very fine stuff of the king's colours,
and with many roses and flowers on their heads and necks, and with
their bridles all gilded; and in front of these horses goes a horse
with two state-umbrellas of the king, and with grander decorations
than the others, and one of the lesser equerries leads it by the
bridle. In front of this horse goes another caracoling and prancing,
as do all horses here, being trained in that art. You must know that
this horse that is conducted with all this state is a horse that the


 


Back to Full Books