Part 6 out of 8



(DERAO SYGNAES D ELLE). As soon as the captain was thus killed there
was great lamentation in the city, and soon the wall was deserted,
so that the men from the King's camp were left to do as they pleased
with it; and they noticed the outcry that arose within and saw that
there was no one defending the wall. They therefore retired to see
what should happen, and left off fighting for that day.



CHAPTER 11


How those in the city asked for terms, and the king granted them
quarter.

Next day, which was twenty days since the battle had taken place in
which the Ydallcao had been defeated, the men of the city opened a
gate, and with a white flag carried in front of them went the way of
the King's camp with their hands uplifted, begging the King's mercy.

When the King was advised of their coming, he commanded Solestema,[563]
his minister, to receive them; and when they saw that he came out to
receive them they began to hope that they should experience kindness
at the King's hands.

Thus they came to the place where he was, and there they prostrated
themselves on the ground with much groaning and tears, and besought
his pity and benevolence.

The King commanded them to rise, saying that he would save all their
persons and property, and that they need have no fear but should
return to the city, and that on the next day he would enter it;
and he bade a captain take possession of the city.

Whilst the Moors were thus in presence of the King (the soldiers
looking on), they saw Christovao de Figueiredo, and told the King
that the conquest and capture of the city was due to that foreigner,
that he had slain their captain, and with his people had killed many
Moors, which caused the city's destruction. The King, casting his
eyes on Christovao de Figueiredo, nodded his head, and turned to the
people telling them to observe what great things could be effected
by one good man. He then retired to his tent and the men of the city
to the city, and the king's troops made great feasting and rejoicing.


CHAPTER 12


How the King entered the city, and of the feast that was made for him,
and of the regulations and arrangements he made there.

As soon as the next day dawned, the King, after he had performed both
his customary prayers and others which it is their wont to offer after
victories, giving thanks to God (for indeed the principal thing they
pray for is a conquest such as this), rode in company with the other
great lords and his captains, and with his guard took the way to the
city. There the citizens were standing awaiting his arrival, with more
cheerful countenances than their real feelings warranted, yet striving
to take courage, and they followed him with much loud shouting; crying,
-- "God be praised who has sent to save us after so many years!" and
with these and other such words they begged him to spare them and have
pity on them. So he proceeded till he arrived close to the citadel,
when he sent to call the most honoured men in the city, and to these
the King said that he would spare all their property, that they might
freely act as they wished regarding both that and their persons,
and those who wished to stay in the city might remain in their old
state as before; and as for those who wished to depart they might do
so at once with all that they possessed. They all raised their hands
to Heaven, and threw themselves on the ground in thankfulness for such
gentle treatment. While the King was thus engaged there came men to
tell him that his troops were robbing the city, and he at once tool;
measures to prevent this, and everything was returned to its owner;
but as in such cases as these the conquered are content merely with
their own liberty, laying little store by anything they may get back,
great robberies took place; and some of these afterwards came to the
ears of the King, and those who had done it were soundly chastised.

In a short time the defeat of the Ydallcao was known all over India,
and also in other regions of the interior, he being a great lord in
these parts; and as soon as the news was carried to Zemelluco and
Madremalluco and Destuy and Virido, and also to other lords who were
like slaves to the king Daquym,[564] although in some measure they
rejoiced since they wished him ill, yet on the other hand they began
to be fearful for their own safety.[565] So they all took measures
to send their envoys, and these found the King still inside the
city of Rachol. Astonished though they were to see that the King
had captured so strong a city, they were much more surprised to see
how great was his power and how numerous his troops. Having arrived
where he was they gave him the letters they had brought, and these
were forthwith read. In these the chiefs told the King that he ought
to content himself with having defeated the Ydallcao as he had done,
and ought not to wage further war; they begged him of his goodness
to return to the Ydallcao that which he had so taken from him, and
that if he did so they would always obey whatever he commanded; but
if he was not of a mind to this, then he must know for certain that
they would be compelled to turn against him and forthwith join the
Ydallcao, for whom they would speedily recover that which he had now
lost. The King, seeing what was contained in the letters, answered
them in the following manner by one single letter to them all; --
"Honoured Madremalluco, and Zemelluco, Descar, and Veride, and all
others of the kingdom of Daquym, I have seen your letters, and thank
you much for what you have sent to say. As regards the Ydallcao,
what I have done to him and taken from him he has richly deserved;
as regards returning it to him that does not seem to me reasonable,
nor am I going to do it; and as for your further statement that ye will
all turn against me in aid of him if I do not do as ye ask, I pray
you do not take the trouble to come hither, for I will myself go to
seek ye if ye dare to await me in your lands; -- and this I send you
for answer." And he commanded to give many gifts to the messengers,
and giving his letter to them sent them away.


CHAPTER 13


How a number of people left the city, and the King did much kindness
to them.

Many people left the city, and to many who had nothing wherewith to
depart the king commanded to give all that was required for their
journey. Here the King stayed some days, after having made all the
arrangements that were necessary for the government of the city;
and after repairing the walls he left behind him sufficient troops
to guard the place, and took the road to the city of Bisnaga, where
he was received with great triumphs, and great feasts were made and
he bestowed bountiful rewards on his troops.

As soon as the festivals were ended he went to the new city; and,
being there, they told him how there was entered an ambassador of the
Ydallcao. Already he knew that an ambassador had come but he pretended
that he did not know, since it is not customary for the King to send
out to receive any ambassador (on his arrival). Since this ambassador
was in the city of Bisnaga, knowing that the King was in the new
city, which is two leagues from Bisnaga, he betook himself thither;
and close to the city bade the people pitch his tent, which was the
best and most beautiful and rich that up to that time had ever been
seen in those parts. This ambassador was called Matucotam; he brought
with him one hundred and fifty horse and much people to serve him and
many pack animals, among which were certain camels. He brought also
two of the scribes of the chamber of the Ydallcao, so that indeed
you would believe that he had brought all the power of the Ydallcao
"pera segumdo elle ficou desbaratado."[566]

As soon as he had thus settled himself the ambassador sent to inform
the King of his arrival, and begged that His Highness would grant
him an audience and despatch him without delay. The King replied that
he would see him,[567] but told him that he should not be impatient
since he himself had but now arrived, and that he would give him
leave to depart as soon as the time had arrived. And with this the
ambassador stayed there a month without the King having sought to see
him, nor having asked to know why he had come; he went every day to
the palace, and seeing the way in which the King acted towards him
he determined to speak no more but to wait till the King summoned
him. Still he never ceased to go every day to the palace and to speak
with the nobles. One day the King sent to tell the ambassador that
the following day was an auspicious day, and that he wished to hear
him and learn wherefore he had come, and the ambassador made ready
as it behoved him to present himself before so great a lord. As was
fitting, considering his mission and the request he had to make, he
was accompanied by many Moors whom the city contained, and had with
him all his people with their trumpets and drums as was customary;
and so he went to the palace, where he was received very honourably
by the nobles and officers of the household. They seated themselves
inside the first gate, awaiting there a message from the King giving
permission to enter where he was, and there was no long delay before
the command to admit him was given. His obeisance to the King having
been made according to his mode and custom, the men of the council
standing by the King's side, he was bidden to announce the terms
of his embassy, the King being ready graciously to listen; and the
ambassador, seeing that the King so commanded, delivered himself of
his message in manner following, with the awed demeanour assumed by
such envoys when they find themselves in presence of such great kings.


CHAPTER 14


How the Captain acquitted himself of his embassy before the King.

"Sire! the Ydallcao, my master, sends me to thee; and by my mouth he
begs thee that thou wouldest be pleased to do justice. He bids me
say that he bears very good will towards thee[568] as towards the
most true and powerful prince in all the world, and one possessed,
of most justice and truth; that thou without reason hast broken the
friendship and peace which thou hast had towards him, and not only
so but a peace which was made so many years ago and maintained by all
the kings so truthfully; that he does not know why thou hast left thy
kingdom and made such war on him; that he was without suspicion when
they brought him the news how thou hadst besieged the city of Rachol,
and hadst robbed and destroyed the country round about, which news
caused him to move and come to its rescue; that then all the members of
his court were slain by thee, and his camp all plundered and destroyed,
thou thyself being good witness of what was done, and that he begs
thee to make amends therefor, and to send back to him his artillery
and tents, his horses and elephants, with the rest that was taken from
him, and also to restore his city of Rachol; that if thou wilt give him
the satisfaction for which he prays as to this property and all other
things thou wilt have him always for a loyal friend; but if not, thy
action will be evil, even though pleasing to thyself." Thus he ended,
without saying more. The King said that he might retire and repose,
and that next day he would give him leave to depart, and the King
gave him a robe of silk and the cloths that are customary.


CHAPTER 15


How the King sent to call the ambassador, and of the answer which he
gave to him.

Next day the King sent to call the ambassador, and after other things
had been spoken of between[569] them, the King said that he would be
content to restore everything to the Ydallcao according to his wish,
and would be pleased at once to release Satabetacao, provided the
Ydallcao would come and kiss his foot. When the ambassador heard the
King's answer he took leave of him and went to his tent; and he wrote
to the Ydallcao and told him what had passed, sending to him one of the
scribes that had come with him. And much time had not passed when the
Ydallcao sent him a reply, saying: How could it be possible for him to
meet the King, seeing that he could not go to Bisnaga? and yet that
he was of full mind joyfully to do that which the King wished. With
this answer the ambassador went to the King, and since the King
would have set higher value on the Ydallcao's coming to kiss his feet
than on all that he had taken from him, he said to the ambassador,
"Do thou cause the Ydallcao to come to the confines of my kingdom, for
I shall be, soon there." Agreeing to this, the ambassador departed,
so as to persuade the Ydallcao to come to the boundary. The King on
his part went forthwith to a city called Mudugal[570] which is close
to the boundary, and there he waited until they told him that the
Ydallcao was coming and was already near at hand. Forthwith the King
set out to meet him, and entered the kingdom of Daquem, so desirous
was he to meet the Ydallcao; but the Ydallcao, after all, dared not
meet the King. And the King journeyed so far, whilst they kept saying
to him, "Lo! he is here close at hand," that he even went as far as
Bizapor,[571] which is the best city in all the kingdom of Daquem. It
has numbers of beautiful houses built according to our own fashion,
with many gardens and bowers made of grape-vines, and pomegranates,
and oranges and lemons, and all other kinds of garden produce.

Hither went the King, for it seemed well for him to await the coming
of the Ydallcao in so goodly a city; and he formed the determination
that if he got him here he would seize him or command him to be put to
death, to avenge the affront that had been put upon him; and seeing
that his enemy did not dare to come he remained in the city several
days. Then he turned away because water failed him; for since this
city lies in a plain and has no water save that which it receives
from rainfall into two lakes, of which there are two large ones, the
Moors had opened these in order to drain them, so that the King should
not be able to stay in their country. For this reason it behoved the
King to depart. But the city was left almost in ruins -- not that the
King had commanded it to be destroyed, but that his troops, in order
to make fires for cooking, had torn down so many houses that it was
a great grief to see -- and this was occasioned by there being in
the country a dearth of firewood, which comes to them from a great
distance. The Ydallcao sent to ask the King what wrong the houses
of his captains had done that he had commanded to destroy them; for
there remained no other houses standing save only the palaces of the
Ydallcao, the King himself being therein. The King sent answer that it
was not he who had done it, but that he could not control his people.

When the King went to the town of Modogal the Ydallcao returned to
Bigapor, where, seeing the great havoc that had been wrought in it,
he took to himself the blame for such damage having been done,[572]
saying that if he had gone to the King such destruction would not have
taken place, and that at least he could do this in future; he said that
he had been badly advised since for his own part he had been prepared
to do it. Thus he took counsel with his advisers, putting before them
how secure his position was if he had the friendship of the King,
that if allied to him he might be able to still further increase
(the greatness of) his State, and that with the King's favour he
would be able to carry out all his wishes. Concerning these things
and others similar to these he continued constantly speaking with his
advisers. Wherefore Acadacao the lord of Bilgao, he who had fled with
him in the battle, and who was a man sagacious and cunning in such
matters, addressed the Ydallcao begging permission to go himself to
the King, and saying that he would remedy everything and would cause
everything to take place just as his lord wished; and the Ydallcao
listened to him readily.

Now Acadacao did not trouble himself to make this journey because
he desired to serve the Ydallcao, for another would have done it as
well, but he did it with a villainous motive and from the ill-will
he bore to Salebatacao whom the King held in prison at Bisnaga; and
the reason that he had this wicked motive was because Salebatacao
knew that Acadacao was the man that had caused the Ydallcao to
flee, and that the cowardice of such an act was enough to destroy
an army. Salebatacao had spoken angrily about this to all those who
went to see him or who were sent to visit him, and he always said
that he did not desire to be released from his captivity save for one
reason only, namely that he might ruin Acadacao and war against him as
against a mortal enemy. These things were all known to Acadacao, and he
knew that if they released him it would come to pass as he had said,
and therefore he determined to prevent this by contriving his enemy's
death, as will be mentioned in its place. It was for this reason that
Acadacao asked to be sent as ambassador to the King; and this was done.



CHAPTER 16


How Acadacao went as ambassador for his King and compassed the death
of Sallabatecao.

Acadacao, being despatched by the Ydallcao, accompanied by certain
horsemen with some servants took the road to the city of Mudogal where
the King was, and the Ydallcao went with him as far as the river. When
Acadacao had arrived, being allowed inside the city by command of
the King, he remained several days without seeing the King until he
was summoned by his order; then he was admitted and spoke with the
King, giving him, with the manner of one who in such negotiations is
both wise and bold, an excuse for the mistake which the Ydallcao had
committed. He knew how to speak to the King so well that he removed
all the King's wrath and fury against the Ydallcao, and he told the
King that the principal cause why the Ydallcao did not meet him was
the conduct of Salebatacao whom he had captured, and that this man
had written to the Ydallcao telling him not to do so, and giving for
reason that the King desired to slay him. By these and other similar
sayings he sought to set the King's mind against Salebatacao, even to
the death, and the King, seeing what Acadacao wanted, and believing
that a man of such great fame would not be guilty of saying anything
that was not perfectly true, angrily commanded that Salebatacao,
who was then in Bisnaga, should be beheaded; and this was at once
done as soon as the message arrived.

As soon as Acadacao had accomplished this business he thought himself
unsafe, and at once asked leave of the King, saying that he wished
to go and get the Ydallcao to come to the river, so that when His
Highness arrived he might meet him there. But the King told him not to
be impatient but to amuse himself there some days, and added that he
wished to show him some things, and that he had somewhat about which
to speak to him. Acadacao, however, being afraid that his treason
would be discovered, did not feel safe, and behaved in such a manner
that what he had done concerning Salebatacao was found out; wherefore
the King sent to seize him, but when they went to look for him he was
already gone. For he fled one night and betook himself to the Ydalcao,
telling him that the King had commanded Salebatacao to be put to death,
and that he wanted to do the same to him, and so he had escaped; and
it seemed to him that he (the Ydalcao) ought not to trust the King,
who after all was nothing but a black. After he had spoken in this
way he went to Bilgao, where he strengthened his position, and when
the Ydallcao sent afterwards to summon him he never obeyed, because
he knew that the wickedness that he had done had been found out.


CHAPTER 17


How the King went to the extremity of his territory to meet the
Ydalcao, and what he did on not finding him.

The King did not fail to go to the extremity of his territory, and
since he did not find the Ydalcao there, nor his mother, as Acadacao
had told him, he at once perceived that this was due to trickery
on the part of Acadacao, and that he had done it all in order to
compass the death of Salebatacao. Full of fury at this he entered
the kingdom of Daquem and marched against the city of Culbergura[573]
and destroyed it and razed the fortress to the ground, and the same
with many other places.

Thence he wanted to press forward, but his councillors did not agree
to this, saying that water would fail him by that road and that it
did not seem to them that those Moorish lords whom they counted as
friends would be otherwise than afraid that the King would take their
lands as he had taken those of the others, since they all served one
sovereign, and that for this reason these lords would probably make
friends with the Ydalcao, and together they would come against the
King; and although there was no reason to be afraid of them, yet the
King must needs fear the want of water, of which they had none. And
the King agreed that this counsel was good.

In this city of Calbergara, in the fortress belonging to it, the King
took three sons of the King of Daquem. He made the eldest King of the
kingdom of Daquem, his father being dead, though the Ydallcao wanted
to make King one of his brothers-in-law, who was a bastard son of
the King of Daquem, and had married one of the Ydallcao's sisters;
for this reason he had kept these three brothers prisoners in that
fortress. He whom he thus made King was received by all the realm as
such, and obeyed by all the great lords, and even by the Ydallcao owing
to his fear of the King.[574] The other two brothers he took with him,
and gave them each one an allowance, to each one every year fifty
thousand gold PARDAOS; and he holds them and treats them as princes
and great lords, as indeed they are. After the return of the King
to Bisnaga, which took place in the same year in which he had left,
nothing more passed between him and the Ydalcao worthy of record,
relating either to peace or war.



CHAPTER 18


How this King, during his own lifetime, raised to be King his son,
being of the age of six years.

After the King had made an end of this, and had obtained so great a
victory over his enemies, perceiving that he was already advanced in
years, desiring to rest in his old age and wishing his son to become
King when he died, he determined to make him King during his lifetime,
the boy being six years old and the King not knowing what would happen
after his death. Wherefore he abdicated his throne and all his power
and name, and gave it all to his son, and himself became his minister,
and Salvatinica[575] who had held that office became his counsellor,
and he made one of the latter's sons a great lord among them. And so
far did King Crisnarao go that after he had given the kingdom to his
son, he himself did obeisance to him. With these changes the King
made great festivals which lasted eight months, during which time
the son of the King fell sick of a disease of which he died.

After his death Crisnarao learned that his son had died by poison given
him by the son of Sallvatinica, and in his anger, being certain that
this was so, he sent to call Salvatinica and his son and Guandaja,
brother of Ssallvatinica, and many other captains relatives of
Ssallvatinica, and made them a speech at the time of the salaam,
there being present many chiefs and principal persons of the kingdom,
and relations of Ssallvatinica; he addressed him thus: -- "I held thee
always as my great friend, and now for these forty years thou hast
been governor in this kingdom, which thou gavest me; yet I am under
no obligation to thee for that, because in doing so thou didst act
in a way contrary to thy duty. Thou wert bound, since thy lord the
King my brother commanded so, to put out mine eyes; yet thou didst
not carry out his will nor obey him, but instead thou didst cheat
him and the eyes of a goat were put out, wherefore, since thou didst
not fulfil his command, thou wert a traitor, and thy sons with thee
for whom I have done so much. Now I have learnt that my son died of
poison given to him by thee and thy sons, and for that ye are all here
made prisoners." With these words he arose and laid hands on them and
seized them, and in doing so called for aid from many Portuguese who
were then in the country with horses, asking them to come to his aid;
and after he had seized the men, father and sons, they remained three
years in prison. And he made minister a son of Codemerade, the same
who had killed the son of King Narsymga in the city of Penagundy in
the garden by treachery, by command of the King his father, as has
already been told in this history.[576]

And soon afterwards Danayque, son of Salvatinica, escaped from prison
and betook himself to a mountain range in which dwelt nobody but
robbers and highwaymen, and in this there was a fortress where dwelt
a captain, his relative, who received him and helped him in all that
he could, and from there he made such war on the King Crisnarao that
he was driven to send against him much people, and as captain of the
army he sent his minister Ajaboissa, who invested the place on all
sides and took him therein and brought him prisoner to the King. After
he had so come the King commanded him to be brought before him, with
Sallvatinica his father and another brother of his who was kept in
the prison, and he sent them to the place of executions and there had
their eyes put out, for in this country they do not put Brahmans to
death but only inflict some punishment so that they remain alive. So he
put them in prison again, and there Timadanayque died, and Salvatinica
his father remained in the prison with his other son Gamdarja.[577]


CHAPTER 19


How the Ydallcao came against Rachol, and did not dare to await the
King, and fled.

At this time the Ydallcao collected his army and formed afresh
his forces of cavalry and elephants, and marched upon Rachol which
remained under the king of Bisnaga. Hearing this news, Crisnarao,
without even telling any one, ordered to saddle a horse, and he rode
at full speed in the direction of Rachol where already the Ydallcao
was; but as soon as his enemy was aware of the coming of the King
he fled. On the road King Crisnarao bought six hundred horses from
the Portuguese at the rate of 4 3/4 for 1000 pardaos.[578] And from
Rachol he sent a message to the Ydallcao saying that he had already
twice broken his oath and his word, and that as he had not fulfilled
the promise he had made he would make war on him in such fashion as
that by force he should become his vassal, and that he would not let
him alone till he had taken from him Billgao.[579]

As the winter had now begun the King could not then go forward, and
so he went to Bisnaga to make ready for this war; and he commanded to
prepare a large force of artillery, and sent an ambassador to Goa to
ask for the help of the Governor. He promised him that after taking
Billgao he would give him the mainland; for this city of Billgao is
fifteen leagues from Goa, and its captain is lord of the mainland
of Goa. Goa is the frontier or boundary of his city of Billgao,
and there is one of his captains at a fortress called Pomda which
is three leagues from Goa by the mainland, who also receives the
revenues and has command over several villages; and in like manner
these and others have captains appointed by the Ydalcao, who is lord
of the whole land.[580]

While Crisnarao was thus making ready he presently fell sick of the
same illness of which all his ancestors had died, with pains in the
groin, of which die all the kings of Bisnaga.

Now this King Crisnarao, when he was young and growing up in this
city of Bisnaga, had an intrigue with a courtezan for whom he had
much affection, and who was called Chinadevidy, and for the great
love he bore her he promised many times that if ever he became King
he would marry her; and though he said this in jest, it afterwards
became true, so the history records. For when raised to the throne
and taken away from the things he had done when a young man, he still
did not forget the affection he felt for this woman, but used secretly
to leave his palace and go to her house. And this was discovered one
night by his minister Sallvatinica, who watched him until he had got
into the woman's house, and he rebuked him much for it and brought
him back to the palace. Then the King told him how well he loved her,
and that he had promised to marry this woman and was determined to
do so in any case; and the minister, seeing how he was bent on it,
gave way to his wish, saying that he would accomplish it in such
a way that His Highness would not be blamed for it. In order to do
this he sought for him a very beautiful woman of the family of the
kings of Narsymga, and after he had married him to her, at the end of
the wedding ceremonies, he put this woman and the other in a house,
to which he had added a tower very lofty and large, and in which he
lodged her. Afterwards the King married many other wives, for these
kings hold it as a very honourable thing to have many wives; and
this King Crisnarao married four, and yet he loved this one better
than any of the others. This King built a city in honour of this
woman, for the love he bore her, and called its name Nagallapor and
surrounded it with a new wall which is one of the best works that he
has in his kingdom, and he made in it a street very long and large
with houses all of masonry. In order to people this town he ordered
all the chiefs of his kingdom to build themselves palaces therein,
and so they did. This town has one principal street, of length
four thousand and seven hundred paces[581] and of breadth forty,
which is certainly the most beautiful street it is possible to see;
and he made and finished this town without stinting any expense on
it. It now yields forty-two thousand PARDAOS of duties for things
which enter into it, the duties in this land being very great; since
nothing comes through the gates that does not pay duty, even men and
women, as well as head-loads and all merchandise.

This King also made in his time a lake for water, which lies between
two very lofty SERRAS. But since he had no means in the country for
making it, nor any one who could do it, he sent to Goa to ask the
Governor to send some Portuguese masons, and the Governor sent him
Joao della Ponte,[582] a great worker in stone, to whom the King told
how he wanted the tank built. Though it seemed to this man (MESTRE,
modern MAISTRY) impossible to be made, nevertheless he told the King
he would do it and asked him to have lime prepared, at which the
King laughed much, for in his country when they build a house they
do not understand how to use lime. The King commanded to throw down
quantities of stone and cast down many great rocks into the valley,
but everything fell to pieces, so that all the work done in the day
was destroyed each night, and the King, amazed at this, sent to
call his wise men and sorcerers and asked them what they thought
of this thing. They told him that his idols were not pleased with
this work, it being so great and he giving them nothing, and that
unless he spilled there the blood of men or women or buffaloes that
work would never be finished. So the King sent to bring hither all
the men who were his prisoners, and who deserved death, and ordered
them there to be beheaded; and with this the work advanced. He made
a bank across the middle of the valley so lofty and wide that it was
a crossbow-shot in breadth and length, and had large openings;[583]
and below it he put pipes by which the water escaped, and when they
wish so to do they close these. By means of this water they made many
improvements in the city, and many channels by which they irrigated
rice-fields and gardens, and in order that they might improve their
lands he gave the people the lands which are irrigated by this water
free for nine years,[584] until they had made their improvements,
so that the revenue already amounts to 20,000 PARDAOS.

Above this tank is a very large ridge all enclosed, and in the middle
some very strong gates with two towers, one on one side and one on
the other; and within are always posted 1000 men on guard. For through
this gate all things must enter that come into the two cities, since
in order to enter the city of Bisnaga there is no other road but this,
all other roads meeting there. This gate is rented out for 12,000
PARDAOS each year, and no man can enter it without paying just what the
renters ask, country folk as well as strangers. In both these cities
there is no provision or merchandise whatever,[585] for all comes from
outside on pack-oxen, since in this country they always use beasts
for burdens;[586] and every day there enter by these gates 2000 oxen,
and every one of these pays three VINTEES,[587] except certain polled
oxen without horns, which never pay anything in any part of the realm.

Outside these two cities are fields and places richly cultivated with
wheat and gram and rice and millet, for this last is the grain which
is most consumed in the land; and next to it betel (BETRE), which is
a thing that in the greater part of the country they always eat and
carry in the mouth.


CHAPTER 20


How on the death of Crisnarao his brother Achetarao was raised to
be king.

Before[588] the death of King Crisnarao from his disease as has been
before recounted, being sick and already despairing of his life, he
made a will, saying that of his three brothers whom, at the time when
they raised him to be King, he had sent to be confined in the fortress
of Chamdegary[589] with his nephew, son of the King Busbalrao,[590]
they should make King his brother Achetarao[591] who now reigns;
for the latter seemed to him to be better fitted for that than any
of the others, for the reason that he himself had no son of fit age
for the throne, but only one of the age of eighteen months. After his
death Salvanay became minister of the kingdom, and governed it till
the coming of King Achitarao from the fortress of Chamdegary where
he was detained. And he further left in his will that he should take
Billgao,[592] and should make war on the Ydallcao.

Which King Chytarao, after he ascended the throne, gave himself over to
vice and tyranny. He is a man of very little honesty, and on account of
this the people and the captains are much discontented with his evil
life and inclinations; for he has never done anything except those
things that are desired by his two brothers-in-law,[593] who are men
very evilly disposed and great Jews. By reason of this the Ydalcao,
learning of how little weight he was, determined to make war on him,
believing that he would easily succeed since the King was not inclined
to war; so he made his forces ready, and began to invade the King's
territory, and arrived within a league of the city of Bisnaga. Chetarao
was in the city with such great forces and power that he could easily
have captured him if his heart had allowed him to take action, since
the Ydallcao had with him only 12,000 foot and 30,000 horse; yet
with this small force the Ydallcao entered Nagallapor a league from
Bisnaga and razed it to the ground. The King never tried to go out
against him, nor had he the stomach for a fight, and there were only
small skirmishes by some captains, good horsemen. These spoke to the
King, asking that His Highness would give them leave to attack, and
saying that his own presence was unnecessary for so slight an affair;
but the King was terrified, and by the advice of his brothers-in-law
(of which they gave not a little) decided to send and make peace with
the Ydallcao. The Ydallcao was very glad and made a peace with him
which was to last for a hundred years, on condition that the King
should give him ten LAKHS of gold PARDAOS, each LAKH being 100,000
PARDAOS, and further should yield up to him the city of Rachol which
the King Crisnarao had taken from him, and which had a revenue with
its lands of 150,000 PARDAOS, as well as jewels which could easily
be valued at a LAKH. The King accepted these terms, and the Ydallcao
departed well pleased with this money; and after all was done the
King sent to him a diamond stone weighing 130 MANGELLINIS,[594]
with fifteen other similar ones worth fully a LAKH. This money he
soon afterwards recovered and put in his treasury, exacting payments
from his captains and people so ruthlessly that they say that in six
months he had recovered and put the whole in his treasury.

Wherefore the captains and troops, both because he made this peace
and because he exacted this sum of money contrary to the wishes of
them all, have lived greatly discontented, and have held that if this
kingdom should ever be brought to destruction, it must take place in
the lifetime of King Chitarao; for he had destroyed the principal
people of his kingdom and killed their sons and taken their goods,
all owing to the bad counsel of his brothers-in-law, by whom he
was dominated.

I will tell you of one who was called Crisnaranarque whom he seized
one night, and who, before he surrendered himself, killed all his
wives, in number two hundred, and then killed himself with poison in
presence of the King. This was because the King wanted to kill his son
in his presence. By sale of the captain's arms, namely daggers, swords,
spears, battle-axes and other things, which were all ornamented with
gold and silver, the King realised more than 3000 PARDAOS. In this way
the kingdom has been deprived of its principal men and of those who
sustain it, wherefore the Ydalcao holds it in so little esteem that he
puts upon it every day a thousand affronts and requisitions. Of this
King there is nothing more so far to recount, save that he is a man
that they hold to be of little force of character, and very negligent
of the things which most concern the welfare of his kingdom and State.


CHAPTER 21


Of the manner of attendance on these kings, which is as follows.

[What follows concerns the reign of Achyuta Raya.]

All the service of this house, with the things which they make use of,
is of silver and gold, that is to say basins and bowls, stools, ewers,
and other vessels of that sort. The bedsteads[595] in which his wives
sleep are covered and adorned with silver plates. Every wife has her
bed in which she sleeps, and that of the King is plated and lined and
has all its legs of gold, its mattress of silk, and its round bolster
worked round the ends with large seed pearls. It has four pillows of
the same pattern for the feet, and has no other sheet than a silk
cloth on top. He always carries with him a mosquito curtain with a
frame of silver,[596] and he has a house made of pieces of iron in
which is contained a very large bed, which is intended for such time
as he takes the field.

He has five hundred wives and as many less or more as he wants, with
whom he sleeps; and all of these burn themselves at his death. When
he journeys to any place he takes twenty-five or thirty of his most
favourite wives, who go with him, each one in her palanqueen with
poles. The palanqueen of the principal wife is an covered with scarlet
cloth tasselled with large and heavy work in seed-pearls and pearls,
and the pole itself is ornamented with gold. The palanqueens of the
other wives are ornamented only with silver, but another palanqueen,
which is for his own person, always goes on the right side, and is in
the same way decorated with gold. For a son or a daughter, if such an
one goes with him, he takes another bedstead of ivory inlaid with gold;
and when he takes the field, wherever he pitches his camp there they
make for him houses of stone and clay, for he does not stay in a tent,
and he always has these decorated with cloths.[597]

In his palace within the gates he is served by women and eunuchs
and servants numbering fully five or six hundred; and these wives
of the King all have their own officials for their service, each
for herself, just as the King has within the gates, but these are
all women. The palaces of the King are large and with large rooms;
they have cloisters like monasteries, with cells, and in each one is
one of his wives, and with each of these ladies is her maid-servant;
and when the King retires to rest he passes through these cloisters,
and his wives stand at the doors and call him in; but these are not
the principal wives, they are the daughters of captains and nobles
of the country. Inside the gates of the palace they say that there
are over two hundred milch-cows, from the milk of which they make
butter for these ladies to eat.

The King has no expense in connection with his food, because the nobles
send it to him every day to his house, namely rice and wheat and meat
and fowls with all other necessary things. In the kitchen there are
some two hundred inferior guards, and four over it, and two chief
officers of the guard; and those who are now captains of the guard
of this king are called, one Pedanayque and the other Ajanaique,
they are also captains of soldiers; these porters do not go further
inside than through four or five doors, because inside of these are
none but eunuchs and women.

When the King rides out there go with him usually two hundred
horsemen of his guard whom he pays, and a hundred elephants, and
this in addition to the captains, forty or fifty in number, who
are always in attendance with their soldiers. He takes with him two
thousand men with shields, all men of good position, ranged in order
on the flanks, and in front goes the chief ALCAID with about thirty
horsemen having canes in their hands like porters; the chief ALCAID
bears a different wand; he who is now the chief ALCAID of this King
is called Chinapanaique. Behind with the rearguard goes the Master
of the Horse with two hundred horsemen, and behind the cavalry go
a hundred elephants, and on their backs ride men of high estate. He
has in front of him twelve destriers, saddled, and in front of these
horses go five elephants, specially for the King's person, and in front
of these elephants go about five-and-twenty horsemen with banners
in their hands, and with drums and trumpets and other music playing
so loudly that you can hear nothing. Before these goes a great drum
carried by men at the sides, and they go now and then striking it; the
sound of this is heard a long distance off; and this drum they call
PICHA. After the King has mounted he counts the two hundred horsemen
and the hundred elephants and the shield-bearers of the guard, and
whoever is missing is severely punished and his property confiscated.


CHAPTER 22


Of the manner in which obeisance is done to the King, &c.

The manner of the salaam which the nobles make to the King every day is
this: -- In the morning the nobles go to the palace at ten or eleven
o'clock, at which hour the King comes out from within where his wives
are, and after he has taken his seat they open to the nobles, and each
one comes by himself and bows his head and raises his hands. This is
what they call the "salaam" (SALEMA). With the king are about ten
or twelve men who have the duty, on the entrance of each captain,
of saying to the King: "See, your Highness, your captain so-and-so,
who makes salaam to you."

The Kings of Bisnaga have always liked, for show, to have many horses
in their stables, and they always had eight or nine hundred horses
and four or five hundred elephants, on account of which, and on
account of the people that looked after them, they were put to great
expense; and this King that now is (Achyuta Raya) has in his stable
seven hundred and odd horses and four hundred elephants. He spends
on account of them and for their attendants, to whom he gives food,
two thousand gold PARDAOS per day. And of horsemen whom the King pays
he has six thousand, and all of them are on the stables establishment
(?) (COMEM DA ESTREBARYA); and those who serve them are paid each
year, some a thousand PARDAOS, some five hundred, some three hundred,
and those who have less pay receive not less than a hundred. Of these
six thousand, two hundred are obliged to ride with the King.

The kings of this country are able to assemble as many soldiers as
they want, as they have them there in their kingdom and have much
wealth wherewith to pay them. This King Chitarao has foot-soldiers
paid by his nobles, and they are obliged to maintain six[598] LAKHS
of soldiers, that is six hundred thousand men, and twenty-four
thousand horse, which the same nobles are obliged to have. These
nobles are like renters who hold all the land from the King, and
besides keeping all these people they have to pay their cost; they
also pay to him every year sixty LAKHS of rents as royal dues. The
lands, they say, yield a hundred and twenty LAKHS of which they must
pay sixty to the King, and the rest they retain for the pay of the
soldiers and the expenses of the elephants which they are obliged to
maintain. For this reason the common people suffer much hardship,
those who hold the lands being so tyrannical. Of these sixty LAKHS
that the king has of revenue every year he does not enjoy a larger
sum than twenty-five LAKHS, for the rest is spent on his horses,
and elephants, and foot-soldiers, and cavalry, whose cost he defrays.

During his feasts and the almsgiving to his temples all these captains,
who are thus like renters, must always attend the court, and of those
whom this King always has about him and by whom he is accompanied in
his court there are more than two hundred. These are obliged always
to be present with the King, and must always maintain the full number
of soldiers according to their obligations, for if he finds that
they have a less number they are severely punished and their estates
confiscated. These nobles are never suffered to settle themselves in
cities or towns because they would there be beyond reach of his hand;
they only go thither sometimes. But a concession is granted to the
kings that are subject to him, namely they do not go to court unless
they are summoned, and from their own cities they send to him their
rents or tributes; yet the King of Bengapor is obliged to be always
in camp, and he goes to court twice in the year.

The kings who are subject are these, besides this King of Bengapor,
namely the King of Gasopa and the King of Bacanor and the King of
Calecu and he of Batecala,[599] and these when they come to the Court
of Bisnaga are not held in higher esteem than any other captains,
either by the King or by the other nobles.

The captains and lords of this kingdom of Bisnaga, as well those
who are at Court as those who are away from it, have each one his
secretary who goes to the palace in order to write to him and let him
know what the King is doing; and they manage so that nothing takes
place of which they do not soon know, and day and night they are
always in the palace. And the King also, when he leaves the palace,
takes with him on his own account secretaries, who write what the
King says, and the favours he bestows, and with whom he spoke, and
upon what subject, and what his determination was; and to these men is
given a credit equal to that of the Evangelists, because they say that
whenever the King speaks there must be something worthy to be recorded,
and also that such a record is necessary for their remembrance. Thus
no written orders are ever issued, nor any charters granted, for the
favours he bestows or the commands he gives; but when he confers
a favour on any one it remains written in the registers of these
secretaries. The King however gives to the recipient of the favour a
seal impressed in wax from one of his rings, which his minister keeps,
and these seals serve for letters patent.

These Kings of Bisnaga eat all sorts of things, but not the flesh of
oxen or cows, which they never kill in all the country of the heathen
because they worship them. They eat mutton, pork, venison, partridges,
hares, doves, quail, and all kinds of birds; even sparrows, and rats,
and cats, and lizards, all of which are sold in the market of the
city of Bisnaga.

Everything has to be sold alive so that each one may know what he
buys -- this[600] at least so far as concerns game -- and there are
fish from the rivers in large quantities. The markets are always
overflowing with abundance of fruits, grapes, oranges, limes,
pomegranates, jack-fruit, and mangoes, and all very cheap. It is
said that in the markets they give twelve live sheep for a PARDAO,
and in the hills they give fourteen or fifteen for A PARDAO. The King
drinks water which they bring from a spring, which is kept enclosed
under the hand of a man in whom the King has great confidence; and
the vessels in which they draw the water come covered and sealed. Thus
they deliver it to the women who wait on him, and they take it inside
to the other women, the King's wives.

The greatest mark of honour that this King of Bisnaga confers on a
noble consists of two fans ornamented with gold and precious stones,
made of the white tails of certain cows;[601] he gives them bracelets
also. Everything which the noble receives is placed on the ground. The
King confers very high honour, too, if he permits a certain one
to kiss his feet, for he never gives his hands to be kissed by any
one. When he wishes to please his captains, or persons from whom he
has received or wishes to receive good service, he gives them scarves
of honour[602] for their personal use, which is a great honour; and
this he does each year to the captains at the time that they pay him
their land-rents. This takes place in the month of September[603]
when for nine days they make great feasts. Some say that they do
this in honour of the nine months during which Our Lady bore her Son
in the womb; others say that it is only done because at this time
the captains come to pay their rents to the King. Which feasts are
conducted in the following manner.

The first day they put nine castles in a piece of ground which is
in front of the palace, which castles are made by the nine principal
captains in the kingdom. They are very lofty and are hung with rich
cloths, and in them are many dancing-girls and also many kinds of
contrivances. Besides these nine every captain is obliged to make
each one his castle, and they come to show these to the King. Each
one has his separate device, and they all come like this during the
nine days of the feast. The officers of the city are bound to come
with their devices each day at night, just as in our festivals, and in
these nine days they slaughter animals and make sacrifice. The first
day they kill nine male buffaloes and nine sheep and nine goats, and
thenceforward they kill each day more, always doubling the number; and
when they have finished slaying these beasts, there come nine horses
and nine elephants of the King and these come before the king covered
with flowers -- roses -- and with rich trappings. Before them goes the
chief Master of the Horse with many attendants, and they make salaam to
the King. And when these have finished making their salaam there come
from within priests, and they bring rice and other cooked edibles, and
water, and fire, and many kinds of scents, and they offer prayers and
throw the water over the horses and elephants, just (as our priests
do with) holy water; and they put chaplets of roses on them. This
is done in the presence of the King, who remains seated on a throne
of gold and precious stones; he never sits on this except only this
once in the year. And this King that now reigns does not sit on it,
for they say that whoever sits on it must be a very truthful man,
one who speaks the whole truth, and this King never does so. Whilst
this is going on there pass by the King fully a thousand women,
dancing and posturing before him. After all the devices that have
been prepared have been witnessed all the horses of the King pass by,
covered with their silken trappings,[604] and with much adornment of
gold and precious stones on their heads, and then all the elephants
and yokes of oxen[605] in the middle of the arena[606] in front of
the palace. After these have been seen there come thirty-six of the
most beautiful of the King's wives covered with gold and pearls,
and much work of seed-pearls, and in the hands of each a vessel of
gold with a lamp of oil burning in it; and with these women come all
the female servants and the other wives of the King, with canes in
their hands tipped with gold and with torches burning; and these then
retire inside with the King. These women are so richly bedecked with
gold and precious stones that they are hardly able to move.

In this way during these nine days they are compelled to search for
all things which will give pleasure to the King.

The King has a thousand wrestlers for these feasts who wrestle before
the King, but not in our manner, for they strike and wound each other
with two circlets with points[607] which they carry in their hands
to strike with, and the one most wounded goes and takes his reward
in the shape of a silk cloth,[608] such as the King gives to these
wrestlers. They have a captain over them, and they do not perform
any other service in the kingdom.

And after these nine days are finished the Rao[609] rides out and goes
to hold a review of the troops of his captains, and he goes a length of
two leagues between the armed men. At the end he dismounts and takes a
bow in his hand and shoots three arrows, namely one for the Ydallcao,
and another for the King of Cotamuloco,[610] and yet another for the
Portuguese; it was his custom to make war on the kingdom lying in
the direction where the arrow reached furthest. After this is done
the King returns home, and on that day he fasts and with him all
the people of the land; and on the next day he goes to the river to
bathe with all his people. Within these nine days the King is paid
all the rents that he receives from his kingdom; for, as already said,
all the land belongs to the King, and from his hand the captains hold
it. They make it over to the husbandmen who pay nine-tenths to their
lord; and they have no land of their own, for the kingdom belongs
entirely to the King;[611] only the captains are put to charges
on account of the troops for whom the King makes them responsible,
and whom they are obliged to provide in the way of service. Every
Saturday the dancing-girls are obliged to go to the palace to dance
and posture before the King's idol, which is in the interior of his
palace. The people of this country always fast on Saturdays and do
not eat all day nor even at night, nor do they drink water, only
they may chew a few cloves to sweeten the breath. The King always
gives large sums in charity; in the palace there are always two or
three thousand Brahmans who are his priests, and to whom the King
commands to give alms. These Brahman priests are very despicable men;
they always have much money, and are so insolent that even by using
blows the guards of the door cannot hold them in check.

The captains and principal people use[612] at night torches of oil,
from four to twelve torches (according to rank), those of highest rank
having twelve at most. The King, however, must have a hundred or a
hundred and fifty torches. There is much wax in the country, but they
do not know how to work it. Every merchant who brings merchandise in
horses and other things which he may have brought to sell to the King,
if he desires an audience, has to offer him a present of a piece of
goods or a horse of the best that he has brought, in order that he
may obtain an audience and transact his business. And this not only
to the King. You must perforce pay bribes to all the several officers
with whom you have to deal. They will do nothing without some profit
to themselves

When any one suffers wrong and wishes to represent his case to the
King he shows how great is his suffering by lying flat on his face
on the ground till they ask him what it is he wants. If, perchance,
he wishes to speak to the King while he is riding, he takes the
shaft of a spear and ties a branch to it and thus goes along calling
out. Then they make room for him, and he makes his complaint to the
King; and it is there and then settled without more ado, and the King
orders a captain, one of those who go with him, to do at once what the
supplicant asks. If he complains that he was robbed in such and such
a province and in such and such a road, the King sends immediately
for the captain of that province, even though he be at court, and
the captain may be seized and his property taken if he does not catch
the thief. In the same way the chief bailiff[613] is obliged to give
an account of the robberies in the capital, and in consequence very
few thefts take place; and even if some are committed, you give some
little present and a description of the man who stole from you, and
they will soon know by the agency of the wizards whether the thief
be in the city or not; for there are very powerful wizards in this
country. Thus there are very few thieves in the land.

This King has continually fifty thousand paid soldiers, amongst
whom are six thousand horsemen who belong to the palace guard, to
which six thousand belong the two hundred who are obliged to ride
with him. He has also twenty thousand spearmen and shield-bearers,
and three thousand men to look after the elephants in the stables;
he has sixteen hundred grooms[614] who attend to the horses, and has
also three hundred horse trainers[615] and two thousand artificers,
namely blacksmiths, masons, and carpenters, and washermen who wash
clothes. These are the people he has and pays every day; he gives
them their allowance at the gate of the palace. To the six thousand
horsemen the King gives horses free and gives provision for them
every month, and all these horses are marked with the King's mark;
when they die they are obliged to take the piece of skin containing
the mark to Madanarque, the chief master of the horse, so that he
may give them another, and these horses which he gives are mostly
country-breds which the King buys, twelve or fifteen for a thousand
PARDAOS.[616] The King every year buys thirteen thousand horses of
Ormuz, and country-breds, of which he chooses the best for his own
stables, and he gives the rest to his captains, and gains much money
by them; because after taking out the good Persian horses, he sells
those which are country-bred, and gives five for a thousand PARDAOS,
and they are obliged to pay him the money for them within the month
of September; and with the money so obtained he pays for the Arabs
that he buys of the Portuguese, in such a way that his captains pay
the cost of the whole without anything going out of the Treasury.

This King has also within his gates more than four thousand women,
all of whom live in the palace; some are dancing-girls, and others
are bearers[617] who carry the King's wives on their shoulders,
and the King also in the interior of the palace, for the king's
houses are large and there are great intervals between one house
and another. He has also women who wrestle, and others who are
astrologers and soothsayers; and he has women who write all the
accounts of expenses that are incurred inside the gates, and others
whose duty it is to write all the affairs of the kingdom and compare
their books with those of the writers outside; he has women also for
music, who play instruments and sing. Even the wives of the King are
well versed in music.

The King has other women besides. He has ten cooks for his personal
service, and has others kept for times when he gives banquets; and
these ten prepare the food for no one save for the King alone. He has
a eunuch for guard at the gate of the kitchen, who never allows any one
to enter for fear of poison. When the King wishes to eat, every person
withdraws, and then come some of the women whose duty it is and they
prepare the table for him; they place for him a three-footed stool,
round, made of gold, and on it put the messes. These are brought in
large vessels of gold, and the smaller messes in basins of gold, some
of which are adorned with precious stones. There is no cloth on the
table, but one is brought when the King has finished eating, and he
washes his hands and mouth. Women and eunuchs serve him at table. The
wives of the King remain each in her own chamber and are waited on
by maid-servants. It is said that he has judges, as well as bailiffs
and watchmen who every night guard the palace, and all these are women.

The King never puts on any garment more than once, and when he takes
it off he at once delivers it to certain officers who have charge of
this duty, and they render an account; and these garments are never
given to any one. This is considered to show great state. His clothes
are silk cloths (PACHOIIS)[618] of very fine material and worked
with gold, which are worth each one ten PARDAOS; and they wear at
times BAJURIS of the same sort, which are like shirts with a skirt;
and on the head they wear caps of brocade which they call CULAES,[619]
and one of these is worth some twenty cruzados. When he lifts it from
his head he never again puts it on.

The punishments that they inflict in this kingdom are these: for
a thief, whatever theft he commits, howsoever little it be, they
forthwith cut off a foot and a hand, and if his theft be a great
one he is hanged with a hook under his chin. If a man outrages a
respectable woman or a virgin he has the same punishment, and if he
does any other such violence his punishment is of a like kind. Nobles
who become traitors are sent to be impaled alive on a wooden stake
thrust through the belly, and people of the lower orders, for whatever
crime they commit, he forthwith commands to cut off their heads in
the market-place, and the same for a murder unless the death was
the result of a duel. For great honour is done to those who fight
in a duel, and they give the estate of the dead man to the survivor;
but no one fights a duel without first asking leave of the minister,
who forthwith grants it. These are the common kinds of punishments,
but they have others more fanciful; for when the King so desires,
he commands a man to be thrown to the elephants, and they tear him
in pieces. The people are so subject to him that if you told a man
on the part of the King that he must stand still in a street holding
a stone on his back all day till you released him, he would do it.

The officers of the King who go about the kingdom are these: -- First
the minister (REGEDOR) of the kingdom, who is the second person in it,
then the treasurer, with the scribes of the King's own lands,[620]
the chief treasurer, and the commander of the palace guards (O
PORTEIRO MOOR), the treasurer of the jewels, the chief master of the
horse. The King has no controller of the revenues nor other officers,
nor officers of his house, but only the captains of his kingdom;
of whom I will here mention some, and the revenues they hold, and of
what territory they are lords,

Firstly Salvanayque, the present minister; he has a revenue of a
million and a hundred thousand gold PARDAOS. He is lord of Charamaodel
and of Nagapatao, and Tamgor, and Bomgarin, and Dapatao, and Truguel,
and Caullim, and all these are cities; their territories are all very
large, and they border on Ceylon.[621] Of this money he is obliged
to give a third to the King, and two-thirds remain for him for the
expenses of his LASCARIS and horses, which he is obliged to maintain
for the King, viz.: thirty thousand foot and three thousand horse and
thirty elephants; so that he only gets the balance after deducting
the expenses of this force. But in this way he acquires much wealth
because he never maintains the whole force. And the King, whenever
he wishes, takes away property of these nobles.

Another captain, Ajaparcatimapa,[622] who was minister of Crisnarao,
has a revenue of eight hundred thousand PARDAOS of gold, and is lord
of the city of Hudogary,[623] and of the city of Condovim,[624] and of
the city of Penagundim,[625] and of Codegaral[626] of Cidaota.[627] All
these large cities border on the kingdom of Oria, and some of them with
Cape Comorin (CABO DE COMARY). These lands Crisnarao gave him when he
made him minister and put out the eyes of Salvatinica, his minister,
who was captain of them. He is obliged to serve with twenty-five
thousand[628] foot, fifteen hundred horse, and forty elephants,
and pays each year to the King three hundred thousand PARDAOS.

Another captain, who is called Gapanayque, is lord of these lands,
namely of Rosyl,[629] and of Tipar, and of Ticalo, and of Bigolom.[630]
These lands march with the territory of the Ydallcao, and in all these
there is much wheat and grains and cattle and goats and gingely and
cotton; and very fine cloth made of the last, for all the cloth that
is manufactured is made of it. He has a revenue from these territories
of six hundred thousand PARDAOS, and is obliged to furnish two thousand
five hundred horse, and twenty thousand foot, and twenty elephants, and
he pays every year to the King a hundred and fifty thousand PARDAOS.

Another captain called Lepapayque, who is lord of Vimgapor,[631] a
land very rich in seed-plots and cattle-breeding farms, has a revenue
of three hundred thousand PARDAOS; and is obliged to furnish twelve
hundred horse and twenty thousand foot and twenty-eight elephants,
and he pays to the King every year eighty thousand PARDAOS.

The treasurer of the jewels, who is called Narvara is captain of the
new city which is called Ondegema,[632] and is lord of the city of
Diguoty and of Darguem and of Entarem,[633] and of the other lands
bordering on the lands of Bisnaga; they are all fields. They yield
him every year four hundred thousand PARDAOS, of which he gives the
King two hundred thousand, and the rest he spends on twelve thousand
foot and six hundred horse and twenty elephants.

Another captain called Chinapanayque, the King's marshal, is lord of
the land of Calaly[634] in the direction of Cochim in the interior, and
of many other lands that yield him three hundred thousand PARDAOS; and
he is obliged to pay the King every year one hundred thousand PARDAOS,
and serves with eight hundred horse and ten thousand foot (PRACOS).

Crisnapanayque is lord of Aosel,[635] which is a large city, and of
other villages that I do not here mention as they have very difficult
names. These lands yield him every year twenty thousand PARDAOS of
gold, and he pays an annual revenue to the King of seven thousand
PARDAOS, and serves with five hundred horse and seven hundred foot
(PRACOS).

Also Bajapanarque, who is captain of the country of Bodial,[636]
which borders on Mamgalor[637] by the sea-coast. He is lord too of
Guiana.[638] In this country there is much pepper and sugar-cane
and cloth (of flax)[639] and much rice; but there is no wheat, nor
other cloth, and it is a land of wax. It yields him three hundred
thousand PARDAOS a year, and he serves with eight hundred horsemen
and ten thousand foot and fifteen elephants. He pays the King ten
thousand PARDAOS.

Mallpanarque, who was chief master of the horse to King Crisnarao,
is lord of the country of Avaly,[640] which is in the interior of
Calecu.[641] This land has much iron and much cotton, rice, goats,
sheep, cows and buffaloes. He has a revenue of fifteen thousand
PARDAOS, and is obliged to serve with four hundred horse and six
thousand foot, and pays the King every year five thousand PARDAOS.

Another captain, called Adapanayque, who is the chief counsellor of the
King, is lord of the country of Gate,[642] whence come the diamonds,
and of many other territories which yield him three hundred thousand
gold PARDAOS, excluding the precious stones which form a revenue by
themselves. He pays to the King every year forty thousand PARDAOS,
with the condition that all diamonds which exceed twenty MANGELINS[643]
in weight shall be given to the King for his Treasury. He serves with
eight thousand foot and eight hundred horse and thirty elephants,
and pays the King every year one hundred thousand PARDAOS.

Another Bajapanayque is captain of Mumdoguel,[644] which was a
fortress of the Ydalcao, and was taken from him by Crisnarao when
he took Rachol,[645] which was a boundary of it. This fortress of
Mumdoguel with other territories yields him four hundred thousand
PARDAOS, and he serves with a thousand cavalry and ten thousand foot
and fifty elephants, and pays the King every year one hundred and
fifty thousand PARDAOS.

In this way the kingdom of Bisnaga is divided between more than two
hundred captains who are all heathen,[646] and according to the lands
and revenues that they have so the King settles for them the forces
that they are compelled to keep up, and how much revenue they have
to pay him every month during the first nine days of the month of
September. He never gives any receipts to them, only, if they do
not pay they are well punished, and are ruined and their property
taken away. All the captains of this kingdom make use of litters
and palanqueens. These are like biers and men carry them on their
shoulders, but people are not allowed to make use of litters unless
they are cavaliers of the highest rank, and the captains and principal
persons use palanqueens. There are always at the court where the King
is twenty thousand litters and palanqueens.

These matters concerning (I.E. the power and greatness of) the kingdom
of Bisnaga, though it may seem to you that I have exaggerated, yet the
people of this country assert them to have been even more notable[647]
in times past, and greater than they now are.

And in this kingdom of Bisnaga there is a class of men, natives of
the country, namely Brahmans, who the most part of them never kill
or eat any live thing, and these are the best that there are amongst
them. They are honest men, given to merchandise, very acute and of
much talent, very good at accounts, lean men and well-formed, but
little fit for hard work. By these and by the duties they undertake
the kingdom is carried on. They believe that there are Three Persons
and only One God, and they call the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity
"TRICEBEMCA." There is another class who are Canarese who have pagodas
in which are (images of?) monkeys, and cows, and buffaloes, and devils,
to whom they pay much honour, and these idols and monkeys which they
adore they say that in former times this land belonged all to the
monkeys, and that in those days they could speak. They have books full
of fine stories of chivalry, and many foolish tales about their idols,
such as it is out of reason for men to believe. But because of this,
neither in the kingdom of Bisnaga nor in all the land of the heathen
are any monkeys killed, and there are so many in this country that
they cover the mountains. There is another class of men called
Telumgalle;[648] when these die their wives are buried alive with them.

The King of Bisnaga is a Brahman;[649] every day he hears the preaching
of a learned Brahman, who never married nor ever touched a woman. He
urges in his preaching (obedience to) the commandments of God,
that is to say, that one must not kill any living thing, nor take
anything belonging to another, and as with these so with the rest of
the commandments. These people have such devotion to cows that they
kiss them every day, some they say even on the rump -- a thing I do
not assert for their honour -- and with the droppings of these cows
they absolve themselves from their sins as if with holy water. They
have for a commandment to confess their sins to the Brahman priests,
but they do not do it, except only those who are very religious
(AMIGUOS DE DIOS). They give in excuse that they feel a shame to
confess themselves to another man, and say that it is sufficient
to confess themselves alone after approaching God, for he who does
not do so does not acquire grace; thus they fulfil the command in
one way or another. But they do it so seldom (in reality) that they
(may be said to) neglect this command to confess.

This kingdom of Bisnaga is all heathen. The women have the custom of
burning themselves when their husbands die, and hold it an honour
to do so. When therefore their husbands die they mourn with their
relations and those of their husbands, but they hold that the wife
who weeps beyond measure has no desire to go in search of her husband;
and the mourning finished their relations speak to them, advising them
to burn themselves and not to dishonour their generation. After that,
it is said, they place the dead man on a bed with a canopy of branches
and covered with flowers, and they put the woman on the back of a
worthless horse, and she goes after them with many jewels on her,
and covered with roses; she carries a mirror in her hand and in the
other a branch of flowers, and (she goes accompanied by) many kinds
of music, and his relations (go with her) with much pleasure. A man
goes also playing on a small drum, and he sings songs to her telling
her that she is going to join her husband, and she answers also in
singing that so she will do. As soon as she arrives at the place where
they are always burned she waits with the musicians till her husband
is burned, whose body they place in a very large pit that has been
made ready for it, covered with much firewood. Before they light the
fire his mother or his nearest relative takes a vessel of water on the
head and a firebrand in the hand, and goes three times round the pit,
and at each round makes a hole in the pot; and when these three rounds
are done breaks the pot, which is small, and throws the torch into
the pit. Then they apply the fire, and when the body is burned comes
the wife with all the feasters and washes her feet, and then a Brahman
performs over her certain ceremonies according to their law; and when
he has finished doing this, she draws off with her own hand all the
jewels that she wears, and divides them among her female relatives, and
if she has sons she commends them to her most honoured relatives. When
they have taken off all she has on, even her good clothes, they put
on her some common yellow cloths, and her relatives take her hand and
she takes a branch in the other, and goes singing and running to the
pit where the fire is, and then mounts on some steps which are made
high up by the pit. Before they do this they go three times round the
fire, and then she mounts the steps and holds in front of her a mat
that prevents her from seeing the fire. They throw into the fire a
cloth containing rice, and another in which they carry betel leaves,
and her comb and mirror with which she adorned herself, saying that
all these are needed to adorn herself by her husband's side. Finally
she takes leave of all, and puts a pot of oil on her head, and casts
herself into the fire with such courage that it is a thing of wonder;
and as soon as she throws herself in, the relatives are ready with
firewood and quickly cover her with it, and after this is done they
all raise loud lamentations. When a captain dies, however many wives
he has they all burn themselves, and when the King dies they do the
same. This is the custom throughout all the country of the heathen,
except with that caste of people called Telugas, amongst whom the
wives are buried alive with their husbands when they die. These go
with much pleasure to the pit, inside of which are made two seats of
earth, one for him and one for her, and they place each one on his
own seat and cover them in little by little till they are covered up;
and so the wife dies with the husband.


CHAPTER 23


Of the ceremonies practised at the death of Brahmans.

When a Brahman is sick, before he dies, they send to call the learned
Brahmans who are his priests, so that they should come to pray, and
console the sick man; and they talk to him of the affairs of his soul,
and what he must do to save it, bidding him spend money in alms. After
this ceremony is over they make the Brahman priests shave the sick
man's head, and after the shaving they bid them wash it, and after
the washing it is their custom to bring into their houses a cow
with a calf, -- there are very few Brahmans, however poor they be,
who do not have one to live in their house, -- which cow, when they
have finished washing the man's head, they take a turban and tie it to
its neck and put the end of the turban into the hand of the sick man,
and he gives it and the calf in alms for his soul to those priests who
perform these ceremonies. On that day he gives alms according to his
position, and gives to eat to some Brahmans who are invited and who
come there for the purpose. They believe that when these ceremonies
are made for the sick man, if he is to live he is soon cured of his
infirmity, and if not that he soon dies.

After the death of the sick man they have the ground washed upon which
he lay, and after the washing they take cow-dung and spread it over
the ground, and place the body on the top of this dung. They hold that
a sick man who dies on a cot, or on anything so-ever except only on
the ground, commits a mortal sin. As soon as the body is laid on the
ground they make for it a bier covered with boughs of the fig-tree,
and before they place the body on the bier they wash it well with
pure water, and anoint it with sandal-wood (oil); and they place by
the body branches of sweet basil and cover it with a new cloth, and
so place it in the bier. Then one of his relatives takes the bier on
one side, and they call three other Brahmans whosoever they may be
to aid them to lift it; and so they carry it to the place where they
are to burn it, accompanied by many Brahmans who go singing in front
of the corpse. In front of all goes his son, if he has one, or next
younger brother or nearest relative, with fire in the hand for the
burning. As soon as they arrive at the place where they have to burn
the body, they scatter money according to their ability, and then put
the fire to it; and they wait there till the whole body is consumed,
and then all go and wash their bodies in a tank and afterwards return
each one to his house. The son or brother or relation who put the fire
is obliged to sleep on the ground where the man died for nine nights,
and after the lapse of nine days from the death come the priests and
learned men and they command to shave the head of this man. During
these nine days, they feed the poor and they give them the dead man's
clothes, and they give the cot with its bed in alms to the priests,
with some money in addition; if he is a rich man they give gardens and
other things in alms to many Brahmans. When ten days are finished,
and the son has been shaved, he goes to the place where they burned
his father or his brother, and they perform many ceremonies over the
ashes and bones that remain unburned; then they put them in a small
vessel and make a pit in the ground and bury them in it, and keep
them thus guarded and buried in order (afterwards) to send the bones
to be thrown into a sacred river, which is distant from Goa over one
thousand leagues.[650] There is a very large temple there, the object
of many pilgrimages, and they hold that every pilgrim who dies there
is saved, and goes to Paradise, and also every dead man whose bones
are thrown into that river. In spite of this they in reality take
very few people there. The heir or the father or son of the dead man
is obliged, from the day of the death, for eleven days to give food
to twenty-seven Brahmans, and until twenty-one days to three others;
until twelve days again he feeds seven Brahmans, and until twenty-seven
days gives to eat to the three; on the last day of the month he gives
food to three others, and thenceforward, until one year is finished,
he gives meals once a month to three Brahmans. They do this in honour
of the Trinity for the soul of the deceased. When this year is over
he gives no more alms, except that each year, on the day on which the
death happened, he feeds six Brahmans, -- namely, three in honour of
the Trinity, and three for the persons of his father, grandfather,
and great-grandfather; who thus seemingly eat together. Thus he obtains
favour with God, and for these expenses they beg alms of the Brahmans
if they are poor. These give him all help for it. Before they dine
they wash the feet of all six, and during the meal some ceremonies
are performed by Brahman priests who come there for that purpose.




CHAPTER A


Diamonds

However much it may at first sight appear that our chroniclers have
exaggerated in their description of the wealth of the Hindu sovereign
and his nobles, and of the wonderful display of jewels made on days of
high festival by the ladies of their households, an account of which
is given us by Paes, I for one see little reason for doubt. Nuniz
distinctly states (p. 389) that the diamond mines, in their day the
richest in the world, were farmed out on condition that all stones
above twenty mangellins in weight -- about twenty-five carats -- were
sent to the Raya for his personal use, and there must have been many
of these. Barradas (p. 226 above) states that, according to rumour,
even after the downfall of the empire the king at Chandragiri in
1614 A.D. had no less than three large chests full of diamonds in
his possession; and every traveller and chronicler has something to
say on the subject.

The principal mines were on the north bank of the Krishna river,
and in the Kurnool and Anantapur countries, notably at Vajra
Karur. Generically these are known as "the mines of Golkonda," and
the phrase has passed into a proverb.

Linschoten (ii. 136) writes: "They (diamonds) grow in the countrie
of Decam behinde Ballagate, by the towne of Bisnagar, wherein are
two or three hilles, from whence they are digged, whereof the King
of Bisnagar doth reape great profitte; for he causeth them to be
straightly watched, and hath farmed them out with this condition,
that all diamonds that are above twenty-five Mangellyns in weight
are for the King himselfe (every Mangellyn is foure graines in weight).

"There is yet another hill in the Countrie of Decam, which is called
Velha, that is the old Rocke, from whence come the best diamonds and
are sold for the greatest price.... Sometimes they find Diamonds of
one hundred and two hundred Mangelyns and more, but very few."

As regards the diamond "as large as a hen's egg," said to have been
found at the sack of Vijayanagar and presented to the Adil Shah
(above, p. 208), Couto (Decade VIII. c. xv.) says that it was a jewel
which the Raya had affixed to the base of the plume on his horse's
head-dress. Garcia da Orta, who was in India in 1534, says that at
Vijayanagar a diamond had been seen as large as a small hen's egg, and
he even declares the weights of three others to have been respectively
120, 148, and 250 MANGELIS, equivalent to 150, 175, and 312 1/2 carats
(Tavernier, V. Ball, ii. 433).

Dr. Ball has gone carefully into the question of the diamonds known
as "Babar's," "the Mogul's," "Pitt's," "the KOH-I-NUR," and others,
and to his Appendix I. I beg to refer those interested in the subject.

It is clear that this hen's egg diamond could not be the fame as Sultan
Babar's, because the former was taken at Vijayanagar in A.D. 1565,
whereas Sultan Babar's was received by his son Humayun at Agra in 1526,
and could not have been, forty years later, in the possession of the
Hindu king of the south.[651]

Dr. Ball has shown that probably the KOH-I-NUR is identical with
the "Mogul's diamond." Was, then, this "hen's egg" diamond the
same? Probably not. If we had been told that the "hen's egg," when
found in the sack of Vijayanagar, had been cut, the proof CONTRA would
be conclusive, since the KOH-I-NUR was certainly uncut in A.D. 1656
or 1657. But there is no information available on this point.

The "hen's egg" was apparently taken by the Adil Shah to Bijapur in
1565, and it is not likely to have found its way, still in an uncut
state, into the possession of Mir Jumla in 1656.

The KOH-I-NUR was found at Kollur on the river Krishna, probably in
A.D. 1656. Mir Jumla farmed the mines at that time, and presented
it uncut to the emperor, Shah Jahan. It is said to have weighed 756
English carats (Ball, ii. 444). It was entrusted to a Venetian named
Hortensio Borgio, and was so damaged and wasted in his hands that,
when seen by Tavernier in Aurangzib's treasury in 1665, it weighed
not more than 268 1/2 English carats. In 1739 Nadir Shah sacked Delhi
and carried the stone away with him to Persia, conferring on it its
present immortal name the "Mountain of Light." On his murder in 1747
it passed into the hands of his grandson, Shah Rukh. Four years later
Shah Rukh gave it to Ahmad Shah Durani of Kabul, and by him it was
bequeathed to his son Taimur. In 1793 it passed by descent to his
son Shah Zaman, who was blinded and deposed by his brother Muhammad;
but he retained possession of the stone in his prison, and in 1795 it
became the property of his brother Sultan Shuja. In 1809, after Shuja
became king of Kabul, Elphinstone saw the diamond in his bracelet
at Peshawur. In 1812, Shuja, being dethroned by Muhammad, fled to
Lahore, where he was detained as a quasi-prisoner by Ranjit Singh,
the ruler of the Panjab. In 1813 an agreement was arrived at, and Shuja
surrendered the diamond to Ranjit Singh. Ranjit often wore the stone,
and it was constantly seen by European visitors to Lahore. Dying in
1839, the KOH-I-NUR was placed in the jewel-chamber till the infant
Dhulip Singh was acknowledged as Ranjit's successor. In 1849 it was
handed over to Sir John Lawrence on the annexation of the Panjab, and
by him was sent to England to Her Majesty the Queen. In 1851 it was
exhibited at the first great Exhibition, and in 1852 it was re-cut by
an Amsterdam cutter, Voorsanger, in the employ of Messrs. Garrards. The
weight is now 106 1/16 carats.

It would be interesting to trace the story of the "hen's egg" diamond
after its acquisition by the Bijapur sultan, Ali Adil.

H. de Montfart, who travelled in India in 1608, saw a very large
diamond in the possession of the Mogul emperor Jahangir at Delhi,[652]
but this had been pierced. "I have seene one with the great MOGOR
as bigge as a Hen's egge, and of that very forme, which he caused
expressly to bee pierced like a pearle to weare it on his arme.... It
weighteth 198 Mangelins."



CHAPTER B

The Wealth of the Dakhan in the Fourteenth Century A.D.

When Malik Kafur, in the year 1310 A.D., during the reign of Ala-ud-Din
Khilji of Delhi, carried out his successful raids into the Dakhan
and to the Malabar coast, sacking all the Hindu temples, ravaging
the territory of Maisur, and despoiling the country, he is said to
have returned to Delhi with an amount of treasure that seems almost
fabulous. Firishtah writes: "They found in the temples prodigious
spoils, such as idols of gold adorned with precious stones, and other
rich effects consecrated to Hindu worship;" and Malik presented his
sovereign with "312 elephants, 20,000 horses, 96,000 MANS of gold,
several boxes of jewels and pearls, and other precious effects."

When we come to estimate the amount of gold we are met with a
difficulty, as there are many varieties of MANS in India, the
variation being as much as from 19 lbs. in Travancore to 163 1/4
lbs. in Ahmadnagar. The Madras MAN weighs 25 lbs., the Bombay MAN
28 lbs. Hawkins, writing in 1610, gives 55 lbs. to the MAN,[653]
Middleton, in 1611, 33 lbs.[654] Now Firishtah had more to do with
Ahmadnagar than any other part of India, and if his estimate was based
on the MAN of that tract. Malik Kafur's 96,000 MANS of gold would
have amounted to the enormous sum of 15,672,000 lbs. weight. It is
hardly likely that Firishtah would have had in his mind the Travancore
MAN. Even if he was thinking of the Madras MAN, which is not likely,
his estimate of the weight of the gold carried off amounted to
2,400,000 lbs.

Whether we accept these amounts or not, there can be no manner of
doubt that the richness of the temples was very great, and the reason
is easy to see. The country had always been subject to Hindu kings, and
treasures had year by year accumulated. The Brahmans exacted gifts and
payments from the people on all occasions. Kings and chiefs, merchants
and landowners, vied with one another in presenting rich offerings
to their favourite places of worship; and when it is remembered
that this practice had been going on from time immemorial, it need
be no matter for wonder that the man who first violently despoiled
the sacred buildings departed from the country laden with an almost
incredible amount of booty. Colonel Dow, in his translation of the
works of Firishtah (i. 307), computes the value of the gold carried
off by Malik Kafur at a hundred millions sterling of our money.


CHAPTER C






Portuguese Viceroys and Governors of Goa

(A.D. 1505 TO 1568.)



A.D.
Dom Francisco de Almeida (VICEROY) 1505
-- 1509
Afonso de Albuquerque (GOVERNOR) 1509
-- 1515
Lopo Soares de Albergaria (GOVERNOR) 1515 -- 1518
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira (GOVERNOR) 1518
-- 1521
Dom Duarte de Menezes (GOVERNOR) 1521
-- 1524
Dom Vasco da Gama, Conde de Vidigueria (VICEROY) 1524
Dom Henrique de Menezes (GOVERNOR) 1525
-- 1526
Lopo Vaz de Sampaio (GOVERNOR) 1526
-- 1529
Nuno da Cunha (GOVERNOR)
1529 -- 1538
Dom Garcia de Noronha (VICEROY) 1538
-- 1540
Dom Estevao da Gama (GOVERNOR) 1540
-- 1542
Martim Affonso de Sousa (GOVERNOR) 1542
-- 1545
Dom Joao de Castro (GOVERNOR AND CAPTAIN-IN-CHIEF) 1545 -- 1547
,, ,, (VICEROY) 1547 -- 1548
Garcia de Sa (GOVERNOR)
1548 -- 1549
Jorge Cabral (GOVERNOR)
1549 -- 1550
Dom Affonso de Noronha (VICEROY) 1550
-- 1554
Dom Pedro Mascarenhas (VICEROY) 1554
-- 1555
Francisco Barreto (GOVERNOR) 1555
-- 1558
Dom Constantino de Braganza (VICEROY) 1558 -- 1561
Dom Francisco Coutinho, Conde de Redondo (VICEROY) 1561 -- 1564
Joao de Medonca (GOVERNOR)
1564
Dom Antonio de Noronha (VICEROY) 1564
-- 1568


[The above List is extracted from Mr. Danvers's work, "The Portuguese
in India" (vol. ii. p. 487). The author continues the List to the
present day.]








NOTES

[1] -- Translation of the "Chronica dos reis de Bisnaga", written
by Domingos Paes and Fernao Nunes about 1520 and 1535, respectively,
with historical introduction. Includes bibliographical references.

[2] -- The letters from China were copied by a different hand.

[3] -- Barros was apparently never himself in India, but held an
official position in the India Office in Lisbon. His work was
completed in four Decadas. Couto repeats the fourth DECADA of
Barros, and continues the history in eight more DECADAS. The first
three DECADAS of Barros were published in A.D. 1552, 1553, and 1563,
bringing the history down to 1527, under the title of DOS FEITOS QUE
OS PORTUGUESES FIZERAM NO DESCUBRIMENTO E CONQUISTA DOS MARES E TERRAS
DO ORIENTE. His fourth DECADA, published by Couto, dealt with the
period A.D. 1527 to 1539, and contained an account of the events that
occurred during the governorships of Lopo Vaz de Sampaio and Nuno da
Cunha. Couto's own eight DECADAS covered the subsequent period down
to 1600. The combined work is generally called the DA ASIA. Couto
completed his publication in 1614. The fourth DECADA was published
in 1602, the fifth in 1612, the sixth in 1614, the seventh in 1616,
the year of his death. Couto spent almost all his life in India,
for which country he embarked in 1556.

[4] -- CHRONICA DOS REIS DE BISNAGA, by David Lopes, S.S.G.L. Lisbon,
1897: at the National Press. The extract given is taken from his
Introduction, p. lxxxvi.

[5] -- Firishtah was a Persian of good family, and was born about
1570 A.D. Early in his life he was taken by his father to India, and
resided all his life at the Court of the Nizam Shahs of Ahmadnagar,
rejoicing in royal patronage. He appears to have begun to compile his
historical works at an early age, since his account of the Bijapur
kings was finished in 1596. He appears to have died not long after the
year 1611, which is the latest date referred to in any of his writings.

[6] -- According to tradition the wealth carried off was something
fabulous. See Appendix B.

[7] -- It is highly probable that amongst the hills and crags about
the upper fortress of Anegundi there may be found remains of a date
long prior to the fourteenth century; and it is much to be regretted
that up to now no scientific examination of that tract, which lies
in the present territories of Haidarabad, has been carried out. Want
of leisure always prevented my undertaking any exploration north of
the river; but from the heights of Vijayanagar on the south side I
often looked wistfully at the long lines of fortification visible on
the hills opposite. It is to be hoped that ere long the Government of
Madras may place us in possession of a complete map of Vijayanagar and
its environs, showing the whole area enclosed by the outermost line
of fortifications, and including the outworks and suburbs. Hospett
and Anegundi were both part of the great city in its palmy days,
and Kampli appears to have been a sort of outpost.

[8] -- Nuniz erroneously gives the date as 1230. The error will be
commented on hereafter.

[9] -- Scott, i. 45, 46.

[10] -- Delhi.

[11] -- The Portuguese historians often mistook "Cambay" for the name
of the country, and "Gujarat" for one of its dependencies.

[12] -- SIC. The meaning is doubtful.

[13] -- There is evidently a confusion here between tales of the
doings of Muhammad Taghlaq and much older legends of Rama's Bridge
and his army of monkeys.

[14] -- Mallik Naib. (See the chronicle below, pp. 296, 297.)

[15] -- "Your honour" was probably the historian Barros (see preface).

[16] -- Sheik Ismail's power in Persia dates from early in the
sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa, who was in India in 1514 and wrote
in 1516, mentions him as contemporary. He had subjugated Eastern
Persia by that time and founded the Shiah religion. Barbosa writes:
"He is a Moor and a young man," and states that he was not of royal
lineage (Hakluyt edit. p. 38). Nuniz was thus guilty of an anachronism,
but he describes Persia as he knew it.

[17] -- "Chronicle of the Pathan Kings of Delhi," by Edward Thomas,
p. 200.

[18] -- Firishtah (Briggs, i. 413).

[19] -- Elphinstone, "History of India," ii. 62.

[20] -- Lee's translation, p. 144.

[21] -- Sir H. Elliot's "History of India," iii. 215.

[22] -- If we add together the number of years of the reigns of
kings of Vijayanagar given by Nuniz prior to that of Krishna Deva
Raya ("Crisnarao"), we find that the total is 180 (Senhor Lopes,
Introduction, p. lxx.). The date of the beginning of the reign of
Krishna Deva Raya is known to be 1509 -- 10 A.D.; whence we obtain
1379 -- 80 A.D. as the foundation of the empire in the person of
"Dehorao" according to the chronicle. This is not quite accurate,
but it helps to prove that "1230" is a century too early.

[23] -- Batuta was a native of Tangiers, his name being Sheik Abu'
Abdullah Muhammad. He arrived at the Indus on the 1 Muharram A.H. 734
(September 12, 1333 A.D.), and he seems to have resided in India
till 1342.

[24] -- The narrative is given in the French translation of Ibn
Batuta's travels, by Defremery and Sanguinetti (vol. iii. pp. 318 --
320). See also Sir Henry Elliot's "History of India" (vol. iii. pp. 615
-- 616).

[25] -- Firishtah's account is somewhat different, and he gives the
date A.H. 739, or July 20, 1338, to July 9, 1339. But I consider the
narrative of Ibn Batuta to be far the most reliable, since he wrote
from personal experience, while Firishtah compiled his story two and
a half centuries later.

[26] -- This was Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur Bura of Bengal, mentioned above.

[27] -- This tale is told of the rise of almost every kingdom,
principality, or large zamindari in Southern India, the usual variant
being the discovery of a hidden treasure.

[28] -- I think that there can be little doubt that this derivation,
though often given, is erroneous, and that the name was "City of
Victory," not "City of Learning," -- VIJAYA, not VIDYA. VYDIAJUNA
evidently represents VIDYARJUNA.

[29] -- Buchanan ("Mysore," &c., iii. 110), while on a visit to Beidur
in Mysore in 1801, was shown by one Ramappa Varmika a Sanskrit book in
his possession called the VIDYARAYANA SIKKA, which relates that the
founders of Vijayanagar were Hukka and Bukka, guards of the treasury
of Pratapa Rudra of Warangal. These young men came to the Guru,
or spiritual teacher, Vidyaranya, who was head of the monastery of
Sringeri, and the latter founded for them the city of Vijayanagar. This
was in 1336, and Hukka was made first king. But this story entirely
leaves out of account the most important point. How could two
brothers, flying from a captured capital and a conquered kingdom,
suddenly establish in a new country a great city and a sovereignty?

[30] -- DECADA VI. l. v. c. 4.

[31] -- "India in the Fifteenth Century," Hakluyt edit., p. 29.

[32] -- JOURNAL BOMBAY BR. R.A.S., xii. 338, 340.

[33] -- There is an undated inscription, published in Dr. Hultzsch's
"South Indian Inscriptions" (vol. i. p. 167), on a rock not far from
the summit of the lofty hill on which stands the virgin fortress of
Gutti or Gooty in the Anantapur District, according to which that
stronghold belonged to King Bukka. The place is seventy-eight miles
east of Vijayanagar.

[34] -- EPIG. IND., iii. 36.

[35] -- An inscription of 1368 -- 69 (Saka 1290, year Kilaka) mentions
Madhavacharya Vidyaranya, apparently as still living. IND. ANT.,
iv. 206.

[36] -- See my "Antiquities of Madras," ii. 8, No. 58; Hultzsch's
EPIG. INDICA, iii. 21.

[37] -- Briggs, i. 427.

[38] -- This is in itself absurd, and carries with it its own
refutation. It would be manifestly impossible for the city to be
"built" in so short a time, and, moreover, it would have been sheer
waste of time for the Prince to have employed himself in such a
way. The sentence was probably introduced merely to account for that
city having been built ABOUT this period.

[39] -- Firishtah says on 1st Rabi-ul-awwal A.H. 759; A.H. 761
(A.D. 1359 -- 60) according to the BURHAN-I-MAASIR. But the author
of the latter work says that Ala-ud-din reigned thirteen years ten
months and twenty-seven days, which would make the date of his death
the 22nd of Rabi-ul-awwal A.H. 762, or January 31, A.D. 1361. He does
not, therefore, appear to be very accurate. Firishtah gives in words
the length of his reign as "eleven years two months and seven days."

[40] -- Certain inscriptions published by Mr. Rice state that the
general who commanded Bukka's armies about this time was Nadegonta
Mallinatha, son of Nadegonta Sayyana. These bear date A.D. 1355 --
1356 and 1356 -- 57.

[41] -- Called "Nagdeo" in Scott's translation (i. 19).

[42] -- Briggs, ii. 307.

[43] -- There is a confusion of dates here in Firishtah; but he
definitely fixes the month and year when Muhammad set out, and we
may accept it for the present. The BURHAN-I-MAASIR implies that the
war against Vijayanagar took place prior to the campaign against
Warangal. Firishtah places it certainly after the "Vellunputtun"
affair.

[44] -- Firishtah (Scott, i. 23).

[45] -- Adoni as now called; Adhvani as properly spelt. This is a fine
hill-fortress with extensive lines of walls, a few miles south of the
River Tungabhadra and on the line of railway between Madras and Bombay.

[46] -- We must never forget that the narrative of Firishtah is
necessarily tinged with bias in favour of the Musalmans, and that it
was not compiled till the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the
seventeenth century A.D. The "infidels" are, of course, the Hindus,
the "faithful" the followers of Muhammad the Prophet.

[47] -- The country in question is a plain composed of a deep alluvial
deposit, generally overlying gravel, and known as "black cotton
soil." After heavy rain it is practically impassable for traffic for
some days.

[48] -- The expression of Firishtah last quoted is deserving of note,
as it implies that, according to tradition in his time, the Raya of
Vijayanagar had by the year 1366 A.D. become a great and important
sovereign.

[49] -- Briggs (ii. 312, n.) considers it unlikely that the armies
could have possessed artillery at so early a date.

[50] -- Scott's edit., i. 27.

[51] -- Briggs gives the name as Bhoj-Mul. He MAY be the Mallayya or
Mallinatha mentioned above (p. 31, note).

[52] -- Sacred animals to the Hindus.

[53] -- About forty-two miles.

[54] -- The Tiger-Hunter.

[55] -- 19th Zilkada A.H. 776 (Firishtah). The BURHAN-I MAASIR says
in A.H. 775.

[56] -- The BURHAN-I MAASIR calls the Raya "Kapazah." Major King says
that even the vowel marks are given, and there can be no doubt about
the name. I venture to hazard a conjecture that if the word had been
written "Pakazah," transposing the first two consonants -- a mistake
occasionally made by writers dealing with, to them, outlandish names
-- the sound of the word would suggest Bukka Shah. There is no name
that I have met with amongst those borne by the kings of Vijayanagar
in the remotest degree resembling "Kapazah."

[57] -- Firishtah relates a story which is hardly sufficient to
account for Bukka's faint-heartedness. He says that Mujahid went one
day while on the march after a man-eating tiger of great ferocity,
and shot it with a single arrow through the heart. "The idolaters,
upon hearing of this exploit, were struck with dread." At the present
day, at least, there are no tigers in the country between Adoni and
Vijayanagar, though panthers are plentiful enough.

[58] -- Firishtah, ii. 332 n.

[59] -- A French map of A.D. 1652, published by Mr. Danvers
("Portuguese in India," end of vol. i), shows at this spot "C. de
Rames," but the modern Ordnance Map has no place of that name in
the vicinity.

[60] -- It should be noted that Firishtah has previously described
Mujahid, though he was then only about twenty years old, an a
remarkably powerful man. He states that at the age of fourteen he
had broken the neck of an opponent in a wrestling match.

[61] -- Probably Marappa or Muddappa.

[62] -- It will be seen hereafter that the kingdom was divided into
provinces, held by nobles an condition of maintaining large armies
ready for service at any moment.

[63] -- Some authorities say that Daud was Mujahid's cousin.

[64] -- "Dhunna Sodra" is, I think, a lake or tank in the plain on
the eastern edge of the Vijayanagar hills, close under a lofty hill
called, in the Trigonometrical Survey Taluq map, "Dannsundram," for
(probably) Dharma Samudram. On the summit of this hill is a great
Trigonometrical Survey pillar. The hill is 500 feet high, and lies
within the limits of the village of Kanvi Timmapuram. Commanding,
as it does, the route by which a force issuing from the capital would
attempt, by rounding the hills, to cut off the only line of retreat
open to the invaders towards the north east, the importance of the
post to the Muhammadan army could not be over estimated.

[65] -- Senhor Lopes tells me that he recently found in the archives of
the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon (CORPO CHRONOLOGICO, Part iii. packet 11,
No. 107) a copy of a copper-plate grant which was executed by the chief
of Goa in A.D. 1391 in the name of "Virahariar," king of Vijayanagar,
the suzerain. This was "Vira" Harihara II. It was copied in A.D. 1532,
and translated into Portuguese.

[66] -- Probably Belgaum.

[67] -- The Tulu-ghat, or the Tulu country on the Malabar coast.

[68] -- Compare the passage in the Chronicle of Nuniz, p. 302 below,
where, writing of a period a few years later, he says, "The king of
Coullao (Quilon) and Ceylon, and Paleacate (Pulicat), and Pegu and
Tanacary (Tenasserim), and many other lands, pay tribute to him" --
the Raya.

[69] -- 17th Zil-hijja, A.H. 779.

[70] -- Meadows Taylor, in his "History of India," relates (p. 163)
that on one occasion Mujahid, during his attack on Vijayanagar,
penetrated into the second line of works, where there was a celebrated
image of the monkey-god, Hanuman. The Sultan dispersed the Brahmans
who tried to protect it, and struck the image in the face, mutilating
its features. "A dying Brahman lying at the foot of the image cursed
the king. 'For this act,' he said, 'thou wilt die ere thou reachest
thy kingdom.' A prophecy which was literally fulfilled. The image,
hewn out of a large boulder of granite, still remains, and shows the
marks of the king's mutilation." I do not know to which image the
historian alludes. There are several statues of Hanuman in the second
line of works, two of them lying south of the temple of Malaanta
Raghunathasvami.

[71] -- 21st Muharram A.H. 780.

[72] -- The name is generally given as Mahmud, and so Firishtah names
him but Dr. Codrington (NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE, 3rd Series, vol. xviii
p. 261) points out that the name on all the coins of this Sultan is
"Muhammad," and not "Mahmud;" and this is confirmed by the BURHAN-I
MAASIR and two other authorities (Major King in IND. ANT., July 1899,
p. 183, note 39). I think it best, however, to adhere to Firishtah's
nomenclature to prevent confusion.

[73] -- 21st Rajab A.H. 799. The 26th according to the BURHAN-I MAAZIR.

[74] -- See Rice's "Mysore Inscriptions," p. 55 (A.D. 1379); JOURNAL
BOMBAY BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, xii. 340 (A.D. 1399).

[75] -- See above, p. 28. Professor Aufrecht believes that Sayana
died A.D. 1387.

[76] -- "Mysore Inscriptions," p. 226.

[77] -- JOURNAL BOMBAY BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, ix. 227.

[78] -- In this the king is called "MAHAMANDALESVARA, son of Vira
Bukka Udaiyar, Lord of the four seas."

[79] -- EPIG. IND., iii. pp. 115 -- 116.

[80] -- OP. CIT., p. 119.

[81] -- 17th Ramazan A.H. 799 (Firishtah).

[82] -- 23rd Safar A.H. 800 (Firishtah).

[83] -- EPIGRAPHIA INDICA, iii. 36, N. 3.

[84] -- Firishtah (Scott, p. 76).

[85] -- Rather, I think, basket-boats. These are described in the
text of Paes (below, p. 259) as being in use on these rivers in
the sixteenth century, just as they are to-day. They are circular
in shape, and are made of wickerwork of split bamboo covered all
over outside with leather. Colonel Briggs, writing of these boats
(Firishtah, ii. 371), in a footnote says, "A detachment of the British
army crossed its heavy guns without even dismounting them over the
Toongbudra in 1812 in these basket-boats."

[86] -- These women always accompanied the Raya's armies. Nuniz says
that large numbers of them were at the Hindu camp at Raichur in 1520.

[87] -- A stringed instrument.

[88] -- Youths trained to sing and dance in public.

[89] -- Assessed at "near [pound sterling]400,000" (Scott, Firishtah,
p. 79, note).

[90] -- "Mysore Inscriptions," Rice, p. 279, No. 150. Professor
Kielhorn in IND. ANT., xxiv. p. 204, No. 304, and note.

[91] -- "South Indian Inscriptions," i. 82 (Dr. Hultzsch).

[92] -- We must remember that the narrator is a loyal
Muhammadan. Mudkal was in the tract always in dispute between the
two kingdoms.

[93] -- About forty miles north.

[94] -- Briggs gives her name as "Nehal."

[95] -- Briggs says, "In the beginning of the year 809." This would
be the month of June, and the months following would have been
unfavourable for the march of armies. I prefer Scott's rendering.

[96] -- Firishtah generally calls this place "Beekapore" (Scott, i. 47,
69, 85, 86 &c.), but on p. 301 he spells the name "Binkapore." Bankapur
was one of the principal fortresses in the Carnatic. It is the
"Bengapor" or "Vengapor" of our chronicles. (See below, p. 122.)

[97] -- This again points to the Muhammadan camp having been in the
neighbourhood of Hospett, south of Vijayanagar.

[98] -- "Plates of gold filled with incense and silver flowers." --
Briggs (ii. 386).

[99] -- This square is the open space mentioned by both Nuniz and
Paes. On the left of it, as the cortege advanced, was the palace.

[100] -- Scott has it "Mankul" (i. 90), but Briggs (ii. 389) corrects
this into "Pangul," which is undoubtedly correct.

[101] -- His grandfather, Deva Raya I., was young enough at the
beginning of his reign (A.D. 1406) to plunge into amorous intrigues
and adventures, and he reigned only seven years at most. His son and
successor, Vijaya, reigned only six years. Vijaya's son, Deva Raya
II., therefore, was probably a mere boy when he came to the throne
in A.D. 1419.

[102] -- PINA = CHINNA (Telugu) or CHIKKA (Kanarese), and means
"little" or "young." (See the tale told by Barradas below, p. 222 ff.,
of the events of 1614 A.D.) The name is very common in Southern India,
and was generally applied to the Crown Prince.

[103] -- 7th Shawwal A.H. 825. Firishtah, (Scott) p. 95, gives the
length of the reign, and his figures yield this result.


 


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