The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c10: Chapter IV. Foreign Policy

The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c10

Language: English

Chapter IV. Foreign Policy

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SUMMARY.—1. Conquests of Sadasiva and Rama Raya.—2. Their campaigns in the Karnatik and Ceylon.—3. Previous relations between Vijayanagara and the Portuguese, specially during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya.—4. The Portuguese intend to plunder the temple at Tirupati.—5. The treaties of alliance between Sadasiva and the Portuguese.—6. Text of the treaty of 1547.—7. Expedition of Rama Raya against Sao Thome, in 1558.—8. Trading in Sao Thome.—9. Trade between the cities of Goa and Vijayanagara.

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CONTEMPORARY SOURCES.—1. Hindu inscriptions and grants.—Ferishta, Anonymous chronicler of Golkonda.—3. *Commentarios do Grande Afonso Dalboquerque*, Barros, Couto, Faria y Sousa.—4. Sousa, *Oriente Conquistado*, Anonymous Life of St. Francis Xavier.—5. Travels of C. Frederick.—6. *Arquivo da Torre do Tombo*, Lisbon, *Tratados*, I.—7. *Sivatattvaratnakara*.

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WHEN studying the relations of Sadasiva with foreign nations, the flattery associated with the inscriptions and grants of the old Hindu Sovereigns is noteworthy. In a Tamil inscription at Madambakkam we are told that Sadasiva ‘took every country’¹. A grant dated 1546 goes so far as to state that “he subdued all the enemies in Suragiri (Penukonda) and brought the whole land from Setu to Himadri into subjection to his commands”². But this eulogy is probably inspired by the fact narated in the beginning of the second chapter, when the young Prince was rescued by Rama Raya and placed on the throne of Vijayanagara after the defeat and death of the usurper Salakam Timma. The early date of the inscription suggests this suspicion. That the Kamboja³, Bhoja⁴,

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¹ Rangacharya, I, p. 397, 685.

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² *Ep. Carn.*, IV, Ng, 58.

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³ One of the sixteen pre-Buddhist kingdoms in the North of India, probably in the Punjab, mentioned in the *Anguttara-Nikaya*, I, 213.

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⁴ Two Kings of Kaauj were called Bhoja, Mihira Bhoja (c. 840-90 A. D.), and Bhoja II (c. 908-10 A. D.). In Malwa there was one famous king of the Paramaras named Bhoja (1018-60 A. D.). Moreover, there was in the 4th and 5th centuries a tribe of Bhoja, in Berar, whose sovereigns belonged to the Vakataka Dynasty.

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VIJAYANACARA UNDER SADĀŚIVA RĀYA TILL THE BATTLE OF RAKSAS-TACDI 1542-1565

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II. The Empire of Vijayanagara under Sadasiva Raya.

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Kalinga ¹, Karahata ² and other kings acted as servants for his female apartments ³, is even a less trustworthy boast, more akin to an exaggerated reproduction of the inscriptions of Krishna Deva Raya and Achyuta Raya, who are represented as being attended by the kings of Anga, Vanga and Kalinga ⁴. It seems, however, that the king of Orissa, one of those conquered by Krishna Deva Raya, acknowledged the sovereignty of Sadasiva, as we may deduce from the grant of 1558 of Timma Raja, described as son of the king of Orissa ⁵.

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¹ The Chalukya kingdom of Rajahmundri.

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² I was unable to indentify this kingdom.

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³ *Ep. Ind.*, IV, p. 3; *Ep Carn.*, IV, Ng, 58; V, Hn, 7; IX, Cp, 186.

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⁴ About 1533 Luigi Roncinotto, in the account of his travels through India, wrote that the Emperor of Narsinga, or Vijayanagara, “had 200 kings under him”. Gubernatis, *Storia*, p. 127.

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⁵ Sewell, I, p. 75.

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On the other hand, we cannot doubt that many neighbouring Rajas and petty chiefs were brought under the control of Sadasiva, since we have the authority of the Muhammadan chronicler of Golkonda for stating that Rama Raya strengthened his power by the reduction of many troublesome neighbours ⁶. The supreme Minister is called, in an inscription of the time of Venkata III, ‘an ocean of valour’ ⁷, a praise that appears confirmed in several grants either contemporary or of latter date, which specify, to some extent, the heroic deeds of the Regent. It is said in the Vellangudi Plates of Sadasiva that Rama Raya ‘destroyed his enemies who were a pest to the world’ ⁸; the Dalavay Agraharam plates of Venkata II state that he had ‘slain in battle his enemies, who were a scourge of the earth’ ⁹; the Kuniyur plates of Venkata III affirm that he ‘killed in a battle all dangerous enemies in the world’ ¹⁰; and a grant of Ranga III, dated 1645, records that ‘all his enemies, the thorns of the world, did the heroic Rama Raya slay in battle' ¹.

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⁶ Ferishta, III, p.

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³⁸¹ Cf. Correa, IV. p. 438.

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⁷ *Ep. Carn.*, III, p. Nj, 198.

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⁸ *Ep. Ind.*, XVI, p. 319, vv. 17-8.

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⁹ Ibid., XII, p. 186, vv. 13-40.

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¹ *Ep. Carn.*, X, Mb, 60. These phrases cannot be ascribed to the Muhammadans exclusively, because Rama Raya was finally killed in battle by them.

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2. Who were these chiefs that were defeated and killed by Rama Raya? Ferishta relates that Rama Raya ‘had reduced all the Rajas of the Karnatik to his yoke’ ². The whole Canara country south of Vijayanagara was the original Karnatik of those days. The *Sivatattvaratnakara* of Keladi Basavabhupala confirms the statement of Ferishta in the description of a campaign planned by Rama Raya in the present Shimoga District. It says that the Regent sent Sadasiva Nayaka, the influential chief of the Keladi family, to subdue the barbarian Nayakas of Chandragutti; the strong hill-fort was successfully captured by Sadasiva and the Dasyu-nayakas thereafter acknowledged the Emperor of Vijayanagara ³. Accordingly, he is said in one of his inscriptions to be ruling over Araga ⁴, the capital of one of the early Viceroyalties of Vijayanagara, comprising some districts of the present kingdom of Mysore and the Canara country from Goa to Mangalore ⁴.

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² Ferishta, l.c., p. 125.

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³ S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Sources*, p. 195.

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⁴ M. A. D., 1923, p. 83.

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Rama Raya’s expeditions into the kingdom of Travancore will be dealt with in another chapter; but we must here observe that Sadasiva is called ‘the conqueror of all countries and Ceylon’ ⁶, and in another inscription he is said ‘to have looted Ceylon’ ⁷, which probably refers to the invasion of Ceylon by Krishnappa Nayaka of Madura, as we shall narrate later on. No other traces of this campaign of Sadasiva in Ceylon have come to our knowledge; but the anonymous chronicler of Golkonda supposes that Ceylon was under the sway of Vijayanagara, when, in narrating the battle of Raksas-Tagdi, he says "that Rama Raya summoned all his dependants from the banks of the Krishna as far as the Island of Ceylon" ¹.

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⁵ Cf. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Mysore and the Decline of the Vijayanagara Empire*, Q. J. M. S., XIII, p. 621-2.

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⁶ 129 of 1905.

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⁷ 451 of 1905.

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¹ Ferishta, l. c., p. 413-4. When Luigi Barthema visited India, in 1507, Ceylon, or at least some of its kings, acknowledged the sovereignty of Vijayanagara. Gubernatis, o. c., p. 295. Faria y Asia Portuguesa, c, p. 183, says that in 1517 the three largest kingdoms of Asia were Siam, China and Bisnaga.

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3. Of the relations between Rama Raya and the Portuguese we have quite authentic information. But for the better understanding of their intercourse, it will be convenient to narrate briefly the relations between Vijayanagara and the Portuguese from the time of their first appearance on the shores of India. To begin with, it seems that the origin of these relations must be looked for as far back as about 1507, when the first Portuguese Governor, Dom Francisco d' Almeida made the acquaintance of Timoja. This Timoja was practically and in effect the commandant of the Vijayanagara fleet entrusted with the task of waging perpetual war with Goa; which city had been captured some years before from the power of Vijayanagara by Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur ². When the Bijapur Sultan died in 1510, Timoja persuaded Affonso de Albuquerque, the then Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in the East, to attack Goa, a former possession of the Hindu Empire. In doing this, Timoja took advantage of the tender age of the new Sultan Ismail Adil Shah ³. This enterprise was completely successful; and Timoja, who was then called the most faithful ally of Portugal ⁴, helped Albuquerque by land when the city was taken—so much that the Sultan of Bijapur despatched a messenger to Vijayanagara complaining that Timoja had given his aid to the Portuguese fleet in the capture of Goa ⁵.

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² Danvers, Report, p. 4; Lafitau, Histoire des Decouvertes, I, p. 213-4.

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³ Faria y Sousa, I, p. 136.

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⁴ Ibid., p. 136-40.

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⁵ Commentarios do Grande Afonso Dalboquerque, II, p. 100-11. Cf. Danvers, The Portuguese, I, p. 193.

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Before the conquest of Goa, Albuquerque had sent a Franciscan Friar named Frey Luiz to the court of Vijayanagara, to get the Emperor's assistance in attacking the city of Calicut by land whilst the Portuguese operated by sea, with a view to avenging the violation of his promise by the Sovereign of that place¹. It appears also that Frey Luiz invited Krishna Deva Raya to become a Christian and the Sovereign gave no negative answer to the priest's request. In an anonymous letter of a traveller written in Venice to *ser Zuane di Santi*, dated November 10th, 1511, and kept in the *Biblioteca Magliabecchina* of Florence, we read the following words: "It seems that King Narsinga was very near becoming a Christian"². Frey Luiz remained at Vijayanagara, and was finally murdered there in 1511 by a Turk, it seems, by order of the Sultan of Bijapur³. Albuquerque gives this piece of news to his Sovereign in a letter of April 1st, 1512, as follows: "At Bisnagar (Vijayanagara) one Rume (Turk) murdered Frey Luiz; there is nothing extraordinary in this event"⁴.

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¹ Dos Santos, *Ethiopia Oriental*, II, p. 283; Lafitau, o. c., I, p. 262-3

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² Gubernatis, *Storia*, p. 383-4.

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³ *Commentarios*, III, p. 46.

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⁴ From Affonso de Albuquerque to Dom Manuel, Goa (?), April 1, 1512, Costa, *Historia das Relacoes Diplomaticas*, p. 32. Cf. Heras. *Early Relations Between Vijayanagara and Portugal*. Q. J. M. S., XV, p. 67-9.

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The result of this legation of Frey Luiz was an Embassy from Vijayanagara that reached Goa in the following year 1511. Both the *Commentarios* and Faria y Sousa, that give this information, do not mention the name of the ambassador nor the nature of his business with the Viceroy. But we are sure that this was the origin of the official friendship between the two powers. In the anonymous letter mentioned above it is stated that "the King of Narsinga (Vijayanagara) has sent ambassadors in order to establish a perpetual friendship with the King of Portugal; on the other hand, this King has done the same, for he also wished to establish this alliance"⁶. Moreover Krishna Deva Raya proposed, no doubt, through his ambassador to the Viceroy, his desire of getting horses from Arabia and Ormuz, of which he was in much need for his campaigns against the Muhammadans¹. As a matter of fact the second Ambassador sent by Albuquerque to Vijayanagara, Gaspar Chanoca by name, was charged to inform Krishna Raya that the Viceroy would willingly send him all the horses available at Goa, rather than to the Sultan of Bijapur².

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⁵ *Commentarios*, III, p. 41-2.

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⁶ Gubernatis, *Storia*, p. 384.

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¹ Cf. *Commentarios*, III, p. 46.

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² From A. de Albuquerque to Dom Manuel, Goa (?), April 1, 1512, Costa, *Historia das Relacoes Diplomaticas*, p. 33.

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The success of this Embassy encouraged the lucky Emperor; and in 1514 he sent another Legation, at the head of which, was one Retelim Cherim (Cheti), Governor of Bracelor (Basrur) who offered the Viceroy £ 20,000 for the exclusive right of buying 1,000 horses. The ambassador was kindly received by Pero Mascarenhas, Captain of the fortress, and an escort went specially to meet him; but Albuquerque courteously declined the offer on the ground that such a privilege would destroy trade³. In spite of this, Vijayanagar and Goa remained as friendly as ever. For when in 1515, Krishna Deva Raya captured the fortress of Rachol, among his soldiers there was also a detachment of Portuguese soldiers under Christovao de Figueredo; who rendered great assistance in the storming of the fort⁴. The Hindu Sovereign was so grateful to the Portuguese on account of these events, that subsequently, perhaps in the following year, he presented the Portuguese Viceroy with the whole territory of Salsette as a free gift¹. This friendship between both powers still subsisted in the year 1526, since Faria y Sousa affirms that Lope Vaz de Sampayo in that year forgave a rebel city because it belonged to the territory of Vijayanagara².

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³ From A. de Albuquerque to Dom Manuel, Cananor, November 27, 1514, Costa, o. c. p. 51; *Commentarios*, IV, p. 139-41; *Cartas be Simao Botelho*, Lima Felner, *Subsidos*, p. 343

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⁴ Faria y Sousa, I, p. 196; Barros, p. 438-43; Maffei, *Historiarum Indicarum*, p. 320-1. I do not know why Mr. Sewell, p. 334-5 identifies Rachol with Raichur; perhaps because of Ferishta, III, p. 49, who represents the river Krishna as flowing in its neighbourhood. But I rely more upon the Portuguese historians who placed this city in the vicinity of Goa. Faria y Sousa, after relating the defeat of the Bijapur Sultan, says: "Ruy de Mello, who was then at Goa, seeing the Idalcao (Adil Khan) discouraged on account of that disaster and perhaps distracted while thinking how to recover from it; and besides knowing that many people were fighting and robbing the mainland (*la tierra firme*) around: he seized it at the head of two hundred and fifty

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¹ Correa, II, p. 658.

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² Faria y Sousa, I, p. 246.

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4. But after the death of Krishna Raya, and when Sadasiva became King, the old alliance was no longer respected, at least by the Portuguese. Faria y Sousa narrates that in 1544 the governor Martim Affonso de Sousa thought of sending a fleet of 45 ships under 27 captains to the eastern coast to plunder the temple of Tremele (Tirupati)³, "that is in the kingdom of Bisnaga (Vijayanagara)", in which, it was said, heaps of cavalry and eight hundred Kanarese foot-soldiers" (l. c., p. 199). This writer, whose work appeared a whole century after these events, supposes Rachol located in an island, since he speaks of the *tierra firme* around. How could it be Raichur, in the centre of the Deccan? Moreover, we know that Krishna Deva Raya, probably in the following year, gave the whole territory of Salsette, which had belonged to Bijapur just a little before, to the Portuguese for ever; and no other conquest of Salsete is mentioned in the old chronicles but this. Finally Anquetil du Peron, l. c., p. 197, says clearly that Krishna Raya conquered the fortress of Rachol, that is in the island of Salsette and refers to 'La Fitau, *Conquete des Portugues dans le Nouveaus Monde*, I, p. 587, and Botero, *Della Relatione*, I, p. 304-6. (Rome, 1595)'. During the Viceroyalty of Nuno da Cunha, the Sultan of Bijapur sent two expeditions to Salsette in order to recover Rachol, but both failed. Cf. Dos Santos, *Ethiopia Oriental*, II, p. 237.

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³ Tirupati was known to the Portuguese under the name of Tripati or Trepeti. Tremele, a corruption of Tirumala, sounds like Trepeti; and although the distance of twelve leagues from St. Thome given by Faria y Sousa is not suggestive, nevertheless the likeness of the name and the celebrity of that temple in the whole of southern India, inclines me to identify the place that Martim Affonso de Sousa contemplated plundering with Tirupati. Even Thevenot *Travels*, p. 92, wrote, in the second half of the 17th century that "the famous Pagod of Trapety...is not far from Cape Comory."

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gold and riches were stored. But the fleet did not achieve its purpose.

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The aim of this expedition was suddenly changed, and some temples of the kingdom of Travancore were plundered instead of that of Tremele. Correa says that the reason of this change of plan was because the governor had been informed that his purpose was known at Vijayanagara, and accordingly many soldiers had assembled at Tirupati to resist the Portuguese attack¹.

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¹ Faria y Sousa, II, p. 135; Correa, IV, p. 300 and p. 324-8; Maffei, *Historiarum Indicarum*, p. 548.

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5. Nevertheless two years later the friendship was renewed by a treaty of February 26, 1546. The Emperor of Vijayanagara swore eternal friendship to the King of Portugal, confirmed the donation of the territories of Salsette and Bardez, and promised that he would never wage war against those Provinces². And in the following year, Rama Raya on behalf of Sadasiva dispatched to Goa another ambassador, who was one of the most famous captains of his army, with a remarkable train of nobles and servants to confirm specifically this treaty of alliance. He went to Goa via Ancola (Ankola) whence he was fetched by two sloops sent there from Goa³. The then Governor of Goa, Dom Joao de Castro, caused a great reception to be given to the ambassador. He was received by the Governor in a big hall with great pomp; and after the usual salutations, the ambassador gave the Governor the credentials of his King along with some precious jewels as royal presents. Nothing else was done that day, but on the next they had a long talk. The ambassador told the Governer that "the King, his Lord, was desirous of having perpetual peace and friendship with the Governor; and that they were always ready to do everything for the Portuguese, provided it was just and honest, because the Kings, his predecessors, had always fostered this mutual peace and friendship with the former governors." The Governor replied that "he greatly appreciated the King Sadasiva Raya's desire to be a friend of the King of Portugal, his Lord. But as he, the Governor, was just then about to leave for some of the fortresses of his dominions, he would, in order to finish the business of the legation as soon as possible, be much pleased to depute the Veedor de Fazenda (Finance Member) and the Secretary, to treat with the ambassador on the matters concerned, and to come to a mutual agreement; for he was very pleased to give all pleasure to the King of Vijayanagara".

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² *Archivo da Torre do Tombo*, Lisbon, *Tratados*, I, p. 116. Cf. Danvers, *Report*, p. 50. To crown this treaty Garcia de Sa, Governor of Goa, concluded on August 22, 1548, another treaty with Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur, who renewed the agreement, by which the teritories of Salsette and Bardez were to be the property of the King of Portugal for ever. Cf. Danvers, *Report*, p. 51.

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³ Correa, IV, p. 601.

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6. On the following days, the ambassador met the two officers appointed by the Governor more than once, and the result of these meetings was the following treaty:—

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"Both parties, the King of Portugal and the King of Vijayanagara, oblige themselves to be friends of friends, and enemies of enemies, each of the other; and, when called on, to help each the other with all his forces against all kings and lords of India, Nizam Shah always excepted.

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"The Governor of Goa will allow Arab and Persian horses landed at Goa to be purchased by the King of Vijayanagara, none being permitted to be sent to Bijapur nor to any of its parts; and the King of Vijayanagara will be bound to purchase all those that were brought to his ports on quick and proper payment.

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"The King of Vijayanagara will compel all merchants in his kingdom trading with the coast, to send their goods through Onor (Honavar) and Barcelor (Basrur) wherein the King of Portugal will send factors who will purchase them all; and the Governors of India will be forced to send the Portuguese merchants there in order to buy them. On the same way, the King of Vijayanagara will forbid the exportation of iron and saltpetre into the kingdom of Adil Shah from any port or town of his own; and his merchants will be compelled to bring this merchandise to the harbours of the kingdom of Vijayanagara, where they will be quickly purchased by the Governors of India, not to cause them loss.¹ "All the cloths of the Kingdom of Vijayanagara will not be brought over to the ports of Adil Shah, but either to Ancola or to Onor (Honavar); and in the same way the Governors will bind the Portuguese merchants to go there to purchase them, and to exchange them for copper, coral, vermillion, mercury, China silks and all other kinds of goods which come from the Kingdon; and he, the King of Vijayanagara, will order his merchants to purchase them.

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¹ Sewell, p. 187, note, misunderstood this term of the treaty, which on the other hand is not given in full.

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¹ Botelho, *O Tombodo Estado da India*, Lima Felner, *Subsidios* p. 255-7; Couto, VI, p. 372; Faria y Sousa, II, p. 189. The treaty, or rather a copy of it, is preserved in the *Archivo da Torre do Tombo*, Lisbon, *Tratados*, I, p. 118. Cf. Danvers, *Report*, l. c.; Costa, *Historia das Relacoes Diplomaticas*, p. 102.

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"The King of Vijayanagara will allow no Moorish (Muhammadan) ship or fleet to stop in his ports; and if any should come, he will capture them and hand them over to the Governor of India, whosoever he may be.

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"Both parties agree to wage war with Adil Shah; and all the territories taken from the latter shall belong to Vijayanagara, except lands to the West of the Ghats, from Banda to the Cintacora river, which lands did long ago belong to the ownership and jurisdiction of Goa, and will remain attached for ever to the crown of Portugal."

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On September 19th, 1547, the Governor Dom Joao de Castro, being now back at Goa, gave his signature and oath to all the items of this treaty; so too did the ambassador of Sadasiva; then the treaty was published and announced throughout the city with much rejoicing by a flourish of trumpets. Dom Joao de Castro gave the ambassador a rich present of several beautiful horses and precious cloths for his Sovereign, and some other gifts for himself. Freire de Andrada in his *Life of Dom Joao de Castro* says that the league was intended by Rama Raya to secure assistance from the Viceroy against his neighbour the Sultan of Bijapur, who, "understanding the Governor's resolution retired his inland garrisons, as if avoiding the blow of the first invasion, endeavouring to weary out the State with a sudden and incursive War" 2. This statement of Freire de Andrada is confirmed by a letter of Dom Joao de Castro himself to King John III, dated December 16th 1546. According to it the Vijayanagara Sovereign wanted an alliance to wage actual war with Bijapur. Castro agreed to all the terms proposed by the ambassador, but was not ready to commence a compaign against the Sultan of Bijapur, with whom an alliance had recently been made ¹.

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² Freire de Andrada, *The Life of Dom Joao de Castro*, p. 226-7.

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¹ "Ha 25. de Junho me mandou El rey de Bisnaga hum Embaixador escreuendo-me muito apertadamente, que quizesemos eu e elle fazer ha querra ao Ydalcao, e leuantar Micale (sic) Rey dondome muntas (muitas) razoens pero (sic) iso. Eu me escuzei de ho faser per caso das pazes que ora nouamente tinha feito come o Ydalcao, e certos contratos; porem lancei munto (muito) de sua amizade, e lhe ofreci a minha pera da uolta que tornase da guerra de Combaya nos tornasemos a escreuer e uisitar pera entao tratar-mos de muntas (muitas) cousas que pertenciao ha elle e a mim. Eu lhe concedi alguas das cousas que me mandou requerer, e com ellas e minha resposta se tornou o embayxador muy contente" Obras Varias Manu scriptas, fol. 42.

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Another legation of Vijayanagara to Goa in 1549 is mentioned by Faria y Sousa ², but no details are given. It was undoubtedly intended to revive the old friendship.

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² Faria y Sousa, II, p. 216.

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7. We have no more information about the intercourse between the two nations until 1558, when a war suddenly broke out, on Rama Raya marching with an army against the Portuguese of St. Thome. A forged account of the discovery of the remains of the Apostle St. Thomas in the neighbourhood of the old Mailapura ³, was the cause of a Portuguese settlement in the eastern coast of Vijayanagara, in the year 1522 ⁴.

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³ Mandelslo, a traveller and a native of Holtstein, who visited the Coromandel Coast is 1639, says that Mylapore was once the capital of the kingdom of Narsinga. He was, no doubt, misinformed by the Portuguese of the place who, believing in the existence of the old King of Mailapura, a contemporary of St. Thomas, thought he was one of the old kings of the Empire of Narsinga or Vijayanagara. Mandelslo, Voyages and Travels, p. 94.

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⁴ We cannot admit the authenticity of the account of the finding of St. Thomas' Tomb by the Portuguese in 1517, as given by Faria y Sousa I, p. 222-4, and by Fr, Francisco de Souza, Oriente

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It was an appreciable distance from Mailapura, known to the Portuguese as Meliapor, to St. Thome, although we believe that Faria y Sousa was wrong in stating that the distance between

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Conquistado, I, p. 152. It obviously presents all the elements of a forgery. The inscription of the supposed tomb: "When Thomas founded that temple, the King of Mailapura granted him the rights over the goods which arrived at the city, that was ten per cent," evidently shows the intention of the Portuguese merchants to reclaim those rights given to one of their ancestors in the faith of Christ by the Sovereign of the place. 2. The very find of the relics and their description as white bones, next to a broken lance, may be regarded as the most barefaced imposture, because there is no doubt that the holy remains of the Apostle were removed to the city of Edessa, in Syria, before the 6th century, as stated by St. Gregory de Tours in his book *De Gloria Beatorum Martyrum*, a work revised in 590. Cf. Migne, *PP. LL.*, LXXI, p. 733. Another account states that his stick was also found next to the relics. *Historia Chronologica*, O Gabinete Litterario das Fontainhas, I, p. 13. 3. The fact that his relics were put into a a China chest or into a silver box, according to others (Cf. *Historia Chronologica*, l. c.) and hidden next to the altar, but never subsequently discovered, clearly shows that the forgery was carefully concocted to explain the fact of the empty tomb carved by their care. 4. The account of the martyrdom sounds like a pious legend of the middle ages, as well as the story of King Perumal of Ceylon going to adore our Lord in the manger at the request of the Indian Sybil. 5. Finally, the painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is supposed to have been brought over from Palestine by the aforesaid King Perumal, is another unmistakable sign of the forgery of this narrative.

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When St. Francis Xavier passed through St. Thome, in 1545, he was told that the body of the Apostle was kept in the place, but from his own letter we may conclude that he did not believe it: "Ay en Santo Thomae mas de cien portugueses casados: ai vna iglesia mui deuota,y todos tienen que esta alli el cuerpo del glorioso Apostol". (There are at St. Thome more than a hundred Portuguese all married; they have a very devout church and all think that the body of the glorious Apostle is lying there). *M. H. S.J., Mon. Xav.*, I, p. 387. The famous Dutch traveller Nieuhoff passed through St. Thome in 1662, and while describing the city, he says: "Here yo see the two cities was seven leagues ¹. Around the so-called tomb of the Apostle, the Portuguese built a small city not independent but subject to the King of Vijayanagara; "which Citie, (St. Thome)", says Frederick, "although it be not very great, yet in my judgement, it is the fairest in all that part of the Indies" ²

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¹ Faria y Sousa, I, p. 224.

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² Purchas, o. c., p. 109. In a letter of one Fr. Froes to Fr. Quadros, both Jesuits, dated Goa, November, 1559—one year after Rama Raya's expedition—we read the following lines: "Os enuiamos," says Froes, "las copias de ciertas prouisiones que un rey antiguo de Bisnaga, gentil, suscribio en fauor de la casa del glorioso Apostol S. Tomas sobre ciertos......que alli dijo, las cuales copias enuio aqui el P. Cipriano algunos meses antes de su muerte" *Nuovi avisi dell' Indie*, f. 101 v. Were these *prouisiones* any grant of Rama Raya to St. Thomas' church made on this occasion? The fact is that Manucci speaks of it some years later: "Up to this day", said he in 1688, "the Portuguese preserve one of these plates for a gift to them, by the said Ram Rajah, of the city of Sao Thome." *Storia do Mogor*, III, p. 97. Was this goldenplate grant of Sao Thome made by Rama Raya when the Portuguese first settled in the place or after the expedition we are going to relate? Or was it perhaps a forgery of the Portuguese themselves? The inscription on the memorial stone in the church of Nossa Senhora da Luz, according to which it was built by the Franciscan Friar, Fr. Pedro da Atougia in 1516, must be rejected as not authentic. Cf. Davison Love, *Vestiges of old Madras*, I, p. 289-90.

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Although the reasons given by Fr. Sousa for the founding of the city are two, *vis.*, the devotion to the Apostle, and the convenience of that locality for trading with the natives of the east coast of the Vijayanagara Empire ³, nevertheless the main purpose of the settlement was commerce, just as was that of the other Portuguese settlements in India; and, even in this, they were not allowed to build any fort, as William Finch, a also the famous church of St. Thomas: this Apostle, *as the Portugueses pretend, leing buried here*". (Italics are mine). Nieuhoff, *Voyages and Travels*, p. 198. Finally Mandelslo, who was at St. Thome during the same century, heard from the Portuguese another legendary account of the preaching of St. Thomas and his martyrdom at St. Thome, which may be read in his *Voyages and Travels*, p. 94.

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³ Sousa, I, p. 153, 36.

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traveller of the beginning of the 16th century, informs us ¹. The town grew very rapidly; St. Francis Xavier, in one of his letters to the Jesuits of Europe dated Malaca, November 10th, 1545, says that in Sao Thome "there are more than one hundred Portuguese, all married" ².

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¹ Foster, *Early Travels in India*, p. 132.

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² M. H. S. J., *Mon. Xav.*, I, p. 387.

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Against this Portuguese town, in the vicinity of Mailapura, marched Rama Raya in the year 1558, and the motive of this expedition was this. The Franciscan Friars, who from the beginning were established at St. Thome and at Negapatam, caused several Hindu temples to be desecrated and the idols destroyed, building in their stead many Christian churches and chapels. In the year 1542, they had built at Negapatam two churches, one dedicated to St. Francis and the other to Nossa Senhora da Saude, and about three thousand people had embraced the Catholic Faith ³. The Jesuits who came shortly after, followed the example of the Franciscans. The Brahmins naturally represented these facts to the Regent of the Empire, who took no action against the Portuguese, because, no doubt, of the necessity of their friendship to obtain horses for war purposes ⁴. But, on this occasion a Portuguese fidalgo, a traitor to his nation and faith, whose name is not given in the Portuguese chronicles, invited Rama Raya to proceed against the Portuguese town, the inhabitants of which were 'most rich' he said, and from whom he would be able to get more than two millions of gold pagodas. Rama Raya was in need of money, on account both of the frequent wars with the Muhamadans and of his imperial designs. This invitation he soon accepted; and after collecting an army of more than five hundred thousand soldiers and a great deal of ammunition, set out from Vijayanagara towards Sao Thome.

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³ *Historia Chronologica*, *O Gabinete Litterario das Fontainhas* p. 86.

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⁴ The account of Sewell, p. 193-4, is not accurate.

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We fortunately have a short contemporary description of the town and population of Sao Thome at the time of Rama Raya's attempt. The anonymous author of the life of St.

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Francis Xavier quoted above says that Sao Thome "is a very rich and noble city, inhabited by Portuguese, who, being tired of the hardships of military life, retired to that place, wherein they found great convenience and opportunity for earning their life. Thus the city was formed which, besides the wealth and food that the land produces, is nicely fitted for trading and sending its goods to any part of the world" 1.

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When the news of the approach of Rama Raya reached the inhabitants of the city, Pero de Taide Inferno, a noble merchant from Goa, who happened to be in Sao Thome at the time, assembled all the chief men of the town, and tried to persuade them to resist Rama Raya and his army; an enterprise he thought pretty easy as the enemies were short of cannon. Moreover they had the additional advantage of the sea. But most of the inhabitants of the town thought otherwise, because the town being in the kingdom of Vijayanagara, they were not allowed to offer resistance to their Governor and Regent of the Empire; and further, they were unable to stand a long siege. This annoyed Pero de Taide, who at once left the city and made for Goa in a ship that had just then come from Bengal.

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Four of the principal inhabitants of the town were then deputed to receive Rama Raya even before he reached the place; they were to welcome him and offer him a present valued at about four thousand *cruzados*. The Regent was delighted with this gift from the Portuguese. In the meanwhile the streets of the city were decorated, and the windows and balconies festooned with rich-coloured cloth.

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When Rama Raya came within sight of the city he encamped on a vast plain, and dispatched several of his captains with orders to bring to his presence all the inhabitants of the town, men and women, old and young, bond or free. When they came they were entertained by his order in a separate place, while other captains were sent to the city to search for all the riches of the town; these were brought over to him, all furniture not excluded. Couto says that the value of the whole property of the inhabitants of Sao Thome would not have reached the sum of a hundred thousand *pardaos*. Rama Raya was furious on realizing that he had been deceived by his friend, the Portuguese fidalgo, and determined to inflict a severe punishment upon him. But the shrewd fidalgo made good his escape from the army. He was finally found in the town of Caleture, at a distance of six leagues. Brought before the Regent, he was put to death and trampled on by elephants.

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¹ M. H. S. *Mon. Xav.*, I. p. 59.

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Then Rama Raya decided to send the citizens back to the town after exacting a tribute of a hundred thousand pagodas; half to be given at once, and the other half a year later. Fifty thousand pagodas were paid down to him on the spot, and he took with him five of the chief citizens as hostages for the other half. Then, before leaving, he caused all the property to be returned to their owners. A silver spoon was found missing. Such diligent enquiries were made by his command, that the spoon was finally discovered and returned to its owner. This episode is mentioned by the two chroniclers who relate the history of this campaign¹.

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¹ With these details, given by both Couto and Faria y Sousa the account of Fr. Queyroz, *Conquista de Ceylao*, does not agree. According to it Rama Raya robbed the Catholic Church of St. Thomas (p. 309) and even stole the very relics of the holy Apostle (p. 310).

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Rama Raya at once left for his capital. On reaching Vijayanagara he released the five hostages and sent them back to Sao Thome, in recognition of their services during the retreat. Such was the end of the expedition, which would have been fatal to the town of Sao Thome if the advice of Pero de Taide Inferno had been followed².

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² Couto, VII, p. 54-60; Faria y Sousa, II, p. 327-8; Lafitau *Histoire des Decouvertes*, II, p. 553-4.

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8. This was only a passing cloud brought on by the cupidity of Rama Raya; for the intercouse between Vijayanagara and Portugal continued in the following years as friendly as ever. Caesar Frederick, who was an eye-witness of the trading of the Portuguese in the city of Sao Thome at the end of the reign of Sadasiva, says to this effect: "It is a marvellous thing to them which have not seene the lading and unlading of men and merchandize in Saint Tome as they doe: it is a place so dangerous, that a man cannot be served with small Barkes, neither can they doe their business with the Boates of the ships, because they would be beaten in a thousand pieces, but they make certain Barkes (of purpose) high which they call Masadie, they be made of little boards; one board being sowed to another with small cordes, and in this order are they made. And when they are thus made, and the owners will embarke any thing in them either men or goods, they lade them on land, and when they are laden, the Barke-men thrust the Boate with her lading into the streame, and with great speed they make haste all that they are able to row out against the huge waves of the Sea that are on that shore untill that they carrie them to the ships: and in like manner they lade these Masadies at the ships with merchandise and men. When they come neere the shore, the Bark-men leape out of the Bark into the Sea to keep the Barke right that shee cast not thwart the shore, and being kept right, the Suffe of the Sea setteth her lading drie on land without any hurt or danger, and sometimes there are some of them that are overthrown, but there can bee no great losse, bacause they lade but a little at a time. All the Merchandise they lade outwards, they emball it well with Oxe hides, so that if it take wet, it can have no great harme" ¹.

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¹ Purchas, o. c., p. 109.

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The anonymous author of the life of St. Xavier quoted above informs us that Sao Thome traded specially with the kingdoms of Pegu and Bengal: with the first in gold and sealing-wax, and with the second in eatables, particularly sugar. The trade of Sao Thome was also famous throughout Portugal for the beautiful cloths of different kinds coming from the Coromandel Coast. In the month of September they used to send to Malacca a ship laden with these coloured cloths, for which they obtained yearly great quantities of money ².

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² M. H. S. J., Mon. Xav., I, p. 59.

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9. Trade continued to flourish between Goa and Vijayanagara itself. In 1585, the Italian traveller Philippo Sasseti sent from Goa to Giambatista Strozzi, at Firenze, the following information on the Portuguese commerce between both cities previous to the battle of Raksas-Tagdi. He says that before that disaster, Vijayanagara “had such great traffic going through its streets that it was beyond imagination, and that there dwelt in it very rich people not as rich as the people of our country but as Cresus and other rich of days gone by. Large quantities of goods that came from our possessions via Alexandria and Soria were then consumed, and all the cloths and linen, which were made in such a large quantity, could be disposed of there. The traffic was so great that the road going from here (Goa) to that town was always as crowded as the roads leading to a fair, and the profit was so sure that the only trouble was to bring the goods there. Anything that was carried there by the merchants after a fortnight of walking, was sold there with a profit of 25 or 30 per cent. Besides they came back with other merchandise, and what a merchandise! diamonds, rubies, pearls. In these things the profit was even greater¹. And finally the tax on the horses that came from Persia to go to that kingdom yielded in this town a hundred and twenty or a hundred and fifty thousand ducats”¹.

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¹ A letter of Simao Botelho, Veedor de Fazenda, to the King of Portugal, dated Cochin, January 30th, 1552, confirms this information of the Italian traveller; “O visorei”, says he, “detremina mandar hum aluaro mendez ourivez, que dizem que entende em pedraria, que de la veo o anno passado, a bisnaga (Vijayanagara), asi para vemder alguas joias das que se ouuerao em ceilao, por non serem pera mandar a Rainha nosa senhora, segundo a todos qua pareceo, e poderem se vender por muito mais em bisnaga, por serem da laya que eles muito costumao e ystimao, porque sao topazios e olhos de gato, e tambem pera do dinheiro disto se averem alguns diamaes bons pera vosa alteza: o aluaro mendez promete fazer nisto grandes servicos, e pede que lhe faca merce de feitor da pedraria; la o devem de conhecer se he ele para ysto; e avendo laa de ir alguen, milhor he portugues que estrangeiro, e comtudo ha d ir com ele hum homem honrado, e de confianca, for scripvao. *Cartas de Simao Botelho*, Lima Teiner, *Subsidios*, p. 39.

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¹ [Note: The text has two footnote markers labeled "1". The first is in the body text, the second is the footnote itself. The transcription follows the printed text.]

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There were always Portuguese merchants at Vijayanagara. Frederick says that they used “to sleepe in the streets, or under Porches, for the great heat which is there, and yet they never had any harme in the night”². The same traveller gives a list of the different kinds of cloths and other goods that were commonly sold at Vijayanagara by the Portuguese merchants: "The Merchandize that went every yeere from Goa to Bezeneger were Arabian Horses, Velvets, Damaskes, and Sattens, Armesine of Portugall, and pieces of China, Saffron and Scarlets: and from Bezeneger they had in Turkie for their commodities, Jewels, and Pagodies which be Ducats of gold."¹

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² Purchas, o. c., p. 98.

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¹ Ibid., p. 99.

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Of all these goods, the horses from Arabia and Persia were the merchandise most profitable to Goa, as they were absolutely necessary to the imperial army. Again the author of the life of St. Xavier mentioned above, who was a contemporary of these events, says that "this King (of Vijayanagara) is on friendly terms with the state of His Highness (the King of Portugal) on account of horses. For all the horses that are sent to his country from Ormuz pass through Goa, and as both cities belong to His Highness, he cannot get them if the Viceroy of India is not pleased; and this is the reason why all the Portuguese do safely go from Sao Thome to Goa, that is, they cross one hundred and fifty leagues, almost all of which belonging to him"².

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² M. H. S. J., Mon. Xav., I, p. 63.

The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c10: Chapter IV. Foreign Policy

Chapter IV. Foreign Policy

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