The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c10.53

v1.c10.53

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.