The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c11.91

v1.c11.91

Some years after, while Dom Pedro Mascarenhas was the Viceroy, Burhan Nizam Shah, the Sultan of Ahmadnagar, proposed to him to proclaim the unfortunate Prince at Goa Sultan of Bijapur, and to win for him the fortress of Penda. Nizam Shah was already meditating the ruin of his neighbour of Bijapur. This idea appealed to the Viceroy; and he at once ordered a majestic stage adorned with cloth of silk and gold, to be put up in the square in front of his palace. There in the presence of a great multitude of Portuguese and Goans and of many nobles of Bijapur, his partizans, he crowned with his own hands Prince Abdullah Adil Shah Sultan of Bijapur. The new King, as a mark of his thankfulness, resigned at once all his rights over the territories of Salsette and Bardez. After this ceremony, the Viceroy despatched an army of three thousand foot and two hundred horse to conquer the fort of Penda, which was then in possession of the real Sultan. The cavalry was sent first under the command of Gaspar de Mello, Captain of Goa; the rest of the army followed, led by the five captains: Fernando Martins Freire, Martim Affonso de Miranda, Dom Fernando de Monroy, Dom Antonio de Noronha and Sebastiao de Sa. The garrison of that fortress was unable to resist for long. Its surrender was communicated to the Viceroy after some days. He went there accompanying Abdullah Adil Shah with great ceremony. The new Sultan took possession of the fort, and set out at once to conquer the whole kingdom; leaving in the fort a detachment of six hundred men under the command of Dom Antao de Noronha, while Mascarenhas returned to Goa where he died shortly after. Dom Francisco Barreto succeeded him as Governor in 1555, and continued the policy of his predecessor towards Abdullah. The King of Portugal was much pleased on hearing this news, as he wrote to that effect to the City of Goa in a letter dated Lisbon, March 20th, 1557¹.