The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c13.185

v1.c13.185

In the year 1549 there was at Vedalai a garrison of forty soldiers under the command of one Joao Fernandes Correa whose rapacity provoked an attack from the Badagas. He dug a trench close to his fort barring the path of the numerous Hindu pilgrims to the temple at Rameswaram, perhaps the most celebrated in the whole of southern India. Thus the pilgrims had to pay toll to the Portuguese; in consequence of which the alms received by the Brahmans of the temple at Rameswaram went on dwindling day by day. Accordingly the Brahmans, who were as covetous as the Portuguese captain, appealed to Madura, probably through the Setupati of Ramnad who was in charge of the causeway leading to Rameswaram; and the result was the Badaga invasion.