The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c13.200

v1.c13.200

Now it happend in the year 1552 that one of the nobles of the kingdom of Travancore, with a strong detachment of soldiers, invaded several villages of the South of Coromandel near Cape Comorin, pillaging the poor villages and capturing some of them. The rest of the inhabitants, who were all Christians, appealed to the Nayak of Madura, their protector; this was naturally an inducement to Visvanatha, who accordingly, proceeded at once with his army against the villages belonging to the Malayalam noble, entered them by surprise and ravaged them. On hearing this the Travancore Maharaja became furious; and since he could not oppose the forces of Madura, joined forces with Vitthala and overpowered the poor Christians of the villages who had appealed to Visvanatha. The combined army arrived in the silence of the night, and a great slaughter of people took place before dawn; one of the victims was a Portuguese Missionary, Luis Mendez, a Lay Brother of the Society².