The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c13.89

v1.c13.89

6. When news of this inroad reached Travancore, all the people grew extremely frightened, and a great number of the inhabitants of the villages of the South emigrated northwards carrying with them all their belongings. "I went *via* the Cape by land to visit these miserable Christians, who were coming, persecuted and plundered by the Badagas", says St. Francis Xavier, an eye-witness of these events; "it was indeed pitiful to see them; some had nothing to eat; others had become blind on account of their age and hardships; many were married men, and their wives brought forth their children while *en route*, and there were many other pitiful things; had you seen them you would, I am sure, have pitied them even more than myself. I ordered the poor people to assemble at Manapar (Manapadu)"¹.