The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c16.139

v1.c16.139

15. Nevertheless, the ancient populous capital of the Empire had become a small village, showing only in its temples and palaces the past grandeur which was crumbling away little by little. Its decay was the first death-blow to Portuguese commerce in India: "From that time onwards", says Couto, "the inhabitants of Goa have been on the decline" ¹. And Filippo Sassetti, in the above quoted letter, says also that the traffic between the two cities had completely perished, and gives the following instance to illustrate the great loss that this entailed to Portuguese commerce: "The revenue of the tax on the horses that came from Persia for Vijayanagara was from a hundred and twenty thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand ducats; and the present revenue does not reach even six thousand" ².