The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c24.29

v1.c24.29

3. Finally in 1606 Father de Nobili himself ventured into ‘those wide-spread lands.’ In the middle of this year Fr. A. Laerzio, the Provincial of the Malabar Province, when going to pay his annual visit to the missionaries, took Fr. de Nobili along and left him at Madura. The same Provincial, in a letter written towards the close of the following year, says: “One year and a half elapsed since we sent Fr. Roberto de Nobili to the residence of Madura in order to learn the language of that country to perfection” ¹. And in another Jesuit letter of the same year, 1606, we read again: “In November last Fr. Provincial, passing through that residence (of Madura), left Fr. Roberto de Nobili there to help Fr. Goncalo frz (Fernandez), and to learn the more correct language of the court; and also to relieve the Father who, being old and sickly, required a successor” ². De Nobili was then 29 years old.