The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c27.77

v1.c27.77

9. Precisely in the very year of the establishment of the Diocese of Mylapore, an event took place in St. Thome which enraged Venkata II against the Portuguese. The occasion was a fight the Portuguese had with the Hindus, owing to the death of a Portuguese gentleman married at St. Thome, who was stabbed by the Hindus at night in their own city (probably Madras). He had gone fully armed to it in search of a girl, who either had run away from him or had been stolen from his house by a soldier of the *adigar*¹. A fight having ensued there, many Hindus joined this soldier, and the Portuguese was killed and a brother of his wounded. News reached St. Thome at once. "Our men", says Fr. Coutinho, "rioted and wanted to set out during night to attack the fort. The captain stopped them till next day, when at dawn they went well armed to the captain's house; and the counsels of the young men prevailed over those of the Priests and the old people of the city". The captain, moreover, was forced by the relatives of the deceased to take revenge. At last, gathering together a strong force of armed people, he marched against the Hindu town (Madras), by storming and sacking it and slaying a number of people; and as the *adigar* had taken shelter in a fortress close to St. Thome (Mylapore) the Portuguese set the fort on fire.