Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c8.s4.71

v1.c8.s4.71

On the eve of the Vijayanagara Empire this ancient city passed completely into the hands of the Portuguese, who converted it into one of the finest cities in the East. John Nieuhof in A.D. 1662 thus describes its beauty, and explains why it was called Mailāpūr. "Meliapor Signifies in their Language as much as a Peacock, intimating, that as this Bird is the most beautifull of all others, so, this city did in Beauty excell all the rest of the East. Some will have the City of St. Thomas, or Meliapor, to be the same called Mapura by Ptolemy. The City was quite desolate, when the Portuguese first came there, who rebuilt it in 1545. Since which it has Encreased to that Degree, that not many Years after, she was Accounted one of the finest Cities in all the Indies: Both in respect of the Magnificence of its Buildings, and the Number of rich Inhabitants. It is Fortified with Stone-wall, strengthened by several Bastions, and has under its Jurisdiction above 300 Villages and Towns. It is one of the Richest Sea Ports of all the East Indies, its situation being in the midst of all the best Harbours of these Parts, which renders in the more Convenient for the East Indian trade".¹