A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.72

c17.72

Meanwhile, both during the reign of Achyuta Rāya and in the period that followed, the Portuguese had been busily establishing their empire on the coasts of South India, building forts wherever the protection of their trade demanded them. Wars with the Zamorin of Calicut and the feudatories of the empire were frequent, though they still kept up the appearance of friendly relations with the emperor himself. They acted throughout as if they had ‘a divine right to the pillage, robbery, and massacre of the natives of India. Not to mince matters, their whole record is one of a series of atrocities.’ They delighted particularly in plundering all rich temples within their reach, even Tirupati not escaping their predatory attentions (1545).