A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.77

c17.77

Soon after Sadāśiva's coronation, Rāma Rāya was once again called away to the south. His opponents, who could not bear to see him established at the head of the state, sought to defy his authority and created confusion in the land to the south of Chandragiri, which was under their control. In the extreme south, the rulers of the Travancore country were once more in revolt, actually driving out the chieftain of Kayattār, the Pāndya feudatory of the empire. The Roman Catholic missionaries, headed by St Francis Xavier, were not only converting to their faith large numbers on the pearl-fishery coast of the Gulf of Mannar, but induced the fishermen to transfer their allegiance to the king of Portugal on the grounds that they could thereby escape from the rapacity of the Muslim traders and the oppression of the Hindu governors from which they had been suffering for many years. The Franciscan friars and Jesuits were busy demolishing temples and building churches in the coastal cities, and the Portuguese governor of Goa was reported to be organizing a plundering raid against the rich temples of Kanchipuram. The presence of many petty local rulers, their mutual jealousies and negotiations with the Portuguese further complicated a tangled situation.