A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c21.s3.t11: Chapter XIV. How the Captain acquitted himself of his embassy before the King
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c21.s3.t11
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Chapter XIV. How the Captain acquitted himself of his embassy before the King
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"SIRE! the Ydallcão, my master, sends me to thee; and by my mouth he begs thee that thou wouldest be pleased to do justice. He bids me say that he bears very good will towards thee¹ as towards the most true and powerful prince in all the world, and one possessed of most justice and truth; that thou without reason hast broken the friendship and peace which thou hast had towards him, and not only so but a peace which was made so many years ago and maintained by all the kings so truthfully; that he does not know why thou hast left thy kingdom and made such war on him; that he was without suspicion when they brought him the news how thou hadst besieged the city of Rachol, and hadst robbed and destroyed the country round about, which news caused him to move and come to its rescue; that then all the members of his court were slain by thee, and his camp all plundered and destroyed, thou thyself being good witness of what was done, and that he begs thee to make amends therefor, and to send back to him his artillery and tents, his horses and elephants, with the rest that was taken from him, and also to restore his city of Rachol; that if thou wilt give him the satisfaction for which he prays as to this property and all other things thou wilt have him always for a loyal friend; but if not, thy action will be evil, even though pleasing to thyself." Thus he ended, without saying more. The King said that he might retire and repose, and that next day he would give him leave to depart, and the King gave him a robe of silk and the cloths that are customary.
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¹ *Que elle te ama a ty diante de ty*. The latter words may be an emphatic expression, akin to *diante de Deus e de todo o mundo*, "In the face of God and all the world."
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How the King sent to call the ambassador, and of the answer which he gave to him.
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NEXT day the King sent to call the ambassador, and after other things had been spoken of between¹ them, the King said that he would be content to restore everything to the Ydallcão according to his wish, and would be pleased at once to release Salabetacão, provided the Ydallcão would come and kiss his foot. When the ambassador heard the King’s answer he took leave of him and went to his tent; and he wrote to the Ydallcão and told him what had passed, sending to him one of the scribes that had come with him. And much time had not passed when the Ydallcão sent him a reply, saying: How could it be possible for him to meet the King, seeing that he could not go to Bisnaga? and yet that he was of full mind joyfully to do that which the King wished. With this answer the ambassador went to the King, and since the King would have set higher value on the Ydallcão’s coming to kiss his feet than on all that he had taken from him, he said to the ambassador, “Do thou cause the Ydallcão to come to the confines of my kingdom, for I shall be soon there.” Agreeing to this, the ambassador departed, so as to persuade the Ydallcão to come to the boundary. The King on his part went forthwith to a city called Mudugal¹ which is close to the boundary, and there he waited until they told him that the Ydallcão was coming and was already near at hand. Forthwith the King set out to meet him, and entered the kingdom of Daquem, so desirous was he to meet the Ydallcão; but the Ydallcão, after all, dared not meet the King. And the King journeyed so far, whilst they kept saying to him, “Lo! he is here close at hand,” that he even went as far as Bizapor,² which is the best city in all the kingdom of Daquem. It has numbers of beautiful houses built according to our own fashion, with many gardens and bowers made of grape-vines, and pomegranates, and oranges and lemons, and all other kinds of garden produce.
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¹ Ante elles should be "antre elles."
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¹ Mudkal.
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² Bijapûr.
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Hither went the King, for it seemed well for him to await the coming of the Ydallcão in so goodly a city; and he formed the determination that if he got him here he would seize him or command him to be put to death, to avenge the affront that had been put upon him; and seeing that his enemy did not dare to come he remained in the city several days. Then he turned away because water failed him; for since this city lies in a plain and has no water save that which it receives from rainfall into two lakes, of which there are two large ones, the Moors had opened these in order to drain them, so that the King should not be able to stay in their country. For this reason it behoved the King to depart. But the city was left almost in ruins—not that the King had commanded it to be destroyed, but that his troops, in order to make fires for cooking, had torn down so many houses that it was a great grief to see—and this was occasioned by there being in the country a dearth of firewood, which comes to them from a great distance. The Ydallcão sent to ask the King what wrong the houses of his captains had done that he had commanded to destroy them; for there remained no other houses standing save only the palaces of the Ydallcão, the King himself being therein. The King sent answer that it was not he who had done it, but that he could not control his people.
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When the King went to the town of Modogal the Ydallcão returned to Bigapor, where, seeing the great havoc that had been wrought in it, he took to himself the blame for such damage having been done,¹ saying that if he had gone to the King such destruction would not have taken place, and that at least he could do this in future; he said that he had been badly advised since for his own part he had been prepared to do it. Thus he took counsel with his advisers, putting before them how secure his position was if he had the friendship of the King, that if allied to him he might be able to still further increase (the greatness of) his State, and that with the King's favour he would be able to carry out all his wishes. Concerning these things and others similar to these he continued constantly speaking with his advisers. Wherefore Açadacão the lord of Bilgao, he who had fled with him in the battle, and who was a man sagacious and cunning in such matters, addressed the Ydallcão begging permission to go himself to the King, and saying that he would remedy everything and would cause everything to take place just as his lord wished; and the Ydallcão listened to him readily.
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¹ *Todo a cullpa de tall ser feyto por asy.* Lit. “all on account of his having acted thus.”
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Now Açadacão did not trouble himself to make this journey because he desired to serve the Ydallcão, for another would have done it as well, but he did it with a villanous motive and from the ill-will he bore to Salebatacão whom the King held in prison at Bisnaga; and the reason that he had this wicked motive was because Salebatacão knew that Açadacão was the man that had caused the Ydalcão to flee, and that the cowardice of such an act was enough to destroy an army. Salebatacão had spoken angrily about this to all those who went to see him or who were sent to visit him, and he always said that he did not desire to be released from his captivity save for one reason only, namely that he might ruin Açadacão and war against him as against a mortal enemy. These things were all known to Açadacão, and he knew that if they released him it would come to pass as he had said, and therefore he determined to prevent this by contriving his enemy's death, as will be mentioned in its place. It was for this reason that Açadacão asked to be sent as ambassador to the King; and this was done.
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How Açadacão went as ambassador for his King and compassed the death of Sallabatecão.
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AÇADACÃO, being despatched by the Ydallcão, accompanied by certain horsemen with some servants took the road to the city of Mudogal where the King was, and the Ydallcão went with him as far as the river. When Açadacão had arrived, being allowed inside the city by command of the King, he remained several days without seeing the King until he was summoned by his order; then he was admitted and spoke with the King, giving him, with the manner of one who in such negotiations is both wise and bold, an excuse for the mistake which the Ydallcão had committed. He knew how to speak to the King so well that he removed all the King's wrath and fury against the Ydallcão, and he told the King that the principal cause why the Ydallcão did not meet him was the conduct of Salebatacão whom he had captured, and that this man had written to the Ydallcão telling him not to do so, and giving for reason that the King desired to slay him. By these and other similar sayings he sought to set the King's mind against Salebatacão, even to the death, and the King, seeing what Açadacão wanted, and believing that a man of such great fame would not be guilty of saying anything that was not perfectly true, angrily commanded that Salebatacão, who was then in Bisnaga, should be beheaded; and this was at once done as soon as the message arrived.
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As soon as Açadacão had accomplished this business he thought himself unsafe, and at once asked leave of the King, saying that he wished to go and get the Ydallcão to come to the river, so that when His Highness arrived he might meet him there. But the King told him not to be impatient but to amuse himself there some days, and added that he wished to show him some things, and that he had somewhat about which to speak to him. Açadacão, however, being afraid that his treason would be discovered, did not feel safe, and behaved in such a manner that what he had done concerning Salebatacão was found out; wherefore the King sent to seize him, but when they went to look for him he was already gone. For he fled one night and betook himself to the Ydalcão, telling him that the King had commanded Salebatacão to be put to death, and that he wanted to do the same to him, and so he had escaped; and it seemed to him that he (the Ydalcão) ought not to trust the King, who after all was nothing but a black. After he had spoken in this way he went to Bilgao, where he strengthened his position, and when the Ydallcão sent afterwards to summon him he never obeyed, because he knew that the wickedness that he had done had been found out.