A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c21.s3.t11.5

c21.s3.t11.5

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.