A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c21.s3.t4: Chapter V. Of the things done by King Crisnarao after he was raised to the throne
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c21.s3.t4
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Chapter V. Of the things done by King Crisnarao after he was raised to the throne
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As soon as Crisnarao was raised to be King and was obeyed throughout all his kingdom,—Salvatine being his minister, who had been the same for his brother Busbalrao,¹—he without delay sent his nephew, son of Busbalrao his brother, together with his own three brothers, to a fortress called Chãodegary; the nephew remained there till he died. And after the King had done this for his own safety he stayed in the city of Bisnaga for a year and a half without going outside of it, learning the affairs of the kingdom and looking at the testaments of past kings. Amongst these he found one of king Narsymga, whose minister his father Narsenayque had been, in which that King desired that his sons, or whoever should inherit this kingdom of Narsymga which he had gained by force of arms, should capture three fortresses that at his death remained in revolt against him, the which he had not himself taken because time failed him; one of them was called Rracholl,¹ and another Medegulla.²
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¹ Perhaps “Basava Râya,” but as yet no brother of Krishna Deva is known bearing that name.
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¹ Raichûr.
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² Mudkal.
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Crisnarao, seeing this testament and seeing how badly the kings his predecessors had acted in what had been enjoined on them, determined at once to prepare armies and to go against these places; and one of these fortresses was called Odigair, and it belonged to the King of Orya. And, determining to go first against this, he collected (an army of) thirty-four thousand foot and eight hundred elephants, and arrived with this force at the city of Digary,³ in which there were ten thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horse; for the fortress had no necessity for more by reason of its great strength, because it could not be taken except by being starved out.
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³ Udayagiri.
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And the King laid siege to it for a year and a half, in which time he made many paths across rocky hills, breaking up many great boulders in order to make a road for his soldiers to approach the towers of the fortress. The place at this time was so strong that they could not approach it except by one way which was so narrow that men could only pass along it one at a time; and in this place he made a broad road, and many others also, so that he could come close to the fortress.
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And he took it by force of arms, and in it captured an aunt¹ of the King of Orya, who was taken captive and carried off with all the courtesy that he could show her, having her liberty; and he took her along with himself.
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¹ Some say an ie
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And after this was done he called Salvatinya and bade him see how well he had performed that which king Narsymga had by his testament enjoined on him, and yet he said he was not content with such a trivial victory, for² he desired to go forward a hundred leagues into the kingdom of Orya; and he ordered him to make ready provisions and pay fully the salaries of the forces.
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² In the MS *em que essa* is evidently a mistake for *e que essa*
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And after this fortress was taken he departed and went against Comdovy,³ which was one of the principal cities of the kingdom of Orya, and besieged it; and, learning this, the King of Orya came against him to defend his territories, and brought with him one thousand three hundred elephants, and twenty thousand horsemen, and he brought five hundred thousand foot-soldiers. Crisnarao, being aware of the approach of the king of Orya, left the city without assaulting it, saying that he preferred to fight the King in person and his army rather than to attack the city, and that there would be plenty of time afterwards to take it; and he went forward four leagues from it, leaving a force to prevent the escape of the people from the city if they should seek to flee to the coast. And he arrived at a large river of salt water crossed by a ford,⁴ and on the other side of the river was the King of Orya with his army. King Crisnarao halted his army on this side of the river, and sent the King a message that if he desired to fight with him he would retire from the river two leagues, so that he (the king of Orya) might pass the river unmolested, and as soon as he had passed he would join battle; to which message the King of Orya gave no reply, but on the contrary made ready to give battle. And King Crisnarao, seeing his determination, crossed the river with all his forces and elephants, and in the crossing of the river there were heavy encounters on both sides, and many were slain. Notwithstanding this, King Crisnarao crossed the river, and on the bank fought so bravely that he defeated the King of Oria and put him to flight, in which defeat he took many horses and elephants.
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³ Kondavid
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⁴ I cannot identify this river. There is none such, to my knowledge, twelve miles or thereabouts from Kondavid. "Salt" may perhaps mean brackish.
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And after the King had done this he told Salvatinea his minister that he purposed to turn back to the fortress, which had not yet experienced his strength, and he went against it, and stopped there two months besieging it; and he took it.
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And he gave the command of it to Salvatinea, who left in it, from his army, for captain one of his brothers, in order that he himself might go forward with the King through the kingdom of Orya. And the King, passing the river once more in pursuit of the King of Orya, and taking and ravaging all the country which had no reason for expecting him, arrived at a city called Comdepallyr,¹ where were all the chiefs of the kingdom, it being the chief city in that kingdom. And he laid siege to it, and remained there three months without being able to capture it, and in the end he took it more by reason of his numbers than by force of arms; in which fortress he found many people of high rank whom he made captive, amongst whom was a wife of the King, and one of his sons who was a prince, and seven principal captains of the kingdom, all of whom he sent by road to Bysnaga.
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¹ Kondapalle.
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And he went forward a hundred leagues into the kingdom, finding no one to bar his progress till he got to Symamdary,¹ which was a very large city, in which he halted for six months, waiting for the King of Orya. He sent many messages to say that he was waiting for him in the field, but he never came. And in this city he did many works, and gave alms to the temples, and erected therein a very grand temple to which he gave much revenue. And he commanded to engrave on it an inscription which says:—"Perhaps when these letters are decayed, the king of Orya will give battle to the King of Bisnaga. If the King of Orya erases them, his wife shall be given to the smiths who shoe the horses of the King of Bisnaga."
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¹ Rajahmundry. The first syllable has been accidentally dropped, perhaps by the copyist.
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And after this was done he returned, leaving the greater part of those lands to the temples, and came to Bisnaga where he rested some days. And he sent to call the son of the king of Orya who was taken captive in the first fortress, and told him that as people said that he was a very active man and was very dexterous with both sword and dagger, he would be pleased to see him fence.
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The young man said that since His Highness summoned him he would do what he could, and asked that this might be put off till next day. And when the next day came the King sent to call him, and also sent for one of his own men who at that time was very expert in the art,² that he should fence with him.
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² Senhor Lopes's "Chronica" has "*hũ homẽ seu que aquelle tempo d aquelle tempo muito sabia.*" Mr. Ferguson suggests, and with good reason, that for the second *tempo* we should read *jogo*. I have translated the passage accordingly. Senhor Lopes concurs.
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And when the son of the King of Orya saw him, being offended with the King for sending a man to fight with him who was not the son of a King but only a man of humble birth, he cried out to the King :— "God forbid that I should soil my hands by touching a man not of the blood royal," and saying this he slew himself. And his father, hearing how his son was dead, wrote to Salvatinea (asking) by what means he could ransom his wife who remained in the power of the King, since his son was dead; to which he made answer that he should arrange the marriage of his daughter with the King, and that afterwards the King would restore him his wife and lands (or, would take only his lands).¹ This counsel he accepted, and he sent ambassadors to Bisnaga to arrange a marriage with his daughter, with which King Crisnarao was well content; and when the King of Orya knew his will (in the matter) he sent him his daughter; and with the coming of her they were friends. And Crisnarao restored the lands on the other side of the river, and kept those on the hither side for himself.
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¹ The original MS. has *tomaria suas terras*—"would take his lands." Possibly the first of these words should have been *tornaria*, in which case the sentence would mean that the King "would restore the lands" to his enemy.
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How Crisnarao, after he had made peace with the King of Oria, determined to go against the land of Catuir.
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AFTER Crisnarao had made peace, and had married the daughter of the King of Oria, and had restored to him his wife and the lands beyond the river, as has been narrated above, he made ready a large army and prepared to attack Catuir,¹ which is the land of a lord who had been in revolt for fifty years; this land is on the Charamãodel side. And he went against it, and laid siege to one of the principal cities where the lord of the land was; and it is called . . .² and is surrounded with water.
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¹ I am unable to identify this country. The description of the town answers to Vellore in North Arcot, the fine old fort at which place is surrounded with a deep moat. According to tradition, this place was captured by Krishna Deva Râya from a Reddi chief.
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² Blank in the original.
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Now at the time when Crisnarao attacked this city it was winter, for which cause the river that surrounded it was so swollen, and carried down so much water, that the king could do no harm to the place. And King Crisnarao, seeing this, and seeing that time was passing away without his attaining his desire, commanded his men to cut many new channels in order to be able to attack that principal (river) which had opposed itself to the fulfilment of his wishes. And this was done in a short time, since he had many soldiers; and after the (new) watercourses were finished and brought to where the water should go he opened mouths in the river, the water of which very soon flowed out so that the bottom could be seen, and it was left so shallow that it enabled him to reach the walls of the city; and the river was thus diverted into fifty different beds. Inside the city were one hundred thousand foot-soldiers and three thousand cavalry, who defended themselves and fought very bravely, but this availed little to prevent Crisnarao from entering in a few days and slaughtering all of them. He found large treasures in this city, amongst others in ready money a million and six hundred thousand golden *pardaos*, besides jewels, and horses, which were numerous, and elephants. And after he had finished the capture of this land Crisnarao divided it amongst many of his captains, giving to each one what was necessary for him; and the chief who lived in the city and who was lord of the land was taken away captive and carried to Bisnaga, where he died in the King's prison.
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And after the King had settled the country he came to Bisnaga, whence he sent Salvatinea to the city of Comdovy, since he was chief of it, by whom his brother was placed in it so as to see directly to the land and its government; for after the King returned from Orya he never went again thither.
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And Salvatinea, having departed on his journey to Comdovy, before he arrived there, met, opposing his path, a Muhammadan named Madarmeluquo, who was a captain of the King on this side,¹ and who was awaiting him with sixty thousand men. Salvatinea had two hundred thousand men, and had very little fear of him; and with these he went against him, and took and defeated him, and took prisoners himself and his wife and son and horses and elephants and much money and store of jewels, and sent them all to King Crisnarao. The king commanded to put (the captives) in prison, and there they died. And Sallvatinea went to his territories, and after he had stayed there some months and seen to its government and decided matters in dispute, he returned to the King at Bisnaga, by whom he was well received as being the principal person in the kingdom.
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¹ *Elrey Daquem*. This may be "the king on this side" or "the king of the Dakhan." The former seems most probable, and I think that the reference is to the forces of Sultan Qulî Qutb Shâh of Golkonda (see the Muhammadan account of affairs at this time, given above, pp. 132-135.)
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*How Crisnarao, on the arrival of Salvatinia, determined to attack Rachol, a city of the Ydalcão, and to break the peace that had lasted so long; and the reason why.*
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AFTER Salvatinia had arrived and had been well received by the King, and after the lapse of some days, the King told him that he desired to fulfil all the wishes expressed in the testament of King Narsynga, one of which was to capture Rachol, which was a very strong city and amongst the principal ones of the Ydalcão, who had taken it from the kings his ancestors; and because there was now peace between both parties, and had been so for forty years, he knew not how he could manage to break it. But Salvatinia said that since the peace had been made under certain conditions—one of which was that if on either one side or the other any land-owners, captains in revolt, or other evil-doers should be harboured and their surrender should be demanded, they should forthwith be given up—there was now great reason for breaking the peace, since many land-owners and debtors to His Highness had fled into the kingdom of the Ydalcão. He counselled therefore that the King should send to demand the surrender of these men, and that on refusal to give them up there would be good ground for breaking the peace. Many, however, disagreed with this advice. Now it happened at this time that the King (of Bisnaga) sent Cide Mercar with forty thousand *pardaos* to Goa to buy horses, which Cide Mercar was a Moor in whom the King of Bisnaga confided on account of various affairs with which he had already been entrusted; and this man, when he arrived at a place where the Moors lived which was called Pomdaa and is two leagues from Goa, fled from that place, Pomdaa, to the Ydalcão, carrying with him all the treasure. Some say that the Ydallcão wrote to him a letter as soon as he got there. As soon as they gave to the King this news of the flight of Cide, and how he had carried off all the money, he said that he would write to the Ydallcão to send the man back to him with all the money, since he was his friend. Then the King caused a letter to be written, in which he spoke of the friendship that had existed for so many years so that nothing could shake it, and that he hoped that a traitor would not be the cause of breaking a peace of such long standing as had been between them; and he begged that he would send Cide back at once.
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As soon as the letter was read to the Ydallcão he sent to summon his kazis and the men of his council, and he bade them read the letter which had come from the King, as to which letter there were many suggestions made. At the end of all they agreed that he should not send him (Cide) to him (the King of Bisnaga), for they said that he (Cide) was one learned in the law and related to Mafumdo.¹ And the Ydallcão, as a cloak to his action, gave Dabull to that Cide, by way of showing that he was not near his person nor knew he aught of him; from which town of Dabull Cide fled, nor had they any further news of him. When those who had come from the King returned bearing the Ydallcão’s answer, the King showed great indignation at it, and held that the peace was broken; he at once ordered to appear before him the great lords of his Council, and had the letter read aloud so that all might hear. As soon as it was read he said that without more ado they should make ready, since he was determined to take full vengeance. But the councillors advised the King, saying that for such a small sum of money as this it was not well so to act; that he should think of what would be said and talked of throughout the world; and that if he was bent on breaking so prolonged a peace for such a trifling cause, he should call to mind that there never was any honesty in a Moor; that others were to blame in that which Cide had done; and that if Cide should dare to come to that war which was waged in order to take vengeance on him,¹ then it would be well that those who accompanied him should die, but that they knew that Cide would keep well away from the army.²
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¹ Muhammad, Mahomet, *i.e.* he was of the Prophet's kindred.
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¹ The text is confused here.
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² The following is Barros's account of this affair of "Cide Mercar." After mentioning the terms of the treaty between Vijayanagar and Bijapûr, one of which provided for the reciprocal extradition of criminals and debtors, he writes:— "Crisnarao, knowing that he could catch the Hidalcão in this trap, called a Moor by name Cide Mercar, who had been in his service for many years, and bade him take forty thousand pardaos and go to Goa to buy horses of those that had come from Persia. Crisnaro wrote letters to our Captain . . . on purpose so that the affair might become widely known to all. Cide Mercar, either tempted by the large sum of money in his charge, or swayed by a letter which they say was sent to him by the Hidalcão, when he arrived at a *Tanadaria* called Pondâ, three leagues from Goa, fled to the Hidalcão from there. The Hidalcão as soon as he arrived sent him to Chaul, saying that he bestowed on him this *Tanadaria* as he was an honourable man of the family of Mahamed . . . ; but in a few days he disappeared from there, and they say that the king ordered his murder after he had taken from him the forty thousand pardaos."
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The councillors, however, saw that the King remained unmoved from his determination to make war, and they then counselled him, saying:—"Sire, do not go to war by that route (Dabull), but go against Rachol, which now belongs to the Ydallcão but of old was part of this kingdom; then the Ydallcão will be forced to come to defend it, and thus thou wilt take vengeance jointly both on one and the other." The King held this advice to be good and prepared for his departure, sending letters to Madre Maluco, and Demellyno, and Desturvirido,³ and other superior lords, giving them an account of what had taken place in the matter of the Ydallcão, and how he had determined to make war on him; from which lords he received answer that he was doing rightly, and that they would assist him as far as they were able. As to the Zemelluco, at the time when the messengers returned this answer he could find no excuse for not sending some troops to the aid of his sister who was wedded to the Ydallcão.
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³ "Madre" stands for Imâd, the Birâr Sultan; "Virido" for the Barîd Sultan of Bîdar. I cannot explain *Demellyno* or *Destur*, unless the former be an error of the copyist for "Zemelluco" as written below, which certainly
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The King had sent the letters to those lords out of his great craftiness, for he told them of what he was about to do in order to seduce them to his side,—so far at least as concerned their goodwill, seeing that in the matter of troops he had no need of them—because if they had joined the Ydallcão he (the King) would never have conquered as he did; but because the Ydallcão was hated by them all as being a more powerful chief than they, (for there is little faith amongst the Moors, and they bite one another like dogs and like to see one after the other destroyed) he was conquered, as you will see hereafter, in the month of May, on the new moon day, in the year one thousand five hundred and twenty-two.¹
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¹ For a full discussion of this date see above, p. 140.
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After the King had made his offerings and performed sacrifices to his idols he left the city of Bisnaga with all his troops; and they marched in the following order. The chief of the guard (*o porteiro moor*)² led the advance with thirty thousand infantry—archers, men with shields, and musqueteers, and spearmen—and a thousand horse, and his³ elephants. After him went Trimbicara with fifty thousand foot and two thousand horse and twenty elephants. After him went Timapanayque; he had
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² See above, p. 263, note. His name was Kâma Naik (p. 329).
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³ *Seus allyfantes*. Perhaps *seus* is a clerical error for *seis*, "six." Barros, in describing the same event, says "sixteen elephants."
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refers to the Nizâm Shâh. Several Portuguese writers omit the first syllable of "Nizâm" in their chronicles. On p. 348 below, these names are given as Madremalluco, Zemelluco, "Destuy" and "Virido;" and therefore "Destur" and "Destuy" must mean the Qutb Shâh of Golkonda, at that period Sultan Qulî. On p. 349 we have the form "Descar."
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with him sixty thousand foot and three thousand five hundred horse and thirty elephants; and after him went Adapanayque with one hundred thousand foot and five thousand horse and fifty elephants. After him came Comdamara,¹ and he had one hundred and twenty thousand foot six thousand horse and sixty elephants; after him went Comara, and he had eighty thousand foot and of horse two thousand five hundred, and forty elephants; after him the forces of Ogemdraho,² the governor of the city of Bisnaga, with one of his captains, who had one thousand horse and thirty thousand foot and ten elephants. After him went three eunuchs, favourites of the King, who had forty thousand foot and one thousand horse and fifteen elephants. The page who served the King with betel³ had fifteen thousand foot and two hundred horse, but he had no elephants. Comarberca⁴ had eight thousand foot and four hundred horse and twenty elephants. The people of the chief of Bengapor⁵ went by another route with the people of Domar, who were very numerous; and in the same way went other captains of ten or twelve thousand men, of whom I make no mention, not knowing their names. The King took of his guard six thousand horse and forty thousand foot, the pick of all his kingdom, men with shields, archers, and three hundred elephants.
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¹ See below, p. 360, note.
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² Probably Ganda Râjah, brother of Sâluva Timma, the minister. (See p. 284, and note to p. 361.) The initial "O" may be the article "The."
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³ The great vassal lords of Madura, who after the fall of the kingdom established themselves as a dynasty of independent sovereigns, descended, so Barradas tells us, from the "Page of the betel" (above, p. 230).
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⁴ I think that the second *c* in this name is an error for *e*, and that "Comarberea" represents Kumâra Virayya of Mysore (above, p. 269). Later on Nuniz spells the name "Comarberya" (below, p. 336).
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⁵ Above, pp. 40, 60, 122.
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All were equally well armed, each after his own fashion, the archers and musqueteers with their quilted tunics,⁶ and the shieldmen with their swords and poignards¹ in their girdles; the shields are so large that there is no need for armour to protect the body, which is completely covered; the horses in full clothing, and the men with doublets,² and weapons in their hands, and on their heads headpieces after the manner of their doublets, quilted with cotton. The war-elephants go with their howdahs (castellos) from which four men fight on each side of them, and the elephants are completely clothed, and on their tusks they have knives fastened, much ground and sharpened, with which they do great harm. Several cannon were also taken. I do not speak here of the washermen, who are numberless here—they wash clothes—nor of the public women who accompanied the army; there were twenty thousand of them with the king during his journey. Any one can imagine the amount of baggage that such a large number of people would take. In the rear with the king, but always on the road in front of him, some ten or twelve thousand men with water-skins who go seeking water, and place themselves along the road to give water to those who have no one to bring it to them; this is done so that none of the people should die of thirst. Three or four leagues in front of all this multitude go some fifty thousand men who are like scouts; they have to spy out the country in front, and always keep that distance; and on their flanks there are two thousand horse of the cavalry of that country. These are all bowmen, and they always advance on the flanks of the scouts.
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⁶ *Lades*, for *laudeis*, quilted tunics, doublets. The word is spelt in other places *laydes*, *lamdes*, *landys*, *lamdys*, and *landeis*. See note, p. 276, above.
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¹ *Gomedares*, probably the modern *agomia* or *gomia*, "a poignard." Senhor Lopes refers me to Barros, Mendes, Pinto, &c., where the form used is *gumia*; the word being derived from the Arabic *kummiya*, which properly means a curved dagger—"um punhal em meo arco" (MS. in Portuguese, on Morocco, in Senhor Lopes's possession).
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² See above, p. 276.
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In this order, as I have stated, they left the city of Bisnaga, and with them a great number of merchants, besides many others who were already in advance with all supplies; so that wherever you may be you will at once find all you want. Every captain has his merchants who are compelled to give him all supplies requisite for all his people, and in the same way they carry all other necessaries.
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According to the King’s custom, when he wishes to lie down and sleep, they make for him a hedge of brushwood and of thorns behind which his tent is pitched, which was done for him all along this route; on which route was seen a wonderful thing, namely that on passing a river which, when they reached it, came half-way up to the knee, before half the people had passed it was totally dry without a drop of water; and they went about in the sand of it making pits to find some water. In this order the King proceeded till he arrived at the town of Mollabamdym,¹ which is a league from the city of Rachol, where he pitched his camp so as to give a rest to the people after the fatigues of the march.
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¹ Malliâbâd, as now called, close to Raichûr. The name given by Nuniz I take to represent “Mallia (or Malliya) Banda,” probably the Hindu name. Banda = “rock.” “Malliâbâd” is the name given by the Musalmâns.
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And the King being in the city of Mollabamdym, settling all that was necessary for the siege of Rachol, there came to him people of the King of Bisnaga, and the people of Domaar, and also many other captains with an infinitude of people. As soon as they had joined and everything was put in order, and after his Brahmans had finished their ceremonies and sacrifices, they told the King that it was now time, that the pagodas had given sign of conquest, and that he should advance.
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Then he sent the Moors in the royal service to lead the van, and Camanayque, the chief of the guard, pitched the camp very near the ditches of the city of Rachol, and every captain halted his people according to the commands given. The people of the city received them with many shots from heavy cannon that they had, and from many firelocks, and many arrows and musket-shots, so that those of the besiegers who arrived close to the ditches suffered heavily and wanted to retreat. But the King would not permit this, saying that he would not have sent them there it not that he would soon effect an entry into the city, and if not, that they should all die; wherefore his men were compelled to attack the city, and did so in many brave and severe fights. In these many of them lost their lives, since those of the city were in very strong position and well acquainted with everything that was necessary for their defence, while the King’s troops never ceased their attacks on the city. The captains, seeing how badly the attack was going in consequence of the number of soldiers killed, had recourse to lavish gifts and stratagems, as thus:— They began to buy (from the soldiers) the stones which they took from the walls and towers, and they paid them according to the value of the stone; so that the stones were worth ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty *fanams*.¹ By this device they contrived to dismantle the wall in many places, and laid the city open; but since the city was in itself so strong, and the soldiers who were in it were such chosen men and so used to warfare, they killed many of the King’s people. Yet not for that did they cease fighting, but every day and at every attack they became bolder, in consequence of their greed for what the captains gave them; for the money had the power of taking from them the terror of death which had inspired them before. They also gave them something for dragging away a dead man from the foot of the wall. So the fight dragged on for a space of three months till the Ydallcão came up with reinforcements.
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¹ A small copper coin.
c21.s3.t4.64
Now I wish you to know more of the situation, and of the city, and the people which it held. This city of Rachol lies between two great rivers, and in the midst of a great plain where there are no trees except very small ones, and there are great boulders there; from each river to the city is three leagues. One of these rivers is the northern boundary, and beyond it the country belongs to the Ydallcão, and the other is the boundary to the south which is the boundary of Narsymga. This plain lies in the middle of these two rivers, and there are large lakes therein and wells and some little streams where the city is situated, and a hill which looks like a woman's breast and is of natural formation. The city has three lines of strong walls of heavy masonry made without lime; the walls are packed with earth inside, and it has on the highest point a fortress like a tower, very high and strong; at the top where the fortress stands is a spring of water which runs all the year round. It is held to be a holy and mysterious thing that a spring which is in a lofty situation should in some way never be without water. Besides this spring there are several tanks of water and wells, so that the citizens had no fear of being ever taken for lack of water; and there were in the city supplies for five years. There were eight thousand men as garrison and four hundred horse and twenty elephants, and thirty catapults (*trabucos*) which hurled heavy stones and did great damage. The towers which are on the walls are so close together that one can hear words spoken from one to the other. Between these and all around they posted their artillery, which consisted of two hundred heavy pieces, not to mention small ones. As soon as the people of the city knew of the arrival of the King's troops, and after they had received a captain of the Ydallcão who came with some soldiers to the city, they closed the gates with stone and mortar. The chief fight which takes place is on the east side, because on the north and south sides it stands on huge rocks which make it very strong; and, the city being besieged on all sides, the camp of the King was on the east side, and so was the strength of the attack.