Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c15.7

c15.7

The presence of the Jesuit Fathers in the Vijayanagar empire led to the foundation of certain types of schools where the vernaculars were taught by the Christian missionaries and the new converts to their faith. Thus at Madura Fr. Fernandes established a primary school for the Hindus where a Brahman convert to Christianity taught the boys to read and write. Fr. Pimenta while he chanced to pass through Madura, visited the school and distributed some prizes among the best pupils of the school.³ Fr. Pimenta founded a school at St. Thomé where Telugu and Tamil were taught. In 1567 Fr. H. Henriquez established a Tamil school at Punnei Kayal for the young Goans who were sent there as catechists and himself taught the pupils in the school. His assistant was one Luiz, a Brahman convert. Another school was founded at Candragiri for the benefit of the sons of the nobles of the court. The missionaries employed a Hindu teacher in that school.⁴