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CHAPTER IX. Which is only beginning to pass away from the mind of Christendom. He died at the bar of Goa on the 16th of December, 1515, at the age of sixtythree. He was buried at Goa in a chapel which he had himself built at the gate of the city; but in afteryears his bones were carried to Lisbon, and interred in the church of Our Lady of Grace. He was the last of the real Portuguese gentlemen; the true soldier of the old aristocracy, who cared not to engage in trade or to amass riches, but sought only for honour and glory.?

Ascendancy of the Mussulmans

1350-1500.

The immediate successors of Albuquerque of the Dekhan, achieved nothing deserving of special attention. Meantime great events were coming to pass on the other side of the western Ghauts. The political status of India, during the century and a half which preceded the arrival of the Portuguese in India, namely, from 1350 to 1500, has already been briefly indicated. Hindustan, with the exception of Rajpootana, was distributed amongst a number of Mussulman chieftains, whose normal state was that of intermittent war. The Dekhan was occupied by the great Mussulman empire of the so-called Brahmany Sultans. The Peninsula was occupied by the Canarese empire of Narsinga or Vijayanagar, which had established its suzerainty over the whole of India southward of the Krishna river from the coast of Malabar to that of Coromandel. The Brahmany Mussulmans of the Dekhan were completely cut off

7 Faria y Sousa, vol. i., page 207.

The empire of Narsinga included the three ancient kingdoms of Chola, Chera, and Pandya. It corresponded to the region known in the last century as the two Carnatics, namely, Balaghaut, or the Carnatic above the Ghauts, and Paíynghaut, or the Carnatic below the Ghauts. The history of Peninsula-India will be brought under review hereafter.

from the Mussulman powers of Hindustan, by the CHAPTER IX. Rajpoot kingdoms of Meywar, Marwar, and Jeypore, and the mountain-wall of the Vindhya range; whilst further eastward the great jungle of Gondwana interposed an almost impenetrable barrier. The result was that the Mussulman Sultans of the Dekhan were enabled to concentrate their forces against the Hindú sovereigns of Narsinga, and had ultimately established their supremacy and compelled the Hindú Rajas to pay yearly tribute.

During the latter part of the fifteenth century, or about the time that the Portuguese arrived in India, the empire of the Brahmany Mussulmans became dismembered into five separate kingdoms, namely, Ahmednagar and Berar on the north; Bíjápúr and Golconda on the south; and the petty state of Bíder in the centre. This dismemberment proved fatal to the independence of these sovereignties. They were no longer consolidated into one empire, which could concentrate the whole of its forces against the Hindús of Narsinga. The southern states of Bíjápúr and Golcónda were left to bear the brunt of the struggle, whilst the three states to the northward stood aloof, and made war upon each other, after the blind fashion of Asiatic sovereigns. In a word, the balance of power was upset between the Mussulmans of the Dekhan and the Hindús of the Peninsula. It was not, however, until 1524 that Krishna Rai, the powerful sovereign of Narsinga, realized the fact that his old enemy was divided and disabled, and marched an immense force of men and elephants into the Dekhan. For the first time in their history the Hindú got the upper hand of the Mussulmans. Krishna Rai succeeded in establishing

Ascendancy of

the Hindús of Peninsula,

the Pens

CHAPTER IX. an ascendancy, which lasted for more than forty years. It is characteristic of the times that Portuguese mercenaries were fighting on either side.

Relations between the

native powers.

For some years after the death of Albuquerque, Portuguese and the annals of the Portuguese are chiefly filled with petty wars on account of their forts. Wherever they established a depôt they found it necessary to build a fort; and they generally succeeded in obtaining permission by helping the prince of the country against his neighbours. When, however. this help was no longer required, every prince in turn tried to expel the Portuguese either by force or treachery; and by way of reprisals, the Portuguese formed expeditions for scouring the coasts, and burning, pillaging, and devastating the country.

Description of
Guzerat.

By this time the Portuguese must have acquired a considerable knowledge of Western India. With the Peninsula of Guzerat they were specially acquainted. It had been formed into a Mussulman kingdom, but was the theatre of frequent wars between the Mussulmans and the Rajpoots. The country was most fertile and flourishing. It abounded in elephants, cattle, fruit, and all kinds of provisions; and it contained large stocks of silks, cottons, gems, and other commodities. The chief city was Cambay, which sometimes gave its name to the entire kingdom. This city was called the Indian Cairo. The houses were square buildings of stone and brick, with flat roofs. They had goodly gardens with pomegranates, citrons, melons, and figs; as well as various springs of fresh water. The country was all plain, so that the people generally travelled in waggons, like those of Flanders. The waggons,

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however, were lighter; and the oxen that drew them CHAPTER IX. were smaller than those of Spain. The population consisted of Banians, Rajpoots, and Mussulmans. The Banians would eat nothing that had life. Their priests were called Verteas, and wore white clothes which they never took off until worn to rags. These Verteas lived upon charity, and kept nothing until the next day. They placed their greatest hope of salvation in killing no creature. They would not use a lamp at night, lest a moth or butterfly should die by it. They always carried a broom wherewith to sweep the ground they were to tread, lest they should step on any worm or insect. They had the most superstitious regard for signs and omens of every kind. The Rajpoots were good soldiers, and formerly ruled the kingdom.10 The Mussulmans were called Lauteas. The common people were very ingenious in the mechanical arts, and wrought many delightful things in silk, gold, ivory, mother of pearl, tortoise-shell, crystal, ebony, and other similar materials. They not only refrained from killing any living creature, but they would ransom venomous things, such as snakes, which others were about to kill."

Guzerat and

As regards the region between Guzerat and Region between Malabar, the Portuguese were familiar with the Malabar. coast, but had little or no knowledge of the interior.

The Verteas bore a strong resemblance to the Jains already described. See ante, page 361.

10 The Portuguese historian adds that the Rajpoots acknowledged one God and three persons, and worshipped the blessed Virgin; a doctrine preserved from the days of the Apostles. This was a frequent delusion of Christian travelleis in former times. The three principal deities of the later Hindús were Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; and as each one was identified with the supreme spirit, so they were often severally worshipped as representatives of the supreme spirit.

11 Faria y Sousa, vol. i., page 361. Compare also Purchas's Pilgrimage, chap. ix.

CHAPTER IX. Nominally the region formed part of the Mussulman kingdoms of Kandeish, Ahmednagar, and Bíjápúr; but the seas were infested by pirates, and the trade must have been very inferior to that of Malabar. The Portuguese, however, had established forts at Duman and Chaul, and were well acquainted with the islands of Bombay, Salsette, and Elephanta.

Description of
Malabar: po-

tion.

The Portuguese were best acquainted with Malalitical organiza- bar; the long strip of coast territory which lies between the sea and the mountain wall of the Western Ghauts. It extends from Cananore to Comorin, and is at present known as Malabar and Travancore. The whole region is distributed by nature into isolated tracts, which are separated from each other by rivers, mountains, and dense jungles. These tracts were formed into petty kingdoms, which could not by reason of the physical barriers be formed into a single empire. They all acknowledged the nominal suzerainty of the Zamorin of Calicut; but, like the Raja of Cochin, they threw it off as occasions arose. In the seventeenth century there were two traditions extant as regards the origin of the Zamorin. According to one story, the kings of this line were all Bráhmans, and esteemed for piety and learning. They believed in the transmigration of souls, and avoided the slaughter of animals. About six centuries before the arrival of the Portuguese in India [i. e. about A.D. 900], there was a king in Malabar, who was so powerful that the people dated their era from his reign. He was converted to Islam by some Mussulman traders at his ports, and accordingly gave them permission to build Calicut. When he was growing old he resolved on going on a pilgrimage to Mecca; and accordingly divided his author

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