CHAPTER IX. Shrine of St Portuguese attempt to trade with Bengal, 1538: political condition of Bengal. The Portuguese account of the shrine of St Thomas forms an interesting supplement to the information supplied by Marco Polo. They discovered the remains of a chapel, and collected many pious legends; one of which described how St Thomas was martyred by a Bráhman whilst praying in a cave.25 The fact, however, which is stated by Marco Polo, that Mussulmans as well as Christians went on pilgrimage to this shrine, would seem to imply that the legend was not generally believed; and there is reason to suspect that St Thomas was a Buddhist Sráman, who had perished in the age of Brahmanical persecution. To return, however, to the history of Goa. About the year 1538 the Viceroy contemplated opening up a direct trade with the distant kingdom of Bengal. He therefore sent a mission to Chittagong, a border sea-port between Bengal and Arakan, with the view of obtaining permission to build a fort there. At this period the government of Bengal was of the worst possible form. A series of low-born adventurers by turns murdered the reigning Sultan, and obtained the kingdom; and thus Sultan after Sultan cut his way to the throne by treachery and assassination, and after a brief career of sensual indulgences, was doomed to meet with the same violent end as his predecessor. Sometimes the Sultan was an Afghan, sometimes an Arab, and sometimes a black Abyssinian slave; yet 25 Faria y Sousa, vol. i., pages 269, 271; vol. ii., pages 224-231. The mount where St Thomas was buried is near Madras, and is the head-quarters of the Madras artillery. The modern town of St Thomé is on the coast, about three miles to the south of Madras. Its native name is Meliapore, or "the city of peacocks." The peacock is an emblem of Buddhism, and the insignia of the Buddhist kings of Burma. the effeminate and timid Bengalees never tried to CHAPTER IX. throw off his hateful yoke, but were ready to obey any one who could hold the throne for three days. When the Portuguese mission reached Chittagong, the reigning Sultan was an Arab, who took up his residence in the once famous metropolis of Gour. At that time this city was celebrated for its broad streets, long avenues of trees, an over-crowded population, and the elaborate and yet minute style of its architectural ornamentation; but in the present day it is a mere collection of heaps of ruins, overgrown with jungle, and haunted by wild beasts and noxious reptiles. Here the Sultan indulged in oriental gratifications, but was a prey to constant suspicions and terrors. When the Portuguese messengers arrived with presents, he threw them into prison, and ordered all the members of the mission at Chittagong to be arrested in like manner and sent to Gour. The barbarous command was obeyed; but another revolution procured the release of the Portuguese. Shere Khan, the Afghan, suddenly fell upon Gour. The Arab Sultan fled from the city, but was soon killed and forgotten. The conquering Moguls made their way down Hindustan, and were approaching Bengal, when Shere Khan utterly defeated them, and drove their emperor Humáyun into exile in Persia. Shere Khan and his son after him then ruled over all northern India from the Indús to the Bay of Bengal for a period of thirteen years.26 Meantime there was a curious series of revolutions at Diu, the seaport off the southern coast of Guzerat. Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Guzerat, 26 Faria y Sousa, vol. i., page 417, et seq. Guzerat appeals against the Portuguese. CHAPTER IX. was at war with the Rajpoots, and had succeeded in Sultan of capturing Chittore.27 At the same time he was so helpark for harassed by the devastating cruisers of the Portuguese, that in an unhappy moment he sought to obtain peace by allowing the Viceroy to erect a fort on the little island of Diu. No sooner, however, was the fort built and garrisoned, than the Sultan, as usual, began to regret having granted the concession, and to scheme for the expulsion of the Portuguese. Asiatic rulers are generally adepts at diplomacy, and are ever aiming at the formation of confederations and alliances, which would never suggest themselves to a European, and which rarely lead to any result. In the sixteenth century the Sultan of Turkey, better known as the Great Turk, was the terror of the Christian world. He was hated on account of his religion, and was as much feared as the first Napoleon. His prowess, especially since his conquest of Egypt in 1517, was no doubt a frequent theme amongst the Mecca pilgrims; and thus it came to pass that the Sultan of Guzerat sent an embassy with presents to Constantinople, and implored the assistance of the Great Turk against the Christian dogs of Portugal. Marvellous to relate, the mission was successful. The costliness and rarity of the presents from Guzerat so worked upon the imagination of the Ottoman, that he ordered the Pasha of Egypt to send a fleet to Diu. The whole story reads like a romance. The Pasha was only too eager to punish the infidels, and seize their treasures; and thus another Egyptian armada, consisting of seventy large ships and 27 See ante, page 345. galleys, and carrying a strong force of Turkish CHAPTER IX. Janissaries, made its way from Suez down the Red Sea, and finally appeared before Diu, under the command of Soliman Pasha.2 28 murder of the Guzerat. But by this time Bahadur Shah was dead. He Suspicious had been killed by the Portuguese. Judging from Sultan of two conflicting accounts of the same event, there had been treachery on both sides. Complimentary visits had been exchanged between the Sultan and the Commandant of the fort, and each is said to have contemplated the detention and murder of the other. Then the Viceroy proceeded to Diu, and other visits were exchanged. Both were now so suspicious of each other that a slight incident led to a fray on the Sultan's barge, in which the Commandant was cut down mortally wounded, and the Sultan was killed in trying to escape to the shore. After a horrible turmoil, another Sultan, named Mahmúd Shahı, ascended the throne of Guzerat. This dynasty is perhaps better known in Europe than any other line of oriental sovereigns; for either Mahmúd, or one 28 The description of Soliman Pasha by the Portuguese historian is an amusing expression of the old hatred of Christendom against the infidel. "Soliman," says Faria y Sousa, "was a Greek Janissary, born in the Morea. He was short and ugly. His belly was so big that he was more like a beast than a man; and being eighty years of age, he could not rise up without the help of four men. He was governor of Cairo, but purchased the command of the armada against the Portuguese by offering to supply the shipping at his own cost. In order to raise the purchase money, he put many rich persons to death, and seized their estates. He was a tyrant and a coward. He caused four hundred soldiers to be put to the oars, and then ordered two hundred to be executed because they complained. At Jedda he tried to take the king by treachery. At Aden he was more successful. He received a present and relief from the king of Aden. He then entertained the king on board his fleet. Meantime he pretended that he had many sick men on board, and sent them on shore privately armed. The result was that his 'sick men' took possession of the city of Aden, whilst the king was murdered on board the fleet. After this notable exploit Soliman proceeded to Diu."-Faria y Sousa, vol. i., page 433. CHAPTER IX. of his predecessors, was the veritable "Bluebeard" of nursery tradition. Whether Bluebeard or 110, the Mahmud who was reigning over Guzerat, when the Egyptian armada appeared before Diu under the command of Soliman Pasha, belonged unquestionably to the "Bluebeard" type of kings. Portuguese besieged by the Turks, 1538. The siege which followed is an obsolete story in the present day, but in the sixteenth century it was one of the great events in the history of the Portuguese. The Turkish Janissaries were landed, armed with bows and muskets; and excited the utmost alarm, even amongst their brother Mussulmans of Diu, by their brutality and insolence. During twenty days a heavy cannonade was directed against the Portuguese fort, whilst several desperate attempts were made by the Turks to carry it by storm. Unfortunately there was a change of Viceroys at the time, and no relief was sent from Goa. At last, when half the garrison were killed, and the remainder were subjected to the most horrible privations, a general assault was made by all the Turkish forces. It was repulsed by a band of heroes, who fought with the heroism of despair. But most of the Portuguese had now lost all hope. Powder and provisions were alike exhausted. At this critical moment the Egyptian fleet sailed away. The worn-out garrison could scarcely believe their eyes. They suspected treachery, and kept the best watch they could till morning. Then they saw that the Turks had really gone. Subsequently they discovered that the Sultan of Guzerat had grown so heartily sick of the Egyptian allies, that he had frightened them away by false reports that a great fleet from Portugal was at hand.20 The policy pur 29 Faria y Sousa, vol. i., p. 444. On his way back to Egypt, Soliman is said |