A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of IndiaSewell, Robert
History
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India
Sewell, Robert
Vijayanagar (Empire) -- History
In the next year, 1558, according to Couto,[318] Rama Raya made an
expedition to "Meliapor," or Mailapur, near Madras, where was an
important establishment of Roman Catholic monks and the Church of
St. Thomas. I quote the passage from the summary given by Senhor
Lopes in his introduction to the CHRONICA DOS REIS DE BISNAGA
(p. lxvi.). "The poor fathers of the glorious Order of St. Francis
having seized all the coast from Negapatam to San Thome, they being
the first who had begun to preach there the light of the Holy Gospel,
and having throughout that tract thrown down many temples and destroyed
many pagodas, a thing which grieved excessively all the Brahmans,
these latter reported the facts to Rama Raya, king of Bisnaga, whose
vassals they were, and begged him that he would hasten to their
assistance for the honour of their gods."
They succeeded in persuading him that the newcomers were possessed of
enormous riches, and he proceeded against the place, but afterwards
finding that this was not true, and that the inhabitants were loyal
to him, he spared them and left them in peace.
On his return to Bijapur, Ali Adil peremptorily demanded from Hussain
Nizam Shah the restoration of the fortresses of Kallian and Sholapur;
and on the latter's contemptuous refusal (he "sent back a reply so
indecent in expression as to be unfit to relate." says Firishtah)
another war broke out.
"In the year 966 (October 14, A.D. 1558 to October 3, 1559), Ali
Adil Shaw having called Ramraaje to his assistance, they in concert
divided the dominions of Houssein Nizam Shaw, and laid them waste in
such a manner that from Porundeh to Khiber, and from Ahmednuggur to
Dowlutabad, not a mark of population was to be seen. The infidels
of Beejanuggur, who for many years had been wishing for such an
event, left no cruelty unpractised. They insulted the honour of the
mussulmaun women, destroyed the mosques, and did not even respect
the sacred koraun."[319]
This behaviour on the part of the Hindus so incensed the followers of
Islam, not only the hostile subjects of Golkonda but even the allied
troops and inhabitants of the Bijapur territories, that it laid the
foundation for the final downfall and destruction of Vijayanagar.
In 1558 Dom Constantine de Braganza became Viceroy of Goa, and his
period of government was signalised by every kind of violence and
aggression. In 1559 Luiz de Mello carried fire and sword into the towns
along the Malabar coast. He attacked Mangalore, set fire to the town,
and put all the inhabitants to death. Later in the year he destroyed
in similar manner a number of towns and villages on the same coast,
and desolated the whole seaboard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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