Varthema saw forty-eight Portuguese traders massacred at Calicut by the "Moors," and in consequence of the dangerous state of things existing there he left the city and pursued his journey southwards round the coast. Here we may leave him. In March 1505 a Portuguese fleet destroyed, with immense loss of life, a large flotilla of small boats belonging to the Rajah of Calicut. In the next year an outrage committed by the Portuguese led to a siege of their factory at Cannanore, but the timely arrival of Tristan da Cunha with a new fleet from home relieved the beleaguered garrison. At the end of 1507 Almeida and Da Cunha joined forces and again attacked Calicut, with some measure of success. Afonso d'Albuquerque was now in the Persian seas fighting with all the "Moors" he could meet. At the end of 1509 he became "Governor of India," I.E. of Portuguese India, in succession to Almeida; Diogo Lopes de Sequeira receiving the governorship under the king of Portugal of the seas east of Cape Comorin. From the accession of Krishna Deva Raya to the throne of Vijayanagar in A.D. 1509 we once more enter a period when the history of the country becomes less confused, and we are able to trace the sequence of events without serious difficulty. This was the period of Vijayanagar's greatest successes, when its armies were everywhere victorious, and the city was most prosperous. CHAPTER 10 The Reign of Krishna Deva Raya (A.D. 1509 to 1530) His character and person -- Bankapur -- Almeida and Fr. Luis's mission -- Duarte Barbosa -- His description of the city -- The king's early wars -- Kondapalle -- Rajahmundry -- Kondavid -- Udayagiri -- Wars of the Qutb Shah of Golkonda in Telingana. An inscription in the Pampapati temple at Hampe states that on the occasion of a festival in honour of the coronation of Krishna Deva Raya, the king built a hall of assembly and a GOPURA or tower there, and the date is given as the 14th of the first half of the lunar month Magha in the expired Saka year 1430, the year of the cycle being "Sukla."[189] It so happens that the cyclic year Sukla does not correspond to Saka 1430 expired, but to Saka 1431 expired; and this unfortunate error leaves us in doubt as to the true date of that important event. If we conceive the mistake as having occurred, not in the NAME of the year, which was perhaps in constant daily use, but in the number of the Saka year, then the date corresponds to 23rd or 24th January A.D. 1510; but if the number of the Saka year was correct and the name wrong, then the day must have been February 4, 1509, the cyclic year being properly "Vibhava." Even then it is not certain whether this festival took place on the coronation day itself, or on an anniversary of that event; and a considerable interval may have elapsed between the king's accession and coronation. Probably we shall not be wrong if we consider that the new king succeeded to the throne in A.D. 1509.[190]