A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar by Robert Sewell (short story to read TXT) 📕

By these and other similar sayings he sought to set the King’s mind against Salebatacao, even to the death, and the King, seeing what Acadacao wanted, and believing that a man of such great fame would not be guilty of saying anything that was not perfectly true, angrily commanded that Salebatacao, who was then in Bisnaga, should be beheaded; and this was at once done as soon as the message arrived.

As soon as Acadacao had accomplished this business he thought himself unsafe, and at once asked leave of the King, saying that he wished to go and get the Ydallcao to come to the river, so that when His Highness arrived he might meet him there. But the King told him not to be impatient but to amuse himself there some days, and added that he wished to show him some things, and that he had somewhat about which to speak to him. Acadacao, however, being afraid that his treason would be discovered, did not feel safe, and behaved in such a manner that what he had done concerning Salebatacao was found out; wherefore the King sent to seize him, but when they went to look for him he was already gone. For he fled one night and betook himself to the Ydalcao, telling him that the King had commanded Salebatacao to be put to death, and that he wanted to do the same to him, and so he had escaped; and it seemed to him that he (the Ydalcao) ought not to trust the King, who after all was nothing but a black. After he had spoken in this way he went to Bilgao, where he strengthened his position, and when the Ydallcao sent afterwards to summon him he never obeyed, because he knew that the wickedness that he had done had been found out.

CHAPTER 17

How the King went to the extremity of his territory to meet the Ydalcao, and what he did on not finding him.

The King did not fail to go to the extremity of his territory, and since he did not find the Ydalcao there, nor his mother, as Acadacao had told him, he at once perceived that this was due to trickery on the part of Acadacao, and that he had done it all in order to compass the death of Salebatacao. Full of fury at this he entered the kingdom of Daquem and marched against the city of Culbergura573 and destroyed it and razed the fortress to the ground, and the same with many other places.

Thence he wanted to press forward, but his councillors did not agree to this, saying that water would fail him by that road and that it did not seem to them that those Moorish lords whom they counted as friends would be otherwise than afraid that the King would take their lands as he had taken those of the others, since they all served one sovereign, and that for this reason these lords would probably make friends with the Ydalcao, and together they would come against the King; and although there was no reason to be afraid of them, yet the King must needs fear the want of water, of which they had none. And the King agreed that this counsel was good.

In this city of Calbergara, in the fortress belonging to it, the King took three sons of the King of Daquem. He made the eldest King of the kingdom of Daquem, his father being dead, though the Ydallcao wanted to make King one of his brothers-in-law, who was a bastard son of the King of Daquem, and had married one of the Ydallcao’s sisters; for this reason he had kept these three brothers prisoners in that fortress. He whom he thus made King was received by all the realm as such, and obeyed by all the great lords, and even by the Ydallcao owing to his fear of the King.[574] The other two brothers he took with him, and gave them each one an allowance, to each one every year fifty thousand gold PARDAOS; and he holds them and treats them as princes and great lords, as indeed they are. After the return of the King to Bisnaga, which took place in the same year in which he had left, nothing more passed between him and the Ydalcao worthy of record, relating either to peace or war.

CHAPTER 18

How this King, during his own lifetime, raised to be King his son, being of the age of six years.

After the King had made an end of this, and had obtained so great a victory over his enemies, perceiving that he was already advanced in years, desiring to rest in his old age and wishing his son to become King when he died, he determined to make him King during his lifetime, the boy being six years old and the King not knowing what would happen after his death. Wherefore he abdicated his throne and all his power and name, and gave it all to his son, and himself became his minister, and Salvatinica575 who had held that office became his counsellor, and he made one of the latter’s sons a great lord among them. And so far did King Crisnarao go that after he had given the kingdom to his son, he himself did obeisance to him. With these changes the King made great festivals which lasted eight months, during which time the son of the King fell sick of a disease of which he died.

After his death Crisnarao learned that his son had died by poison given him by the son of Sallvatinica, and in his anger, being certain that this was so, he sent to call Salvatinica and his son and Guandaja, brother of Ssallvatinica, and many other captains relatives of Ssallvatinica, and made them a speech at the time of the salaam, there being present many chiefs and principal persons of the kingdom, and relations of Ssallvatinica; he addressed him thus: — “I held thee always as my great friend, and now for these forty years thou hast been governor in this kingdom, which thou gavest me; yet I am under no obligation to thee for that, because in doing so thou didst act in a way contrary to thy duty. Thou wert bound, since thy lord the King my brother commanded so, to put out mine eyes; yet thou didst not carry out his will nor obey him, but instead thou didst cheat him and the eyes of a goat were put out, wherefore, since thou didst not fulfil his command, thou wert a traitor, and thy sons with thee for whom I have done so much. Now I have learnt that my son died of poison given to him by thee and thy sons, and for that ye are all here made prisoners.” With these words he arose and laid hands on them and seized them, and in doing so called for aid from many Portuguese who were then in the country with horses, asking them to come to his aid; and after he had seized the men, father and sons, they remained three years in prison. And he made minister a son of Codemerade, the same who had killed the son of King Narsymga in the city of Penagundy in the garden by treachery, by command of the King his father, as has already been told in this history.[576]

And soon afterwards Danayque, son of Salvatinica, escaped from prison and betook himself to a mountain range in which dwelt nobody but robbers and highwaymen, and in this there was a fortress where dwelt a captain, his relative, who received him and helped him in all that he could, and from there he made such war on the King Crisnarao that he was driven to send against him much people, and as captain of the army he sent his minister Ajaboissa, who invested the place on all sides and took him therein and brought him prisoner to the King. After he had so come the King commanded him to be brought before him, with Sallvatinica his father and another brother of his who was kept in the prison, and he sent them to the place of executions and there had their eyes put out, for in this country they do not put Brahmans to death but only inflict some punishment so that they remain alive. So he put them in prison again, and there Timadanayque died, and Salvatinica his father remained in the prison with his other son Gamdarja.[577]

CHAPTER 19

How the Ydallcao came against Rachol, and did not dare to await the King, and fled.

At this time the Ydallcao collected his army and formed afresh his forces of cavalry and elephants, and marched upon Rachol which remained under the king of Bisnaga. Hearing this news, Crisnarao, without even telling any one, ordered to saddle a horse, and he rode at full speed in the direction of Rachol where already the Ydallcao was; but as soon as his enemy was aware of the coming of the King he fled. On the road King Crisnarao bought six hundred horses from the Portuguese at the rate of 4 3/4 for 1000 pardaos.[578] And from Rachol he sent a message to the Ydallcao saying that he had already twice broken his oath and his word, and that as he had not fulfilled the promise he had made he would make war on him in such fashion as that by force he should become his vassal, and that he would not let him alone till he had taken from him Billgao.[579]

As the winter had now begun the King could not then go forward, and so he went to Bisnaga to make ready for this war; and he commanded to prepare a large force of artillery, and sent an ambassador to Goa to ask for the help of the Governor. He promised him that after taking Billgao he would give him the mainland; for this city of Billgao is fifteen leagues from Goa, and its captain is lord of the mainland of Goa. Goa is the frontier or boundary of his city of Billgao, and there is one of his captains at a fortress called Pomda which is three leagues from Goa by the mainland, who also receives the revenues and has command over several villages; and in like manner these and others have captains appointed by the Ydalcao, who is lord of the whole land.[580]

While Crisnarao was thus making ready he presently fell sick of the same illness of which all his ancestors had died, with pains in the groin, of which die all the kings of Bisnaga.

Now this King Crisnarao, when he was young and growing up in this city of Bisnaga, had an intrigue with a courtezan for whom he had much affection, and who was called Chinadevidy, and for the great love he bore her he promised many times that if ever he became King he would marry her; and though he said this in jest, it afterwards became true, so the history records. For when raised to the throne and taken away from the things he had done when a young man, he still did not forget the affection he felt for this woman, but used secretly to leave his palace and go to her house. And this was discovered one night by his minister Sallvatinica, who watched him until he had got into the woman’s house, and he rebuked him much for it and brought him back to the palace. Then the King told him how well he loved her, and that he had promised to marry this woman and was determined to do so in any case; and the minister, seeing how he was bent on it, gave way to his wish, saying that he would accomplish it in such a way that