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

[566] — This passage appears to be corrupt, and I have been unable to guess at its meaning. Senhor Lopes, whom I have consulted, is equally at fault about it.

[567] — ELREY O MAMDOU VER.

[568] — QUE ELLE TE AMA A TY DIANTE DE TY. The latter words may be an emphatic expression, akin to DIANTE DE DEUS E DE TODO O MUNDO, “In the face of God and all the world.”

[569] — Ante elles should be “antre elles.”

[570] — Mudkal.

[571] — Bijapur.

[572] — TODO A CULLPA DE TALL SER FEYTO POR ASY. Lit. “all on account of his having acted thus.”

[573] — Kulbarga, the ancient Bahmani capital.

[574] — This passage does not seem very exact from an historical standpoint (see above, p. 157, and note).

[575] — Saluva Timma.

[576] — (Above, p. 310 f.) The original text has “E FEZ REGEDOR HUU FILHO CODEMERADE,” but I cannot identify the name with any ordinary Hindu name or title; and if “son of Codemerade” be meant, as I suppose, the DE has been omitted accidentally. If, however, there has been a confusion of syllables and the original reading was “FILHO DE CODEMERA,” then I would point to the list given above of powerful nobles (p. 327) who commanded the forces of the king in the great Rachol campaign, one of whom was called COMDAMARA. In the concluding paragraph of this chapter we have this new minister’s name given as “Ajaboissa,” and in the list of provincial lords (p. 385 below) as “Ajaparcatimapa.” The latter name sounds more probable than the former. The first half would be the family name, the last, “Timmappa,” his own personal name.

[577] — In the passage earlier in this chapter Saluva Timma is said to have had a brother “Guandaja.” Putting the two together, it would seem that his brother and son both bore the same name, probably Ganda Rajah. Paes refers to the brother as being in his day governor of the capital (above, p. 284. He calls him “Gamdarajo.” See also p. 327, note 2.

[578] — CYMCO MENOS HUU QUOARTO POR MIL PARDAOS, or nineteen for four thousand pardaos. The chronicler was a trader in horses at Vijayanagar. Later on he mentions the usual price as twelve or fifteen horses for a thousand PARDAOS (below, p. 381).

[579] — Belgaum.

[580] — The captain of Ponda was Ankus Khan (above, p. 335, notes

1, 2).

[581] — About a mile and a quarter. Nagalapur is the modern Hospett. If the measurement is accurate, this street, leading, no doubt, towards the capital, is now non-existent.

[582] — The Della Pontes are more than once mentioned in the history of the sixteenth century. They were probably an Italian family or Italien in origin, and engineers by profession, the Rialto at Venice having been constructed by Antonio della Ponte in 1588. This, however, may be a fanciful connection. It is possible that both in Portugal and in Italy families may have received that surname in consequence of their skill in bridge-building, or of one of the family having in former days distinguished himself by the construction of a particular bridge. The engineer mentioned in the text is probably the individual who at the end of April 1520 was sent by the king of Portugal to examine into the possibility of building a fortress at Tetuan in Morocco. Dom Pedro de Mascarenhas (afterwards, in 1554, Viceroy at Goa) sailed on this mission from Ceuta, and “Joao Nunes del Pont” is mentioned as accompanying him. The king and the Emperor Charles V. were both at this time anxious to prevent the Moorish corsairs from using Tetuan in future, as they had done in the past, as a base for their piratical attacks on Spain and Portugal. (Damiao de Goes, CHRONICA DE DOM MANUEL, edit. of Coimbra, 1790, vol. i. Part IV. p. 532; ALGUNS DOCUMENTOS DO ARCHIVO NACIONAL DA TORRE DO TOMBO, Lisbon, 1892; pp. 445 — 446.)

In 1521, some time after the month of March, when Dom Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, the governor of Goa, had returned from his expedition to the Red Sea, he was urged by his counsellors to build a fortress at Madrefaba near Goa, as the place contained an anchorage sufficient for an entire fleet. (Correct, LENDAS DA INDIA, ii. p. 622.) Correa continues: “The governor, however, thought better to send in a COTIA Antonio Correa and Pero de Coimbra, his chief pilot, to inspect the river of Madrefaba and measure the water on the bar, and Manuel da Ponte, Overseer of Works, and Joao de la Ponte, his brother, who understood it well, to view the land, and if there were stone, and if lime could be made for the work, and to bring him certitude of all.”

If this man were the same as he who went with Mascarenhas to Tetuan, he had, in all probability, not been long in India when he went to Madrefaba. This seems to show that the great tank of Krishna Deva Raya, seen in process of construction by the chronicler Paes (see p. 244), and mentioned in the text by Nunez, was not begun till at least the autumn of 1521. If so, Paes did not WRITE his description of Vijayanagar till after that date (say 1522). (See above, p. 162.)

[583] — ESPACOS. This probably means sluices or weirs.

[584] — POR NOVE ANOS DE GRACA.

[585] — NAO HA NENHU MANIMETO NEM MERCADARYAS.

[586] — The original (itself a copy) has “NESTA TERRO NAO SE SERVEM DE BESTAS PERA CARREGUAS.” I think that the words SE NAO must have been accidentally omitted before DE BESTAS, and have ventured so to render the passage.

[587] — About 3 1/2d. (?). A VINTEM is about 7 1/20d.

[588] — I have given the meaning here, not a literal translation. The writer begins: “After the death of King Crisnarao from his disease, as has been already recounted.” Then he inserts a long parenthesis which might he read: “While he was sick … he had made a will … &c….” down to … “but only one of the age of eighteen months.” Then he continues: “After his death (as I have said) Salvanay became minister,” &c….

[589] — Chandragiri.

[590] — See above, p. 315.

[591] — Achyuta.

[592] — Belgaum.

[593] — These two may perhaps be two of the three powerful brothers Rama, Tirunnala, and Venkatadri, of whom the two first married two daughters of Krishna Deva. In such case, however, they would not have been actually brothers-in-law of King Achyuta, but of his brother the late king.

[594] — A mangelin is roughly equivalent to a carat, hut actually the difference is one-fifth; 4 mangelins = 5 carats. So that 130 mangelins = 162 carats, The KOH-I-NUR, when brought to England, weighed 186 carats (See Appendix A.)

[595] — The word used is CATRE, a light bedstead, probably the origin of the modern South Indian word “cot,” for a camp bedstead.

[596] — ARQUELHA DE PRATA. ARQUELHA is a mosquito-net. Since manifestly the net itself could not be made of silver, the allusion is probably to its supports. Senhor Lopes, in a letter to me, suggests that it means the upper portion of the canopy, “LE CIEL DU LIT,” or the framework that holds the curtains, ARQUELHA being a diminutive of ARCO, a “bow” or “arch.” In this case it might mean the domed ceiling of a canopy made in Muhammadan fashion, and the curtains may have been of silk or brocade, and not of mosquito-netting.

[597] — The word used is ARMADAS. It may mean “furnished” or “hung round with cloths,” or possibly “fenced” or “fortified.”

[598] — SEUS LEQUES must be a misprint for SEIS LEQUES.

[599] — Above, pp. 121, 281, and notes.

[600] — E YSTO HE COANTO A CACA. At the present day in Southern India game-birds are sold alive, generally with the eyes sewn up.

[601] — This evidently refers to the yak-tail whisks used in the service of idols in the temples and in the palaces of nobles. On occasions of ceremony at the present day any chief or noble who has a pretension to sovereignty, or who claims descent from a line of independent lords, proclaims his dignity by the use of certain insignia, and amongst these the yak-tail fan finds place. It is one of the most graceful of ornaments. The soft white hair is set in a metal handle of brass or silver and waved slowly by an attendant. Its material object was to keep away flies.

[602] — PACHARI for PICHHAURI.

[603] — Above, p. 263.

[604] — “Silken trappings.” The original word is PATOLLAS. Later on (see p. 383), in describing the king’s dress, Nuniz writes, “OS SEUS VESTIDOS SAO PACHOIIS,” &c. Both these words probably refer to the same Canarese word, PATTUDA, “a silk cloth.” Barbosa and Pinto use it in the form PATOLA, Correa as PATOLO, and Peyton (in Purchas) as PATOLLA. (Yule and Burnell’s Glossary, S.V. PATOLA) In Telugu, PATTU = “silk.”

[605] — JUNTAS. The meaning is doubtful, but in all probability yokes of oxen are referred to. In the Canarese country these are often handsomely decorated and clothed when attached to travelling vehicles.

[606] — TERREIRO.

[607] — RODAS DE BICOS. These may perhaps have been weapons such as in England were known as “knuckledusters.”

[608] — A free translation. The original runs, “DE MANEIRA QUE O QUE FICA DE BAIXO D OUTRO MAIS FERIDO VAY, LEVA A FOGACA, QUE HE HUU PACHARIM,” &c. It seems curious that the vanquished should be rewarded. LEVA A FOGACA is literally “takes the cake.” For PACHARIM see above, p. 376 note 2.

[609] — This is he only occasion on which the chronicler gives the king his hereditary title of Raya, usually spelt RAO by the Portuguese. RAYA is the same as RAJA.

[610] — The Qutb Shah of Golkonda.

[611] — Whether true or not, this statement, coming as it does from a totally external source, strongly supports the view often held that the ryots of South India were grievously oppressed by the nobles when subject to Hindu government. Other passages in both these chronicles, each of which was written quite independently of the other, confirm the assertion here made as to the mass of the people being ground down and living in the greatest poverty and distress.

[612] — When passing through the city, probably.

[613] — MEYRINHO.

[614] — FARAZES.

[615] — SANEIS QUE ENSYNDO OS CAVALLOS.

[616] — Above, p. 361, and note.

[617] — BOIS. Hindu women of the Boyi caste. The Boyis are Telugus, and are employed as bearers of palanqueens and other domestic service in Southern India. Hence the Anglo-Indian term “Boy” for a servant.

[618] — See above, note to p. 377.

[619] — Telugu, KULLAYI. See pp. 210, 252, 273.

[620] — DE FAZEMDA. I think that the meaning is as given. It will be observed below that the kingdom was divided into provinces or estates, each one entrusted to a noble who farmed the revenue to his own advantage, paying a fixed sum every year to the king. In the case of Narvara, the treasurer of the jewels, his estate is described as “bordering on the country of Bisnaga,” and as this expression cannot refer to the entire country ruled by the king, it must be taken in a limited sense as applying to the king’s own personal lands — his home farm, so to speak. The system is well known in India, where a prince holds what are called KHAS lands, I.E. lands held privately for his own personal use and benefit, as distinct from the lands held under him by others, the revenue of which last ought to go to the public purse.

[621] — Note that Madura is