In 1565 four of the Sultans of the Dekhan joined CHAPTER IX. hands and hearts against the idolaters. Ráma Rai assembled his vast hosts of Hindús, but they fell like sheep before the slaughtering artillery of the Mussulmans. A hundred thousand Hindus were slain. Ráma Rai was himself taken prisoner, on which his head was straightway cut off and exposed on a spear. All was lost by the Hindús. The avenging army of Mussulmans rushed on like a resistless flood, and forced an entrance into the great capital of Vijayanagar, which for centuries had proved impregnable. This splendid city had long been one of the wonders of the world. It was the great centre of the Brahmanical religion in the Peninsula. Festivals and sacrifices were performed with a magnificence which is almost beyond belief. The court was the scene of successive assassinations and intrigues, which are almost without a parallel, even in oriental history; whilst the public establishments of courtesans were famous throughout the cast.31 The city itself was a Hindú metropolis of stone and granite; and the paved cities and aqueducts, the granite palaces, temples, and fortifications, still remain in lonely grandeur to testify to the mighty conceptions of the old Hindú Rajas. The plunder must have been immense, for the city was one vast treasury of gold and jewels. Its capture was a death-blow to the last great Hindú empire in India. The deputy governors of the little kingdoms of Southern India asserted their independence, and then in their turn 31 Our knowledge of the empire of Narsinga or Vijayanagar is chiefly derived from Mussulman writers; and therefore will be brought under review in dealing with the history of the wars between the Mussulmans of the Dekhan and the Hindús of the Peninsula. CHAPTER IX. began to fall one after the other before the aggression of the Mussulmans or the Mahrattas. Thus within another century of the famous battle of Talikotta in 1565, the memory of the old empire of Narsinga was fast passing away.32 Disastrous results to the Portuguese. Decline of the The results of this last great struggle between Mussulman and Hindú were most disastrous to the Portuguese. Amidst such a convulsion all trade was of course at a stand-still. Meantime the Sultans of Ahmednagar and Bíjápúr combined with the Zamorin of Calicut to expel the Portuguese from Chaul and Goa. The Zamorin failed to keep his engagement, but the two Sultans succeeded in making simultaneous attacks on the two Portuguese cities. But the old jealousies had begun to revive, and although they carried on both sieges for months, they failed to capture either place, and at last separately concluded a peace. From this period the political history of the Porpower in India, tuguese in India is devoid of interest. Their great commercial rivals, the Dutch, began to appear in India, and to deprive them of many of their best possessions. In 1603 the Dutch besieged Goa, and though they failed to take it, they inflicted a severe blow upon the political power of Portugal in the east. The Portuguese maintained some outward show for a century longer, but meantime they were harassed by the Mahrattas, and impoverished by the loss of trade which was passing into the hands of the Dutch and English. At last the people of Goa sunk into squalid poverty. The city became un 32 Faria y Sousa, vol. ii. Ferishta's history of the Dekhan, Scott's translation, vol. i. Selections from the Mackenzie MSS. made by the author. Folio. healthy and the government was transferred to the CHAPTER IX. new town of Panjim or New Goa. In the present day Old Goa is still an object of the deepest interest; its glory has passed away, but the surrounding scenery is as beautiful as ever; whilst the magnificence of its ruins are beyond the finest European architecture in either Calcutta, Madras, or Bombay. Goa, 1583. The palmy days of Goa must have been about Palmy days of the latter end of the sixteenth century. At that time the whole of northern India was quieting down under the mild and tolerant rule of the Mogul emperor Akber; whilst the Dekhan and the Peninsula had ceased to be the theatre of a deadly struggle between Mussulmans and Hindús. The Portuguese themselves were no longer threatened by the Mussulman Sultans of Ahmednagar and Bíjápore, and were not as yet exposed to the hostilities of the Dutch. Goa had thus attained to the zenith of her prosperity. As yet it showed no outward symptoms of decay; although the old political vitality was already on the wane, owing partly to the oriental influences of the women, and partly to the universal craving for gold. Goa. To all external appearance Goa must have been Magnificence of at this period an imposing city. Amidst the busiest scenes of traffic, there was an air of stately magnificence and ecclesiastical grandeur, softened down by the voluptuous languor of an oriental clime. Here the illustrious Camoens, the national poet of Portugal, drank in the inspiration, under which he composed his once famous epic of the Lusiad; and the atmosphere of Goa,-the spirit of daring. enterprise, religious crusade, and impassioned love,—seems to CHAPTER IX. be still breathing through his mellifluous strains." View of the city and shipping. Morning at The city of Goa was situated on the northern part of a picturesque island, about twelve miles long and six broad. Here the island is separated from the main land by an arm of the sea, in which the shipping lay at anchor; and thus the city overlooked the harbour and ships, and the green landscape beyond. The visitor as he landed would see the bank beautified with churches and forts, as well as with the private mansions of the wealthy, each having its garden and orchard walled off in complete seclusion. Next his eye would rest on the Viceroy's palace, which was built over the city gate facing the river. Passing through this gate into the city, he would enter a fine broad street half a mile in length, which terminated in a beautiful church to Our Lady of Mercy. In front of this church was the great marketplace, or Exchange; and round about the market were streets of native shops in which every class of artisans was at work, and every kind of commodity or curiosity might be purchased from the retailers, including goods from Europe, Guzerat, Ceylon, Bengal, Burma, China, and Japan.34 Every morning the sun rose at Goa upon scenes which may be easily realized. The sailors and coolies loading or unloading in the river; the busy shopkeepers displaying their wares; the slaves bringing in the supplies of water and provisions for 33 The social and religious culture of the Portuguese city of Goa towards the end of the sixteenth century is depicted in the travels of John Van Linschoten, an honest Dutchman, who sailed from Lisbon to Goa in 1583. This narrative is published in Purchas's Pilgrims, and was reprinted by the author (Early Travels in India. Calcutta, 1864). The description of Goa furnished in the text is chiefly based on the narrative of Linschoten. Other authorities will be specially cited as occasion requires. 34 Captain Hamilton's Account of the East Indies, chap. xxi. Edinburgh, 1727. 4 the day. There was the palace of the Viceroy, sur- CHAPTER IX. rounded by majestic Hidalgoes giving and exchanging the profoundest courtesies. Many were perhaps making their way to the great hall of council, which was hung with pictures of every Viceroy and Governor from Vasco de Gama downwards. There was also the palace of the Archbishop, with a crowd of black-robed priests, missionaries, and clergy of every description, native as well as European. Besides these were the courts and offices of the king's council and chancery, with busy clerks labouring at their desks, but all in grave and stately fashion after the proud manner of the noble Portuguese. Meantime, above the noise of offices and bazaars, the bells were ever ringing from the numerous churches and monasteries, and filling the whole city with an ecclesiastical clangour. On ordinary days the great centre of attraction The Exchange. would be the Exchange, which was held every morning, except Sundays and holidays, in the market-place already described. It commenced at sunrise, and was generally over by nine o'clock, but it never lasted until noon on account of the heat. It resembled the old Fairs of Europe, only that gentlemen of noble birth and high degree attended and speculated as well as ordinary dealers. It was a kind of auction at which goods were sold at public outcry, by criers specially appointed for the purpose. Some of these criers would be running about, hung with costly chains, jewels, pearls, rings, and precious stones, which they were offering for sale. Others would be disposing of bales of damasks, velvets, silks, satins, spices, drugs, pepper, porcelain, or other merchandise. Some, again, might be selling |