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.
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 Culbergura[573] 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 parados; 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.
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 Salvatinica[575] 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.
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 His Highness would not be blamed for it. In order to do this he sought for him a very beautiful woman of the family of the kings of Narsymga, and after he had married him to her, at the end of the wedding ceremonies, he put this woman and the other in a house, to which he had added a tower very lofty and large, and in which he lodged her. Afterwards the King married many other wives, for these kings hold it as a very honourable thing to have many wives; and this King Crisnarao married four, and yet he loved this one better than any of the others. This King built a city in honour of this woman, for the love he bore her, and called its name Nagallapor and surrounded it with a new wall which is one of the best works that he has in his kingdom, and he made in it a street very long and large with houses all of masonry. In order to people this town he ordered all the chiefs of his kingdom to build themselves palaces therein, and so they did. This town has one principal street, of length four thousand and seven hundred paces[581] and of breadth forty, which is certainly the most beautiful street it is possible to see; and he made and finished this town without stinting any expense on it. It now yields forty-two thousand parados of duties for things which enter into it, the duties in this land being very great; since nothing comes through the gates that does not pay duty, even men and women, as well as head-loads and all merchandise.
This King also made in his time a lake for water, which lies between two very lofty serraS. But since he had no means in the country for making it, nor any one who could do it, he sent to Goa to ask the Governor to send some Portuguese masons, and the Governor sent him Joao della Ponte,[582] a great worker in stone, to whom the King told how he wanted the tank built. Though it seemed to this man (MESTRE, modern MAISTRY) impossible to be made, nevertheless he told the King he would do it and asked him to have lime prepared, at which the King laughed much, for in his country when they build a house they do not understand how to use lime. The King commanded to throw down quantities of stone and cast down many great rocks into the valley, but everything fell to pieces, so that all the work done in the day was destroyed each night, and the King, amazed at this, sent to call his wise men and sorcerers and asked them what they thought of this thing. They told him that his idols were not pleased with this work, it being so great and he giving them nothing, and that unless he spilled there the blood of men or women or buffaloes that work would never be finished. So the King sent to bring hither all the men who were his prisoners, and who deserved death, and ordered them there to be beheaded; and with this the work advanced. He made a bank across the middle of the valley so lofty and wide that it was a crossbow-shot in breadth and length, and had large openings;[583] and below it he put pipes by which the water escaped, and when they wish so to do they close these. By means of this water they made many improvements in the city, and many channels by which they irrigated rice-fields and gardens, and in order that they might improve their lands he gave the people the lands which are irrigated by this water free for nine years,[584] until they had made their improvements, so that the revenue already amounts to 20,000 parados.
Above this tank is a very large ridge all enclosed, and in the middle some very strong gates with two towers, one on one side and one on the other; and within are always posted 1000 men on guard. For through this gate all things must enter that come into the two cities, since in order to enter the city of Bisnaga there is no other road but this, all other roads meeting there. This gate is rented out for 12,000 parados each year, and no man can enter it without paying just what the renters ask, country folk as well as strangers. In both these cities there is no provision or merchandise whatever,[585] for all comes from outside on pack-oxen, since in this country they always use beasts for burdens;[586] and every day there enter by these gates 2000 oxen, and every one of these pays three VINTEES,[587] except certain polled oxen without horns, which never pay anything in any part of the realm.
Outside these two cities are fields and places richly cultivated with wheat and gram and rice and millet, for this last is the grain which is most consumed in the land; and next to it betel (BETRE), which is a thing that in the greater part of the country they always eat and carry in the mouth.
Chapter 20.
Chapter 20.
How on the death of Crisnarao his brother Achetarao was raised to be king.
Before[588] the death of King Crisnarao from his disease as has been before recounted, being sick and already despairing of his life, he made a will, saying that of his three brothers whom, at the time when they raised him to be King, he had sent to be confined in the fortress of Chamdegary[589] with his nephew, son of the King Busbalrao,[590] they should make King his brother Achetarao[591] who now reigns; for the latter seemed to him to be better fitted for that than any of the others, for the reason that he himself had no son of fit age for the throne, but only one of the age of eighteen months. After his death Salvanay became minister of the kingdom, and governed it till the coming of King Achitarao from the fortress of Chamdegary where he was detained. And he further left in his will that he should take Billgao,[592] and should make war on the Ydallcao.
Which King Chytarao, after he ascended the throne, gave himself over to vice and tyranny. He is a man of very little honesty, and on account of this the people and the captains are much discontented with his evil life and inclinations; for he has never done anything except those things that are desired by his two brothers-in-law,[593] who are men very evilly disposed and great Jews. By reason of this the Ydalcao, learning of how little weight he was, determined to make war on him, believing that he would easily succeed since the King was not inclined to war; so he made his forces ready, and began to invade the King's territory, and arrived within a league of the city of Bisnaga. Chetarao was in the city with such great forces and power that he could easily have captured him if his heart had allowed him to take action, since the Ydallcao had with him only 12,000 foot and 30,000 horse; yet with this small force the Ydallcao entered Nagallapor a league from Bisnaga and razed it to the ground. The King never tried to go out against him, nor had he the stomach for a fight, and there were only small skirmishes by some captains, good horsemen. These spoke to the King, asking that His Highness would give them leave to attack, and saying that his own presence was unnecessary for so slight an affair; but the King was terrified, and by the advice of his brothers-in-law (of which they gave not a little) decided to send and make peace with the Ydallcao. The Ydallcao was very glad and made a peace with him which was to last for a hundred years, on condition that the King should give him ten lakhS of gold parados, each lakh being 100,000 parados, and further should yield up to him the city of Rachol which the King Cris
narao had taken from him, and which had a revenue with its lands of 150,000 parados, as well as jewels which could easily be valued at a lakh. The King accepted these terms, and the Ydallcao departed well pleased with this money; and after all was done the King sent to him a diamond stone weighing 130 mangellinis,[594] with fifteen other similar ones worth fully a lakh. This money he soon afterwards recovered and put in his treasury, exacting payments from his captains and people so ruthlessly that they say that in six months he had recovered and put the whole in his treasury.
A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar Page 32