A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar) Part 24

The Wealth of the Dakhan in the Fourteenth Century A.D.

When Malik Kafur, in the year 1310 A.D., during the reign of Ala-ud-Din Khilji of Delhi, carried out his successful raids into the Dakhan and to the Malabar coast, sacking all the Hindu temples, ravaging the territory of Maisur, and despoiling the country, he is said to have returned to Delhi with an amount of treasure that seems almost fabulous. Firishtah writes: "They found in the temples prodigious spoils, such as idols of gold adorned with precious stones, and other rich effects consecrated to Hindu worship;" and Malik presented his sovereign with "312 elephants, 20,000 horses, 96,000 MANS of gold, several boxes of jewels and pearls, and other precious effects."

When we come to estimate the amount of gold we are met with a difficulty, as there are many varieties of MANS in India, the variation being as much as from 19 lbs. in Travancore to 163 1/4 lbs. in Ahmadnagar. The Madras MAN weighs 25 lbs., the Bombay MAN 28 lbs. Hawkins, writing in 1610, gives 55 lbs. to the MAN,[653]

Middleton, in 1611, 33 lbs.[654] Now Firishtah had more to do with Ahmadnagar than any other part of India, and if his estimate was based on the MAN of that tract. Malik Kafur's 96,000 MANS of gold would have amounted to the enormous sum of 15,672,000 lbs. weight. It is hardly likely that Firishtah would have had in his mind the Travancore MAN. Even if he was thinking of the Madras MAN, which is not likely, his estimate of the weight of the gold carried off amounted to 2,400,000 lbs.

Whether we accept these amounts or not, there can be no manner of doubt that the richness of the temples was very great, and the reason is easy to see. The country had always been subject to Hindu kings, and treasures had year by year acc.u.mulated. The Brahmans exacted gifts and payments from the people on all occasions. Kings and chiefs, merchants and landowners, vied with one another in presenting rich offerings to their favourite places of worship; and when it is remembered that this practice had been going on from time immemorial, it need be no matter for wonder that the man who first violently despoiled the sacred buildings departed from the country laden with an almost incredible amount of booty. Colonel Dow, in his translation of the works of Firishtah (i. 307), computes the value of the gold carried off by Malik Kafur at a hundred millions sterling of our money.

CHAPTER C

Portuguese Viceroys and Governors of Goa

(A.D. 1505 TO 1568.)

A.D.

Dom Francisco de Almeida (VICEROY)1505 -- 1509 Afonso de Albuquerque (GOVERNOR)1509 -- 1515 Lopo Soares de Albergaria (GOVERNOR)1515 -- 1518 Diogo Lopes de Sequeira (GOVERNOR)1518 -- 1521 Dom Duarte de Menezes (GOVERNOR)1521 -- 1524 Dom Vasco da Gama, Conde de Vidigueria (VICEROY) 1524 Dom Henrique de Menezes (GOVERNOR)1525 -- 1526 Lopo Vaz de Sampaio (GOVERNOR)1526 -- 1529 Nuno da Cunha (GOVERNOR) 1529 -- 1538 Dom Garcia de Noronha (VICEROY)1538 -- 1540 Dom Estevao da Gama (GOVERNOR)1540 -- 1542 Martim Affonso de Sousa (GOVERNOR)1542 -- 1545 Dom Joao de Castro (GOVERNOR AND CAPTAIN-IN-CHIEF) 1545 -- 1547 ,,,, (VICEROY)1547 -- 1548 Garcia de Sa (GOVERNOR) 1548 -- 1549 Jorge Cabral (GOVERNOR) 1549 -- 1550 Dom Affonso de Noronha (VICEROY)1550 -- 1554 Dom Pedro Mascarenhas (VICEROY)1554 -- 1555 Francis...o...b..rreto (GOVERNOR)1555 -- 1558 Dom Constantino de Braganza (VICEROY)1558 -- 1561 Dom Francisco Coutinho, Conde de Redondo (VICEROY) 1561 -- 1564 Joao de Medonca (GOVERNOR) 1564 Dom Antonio de Noronha (VICEROY)1564 -- 1568

[The above List is extracted from Mr. Danvers's work, "The Portuguese in India" (vol. ii. p. 487). The author continues the List to the present day.]

NOTES

[1] -- Translation of the "Chronica dos reis de Bisnaga", written by Domingos Paes and Fernao Nunes about 1520 and 1535, respectively, with historical introduction. Includes bibliographical references.

[2] -- The letters from China were copied by a different hand.

[3] -- Barros was apparently never himself in India, but held an official position in the India Office in Lisbon. His work was completed in four Decadas. Couto repeats the fourth DECADA of Barros, and continues the history in eight more DECADAS. The first three DECADAS of Barros were published in A.D. 1552, 1553, and 1563, bringing the history down to 1527, under the t.i.tle of DOS FEITOS QUE OS PORTUGUESES FIZERAM NO DESCUBRIMENTO E CONQUISTA DOS MARES E TERRAS DO ORIENTE. His fourth DECADA, published by Couto, dealt with the period A.D. 1527 to 1539, and contained an account of the events that occurred during the governorships of Lopo Vaz de Sampaio and Nuno da Cunha. Couto's own eight DECADAS covered the subsequent period down to 1600. The combined work is generally called the DA ASIA. Couto completed his publication in 1614. The fourth DECADA was published in 1602, the fifth in 1612, the sixth in 1614, the seventh in 1616, the year of his death. Couto spent almost all his life in India, for which country he embarked in 1556.

[4] -- CHRONICA DOS REIS DE BISNAGA, by David Lopes, S.S.G.L. Lisbon, 1897: at the National Press. The extract given is taken from his Introduction, p. lx.x.xvi.

[5] -- Firishtah was a Persian of good family, and was born about 1570 A.D. Early in his life he was taken by his father to India, and resided all his life at the Court of the Nizam Shahs of Ahmadnagar, rejoicing in royal patronage. He appears to have begun to compile his historical works at an early age, since his account of the Bij.a.pur kings was finished in 1596. He appears to have died not long after the year 1611, which is the latest date referred to in any of his writings.

[6] -- According to tradition the wealth carried off was something fabulous. See Appendix B.

[7] -- It is highly probable that amongst the hills and crags about the upper fortress of Anegundi there may be found remains of a date long prior to the fourteenth century; and it is much to be regretted that up to now no scientific examination of that tract, which lies in the present territories of Haidarabad, has been carried out. Want of leisure always prevented my undertaking any exploration north of the river; but from the heights of Vijayanagar on the south side I often looked wistfully at the long lines of fortification visible on the hills opposite. It is to be hoped that ere long the Government of Madras may place us in possession of a complete map of Vijayanagar and its environs, showing the whole area enclosed by the outermost line of fortifications, and including the outworks and suburbs. Hospett and Anegundi were both part of the great city in its palmy days, and Kampli appears to have been a sort of outpost.

[8] -- Nuniz erroneously gives the date as 1230. The error will be commented on hereafter.

[9] -- Scott, i. 45, 46.

[10] -- Delhi.

[11] -- The Portuguese historians often mistook "Cambay" for the name of the country, and "Gujarat" for one of its dependencies.

[12] -- SIC. The meaning is doubtful.

[13] -- There is evidently a confusion here between tales of the doings of Muhammad Taghlaq and much older legends of Rama's Bridge and his army of monkeys.

[14] -- Mallik Naib. (See the chronicle below, pp. 296, 297.)

[15] -- "Your honour" was probably the historian Barros (see preface).

[16] -- Sheik Ismail's power in Persia dates from early in the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa, who was in India in 1514 and wrote in 1516, mentions him as contemporary. He had subjugated Eastern Persia by that time and founded the Shiah religion. Barbosa writes: "He is a Moor and a young man," and states that he was not of royal lineage (Hakluyt edit. p. 38). Nuniz was thus guilty of an anachronism, but he describes Persia as he knew it.

[17] -- "Chronicle of the Pathan Kings of Delhi," by Edward Thomas, p. 200.

[18] -- Firishtah (Briggs, i. 413).

[19] -- Elphinstone, "History of India," ii. 62.

[20] -- Lee's translation, p. 144.

[21] -- Sir H. Elliot's "History of India," iii. 215.

[22] -- If we add together the number of years of the reigns of kings of Vijayanagar given by Nuniz prior to that of Krishna Deva Raya ("Crisnarao"), we find that the total is 180 (Senhor Lopes, Introduction, p. lxx.). The date of the beginning of the reign of Krishna Deva Raya is known to be 1509 -- 10 A.D.; whence we obtain 1379 -- 80 A.D. as the foundation of the empire in the person of "Dehorao" according to the chronicle. This is not quite accurate, but it helps to prove that "1230" is a century too early.

[23] -- Batuta was a native of Tangiers, his name being Sheik Abu'

Abdullah Muhammad. He arrived at the Indus on the 1 Muharram A.H. 734 (September 12, 1333 A.D.), and he seems to have resided in India till 1342.

[24] -- The narrative is given in the French translation of Ibn Batuta's travels, by Defremery and Sanguinetti (vol. iii. pp. 318 -- 320). See also Sir Henry Elliot's "History of India" (vol. iii. pp. 615 -- 616).

[25] -- Firishtah's account is somewhat different, and he gives the date A.H. 739, or July 20, 1338, to July 9, 1339. But I consider the narrative of Ibn Batuta to be far the most reliable, since he wrote from personal experience, while Firishtah compiled his story two and a half centuries later.

[26] -- This was Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur Bura of Bengal, mentioned above.

[27] -- This tale is told of the rise of almost every kingdom, princ.i.p.ality, or large zamindari in Southern India, the usual variant being the discovery of a hidden treasure.

[28] -- I think that there can be little doubt that this derivation, though often given, is erroneous, and that the name was "City of Victory," not "City of Learning," -- VIJAYA, not VIDYA. VYDIAJUNA evidently represents VIDYARJUNA.

[29] -- Buchanan ("Mysore," &c., iii. 110), while on a visit to Beidur in Mysore in 1801, was shown by one Ramappa Varmika a Sanskrit book in his possession called the VIDYARAYANA SIKKA, which relates that the founders of Vijayanagar were Hukka and Bukka, guards of the treasury of Pratapa Rudra of Warangal. These young men came to the Guru, or spiritual teacher, Vidyaranya, who was head of the monastery of Sringeri, and the latter founded for them the city of Vijayanagar. This was in 1336, and Hukka was made first king. But this story entirely leaves out of account the most important point. How could two brothers, flying from a captured capital and a conquered kingdom, suddenly establish in a new country a great city and a sovereignty?

[30] -- DECADA VI. l. v. c. 4.

[31] -- "India in the Fifteenth Century," Hakluyt edit., p. 29.