A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 02 · Chapter 31Chapter VI. (5)
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[41] It is difficult to ascertain what place in India is here meant. Cranganore comes nearer in sound, but is rather nearer Melinda than Calicut; Mangalore is rather more distant. The former a degree to the south of Calicut, the latter not quite two to the north; all three on the Malabar coast. On a former occasion, Castaneda says these merchants were of Cambaya or Guzerat, above eleven degrees north of Calicut.--E.
On the last day of the week after Easter, and in the afternoon, the king of Melinda came off in a great boat to our fleet. He was dressed in a cassock of crimson damask lined with green satin, and wore, a rich cloth or turban on his head. He sat in a chair, of the ancient fashion, very well made and wrought with wire, having a silk cushion; and on another chair beside him, there lay a hat of crimson satin. An old man stood by him as his page, who carried a very rich sword with a silver scabbard. In the boat there were many sacbuts, and two ivory flutes eight spans long, on which they played by a little hole in the middle, agreeing and according well with the music of the sacbuts. The king was likewise attended by about twenty Moorish gentlemen, all richly dressed. When the king had nearly attained our ships, the general went to meet him in his boat, gaily decorated with flags and streamers, himself dressed in his best apparel, and attended by twelve of the principal officers of the squadron, leaving his brother in charge of the ships. On the boats meeting, the two parties made every demonstration of friendship and respect; and the Moorish king immediately offered to come on board the generals boat, that he might see him the better. The general accordingly received him with all respect, and the king shewed as much honour and courtesy to the general as if he had been likewise a king. The Moorish king, after examining the dress and appearance of the general and his men with the utmost attention, asked the general the name of his king, which he commanded to be immediately written down. He particularly inquired respecting the power of the king of Portugal, and the general gave the most satisfactory answers to all his questions; particularly detailing the reasons of his being sent to discover Calicut, that Portugal might be thence supplied with spices, which were not to be had in his own country. The king, after giving him some information on these points, and respecting the straits of the Red Sea, promised to furnish the general with a pilot to carry him to Calicut, and then earnestly solicited him to accompany him to the city, where he might solace and refresh himself in the palace, after the fatigues and dangers of so long a voyage; and promised, if the general would do so, that he the king would visit him on board. To this the general prudently answered that he was not authorised by his instructions to go on shore, and that he could not answer for deviating from the orders of his sovereign. On this the king observed, that if he were to visit the ships, he could not well answer for his conduct to the inhabitants of his city; yet, he was grieved that the admiral refused to go into the city, which should be at his will and pleasure, and that of the king his master, to whom he should either write or send an ambassador, if the general would call in at Melinda on his return from Calicut. The general gave the king thanks for his politeness, and promised to return that way; and, while this conversation was going on, he sent for the Moors who had been taken in the pinnace, whom he presented to the king, saying, he would most gladly perform any other service that lay in his power to the king. The king was greatly pleased with this gift, which he valued as much as if the admiral had given him another city equal to Melinda.
Having ended their conversation, and confirmed their mutual friendship, the king rowed through among our ships, examining them with much pleasure and admiration, and was saluted in passing by many discharges of the ordnance, at which he and his attendants seemed much delighted. On this occasion, the general attended upon him in his own boat out of respect, and the king observed, that he never was so much pleased with any men as with the Portuguese, and would most gladly have some of them to help him in his wars. To this the general answered, that if his highness were to have experience of what they were able to perform, he would like the Portuguese still better; and that they should certainly give him aid, if it should please the king of Portugal to send any of his war ships to Calicut, which he did not doubt would be the case, if it were Gods will to permit the discovery of that place. After the king had satisfied his curiosity, he requested of the general, since he would not go himself into the city, to permit two of his men to go and see the palace, offering to leave his own son, and one of his chief priests, which they named Caçis[42], in pledge for their safe return. To this request the general consented, and sent two of our men along with the king: He, at his departure, requested that the general would next day, in his boat, come close to the shore, when he should be gratified with a sight of the native horsemen going through their evolutions. After this they separated.
[42] This seems to be the same office with that named Kadhi, or Khazi, by the Turks and Persians, which is rather the title of a judge than of a priest, which is named Moulah.--E.
Next day, being Thursday, the general and Nicholas Coello went in their boats well armed along the shore, according to the invitation of the king, keeping at a small distance from each other for mutual defence in case of need, where they saw many men skirmishing on the shore. As our boats approached the royal palace, certain of the kings attendants brought him in a chair down some stone stairs which led to the water; and, being then very near the generals boat, the king entered into friendly conversation with him, and once more entreated him to land and go to the palace; saying, that his father, who was lame, was exceedingly desirous to see him, and even offered, that, while the general remained on shore, he and his children would go on board the ships as hostages for his security. But our general, still dreading that some bitter treachery might lurk beneath this honied speech, continued to excuse himself from landing, as he had not permission from his own prince to do so, and must obey him, in all things. After this, taking his leave of the king, he rowed past the ships of the Indian merchants, which he saluted in passing with his ordnance; and when they saw us pass, they held up their hands, exclaiming Christe! Christe!
That night, having obtained leave from the king, our men made them a great feast, with much diversion, also of squibs, firing of guns, and loud cries. The fleet remained at anchor for two days without any message from the shore, on which account the general was much distressed, fearing the king had taken offence at his refusal to go on shore, and might break the peace and amity between them, and not send him any pilot. But on Sunday the 21st of April, a person who was in high credit with the king, came off to visit the general, who was much disappointed when this person brought no pilot, and again began to entertain suspicions of the kings intentions. When the king learnt this, and that the general remained merely for the purpose of having a pilot, he sent him one who was a Gentile, called Gosarate [43] in their language, and whose name was Canaca , sending an apology at the same time for not having sent this person sooner. Thus the king and the general remained friends, and the peace continued which had been agreed between them.
[43] It is probable that this passage should be thus understood, "The king sent him a pilot, who was an idolater from Guzerate, &c."--E.
"De Barros and Faria give this pilot the name of Malemo Cana , and say that he belonged to one of the Indian ships of Cambaya, then at Melinda. De Barros adds, that he shewed De Gama a very small chart of the coast of India, laid down with meridians and parallels, but without rhumbs of the winds. This pilot shewed no surprise on seeing the large wooden and metal astrolabes belonging to the Portuguese, as the pilots of the Red Sea had long used brass triangular instruments and quadrants for astronomical observations, and that he and others who sailed from Cambaya, and the ports of India, navigated by the north and south stars, and the constellations of the eastern and western hemispheres; and, though they did not use these instruments in navigation, they employed one made of three pieces of board, similar to the balhestillia , or cross-staff of the Portuguese.
"In a collection of papers published in 1790, called Documentos Arabicos , from the royal archives of Lisbon, chiefly consisting of letters between the kings of Portugal and the tributary princes of the east in the sixteenth century, the zeque, sheik , or king of Melinda, with whom De Gama afterwards made a treaty of alliance, and whose ambassador he carried into Portugal, was named Wagerage[44]."
[44] The addition to, or observations on the text, inserted in this place within inverted commas, are from Clarke, I. 486, 487.--E.
Having thus procured a pilot, and provided all things necessary for the voyage, De Gama departed from Melinda for Calicut, on Friday the 26th of April 1498[45], and immediately made sail directly across the gulf which separates Africa from India, which is 750 leagues[46]. This golf runs a long way up into the land northwards; but our course for Calicut lay to the east[47]. In following this voyage, our men saw the north star next Sunday, which they had not seen of a long while; and they saw the stars about the south pole at the same time. They gave thanks to God, that, whereas it had been represented to them, that in this season, which was the winter of the Indies, there were always great storms in this gulf, they now experienced fair weather. On Friday the 18th of May, twenty- three days after leaving Melinda, during all which time they had seen no land, they came in sight of India, at eight leagues distance, the land seeming very high. Canaca, the pilot, tried the lead and found forty-five fathoms, upon which he altered his course to the south-east, having fallen in with the land too far to the north. Upon the Saturday, he again drew near the land, but did not certainly know it, as the view was obscured by rain, which, always falls in India at this season, being their winter. On Sunday the 20th of May, the pilot got view of certain high hills which are directly behind the city of Calicut, and came so near the land that he was quite sure of the place; on which he came up with great joy to the general, demanding his albrycias , or reward, as this was the place at which he and his company were so desirous to arrive. The general was greatly rejoiced at this news, and immediately satisfied the pilot, after which, he summoned all the company to prayers, saying the salve , and giving hearty thanks to God, who had safely conducted them to the long wished-for place of his destination. When prayer was over, there was great festivity and joy in the ships, which came that same evening to anchor two leagues from Calicut. Immediately upon anchoring, some of the natives came off to the ships in four boats, called almadias , inquiring whence our ships came, as they had never before seen any resembling their construction upon that coast. These natives were of a brown colour, and entirely naked, excepting very small aprons. Some of them immediately came on board the general, and the Guzerat pilot informed him these were poor fishermen; yet the general received them courteously, and ordered his people to purchase the fish which they had brought for sale. On conversing with them, he understood that the town whence they came, which was in sight, was not Calicut, which lay farther off, and to which they offered to conduct our fleet. Whereupon the general requested them to do this; and, departing from this first anchorage, the fleet was conducted by these fishermen to Calicut.
[45] In Lichefild's translation this date is made the 22d; but the Friday after Sunday the 21st, must have been the 26th of the month.--E.
[46] The difference of longitude between Melinda and Calicut is thirty- four degrees, which at 17-1/2 leagues to the degree, gives only 575 Portuguese leagues, or 680 geographical leagues of twenty to the degree. Thus miserably erroneous are the estimated distances in old navigators, who could only compute by the dead reckoning, or the log. --E.
[47] The course from Melinda to Calicut is about E. N. E. the former being about three degrees to the S. and the latter almost eleven degrees to the N. of the line.--E.
Calicut is a city on the coast of Malabar, a province of the second India, which begins at the mount of Delhi, and ends at Cape Comory, being sixty- one leagues in length, and fifteen leagues broad[48]. The whole of this country is very low, and apt to be covered with water, having many islands in its rivers, which flow into the Indian Sea. This country of Malabar is divided from the kingdom of Narsinga by a very high hill. The Indians report that this land of Malabar was covered by the sea of old, which then reached to the foot of the hills, and thence to a hill, where now the islands of the Maldives are found, which were then firm land; and that in after times it destroyed that latter country, and laid bare the country of Malabar, in which are many pleasant and rich cities, dependent upon trade, which they carry on principally with Calicut, which exceeds all cities of our days in riches and in vice. Its foundation and rise was as follows: In ancient times, this country of Malabar was entirely ruled by one king, who dwelt in the city of Coulan . In the reign of the last king of this race, named Saranaperimal [49], who died 600 years ago, the Moors of Mecca discovered India, and came to the province of Malabar, then inhabited by idolaters, and governed by an idolatrous king. From the time of the coming of these Moors, they began to reckon their years as we do, from the birth of our Saviour[50]. After the coming of the Moors into Malabar, they insinuated themselves so much into the confidence of the before-mentioned king, that he became a convert to their law, renouncing the religion of his country, and embracing Mahometism with such zeal, that he resolved to go and end his days in the temple of Mecca. Having thus resolved, out of love to the Mahometan sect, to abandon his kingdom, he called his kindred together, and divided all his territories among them, reserving only twelve leagues of country near the place where he intended to embark, not then inhabited, which he bestowed upon one of his cousins who acted as his page. To this kinsman he gave his sword and turban, as ensigns of dignity; commanding all the other nobles, among whom he had distributed the rest of his territories, to obey this person as their emperor, the kings of Coulan and Cananor only excepted; whom also, and all the others, he debarred from coining money, which was only to be done by the king of Calicut. Having thus given away his whole dignities and possessions, and set every thing in order, he embarked from the place where Calicut now stands; and because this king embarked from that place on his pilgrimage to Mecca, the Moors have ever since held Calicut in so high devotion, that they and all their posterity would never take their lading from any other port. From that time forwards, they discontinued trade with the port of Coulan, which they had used formerly, and that port therefore fell to ruin; especially after the building of Calicut, and the settlement of many Moors in that place[51].
[48] This vague account of the extent of Malabar is erroneous or corrupt, as sixty-one Portuguese leagues would barely reach from Cape Comorin to Calicut. The extreme length of the western maritime vale of India, from Cambay to Cape Comorin, exceeds 250 Portuguese leagues.--E.
[49] The proper name of this prince who is said to have thus divided the kingdom of Malabar, was Shermanoo-Permaloo.--Clark.
I. 395.
[50] This must be erroneous, as the Mahometans reckon from the year of the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet from Mecca, which commences in 622 of the Christian era.--E.
[51] This story seems an Arabian tale, perhaps partly founded upon some real revolution in the government of Malabar. But it would much exceed the bounds of a note to enter upon disquisitions relative to Indian history.--E.
As the Moors are merchants of most extensive dealings, they have rendered Calicut, as the centre of their trade, the richest mart of all the Indies; in which is to be found all the spices, drugs, nutmegs, and other things that can be desired, all kinds of precious stones, pearls and seed-pearls, musk, sanders, aguila, fine dishes of earthen ware, lacker[52], gilded coffers, and all the fine things of China, gold, amber, wax, ivory, fine and coarse cotton goods, both white and dyed of many colours, much raw and twisted silk, stuffs of silk and gold, cloth of gold, cloth of tissue, grain, scarlets, silk carpets, copper, quicksilver, vermilion, alum, coral, rose-water, and all kinds of conserves. Thus, every kind of merchandize from all parts of the world is to be found in this place; which, moreover, is very quiet, being situated along the coast, which is almost open and very dangerous. Calicut is surrounded by many gardens and orchards, producing all the herbs and fruits of this country in great abundance, having also many palms and other sorts of trees, and abounds in excellent water. This part of India produces but little rice, which is a principal article of food in these parts, as wheat is with us; but it procures abundance of that and all other kinds of provisions from other countries. The city is large, but the dwellings consist only of straw huts; their idol temples, and chapels, and the kings palace excepted, which are: built of stone and lime and covered with tiles; for, by their laws, no others are permitted to build their houses of any other material than straw. At this time, Calicut was inhabited by idolaters of many sects, and by many Moorish merchants, some of whom were so rich as to be owners of fifty ships. These ships are made without nails, their planks being sewed together with ropes of cayro , made of the fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, pitched all over, and are flat-bottomed, without keels. Every winter there are at least six hundred ships in this harbour, and the shore is such, that their ships can be easily drawn up for repairs.
[52] Laker is a kind of gum that proceedeth of the ant. This marginal note, in Lichefild's translation of Castaneda, indicates the animal origin of lac, which has been elucidated of late by Dr Roxburgh.--E.
"The subjects of the following digression are so intimately connected with the first establishment of the Portuguese in India, as to justify its introduction in this place, which will greatly elucidate the narrative of Castaneda; and its length did not admit of being inserted in the form of notes. It is chiefly due to the ingenious and Reverend James Stanier Clarke, in his Origin and Progress of Maritime Discovery, extracted by him from various sources."
"The name of this country, Malabar, is said to be derived from ulyam , which signifies, in the original language of that part of India, skirting the bottom of the hills , corrupted into Maleyam or Maleam, whence probably came Mulievar, and Mala-bar. In a MS. account of Malabar, it is said that little more than 2300 years ago, the sea came up to the foot of the Sukien mountains, or the western gauts . The emerging of the country from the waters is fabulously related to have been occasioned by the piety or penitence of Puresram Rama, who prayed to Varauna , the God of the ocean, to give him a track of land to bestow on the Bramins. Varauna accordingly commanded the sea to withdraw from the Gowkern , a hill near Mangalore, all the way to Cape Comorin; which new land long remained marshy and scarcely habitable, and the original settlers were forced to abandon it on account of the numerous serpents by which it was infested: But they afterwards returned, being instructed to propitiate the serpents by worshipping them."
"At first this country was divided into four Tookrees or provinces, these into Naadhs or districts, and these again into Khunds or small precincts. The Bramins established a kind of republican or aristocratical government, under a few principal chiefs; but jealousies and disturbances taking place, they procured a Permaul or chief governor from the prince of Chaldesh, a sovereignty in the southern Carnatic: Yet it is more likely that this sovereign took advantage of the divisions among the chiefs of Malabar, to reduce them under his authority. These permauls or viceroys were for a long while changed every twelve years; till at length one of them, named Sheo-Ram, Cheruma Perumal, or Shermanoo Permaloo, the Sarana-perimal of Castaneda, became so popular that he set his master Kishen Rao , the rajah of Chaldesh, at defiance, and established his own authority in Malabar. An army was sent into Malabar to reduce the country again to obedience, but it was defeated, and from this event, which is said to have happened 1000 years ago, all the rajahs, chief nayres , and other lords of Malabar, date the sovereignty and independence of their ancestors in that country."
"After some time, Shermanoo-Permaloo, either became weary of his situation, or from attachment to the Mahometan religion, resolved to make a division of Malabar among his dependents, from whom the present chieftains are descended. Such is the current story among the inhabitants of Malabar; yet it is more probable that his dependent chieftains, disgusted with his conversion to the religion of Mahomet, revolted from his authority, and contrived this story of his voluntary surrender and division of his dominions, to justify their own assumptions. After this division of his kingdom, it is said that an erary , or person of the cast of cow-herds, originally from the banks of the Cavery, near Errode in the Carnatic, who had been a chief instrument of the success of Shermanoo-Permaloo in the war against rajah Kishen Rao, made application to Shermanoo for some support. Having very little left to give away, Shermanoo made him a grant of his own place of abode at Calicut, and gave him his sword; ankle-rings, and other insignia of command, and presented him with water and flowers, the ancient symbols of a transfer of property. It is said that this cowherd rajah was ordained principal sovereign over the other petty princes among whom Malabar was divided, with the title of Zamorin, and was authorized by Shermanoo to extend his dominion over all the other chieftains by force of arms. His descendants have ever since endeavoured, on all occasions, to enforce this pretended grant, which they pretend to hold by the tenure of possessing the sword of Shermanoo Permaloo, and which they carefully preserve as a precious relic."
"From the period of the abdication of Shermanoo, to that of the arrival of the Portuguese at Calicut, the Mahomedan religion had made considerable progress in Malabar; and the Arabian merchants received every encouragement from the Samoories or Zamorins, as they made Calicut the staple of their Indian trade, and brought large sums of money yearly to that place, for the purchase of spiceries and other commodities. As the rajahs of Cochin and other petty sovereignties on the coast, were exceedingly jealous of the superior riches and power of the zamorins, and of the monopoly of trade enjoyed by Calicut, they gave every encouragement to the Portuguese to frequent their ports; from whence arose a series of warfare by sea and land, which has finally reduced them all under subjection to the Europeans."
"According to an Arabian author, Zeirreddien Mukhdom , who is supposed to have been sent to assist the zamorins and the Mahomedans in India, in their wars with the Portuguese, Malabar is then said to have been divided among a multiplicity of independent princes or rajahs, whom he calls Hakims , some of whom commanded over one or two hundred men, and others one, ten, fifteen, or even as high as thirty, thousand, or upwards. The three greatest powers at that time were, the Colastrian [53] rajah to the north, the zamorin of Calicut in the centre, and a rajah in the south, who ruled from Coulan, Kalum, or Coulim, to Cape Comorin, comprehending the country now belonging to the rajah of Travancore."
[53] From the sequel in the narrative of Castaneda, this Colastrian rajah seems to have been the sovereign of Cananor.--E.
"We now return from this digression, to follow the narrative of the Portuguese Discovery and Conquest of India, as related by Castaneda."
So great was the trade and population of Calicut and the surrounding country, and the revenues of its sovereign through these circumstances, that he was able to raise a force of thirty thousand men in a single day, and could even bring an hundred thousand men into the field, completely equipt for war, in three days. This prince, in the language of the country, was styled the Zamorin, or Samoryn, which signifies Emperor; as he was supreme over the other two kings of Malabar, the king of Coulan and the king of Cananor. There were indeed other princes in this country, who were called kings, but were not so. This zamorin or king of Calicut was a bramin, as his predecessors had been, the bramins being priests among the Malabars. It is an ancient rule and custom among these people, that all their kings must die in a pagoda[54], or temple of their idols; and that there must always be a king resident in the principal pagoda, to serve those idols: Wherefore, when the king that serves in the temple comes to die, he who then reigns must leave his government of temporal affairs to take his place in the temple; upon which another is elected to take his place, and to succeed in ruling the kingdom. If the king who is in possession of the temporal authority should refuse to retire to the pagoda, on the death of the king who officiated in spirituals, he is constrained to do so, however unwilling.
[54] This word pagoda, applied by the Portuguese, to denote an Indian, temple, is said to be derived from a Malabar or Indian word, Pagabadi , signifying any idol.--Astl., I. 51.
The kings and nobles of Malabar are of a brown complexion, and go naked from the waist upwards, all the under parts of their bodies being clothed in silk or cotton Vestments; yet they sometimes wear short gowns on their upper parts, called basus , of rich silk, or cloth of gold, or of scarlet, splendidly ornamented with precious stones, of all which the zamorin hath great store. They shave their beards, leaving only the hair on their upper lips, and do not shave the head like the Turks. In general, the natives of this country, even of the higher ranks, use little state in their households, and are very sparing in their diet; but the zamorin is served with considerable splendour. These kings or nobles never marry; but every one has a mistress of the Nayre cast, which, among the Malabars, are considered as the gentry; even the zamorin has only a mistress, who has a house of her own near the palace, and a liberal allowance for the charges of her household and maintenance at her own disposal. Upon any dislike or difference, he may always leave her for another. The children are only considered as the offspring of the mother, and have no right or title to inherit the kingdom, or any thing else belonging to the father; and when grown up, are only held in that rank or estimation which belongs to the blood or parentage of their mother. Brothers succeed to brothers; and in lack of these, the sons of their sisters, who do not marry, and have no certainty respecting the fathers of their children; as they are very free and dissolute in their manners, choosing paramours as they please.
These sisters of the zamorin, and other kings of Malabar, have handsome allowances to live upon; and when any of them reaches the age of ten, their kindred send for a young man of the Nayre cast, out of the kingdom, and give him great presents to induce him to initiate the young virgin; after which he hangs a jewel round her neck, which she wears all the rest of her life, as a token that she is now at liberty to dispose of herself to any one she pleases as long as she lives.