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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ NOVEMBER, 1916
and laymen, that they outnumbered the soldiers and civilians put together. An empire assailed by such gross evils could not but undergo irrevooable dismemberment and decadence, and within the next 20 years it was destined to collapse. In 1685 the 23 Portuguese, however, adopted an enterprising policy against the Dutoh. They entered into an arrangement24 with Venkata pati II, by which he was, in return for 30,000 geraffins, 12 horses, and 6 elephants, to attack the Dutch at Pulicat by land, while they were to do so by the sea. On the success of this affair depended the future of Portuguese trade on the Coromandel coast. Venkatapati, however, was unable to carry out his part of the engagemont on account of, as he himself said, a disturbance in his own dominions. The Portuguese fleet (of 12 ships), which had come to the Dutch port, had therefore to go back towards Ceylon. On the way they entered into a quarrel with Tirumal Naik, at Tuticorin. The cause of the quarrel was Jesuit perfidy. More worldly than the most worldly of layman, these Jesuits had made themselves the practical lords of Tuticorin and its trade, and with the support of an army formed by themselves, they defied their Portuguese benefactors, intrigued with Tirumal NÂik and instigated him to seize a Portuguese agent who had been sent to purchase saltpetre in exchange for elephants.25 It was with a view to overawing the Jesuits and chastisinge the Naik that the Portuguese came to Tuticorin. Their endeavour seems to have been successful. The details are not known, but it seems that the Portuguese demonstration taught the Jesuits and the Naik the value of gratitude on the one hand and of a milder policy on the other. It was just a few months after this that the Setupati war broke out, and he found himself a prisoner in the island of Ráméávaram. It is not improbable, nay it seems certain, that the Sêtupati asked for and obtained the assistance of the Dutch in this crisis, (though the poem does not mention this) and that Råmappaiya, as a countermove, conciliated the Portuguese. The Portuguese had too many reasons to come to such a bargain. During the last two years the Dutch hani proved singularly troublesome. They had allied themselves with the emperor Veikatapati by the tempting payment of 20,000 pardos for the uninterrupted possession of Pulicat. They had attacked Mylapore and reduced its wealth and population. They had seized the whole trade from Japan to the Straits. Above all, they intrigued with the Grand Moghul, Shah Jahan, and let loose his anger on them. They had moreover endeavoured to undermine26 the Portuguese influence in the courts of Tanjore and Ginji. All these circumstances induced the Portuguese to readily join the Madura general in the siege of Râmêávaram. It is not surprising that
13 Sewell refers to this agreement, but he attributes it to 1633. Ho also refers to a second agree. ment of a similar dato and it is not improbable that it was in 1635.
24 Mr. Ros in his " Monumental Remains of the Dutch East India Company "refers to this, though he gives the wrong date of 1663. “In 1663," he says, "the Setupati of Ramnad rebelled and entrenched himself in the island of Pamban. He was assisted by a number of Europeans who came in five vessels from Ceylon and Coohin. Their motive was said to be to gain a footing in the country. They might have been either Portuguese or Dutch. They were most probably the latter, for a that time their activity was on the increase." Rao's surmise is correct; for the Portuguese were on the side of Tirumal Naik. . 25 Danvers II, 260. Between 1636 and 1638 the king of kandy also was on the side of the Dutch, to become afterwards the dupe and victim of their treachery. For details based on Baldous see
Tennent's Christianity in Ceylon, p. 38.9. As regards the trade in elephants in the Portuguese and • Dutch periods soo the same writer's Natural History of Ceylon, p. 163.4.
26 Danvers II, 268. The Naik, however, was unwise in joining the losing side. For the Dutch took place after place after this. In 1639 they took Trincomali, (no Ceylon R. A. 8. 1887). In 1658 they took Manar, arrived at Tutioorin, and the Portuguese, after a slight resistance, ovaouated the town, burnt their vessels and took to flight and the Dutch occupied it. (Danvers II, 320); in 1660 Nogapatam foll.
