Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 475

NOVEMBER, 1923)
NOTES ON PIRACY IN EASTERN WATERS
himself sacrificing at the high altars and in the temples, proclaimed a victory throughout the Empire and received the congratulations of his Court" (Chin. Repos., XIX, 148).
Portuguese and Arakanese. 177. Since the advent of the Portuguese, many European adventurers bad entered the service of the native princes. As a rule, such men as entered the service of the chiefs on the west coast of India never acquired much influence with their employers, but on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal these adventurers were a very different class of men. Such men were constantly to be found in the service of the Princes of Cambodia, Siam, Burma and Arakan. It is with those serving in Arakan that we are particularly concerned, for from them and their followers originated a mixed force of free-booters, who barassed the lower provinces of Bengal for more than a hundred and fifty years. The country at the mouths of the Ganges from the Hugli to Arakan, at the end of the sixteenth century, though nominally subject to the Mughal, was held by local chiefs who were practically independent. The best known of these were (1) Kedar Rai of Sripur who recovered Sandwip from the Mugbals, twice defeated the King of Arakan and was finally defeated and killed by the officers of Raja Man Singh, the Mughal Governor from 1589 to 1606 ; (2) Ramchandra Rai, whose headquarters were at Bakla or Chandradwipa in the south-east of the Bakarganj District, "a Gentile of an excellent disposition, who is particularly fond of shooting with a gun" (Fitch, in Kerr, VII, 472, etc.), who with his son Kirtinarayan expelled the Farongis from the mouths of the Megna and whose alliance was courted by the Nawab of Dacoa (Campos, p. 81, describes him as a friend of the Portuguese); and (3) Pratapaditya of Jessore, the hero of the Sunderbunds," who established a kind of naval station in Chandikan or Saugor, and was eventually defeated and captured by Raja Man Singh (Mukherii, Indian Shipping and the Imp. Gaz.). Mr. O'Malley (24 Parganas, Gaz., p. 27) writes :"A balo of legend attaches to Pratapaditya, who is regarded by Bengali Hindus as a national hero." His father Bikramaditya settled in Jessore at Iswaripur, but Pratapaditya removed his headquarters to Dhumghat and "extended the limits of his kingdom by conquest, till all the surrounding country acknowledged his rule. He declared himself independent of the Mughal Emperors, and such was his power and prowess that he defeated, one after the other, the Imperial generals sent against him.” At last, however, he was surprised by the officers of Raja Man Singh and made prisoner. To escape from further disgrace he poisoned himself. Pratapaditya is the "King of Chandecan" mentioned by Jesuit writers.
178. As the King of Arakan was the natural enemy of the Mughals, it is probable that, at any rate, the first and third of the above-mentioned chiefs entertained some kind of relation with him and were acquainted with his use of Portuguese mercenaries. In fact Kedar Raj had some of the latter in his own service, for when, about 1602, he made himself master of the island of Sandwip, he plaqed it in the charge of a Portuguese nained Domingo Carvalho. The latter. finding himself not strong enough to hold the island with his own forces, obtained assistance from his fellow countryman, Emanuel da Mattos, who was in the service of the King of Arakan. Apparently he gave him part of the island which da Mattos placed under his deputy, a Moor named Fateh Khan. In this condition affairs remained until 1606 or 1607 when da Mattos died. N. B. Campos (p. 67) says that Carvalho and da Mattos retook Sandwip in 1602 from the Mughals, who had taken it from Kedar Rai. The latter when driven from Sandwip took refuge at Sripur and was treacherously murdered by Pratapaditya about 1605 (ibid., pp. 73, 82).