On receiving notice of the landing of Barbosa, the rajah sent the register479 of the city to meet him, accompanied by many of the nayres, or principal men of the court, who brought him to visit the rajah, who was much inferior in dress and appearance of state to the zamorin, even the hall of audience having only bare walls, seated around like a theatre, in which the rajah sat with very few attendants. Barbosa presented to the rajah, in name of our general, a basin of silver filled with saffron, a large silver ewer filled with rose water, and some branches of coral, which the rajah received with much satisfaction, desiring his thanks to be returned to the general; and after some conversation with the factor, and interpreter, he gave orders for them to be properly lodged in the city. The general gave especial orders that no more than the seven persons already mentioned should remain on shore, thinking it imprudent to risk a greater number, in case of experiencing a similar misfortune with what had lately happened at Calicut. But there was here no cause for distrust, as the rajah of Cochin was a person of truth and honour, as appeared by his good usage of our men, the quick dispatch that was used in loading our ships with spices, and the orders he gave to his people to afford every assistance, which they did with much alacrity and zeaclass="underline" so that it seemed ordained of God, that the trade should be transferred from Calicut to Cochin, for the advancement of the Catholic faith in the Indies, and the enrichment of the crown of Portugal480.
After the ships were laden, two Indians came to wait upon the general, who said that they were brothers, and Christians, born in Cranganore near Cochin, who were desirous of going to Portugal, and thence to visit the Pope at Rome, and the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem481. Being asked by the general what kind of a city Cranganore was, whether it was entirely inhabited by Christians, and whether these Christians followed the order of the Greek or Roman church, one of them gave the following answers.
Cranganore is a large city in the province of Malabar on the mainland, standing near the mouth of a river, by which likewise it is encompassed, inhabited both by idolaters and Christians, and by some Jews who are held in small esteem. It is much frequented by strangers, among whom are merchants from Syria, Egypt, Persia, and Arabia, who come thither to purchase pepper, a great deal of which commodity is gathered in its territories. It has a king of its own, to whom all the Christian inhabitants pay a certain tribute, and have a quarter of their own in the city, where they have a church resembling ours, in which there were crosses, but no images of the saints, and no bells, being summoned to prayers by the priests as in the Greek church. These Christians hail their popes, with twelve cardinals, two patriarchs, and many bishops and archbishops, all of whom reside in Armenia, to which country their bishops always went for consecration. He had been there himself along with a bishop, where he was ordained a priest. That this rule was observed by all the clergy of the Indies and of Cathay, who have to go to the pope or Catholicos of Armenia for consecration. Of their two patriarchs, one resides in the Indies, and the other in Cathay482, their bishops residing in different cities as it may seem convenient. Their tonsure is made in form of a cross.
The cause of their having a pope is said to have been on the following account: 'When St Peter was residing at Antioch, there happened a great schism, occasioned by Simon Magus, on which Peter was called to Rome to assist the Christians in overthrowing that heresy; and, that he might not leave the eastern church without a shepherd, he appointed a vicar to govern at Antioch, who should become pope after the death of Peter, and should always assist the pope of Armenia. But, after the Moors entered into Syria and Asia Minor, as Armenia remained always in the Christian faith, they came to be governed by twelve cardinals. Marco Polo, in writing concerning Armenia, mentions this pope or Catholicos, and says there are two sects of Christians, the Nestorians and Jacobites, their pope being named Jacobus, whom this Joseph named their Catholicos. The priests of Cranganore are not shaven in the same manner with ours, but shave the whole head, leaving a few hairs on the crown and they have both deacons and subdeacons. In consecrating the elements, they use leavened bread and wine made of raisins, having no other in the country. Their children are not baptized till they are eleven days old, unless they happen to be sickly. They confess as we do, and bury their dead after a similar manner. They do not use the holy oil to the dying, but only bless them; and when any one dies, they gather a large company and feast for eight days, after which the obsequies are celebrated. If any person dies without making a testament, their lands and goods go to the nearest heir; but the widow is entitled to her dower if she remain a year unmarried. On going into church they use holy water. They hold the writings of the four Evangelists in great veneration. They fast during Lent and Advent with much solemnity, and on Easter Eve they neither eat nor drink the whole day. They have regularly sermons on the night of Holy Friday, and they observe the day of the Resurrection with great devotion. Likewise the two following days, and the ensuing Sunday, are particularly kept holy, because on that day St Thomas thrust his hand into the side of our Saviour. Ascension Day, Trinity Sunday, the Assumption and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, Candlemas Day, Christmas Day, all the days of the apostles, and all the Sundays throughout the year, are kept with much devotion. They sanctify in a particular manner the first day of July every year in honour of St Thomas, but they could give no reason why this was done. They have also native friars and nuns, who live with much regularity. Their priests also live chastely, as those who do otherwise are debarred from executing their functions. They allow of no divorce between married people, who must live together till death. They receive the sacrament regularly three times in every year. They have among them certain learned men, or great doctors, who keep schools, in which they teach the Scriptures, and likewise some excellent interpretations which were left in old times by their ancient doctors. Their dress is similar to that of the Moors. Their day consists of forty hours; and, having no clocks, they judge of the time of the day by the sun, and in the night by the motion of the stars483. The general was very glad to receive this Joseph and his brother, and gave orders to provide them with a good cabin in his ship.
While Cabral remained at Cochin, he received messages from the kings of Cananor and Coulan, both considerable princes in the province of Malabar, requesting him to come to their ports, where he should be supplied cheaper than at Cochin, and giving him many offers of friendship. He made answer, with his hearty thanks, that he could not now visit their ports, having already begun to take in his loadings bet that he should certainly visit them on his return to India. Immediately after the Portuguese ships were laden, a fleet of twenty-five great ships, and other small vessels was descried in the offing; and notice was sent by the rajah of Cochin to our general, that this fleet contained fifteen thousand fighting men, and had been fitted out on purpose to make him and all his people prisoners. At the same time the rajah offered to send men to his assistance, if he stood in need; but the general answered he had no need of any such aid at the present, as he trusted, with God's blessing, to convince his enemies they were ill advised in seeking now to attack him, having already given them a trial of his strength; alluding to what he had already done to them at Calicut. The enemy continued to hover off at sea, but did not venture to come nearer than a league, though they seemed in fighting order. Seeing this shyness, the general weighed anchor, and went out with all his fleet against them, having on board the two nayres who were hostages for the factory on shore, but his intentions were to have returned with them to Cochin. Soon after leaving the harbour, a great storm arose with a foul wind, so that he was forced to come to anchor without attaining to the enemy. Next morning, being the 10th January 1501, the wind came fair, and being desirous to attack the fleet of Calicut, the general made sail towards them; but missing the ship commanded by Sancho de Toar, who had parted from the fleet in the night, and that being the largest and best manned ship of the fleet, he deemed it prudent to avoid fighting with so large a force, especially as many of his men were sick. The wind, likewise, was now quite fair for beginning his voyage home, and was quite contrary for going back to Cochin to land the hostages. He determined, therefore, to commence his voyage, and stood out to sea; the enemy following him during the whole of that day, but returned towards Calicut when night drew on. Cabral now turned his attention to the forlorn nayres, who had been five days on board without eating, and by dint of much and kind entreaty, he at length prevailed on them to take food.
480
According to De Barros, the rajah of Cochin was offended by the conduct of the zamorin, on several accounts, and among the rest for monopolising the trade on the Malabar coast. –Astl. I. 43. a. We may easily conceive that one strong ground of favour to the Portuguese at Cochin, was in hopes by their means to throw off the yoke of the zamorin. –E.
481
One of these Christians died during the voyage, but the other, named Joseph, arrived in Portugal. This is the
482
Called Caitaio in the original, but obviously Cathay, or Northern China, in which we have formerly seen that there were Nestorian Christians. –E.
483
In Lichefilds translation, the account of the day of these Indian Christians runs thus, which we do not pretend to understand: "They have their day, which they do call
This account of the Christians found in India by the Portuguese, is exceedingly imperfect and unsatisfactory; but it would lead to a most inconvenient length to attempt supplying the deficiency. Those of our readers who are disposed to study this interesting subject, will find it discussed at some length in Mosheim, and there is a good abstract relative to these Oriental sects given by Gibbon, in the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. –E.