India in Portuguese Literature 1498-1580

8/18/2019 India in Portuguese Literature 1498-1580

1/330

U N I V E R

S A L

L I B R A

R Y U N I V

E R

S A L

L I B R A R Y

OU_212938


2/330


3/330


4/330


5/330


6/330


7/330

INDIA IN PORTUGUESE LITERATURE


8/330

B Y T H E S A M E AUTHOR :H I S T O R I C A L S T U D I E S O N I N D I A ,

A miscellany of various historicalessays, based chiefly on Portuguese

sources. ( To be published ).

A M O R G A D I N H A D O S C A N N A -V I A I S — A Romance of Jutes Diniz translated from the original Portuguese. ( To be published ).


9/330

INDIA IN PORTUGUESE

LITERATURE

BY

Socio Correspondente da Associasao de Arqueologos, Lisbon.Member of the British Insti tute of Philosophical Studies.

Member of the Council of the Osmania University, Hyderabad Dn.Principal, Osmania Unversity College for Women, Hyderabad-D n.

P R I N T E D AT"TIPOGRAFIA BANGEL"

BASTORA -PORTUGURSE IN D IA


10/330


11/330

1 Thus (in Portugal) India invaded and absorbed the interest of the social life of the higher classes, aswell as of the common people. Thisis felt in the literature. The great national epic poem was written in

India, by a soldier of India... Andin those forms of literature which

give expression to the most intimate feelings of a people, the Indian touchis never wanting. 9"

Conde de Pica I ho"Garcia da Orta e seu tempo"

Lisbon, 1886.


12/330


13/330


14/330


15/330

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION:

A short description of the characteristics of the Portuguese race, thei r pol it ical organisation and thei r discov -ery of the way to India by sea.

The origin of the Portuguese monarchy.The formation of Portugal, 1126-1279.The consolidation of the King do m, 1279-1383.

The Lit era ry movement in Portu gal.Education.The Literature of early Por tugal.Portuguese discoveries.

C H A P T E R I : — T h e C l a s s i c E p o c h . 1 4 9 8 1 5 8 0 .

The discovery of India by the Portuguese.K i n g Do m Manuel's letter to the K in g of Castille, and to

the Cardinal Protector.The domination of the Portuguese in India.The lit erary movement in Portugal du ring the Classic

Epoch.Poets of the 16th cen tury :

Camoes, Jeronimo Corte Real, Francisco de Andrade, G i l . .

Vicente, Jorge Perreira de Vasconcellos, Simao MachadoProse writers of the 16th century on India:

Duarte Barbosa, Caspar Correa, Pernao Lopes de Casta-nheda, Joao de Barros, Diogo de Couto, Alvaro Velho,Dom Affonso de Albuquerque, DomAffonsode Albu-


16/330

X

querque, (Bras de Albuquerque), Dom Joao de Castro,Antonio Galvao, Joao de Lucena, Antonio de Castilho,

Anto ni o Tenrreyro, Garcia de Orta, Francisco de And ra -de, Damiao de Goes, Lopo de Sousa Coutinho, FatherGastao, Father Fernando de Santa Maria, Belchior deMoraes, Fabiam da Motta, Diogo Botelho Pereira, F athe rPedro Martins, Francisco Rodrigues, Balthazar Dias,Father Luis Froes, Father Luiz de Gouvea, Joao NunesBarreto, Father Ayres Brandam, Father Jorge Caldeyra,Father Gaspar Vil le la , Father Am ador Rebello, " Chronica de Guzerate". (Anonymous).

CHAPTER I I : — T h e G o n g o r i c S c h o o l ,

Po lit ical and li te ra ry decadence.Influence of the Jesuits on the literature about In dia .Epic Poets :

Francisco Sa de Menezes.Historians and trave ller s:

Anto nio Bocarro, Jacinto Ferreira de Andrade, Ant on ioPinto Pereira, Antonio Rodrigues de Costa, Franciscode Pinho e de Mello, Manuel Jacome Mesquita, FatherAntonio de S. Migue l, Salvador de Couto de Sampaio,Dom Constantino de SA e Noronha, Cosme Laf eta, FatherAnto nio Monserrate, P. Manuel Barradas, CapitSo Barretode Resende, Antonio de Andrade, Gaspar FerreiraReyman, An tonio G i l Preto, Manoel Godinho, P. Fernando Guerreiro, Father Antonio de Gouvea, FatherDomin go do Espir ito Santo, Simao Torrezao Coelho,Cosme da Guarda, Mosseh Pereira de Paiva.

Language and Poetry :Joao Franco Barreto, Father Diogo de Sancta Anna,Father Anto ni o Pereira, Father Fernando de Queyroz,Father Anton io da Silva, Father Anton io da Trindade ,Father Diogo Monteiro, Joao da Costa, Father Antonio


17/330

X I

Joao de Frias, Joao Ribeiro, Domingos Affonao, Antoniode Foruseca Osorio, Father Francisco de Sotusa.

Rel ig ion :Father Agostinho de Santa Maria, Father Antonio Perei-ra, Father Fernando de Queyros, Father Antonio da.Silva, Father Antonio Trindade, Father Diogo MonteiroJoao da Costa, Father An to nio Joao de Frias, JoaoRibeiro, Domingos Affonso, Antonio de Fonseca OsorioFather Francisco de Sousa.

C H A P T E R I I I : — T h e F r e n c h o r A r c a d i a nS c h o o l , 1 7 0 6 - 1 8 2 6

Continuation of literary decadence.

Establishment of Academies for li te rary refo rm. Poets of the18th century who wrote on India :Bocage, Father Jose Agostinho de Macedo.

Effect of the disastrous wars w i th the Marathas on theliterature.

Prose wri ters who wrote on the wars :Diogo da Costa, Jacinto Machado de Sousa.

Poems by Antonio de Meirelles on the victories over tho

Marathas.Prose account by the same author.Instructions of the Marquis of Alorna and the Marquis of

Pombal.

Indian languages.

C H A P T E R I V: — T h e R o m a n t i c S c h o o l A n dC o n t e m p o r a r y w r i t e r s

Literary position of Portugal with reference to India.Indologists and Historians : Ounha Rivars.


18/330

X I I

Archives of Goa.

Wri te r s :Fi li p e N e r y Xa vie r, Edu ardo de Salsexnao, Te ixe ir ad'Aragao, Lopes Mendes, Ismael Gracias.

Overseas Section of the Arch ives of P or tu ga l; Dalgado.Inf luen ce of the Portuguese language on the Orien tal langua

ges and vice versa.Indo-Portuguese Poetry :

Fernando Leal, Manoel Salvador Sanches Fernandes,R. B.Barreto e M ira nd a, J. F. da P- Soares, Leand ro X a v i e rPereira, Leopoldo Francisco da Costa, Jose Joaquim Fra-goso, Florencia de Moraeg, Mariano Gracias, FlorianoBarreto, Pau lino Dias, Nascimento Mendonca, A d ol foCosta.

The Scientific Movement in Portuguese India :Froilano de M ello , Alb erto C. Germano S. Correa.

Conclusion.


19/330

PREFACE

Nao tornes por det ris ; pois e fraquesaDesiafcir-se da cousa comecada.

Camoes, E. 40, x. 3. x 4 .

Don't turn back; for it is weaknessTo give up something which is begun.

ORE than one psychologist of modern times haslaid stress on the part which chance plays inthe events of human life. W hile turning overin my mind the plan for the present work, towhich I have tried, as far as 1 was capable,

to give a sequence not devoid of logic and harmony, Iwas more than ever convinced that chance has irianytimes p layed an important role in the production of a work.

The work of an author is like the work of a people,a synthesis of various organic factors: some, inherent,constitute the personal and characteristic ego in the individual, and in the people, form a homogeneous whole,

called r ace; other factors, external, concern the social lifeof the individual, and in peoples contribute to the interrelation of the races; other factors aga in are occasionalwhich in the individual, produce the moment and in therace the epoch.

M


20/330


21/330

X V

not the only one- The fleets of the conquerors wereaccompanied by scribes and chroniclers who have left mostexpressive and vivid documents relating to the evolutionand history of the India of their time- Whether we examinethe Classic or the Gongoric period, the Arcadian orthe epoch of Contemporary Romanticism, we find thafmany Portuguese writers have left documents of greatvalue for the history of the East in general and for thatof India in particular. To unearth from the dust of librar

ies those valuable records and offer them to Indologists ina short review together with my modest personalcriticism is the aim of the present work.

It is necessary to state clearly the lines on which Ihave proceeded in this study. By literature I do not meanonly literary composition, whether in verse or prose, butI use the term in its widest conception: namely, the

written expression of human thought. Whether this expression of thought in the works of the writers of differentperiods of Portuguese literature be in verse or in prosewhether about history, sociology, religion or language,the politics of the Indian States or their folkore, naturalsciences or medicine, I have searched in those writingsfor the passages which speak about anything pertainingto India. Moreover literature is one of the forms of Art,and, in order to understand and analyse the art of apeople as the comprehensive result of its active andemotional life, Taine teaches us: "Nous sommesobliges de considerer le peuple qui Ya faite, les moeursqui la suggeraient et le milieu oil elle est nee. (1)

India would not have been a reality for the Portu-

0 ). T A I NE , "P M lo so ph ie de l ' Ar t" , Librairie Hachette,1895. Quatrieme partie, " La Sculpture en Grece. 1', p. 86, vol,i i , 20th edn.


22/330


23/330

X V I I

the historical events which influenced the development otthe race are dealt with briefly. For example we cannotfind in Gongorism, which in Portugal is contemporaneous-with the loss of independence and the breaking up of the-Empire, the magnificence of the culture which marks theManueline period and culminates in the classic of whichPortugal is so Justly proud: the Lusiadas of Camdes.

The book begins with an introduction in which are-described the characteristics of the Portuguese race, thebirth of their nationality, their warlike and adventurousqualities, and their culture. This is followed by fourchapters comprising respectively the Classic Epoch, its-genesis and its results, the Gongoric, Arcadian andRomantic Schools, each containing a brief historicalresume*, and a bibliographical and critical review of the-works in any branch of written thought, which have any

reference to India.In the last chapter I have tried to sketch the In do-

Portuguese movement which had its origin in India itself.Any one who travels through the Orient will be convincedthat the Portuguese influence was deep and widespreadas is proved by the Portuguese names and designationswhich have found their way into the Indian languages,,

and by the Portuguese dialects which even today prevailamong the Sinhalese and Malasian families who came incontact with Lusifanian civilisation.

To collect material I visited the principal countries ofEurope, including Portugal, France and England, where Ifound many precious literary documents which in greatpart have been utilised for this work and in Portugal,

in the Libraries and Archives of Lisbon, Ajuda and Evora,I discovered a mine of unused material for my proposed works on India.

I cannot conclude these lines without expressing mysincere thanks to Professor Seshadri of Government


24/330

X V I I I

College, Ajmer, for important suggestions, and to FatherHosten who in reviewing this work, made many valuableannotations and corrections. I am grateful also to Lt .Colonel de Costa Veiga Director of the National Library,Lisbon, and to the Government and the authorities in Goaas well as to the scholars resident there for the facilitiesafforded me in consulting their libraries, and above all forthe use of the abundant documents contained in their oldand unpublished Archives,—now under the able supervisionof the learned Indologist Professor Pissurlencar,— a sourcenot yet thoroughly examined, which can be recommendedto Indologists.


25/330

I N T R O D U C T I O N .

" In cl yt a geracao, a ltos Infa nte s ."(I l lu st r i ou s race, noble Pr ince s.)

Camses—E. 50 a. v. 8.

" O' fente forte, e de altos pensamentos,Que tambem della hao medo os elcmentos !"( Strong people with noble thoughts,O f who m even the elements are af ra id I)

Camoes—E. 47 a. v. 7 & 8.

On the west of Eu rope , there is a little country, partof the Ib er ian peninsula, whose shores are washed by

the wi ld Atlantic, Th is country,so small and insignificant in itself,was the cradle of heroes who played an important part in the historyof the wor ld, gaining immorta lfame through the discoveries thatthey made, both in the Orient and

in the Ne w W o r l d , "Abrind o ao m undo novos mundos,"( Openin g to the world , new worlds ), they revealed tothe astonished eyes of Euro pe new fields of explorationan d established the first bases of social intercourse inm od ern times, between the East and the W es t. It isto Portugal that we owe our first real knowledge of theEast— that East wh ich was sung about and speculated

A short descriptionof the characteristicsof the Portuguese race,their polit ical organization a n d c u l t u r ebefore t h e discoveryof India.


26/330


27/330

I N T R O D U C T I O N 3

part. It was or ig in al ly in hab ite d by the pre-his toriccave-dwellers, signs of whose existence are traceable

even to-day a ll over Po rtug al . These people madero o m for a c omb inatio n of Celts w i t h a no n- Ar ya nrace ( 1 ) , k no w n as the Iberian nation, and theyfor med the f ive different tribes me nt ione d by Greekwr iter s. T hen , Greek colonies were establishedat the mo uth s of the Do ur o, M i n h o an d Tagus.W h e n the ru le of the Greeks gave wa y to tha t of theRoman Empire, this part of the Iberian peninsula withth e rest of Europe , was gradually taken possession ofby the Romans. T he ir inroads, however, met w i t h ob sti nate resistance in gue rr il la wars, an d th ough these warsindicated merely the germ of independence in thenati on, th ey caused m u c h Rom an bl oo d to flow anddi m in is he d Rom an prestige. A m o n g the various chiefsof that period who stand out as symbols of revolt

against foreign aggression, it is bu t ju st to men ti on theshepherd-warrior, Viriathus; his brave resistance forten years has su rro un ded his name w i t h a legendaryhalo an d he is regarded as the firs t great hero ofPo rtug al . In course of tim e, the en tire peninsu la becameRomanised. A n d such was the lasting influence of Rom eupon the conquered people, that not only is theirlanguage de rive d from the language of the Roma n con

quero rs, th ei r laws based on the o l d Roman code, bu tthe y also acqu ire d from Rom e thei r re lig ion, there lig io n of Chris tian ity, w h i c h was to be such a powe rfulfactor in spurr in g th em on to conquests in the East.

Af te r the fa ll of Rom e, the Visigoths establishedth ei r em pir e in the pe ni ns ul a; bu t the ir influence onPort ug al was ve ry sl ight , as, be in g representatives of a

lower stage of civi li sa tion , the y became assimilated andmerged in to the higher, accepting the language an d

( 1 ) Of. Morse Stephens' " Por tuga l", page 5.


28/330

4 I N D IA I N P O R T U G U E S E L I T E R A T U R E

th e re lig ion of the people they ha d conqu ered. T h e i rpeaceful emp ire was in tim e over th row n by the M u s

lims who fought and killed Roderic, the last of the Visi-go th ic kings, in the battle of the Gaudalete, in the year711 A. D. U nd er the Arabs, the Chr istian re lig ion waspro tec ted , and , for some tim e, peace reigned in Ib er ia .B u t in the ten th century the M us li m power graduallygrew weaker as the people became more luxurious ; andthen Be rm udo I I , the Christian ki ng of Galicia of V is i-goth ic or ig in , by tak ing Oporto fro m the Moors, beganthat struggle which was to result in the formation of theKingdom of Portugal and the Portuguese race.

Th e wars w h ic h fol low ed the b rea kin g up of theMoorish Empire in the peninsula at the be ginn ing ofthe eleventh cen tury, forced the inhabitants to give upthei r hithe rto tr anq ui l existence and to take an activepart in th em ; and this co nt ribu ted to the developmentof the spi rit w h i c h breeds heroes an d war riors , a n dwhich, later on, was to find its outlet in the East

Portugal of the present day was established in 1095A , D . whe n Affonso V I of Leo n gave his daughter,

Theresa, in marriage to CountHen ry of Bur gun dy, w i t h a dow ryof the counties of Op or to a n d

Co im br a and the titl e, Count of Por tuga l. Af terCo un t Henry's death, his wi do w , Theresa encouragedher subjects to regard themselves as Portuguese andnot as Galicians, thus fostering a sp ir it of nationa l i ndependence. Her sou, Affonso Henriques, was thefirst king to conquer the Moors . In 1140 he took th eti tl e of K i n g w i t h the tacit consent of Pope Inno cen t IIw h o , im bu ed w i t h the crusading spiri t , wis hed to re

w a r d h i m . Th is was later ratif ied by Alexander I I I a ndthe succession secured to Affonso Henriques' heirs.It was not on ly the vic tori ous struggle w i t h the Moo rsb u t it was also the conflic t of one Chr istian k i n g w i t hanother— Affonso Henr ique s w i t h his cousin Affonso

Th e form ation ofPor tugal , 1128-1279.


29/330


30/330

6 I N D IA I N P O R T U G U E S E L I T E R AT U R E

peoples of Eu rope an d to wid en the ir domin ions, sonecessary for the expansion of the people, that th e

idea of a co un try was bor n . T h e succeeding kings ofPo rtu ga l c ont inu ed to war against the Moors, d ri v i n gth em further and further south t i l l Affonso I I I wasem in en tl y successful in his conquest of the Algarves.In 1263, he became the sovereign of that coveted t e r r it o r y and for the first time the k i n g of Por tugal usedth e ti tl e of " Re i de Po rtu ga l e dos Algarves " ( Kingof Portu ga l an d the Algarves ). The co un try was nowde term ined geographically and the separation from thePeninsular Government settled.

None of the systems of government, def ini tely kn o w na n d practised to-day in the cu lt ur ed w o rl d , prevailed

in Po rt ug al Th e governmentwas a hereditary monarchy,but it was neither absolute nor

l im i t ed . It had a m ix ed character, w i t h diverse powerful elements, as was the case with many other countriesin Euro pe. It was mo re or less theocratic, because a llth e powers were, w i t h i n certain li mit s, subjugated by thena tional clergy an d by the great a utho ri ty of the Pope.It also showed some aristocratic tendencies, because thenobles an d the mil it ar y orders d iv id ed between th emth e greater part of the k in gdom. Democracy was,however, beg inn ing to be popular th ro ug h the i m p o rt 'ance that, day by day, the municipalities acquired, andth ro ug h the gro win g power of the "C o rt es " w h ic hsoon ob tained notable preponderance. The system wasmon ar ch ic al and hereditary , because, ever since thet i m e of Co un t Henr iq ue , the roy al power was transmitted by inheritance to one individual alone, whom allrecognized as the supreme, administrative, judicial,po lit ica l and mi li ta ry head.

In the re ign of D o m D in iz , the power of then o b i l i ty was he ld in check, and reforms were in tr oduced in the adm inistrativ e Courts of Justice. Officers,


31/330


called " corregedores" (1), were appointed in everytown and city where there were Crown lands, and these

cons ti tu ted the judges of appeal, bo th of the di st rict asw e l l as of the ci ty courts. D o m Din iz also carried o u treforms in the military orders of the country, andleft to future generations another means for theaccomplishment of the great deeds of Portugal (2 ) .

Th e country was now di vi de d in to five largeprovinces : Alemtejo, Algarve, Estremadura, Beira, EntreDou ro e Min ho and Traz-os-Montes, divisions w h ic hsatisfied the adminis tra tive necessities of the k ing dom .The principal cities were Evora, Lisbon, CoimbrarGuimaraes and Braganca. D o m Din iz fo llowe d theadministrative po lic y of his father, pr om ot ing in everyway the internal progress of the nation.

To put do wn robbers and highwaymen, he po pulated lonely districts an d brought the m under agri

cu ltu ra l cult ivat ion. He bu il t new towns and beau tifiedthe o ld ones. He scattered al l over the k in gd om ,chapels, convents and churches, inst itut ions prom ptednot only by the religious feeling of the time, but also bythe thought that a ch ur ch w o u ld be the beg inning of avillage in a lonely place. Civi lizat ion progressed andhe inst itut ed the most efficacious means of hastening itby the development of labour in all its manifestations—

agriculture, commerce and industry—, and above all byra ising to a hi gh standard the adminis tra tive and socialstatus of proper ty and people. Hi s great reform wasestablished by the laws of


32/330

& I N D I A I N P O RT U G U E S E L I T E R A T U R E

k in g d o m ; moreover, by the repression of ext or tio n an drobbery which the rich privileged classes exercised over

the poor, Dotn Diniz hastened the great evolution whichwas taking place in the Portuguese people.It was then that the production of wine, vegetables

an d fr u it was d evelo pe d; an d so abun dan t was thepro duc e of cereals that it was possible even to expo rtth em . At the same tim e, the m i n i n g ind ust ry expandedan d , besides the mines of ir o n, m er cu ry an d g o ld already k n ow n, man y others of silver, lead, copper, an dsu lph ur were opened. T h e p ri n ci p al branches ofmining, industry and commerce were in the hands of theJews an d M oo rs, of w h o m there was a large nu mbe r inthe co un try . D o m D in iz sent to Genoa for someoneto ins tru ct his people in the art of sh ip b u il d in g ( 1 ) ,th e taste for me rcan tile pursuits an d ma ri ti m e exp loi tshav in g been awaken ed in th e people by the voyages of

Marco Polo, the Genoese, between 1253 and 1295.His to ry recogn ized an d gave to th is k i n g of the firstdynasty, the t i t le of " Rei Lavrador e Pae da Patria"(The Peasant King and Father of the Country).

D u r i n g D o m D in iz ' rei gn, a great impetus wasgi ven to the dev elopm ent o f educatio n. In the early

days of the mo narch y, edu cat ion

was confined principally to the ecclesiastical orders and even amongth em , ma ny cou ld no t w ri te . In the othe r classes ofsociety, it was rare to find the least me ntal cu l tu re .Tho se wh o were educated were foreigners or those wh ohad been educated in Italian or French schools.

T her e were, however, some schools in Po rtug alwh ere one co ul d obtain instru ct ion in L at in , Theo logy,

(1 )—P. Chagas' "HistoSria de Portugal", Vol . I , Chap. X X I I ,page 150.

The development ofeducation in Portugal.


33/330


Canon ica l Law s an d Scholastic Philo sophy. In th ispe riod classes were started in the m et ropo lit an church

fo r the in st ru ct ion of the clergy. D. Domingo s Jardo,Chan cellor of D o m D in iz , found ed the school of St,Pau lo in Lis bon in 1291. T h is example was afterwardsfo llo wed in other cathedrals an d monasteries, an d smal llib rar ies and pu bli c places of study were also opened .T hu s , li tt le by li tt le , the taste for science an d lettersbegan to be developed, and doctors, jur ists an d poetsappeared. Th e rei gn of D o m D in iz was a br il li an tpe ri od of intelle ctual wo rk , w h i c h d i d great honour tothe Portuguese-

As Portugal was connected w i t h France th ro ug hIh e m ed iu m of education, w i t h It al y on account of itsmarine service and its pontific al importance, w i t h E n gla nd th ro ug h commerce, and all these countries ha dun ive r s it ie s o f t he i r o w n , D o m D in iz was f i l l e d w i t hth e desire of hav ing a uni ve rsi ty in his coun try , and,acco rding ly, he founde d the U niv ers ity of Lis bo n,w hic h was afterwards remo ved to Co imbra, where it isstill a centre of literary influence of no small importance,It was the first, an d for a lo ng time, the on ly establishmen t for higher secular education in Portuga l, and ,not wit hst and in g its defects, it is the greatest legacy, themost lasting and beneficial monument which Dom

Diniz left to posterity.T he mediaeval pe ri od of Portuguese lite raturebelongs to wh at is k now n as " Escola dos Trova do-

res" (School of the Troubadours).One may say that Portugueseliter ature was bo rn in Provence'

The re we find the or ig in of the firs t poetical pro ductions w h i c h reveal the soul of the people. Pr ovencal poetry left a stamp on Portuguese literaturew h i c h w i l l never be effaced. It was transplanted fr omProvence thr ou gh the alliance of D o m Affonso H e n r i -ques w i t h a daughter of the Co un t of Savoy, an d it is

2

Liter atu re of earlyPortugal.


34/330

1 0 I N D IA I N P O R T U G U E S E L I T E R A T U R E

supposed that she br ou gh t w i t h her the taste for th epoetry of the troubadours . T h e characteristics offtiis Sch ool was the spacious li ber ty of th ou gh t of th efeudal times. G lo ry , independence an d love were thethemes of th ei r songs as the troubadours passed fr omcastle to castle, spreading the do ct rine of love, equa li tyan d fraternity . T h i s poetry was developed by D o m Diniz,,w ho bro ught his " Courts of L o v e " and the poets fr omProvence to give insp ira tio n to Portuguese verse ; an dth is love poetry, so fu l l of rom an tic sentiment, strucka responsive c hord in the hearts of his cour tie rs andpeople. Hi m se lf a poet of no mean me ri t an d thegreatest of his cour t, he spared no pains to em be ll ishthe litera ture w i t h beau tiful verses w h i c h are st il l readan d appreciated. H i s cou rt became the centre of anintense lite rary life, poets co min g f ro m Galici a, Le onand Castile, to bask in th e sunshine of his patronage.

Through his encouragement of education and literature,he brou gh t such influence to bear on the tongue that heraised it from a mere dialec t to a most bea uti ful an dexpressive language. He is r ig h t ly regarded as themaker of the Portuguese language and the fou nder ofPortuguese literature.

At the same ti me, prose was also not neg lected an da nu mbe r of tales and legends, histories and chron iclesappeared, amongst which the most famous is the "Livrosdas Linh agens" (Books of Descent or Pedig ree), be in gaccounts of aristocratic families and their doings, whichfo rm inte resting read ing and constitute a precious doc ument for the study of the ethnology and philologyof the Portuguese in their early stages.

Th e inv ent ion of p ri n ti n g in 1456 bro ugh t hi the rto

expensive books w i t h i n the reach of the ma n y ; th isgreatly stim ula ted educ ation and thus the numb er ofauthors increased. To this per iod belongs the poetGarcia de Resende, 1470-1536, w ho organized th e"Cancioneiro" and wrote his Miscellany, which touched


35/330


on a ll the subjects of his t im e, in cl ud in g the inv en tionof p r in ti n g to w h ic h he refers in the fo llo win g lines :—

E v im os em nossos diasA letra de forma achada,Com que a cada passadaCrescem tantas livrarias,E a sciencia e augmentada.Tern Al le man ha louvorPor d'ella ser o auctorD'aquella cousa tao dina ;Outeos affirmam na ChinaO primeiro inventador.

( A n d in our t i m e p r i n t i n g was discovered, w h i c h step by stepcaused so m a n y lib rar ies to gr ow an d science to increase. G er ma nyhas the credit of being the author of such a worthy thing'Others aff irm that the first in ve nt or belonged to Ch ina ).

Condestavel D. Pedro, 1429-1466, another exponent of the same school , is know n by his " Satyra defelice e infelice vida " (Satire on Ha pp y and Unh ap pyL if e ) an d " Tragedia de la insigne Reyna Do na Isabel"(Tragedy of the Great Queen Do na Isabel). Prose wr iter sinclude Dom Joao I, 1365-1433, who was the author of" L iv r o da M ontan a (Book about Hu n t in g on Horse

back ), rec en tly publ ish ed by the great PortugueseOrientalist, M. Esteves Pereira, for the Lisbon Academyof Sciences ; the Infante Dom Pedro, Duke of Coimbra,1392-1449, celebrated for his book on Moral Philosophyen tit led " Da Vi rtuosa Be mf eito ria ' ' , in six volumes ;Fe rnao Lopes, 1380-1450, who was the first great Por tuguese histor ian ; Gomes Eanes de Azura ra , ?-1474,w h o succeeded Fernao Lopes as Ch ief Ch ron icle r of

the Portuguese K in g d o m , an d Li br ar ia n of the " To rr edoTombo"; Ruy de Pina, 1440-1521, who was thesuccessor of Vasco Fernandes de Lucena , besides manyother biographers and religious writers.

Amon gs t these authors, we do not fi nd any w h o


36/330

1 2 I N D IA I N P O RT U G U E S E L I T E R A T U R E

have m entioned anything about I nd ia . It is true (')that ideas about In d ia existed in the form of legends,tales an d wonderfu l stories wh ich cou ld be found intranslations from Greek authors, the Greeks havingbeen from the tim e of Alexander in contact wit h I nd ia ,and hav ing invented stories about the country in theirown mythology even before that time ; but in the literature of Portugal of this period, there is no trace of suchinfluence.

It was in the beginning of the 15th. century that them in d of the people of Portuga l grasped the idea of

widening their dom inions an d expanding their nation, though thepopulation of Portugal at the tim e

was mere ly a m illion and a half. After the battle ofAlju ba rro ta, 1385, the spectre of Spanish dom inationwas dispelled and national independence established.

In the spirit of the Portuguese people, essentiallyCa tholic, was impressed not only the hereditary gratitude for the help wh ich the Crusaders had given, b u talso the hatred which the Christian peoples of Eu ro pefel t for the Saracens, who , wh en established in th ePeninsu la, had invaded France an d whose advance waschecked by the battle of Poitiers (Tours) in 732 A. D.

As the Portuguese were confined to a strip of lan dbetween hostile Spain and the allur ing Atlan tic Ocean,their attention was naturally directed' towards the latter.To inspire their adventurous spirit, legends of theancient geographers idealised by the Breton imagination,were not wanting. Th ey had created the " M a rTenebroso", the Gloomy Sea, with green isles where were

(1)—Cf. H. 6. Rawlinson's " Intercourse between India andthe Western World", Professor Pissurlencar's "A Antiga Indiae o Mnndo Externo ", and G. de Vasconcellos-Abreu's " Smnmariodas Investigates em Sanscritologia desde 1886 ate 1891."

PortugueseDiscoveries.


37/330

INTRODUCTION 13

cities with resplendent walls. ( ' ) The Arab traditionwas not so glowing. It represented the Gloomy Sea as

a vast stretch full of fogs, where there was no inhabitedcountry and where the sailors would get lost withoutrecall, for the sea was bounded only by the sea. ( ' )

Besides these influences there was the ambition forthe commerce with the Orient which had been awakened in Europe and especially in the Peninsula, by theintermediary of the Crusades and by the contact established by Arab rule in Spain during the Middle Ages.

The first dream of the Portuguese was the conquestof the flourishing Muslim Empire developed in theNorth of Africa. The expedition, though successful in th econquest of Ceuta, 1414, terminated in a disaster atTangiers, where D om Fernando remained a prisoner andended his life rather than yield to the Moors on thefield of battle. It was the martyrdom of their Princethat gave birth to the dreams of D om Sebastiao somehundred and fifty years later.

The first voyages of exploration under the guidanceof the School of Sagres began in 1412, though maritimeexpeditions had already been sent out from Portugal in1341, and even as early as 1336 the discovery had beenmade of the Canary Islands which by the treaty of 1480,were given to Spain.

Two Portuguese travellers, ( 8 ) who, followingthe path of the caravans, had set out to seek the kingdomo£ Prester John (4 ) had not, t il l then, shown any sign

(1) — C f. O liveira Martins' "H istor ia d e Portugal", Vol . I ,page 164.

(2 )— C f. Oliveira Martina' "Historia d e Portugal", Vo l. I,

page 165.(3 )—Pero da Covilhan and Antonio da Paiva.(4)—From very early times the popular imagination had

been captivated by the legendary tales of a Christian kingdomin the East. The stories of the kingdom of Prester John hadexcited on al l sides the curiosity of the Christians in Europe, no t


38/330

14 INDIA IN POR TUG UESE LITERA TUR E

of their return. So the Portuguese launched outdecisively by way of the sea. The School of Sagresprepared cosmographers and pilots; information wastaken from the sailors feeling their way across theseas in different directions and therefore, in the th i rd

o n l y on account of re lig ious affin ities, b ut also because it was saidth a t th e do min io ns of th is Pr in ce we re " Paraizos, carregados deou ro e encantos " ( Paradises lade n w i t h gol d and charms ). Th e

lege nd of Prester Joh n was so widesp read in Eu ro pe tha t th ePapal Legate of the Church in Armenia talked to the PopeEugene I I I , about this Prince whose dom inion s were beyo ndA rm en ia and Persia, saying that he was a wa rr io r and a conqu ero r and tha t he u n it e d his secular po we r w i t h his sacerdotalsway, being Pope of the extreme Orient.

As this legend, w h i c h had tak en such a ho ld on the imag inat i o n of the Portuguese people, ma y be considered as the im m ediate factor of influence in the discovery of India—it 'was actually

one o f th e exp lore rs sent by Joao II in search o f Prester Jo h n sdo mi nio ns, w h o ar ri ve d at Cal icut and was thu s the first one toset foot on the soil of In d ia — it w o u l d no t be out of place hereto d w el l a l i t t le o n this legend w h ic h cont r ibu ted so mu ch towards opening for Europe the gates of the Orient.

Bef ore th e voyage of Pero da Cov il ha n, the name of PresterJohn, or Presbyter John, as he was accustomed to be called, represented a k i n g , in ta ng ib le and vis ion ary , about whose person andwhose dominions there were the most contradictory and conflict

i n g reports. A l l agreed that he was a Ch ris tia n, bu t according tothe theo ry w h i c h the Bishop of Ar me ni a had promulgated in conversat ion w i t h Pope Eugene I I I , Presbyter Joh n was a Prince ofthe K h it an Dy nast y, w ho had fle d fr o m China in 1125, w he n thatdy nas ty was defeated in China b y the K i n . W i t h a numerousf o ll o w in g , he pushed his wa y to Tur kesta n and found ed a newemp ire of Ka ra- Kh itay , ta ki ng the t i t le of the " Univ ersal K ha n "or G ur K h an . Th e weak point in this the ory was the di ff ic ul ty ofexplaining a Christian name in an Asiatic potentate, but even thisp o i n t was w ai ve d by th e expl ana tion tha t Prester Jo h n had been aBuddhist and had become a Nestorian Christian.

A cc or di ng to the second theo ry, Presbyter Jo hn was Joh n Or-beliano, a General-in- Chief of the Chr istian k in gd om of Georgiaha vi ng almost k i n g l y powers. There was actu ally a person ofth at name w h o om ma nded the armies of Georgia against the Per-'


39/330

INTRODUCTION 15

part of the fifteenth century the Portuguese pilotsrecognised the following points : (')

1. The nearest way to India should be by theAfrican Coast.2. To the west should lie either a great continent

sians an d w ho too k a c it y in A rm en ia f ro m the T ur k s in 1124,th ou gh he belonged to the Greek Chu rc h and no t to the Nestoriansect. B u t it is no t easy to unde rstan d ho w rum ou r convertedh i m in to a sacerdotal k i n g whose do m in io n was in the extre meOrient.

The third theory was based on the description of Marco Polowhose boo k was w id e ly read in Por tug al where it had been translate d about 1500. He described h i m as U an g-Kh an , C hie f of apo we rf ul Mo ng ol tr ib e, all ied to Chengiz K ha n by w h o m he wasbeaten an d k i l l e d in 1203. A Sy ria n wr it er , A b u l Faradj, speaki n g of the same tr ib e said tha t w i t h t he ir k i n g the y had beenconve rted to Nestorianism and he was called Jo hn . T hi s rep ortwas confirmed by the Persian M us li m w ri te r, Baschid-ud -din, w h ostated that the tribe was Christian from the time of Chengiz Khan'Marco Polo affirmed that when he passed through the country ofthe Y e ll o w Rive r, he fou nd a Chri stia n k i n g w ho was a descendantof the great Prester John, though very little remained of the greatness of hi s ancestor. Th us the legend of Prester John c lu ng toUang Khan or King John.

How ever , th ou gh the legendary k i n g had been described asalready dead, ru mo ur was lo th to part w i t h h i m , and his do m inions were no w reputed to be no longer in Ta rt ar y bu t in In di a ;this was again delightfully vague, for no one knew exactly whereI n d i a was. In fact, the general acceptation was t ha t there werethre e div isio ns of In di a, ( ) and Prester John became spokenof as "Prester Jo hn, Emp eror of al l the In d ie s ." By 1440,Prester Jo hn , the Ch ris tia n K i n g , was supposed to be in Et hio piaan d no dou bt that was the Prester J o hn w h o m Pero da Co vil ha nsought and found.

( 1 ) No rt on de Matos' "P r i m e i r o Congresso de MedicinaTr op ic al da A fr ic a Ocidental, Loanda, 1923."—Revista Medica deAn go la , V o l . 1, No . 4, Lisboa, 1924.

(*) Conde de Ficalho's u Yiagens de Pero de Covilhan ", page 26.


40/330

1 6 I N D I A I N P O RT U G U E S E L I T E R A T U R E

or a large group of islands.3. In this last di recti on , the way to In d ia sh ou ld

be impossible, or much longer.

N o w began a series of discoveries : in 1418, PortoSanto an d Madeira ; in 1431, th e Azores ; in 1433, someislands of Cape Verde. In 1434, G i l Eanes passed th eCape of Bojador; in 143s, the G o ld River was discovered;

a n d f r o m 1421 t i l l 1460, the date of the death of th eInfante, exploration wen t on as far as Sierra Leone.

In 1471, the Portuguese took Arzila and Tangiers'The Portuguese fleets, masters of the Straits of Gibraltar,could then go without hindrance to continue theirdiscoveries. Thu s in 1471 the Eq ua to r was crossed an dth ey discovered the Isles of S. Th om e, A n n o B o m an dPr in cip e. In 1482, Di og o de Azambuja fou nded in Gu ine,the Castle of S. Jorge de M ina, in ord er to defend thePortuguese commercial interests. Between 1482 and 1483Dio go Cao discovered the r iv er Zai re ; in 1485, hearrived at Serra Parda and Cross Point—210 . 48' South.In 1498, Bartholomew Dias doubled Cabo das Tormentas( Stormy Cape ), w h i c h name was changed to Cabo daBo a Esperanga ( Cape of Go od H o p e ) by D o m Joao I I .

He re ended the f irst Canto of the epic poem ofexpl ora ti on of the Portuguese race whose magn ificentdiscoveries marke d for th em a place of honour in th ehi st or y of the civilisa tion of hum anit y.


41/330

CHAPTER I.

The Class ic Epoch , I498-1580 ( ' )

The accounts of Pedro da Covilhan's discoveries onhis memorable journey, wh ic h he had sent to the K i n g

th ro ug h a Jewish traveller w h o mhe met in Cairo, in ci ted D o mJoao II to action and he im mediately occu pied himself w i t h pre

parations for the expeditio n to In d ia . A far-sighted an dcool-headed k in g w ho never acted on impulse , or fr ompu re ly sentimental feelings, his interest in solving themyste ry su rrou nd ing this myt hi ca l personage, PresterJohn , was not a mere poetic w h i m . He was pr om pt edby pol iti ca l and religious motives w h ic h arose fro m theisolated pos ition of western Christians and the gr ow in gpower of Is lam . Moreover, the desire to r iv a l Venice inher monopoly of the trade in spices and pepper with theLevant, made him feel that a bona-fide Christian ally inthe East w o u ld be of real assistance to h i m . B u t deathcut short his plans.

His successor, D o m Man ue l, fo un d the enterprise

(1) In his " Histe ria da Li te ra tu ra Porfcuguesa ", Mendesdog R e m dios ma kes t he Classic per iod exten d fr o m 1521-1580.B u t in consultation w i t h Sr. J. L ei te d e Vasconeellos, D r . JoseM ari a Rodrigues and other eminen t Portuguese scholars, I haveplaced the Classic epoch fr o m 1498 to 1580, to includ e a ll th ewritings on In d ia fr om the tim e of the discovery of the way toIndia, till the beginning of the Spanish domination'

Discovery of In dia hy the Portuguese.


42/330

1 8 I N D I A I N P O R T U G U E S E L I T E R A T U R E

w e l l begu n and h ad no th in g to do b u t complete th eproject of his predecessor. Af ter exam in ing the w r i t in g s

of Pero da Co vi lhan and lis ten ing to the story ofBar th ol om ew Dias' experiences on the sea, he had th evessels construc ted and he chose Vasco da Gama to le adth is new attempt at the discovery of the sea route toIndia.

A m id st profoun d emotion, so eloquently describedby Joao de Barros ( ' ) , on the part of the onlookers whowere stirred to the depths at the thought of the dangersthese brave men were about to confront to satisfy kinglyam bi tio n, the expedi tion set sail fro m Port uga l on th e8 th . Ju ly 1497. It consisted of the ship " S. Gab ri el "120 tons, in w h i c h were the A d m i r a l Vasco da Gama ,and the pilot, Pero de Alemquer ; the ship "S. Raphael",100 tons, co mman de d by Paulo da Gama, ha ving aspi lo t, Joao de Co im bra ; an d the " Berrio " ( 2 ), whose

captain was Ni ch o la u Coelho , and pi lo t, Pedro deEscobar, besides a transport ship w i t h reserves w h i c hsai led un der Gongalo Nunes, th e servant of Vasco daGama.

Af ter a voyage f u l l of perilous inciden ts, an acco untof which has been left us in the " Roteiro de Viajem deVasco da Gama M C C C C X C V I I " (Log-book o f the

( i ) Joao de Barros' Decada I, Book I V , Chap. I I , pp .278-279. cf.—Castanheda's " His toria da India ," Book I, Chap.I I , p. 7.

(1 ) ( a ) " Os Navios de Vasco da Gama " by Joao Braz d'Oli-veira—Tenente de Armada—Typographia da Academia da'Sciencias, 1892, Lisboa, Bibliotheca Nacional, page 6.

( b ) Joao de Barros1 Decada I, Book I V , Chap. I I . fo L

62 states that the ship under Nicholau Coelho was the ' Berrio "-But there is a difference of op inion, for the " Registo dos Reis",Colleccao Pombalina ", fo l . 121, No. 265, about " As armadas queforam a India desde o seu descobrimento que foi no anno de1497" contains the information that the ship under Nicholau.Coelho of the first expedition was the " San Miguel".


43/330

THE CLASSIC EPOCH 19

Voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497), wri tt en by Alva rovelho, one of the sailors, Vasco da Gama and his men

ar r iv ed at Mel inde , on the east coast of Afr ica, andreceive d from the K in g of that place a pi lo t ( 1 ) whoaccompan ied them to Ca licut where they ar riv ed on the20th. May 1498 (2 ) after a journey of ten months andeleven days, to In di a, the la nd of golden dreams, thel a n d of we alth and spices. He re thei r astonishmentreached its height when they found people worshippingth e image of a goddess, the V i rg in M ar y as they wro ng lythoug ht. Th is confusion, com bined w i th their ignoranceof the language, gave rise to many comical scenes." Here they took us" ( 3 ) , writes Alva ro Ve lho in his

( l ) Th e pi lo t was called A h m e d i b n M aj id w ho was senton the 22n d. of A p r i l . ( Pi nh eir o Chagas, His tor ia de Por tug al,Vo l . I l l , p. 226).

V id e the article of P. Pissmiencar ent it l ed " Pil oto In di an ode Vasco da Gama " in the "H er al do " de No va Goa, 9 th . Janu ary ,1925.

( 2 ) On the que stion of the date ther e are diverse op ini on s.Oli ve ir a M ar tin s, in his " His to ri a de Po rtu gal ", gives the dateas 19th. of May ; Pinheiro Chagas says it was on the 17th. of May ;Morse Stephens in ' ' P o r t u g a l " and M . J. Gab riel de Saldanhain hi s " HistrSria de Goa ", 1925, give the date as 20 th . May 1498.

( 3) " A q u y nos levaram a h a grande Ig rej a em a qu ai l

estavam estas cousas seguintes :Pr im eir am en te ho corpo da Igr eja ha da grand ura du mosteiroto da lavrada de quantaria, telhada de ladr ilh o, e t inh a a porta p r i ncipal e hu padram darame daltura de h& raasto e em cima deste pa-d r a m esta hua ave que parece gallo e ou tr o pad ram d al tu ra de huhom em e m u j to groso. E em o meo do corpo da Ig re ja esta hu&Corucheo todo de quanto e ti nh a hQa porta quanto h u u ho me mcab ia, e hua eseada de pedra pe rqu e sob iam ha esta po rta , a qua i lpo rta hera darame, e de nt ro estava huUa ym aj em pequena a qu ai lelles diziam que era nossa Senhora, e diante da porta pi'incipall daIgre ja ao lo ng o da parede estavam sete campaas pequenas. A q u yfez o capitam mor ora am e nos outros com elle, e nos nom emtra-mos de nt ro em esta capella po rqu e seu costume he em no m en tra rne ll a senam homens certos que servem as Igre jas aos quaes ellesch am am quafers. Estes quafers trazem huas linhas per c im a


44/330

20 INDIA IN PORT UGU ESE LITERATURE

" Roteiro ", " to a large church in which thefollowing things were noted : first, the body of the churchwas of the size of a monastery, worked in stone andpaved with tiles, and had at the princ ipa l door a broniemonument of the height of the mast of a ship ( x ), andon top of this monument was a bird ( 2 ) ; which appearedto be a cock and another huge monument of the heightof a man. A nd in the middle of the body of the churchwas a spire all of stone and it had a door in which a mancould enter and a flight of steps leading to this door whichwas of bronze. A nd inside was a small image, whichthey said was of Our Lady, and in front of the principaldoor of the church, along the length of the wall , were

onbro langadas ( e onbro he ho esquerdo) e por debaixo do onbrodo braco direi to asy como trazem os Creligos darangelhos a estolla.Estes nos Iangaram agoa benta; dam hft barro braneo que osXrstaos desta terra acostumam de poor em as testas o nos peitos ederredor do pescoco e em os buchos dos bracos. Toda esta ceri-monia fezeram ao capitam e Ihe davam aquelle barro que posese,e o capitam o tomou e o deu a guardar dando a emtemder quedepois o pomria. E outros mujtos santos estavam penhados pellagparredes da Igreja os quaes tinham diademoas, e a sua pimturahera em diversa maneira porque os dentes eram tarn grandes quesayam da boca hua poiegada, e cada sauto tinha quatro e cinco bra-cos, e abaixo desta Igreja estava hu gram tanque lavrado de quan-taria asy como outros mujtos que pello camjnho tiuhamos visto ."Roteiro da Viajem que Em Descobrimento da India PeloCabo da Boa Esperanga fez Dom Vasco da Gama Em 1497.

Published by Diogo Kopke and Dr. An t6nio da Costa Paiva,Porto, 1838.

(F rom the manuscript which is in the Bibliotheca of Porto,fo rmer ly in the collection of manuscripts belonging to the Monaste ry of Santa Cruz of Coimbra h

(1 ) Apparent ly th is was the Dwaja Stamba of the Hi ndutemples, wh ich is used for cocoanut sacrifices. Sometimes the pi l larhas receptacles for lamps.

(1) The Garuda of Hindu worship. The Garuda is alegendary bird which is supposed to have released Rama fro mmake bondage.


45/330

THE CLASSIC EPOCH 2t

seven small bells. Here the Chief Captain prayed andwe also with him . And we did not enter inside thechapel, because it was their custom that only certainmen should enter who were in the service of the church,and whom they called Quafers (1 ) . These (Quafers)wore some twisted threads over their left shoulder ( ' )and under the shoulder of the right arm, just as thepriests of the Gospel wear the stole. They sprinkled uswith holy water and gave us a white clay (2) which theChristians of this country use to put on their foreheadsand on their chests, around their necks and in thecrevices of their arms. All these ceremonies theyperformed to the Captain, and gave him that clay whichhe took and kept, making them understand that he woulduse it afterwards. And many of the saints were paintedin different ways and their teeth were so great that theyprotruded about an inch from their mouths. And eachsaint had four or five arms, and below the church therewas a large tank made in masonry, just like many otherswhich we had seen on our way,"

After a stay of some months, Vasco da Gama.decided to return ; he arrived on the 29th. August 1499,bringing with him thirteen Indians and one Arab (4 )from Calicut and these were the first Indians to be takento Portugal as the authentic proof that the expeditionhad attained its object.

(1 ) " Quafers " is a corruption of the Arabic word qafirwhich means pagan. Evidently here " qafers " refers to Brahmans.

( 2) The Yajnapavit of the Hindus.( 3 ) The Vibhuti of the Hindus.( 4 ) (a) Besides thirteen Indian prisoners, he took with

him the Arab, Abu Said, who fled to Vasco da Gama'sship,because his co-religionists accused him of being a traitor. (Pinheiro-Chagas, Hister ia de Portugal, Vol. I l l , p . 237) .

(b) " As Chronicas de Dom M anue l", by Damiao deGoes, Vol. I, Ch. 43, Fol. 41, Ed. 1566.


46/330


47/330


the fo ll ow in g inte resting letters, authen tic documentswhose hi stor ical value no one disputes and which t i l l

tod ay have not been publi she d in Engl is h :" Very high, very excellent Princes and Powerful Lords—Your

Highnesses know how we had sent on a voyage of discovery by sea,with four ships, Vasco da Gama, a nobleman of our house, and with

him Paulo da Gama, his brother, who hadset out already more than two years ago ;an d as the principal reason on the par t ofour ancestors for this undertaking wasglory to G od our Lo rd an d benefit to

ourselves, He showed us H is mercy in so guid ing them, accord ingto the message which we have received fro m one of the Captainswho has just now arrived in our city, that they found and discoveredIndia and other Kingdoms and dominions adjoining ; and that theyentered and navigated the In di an Sea, found large thickly populated cities wi th fine buildings and rivers whe re is car ried on al l tha ttraffic in spices and precious stones wh ich ships, in great num berand of great size which were seen and met by the said discoverers,carr y to Mecca and thence to Ca iro, whence it is spread al l overthe world. Th ey have now brought a quan tity of those spices,such asf cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, and other kindsof spices and even the woods and leaves of the same, and veryfine precious stones of different kinds, as for instance, rubies an dothers. T h ey even found lan d where there are go ld mines ofwhose products and of the said spices and precious stones, theyd id not car ry away as much as they could have, becausethey had not taken ( wit h them ) merchandise (enou gh to buymore ). And because we know that yonr Highnesses are

bound to receive grea t pleasure and satisfaction from this, wethought it good to give you news of this' Y ou r Highnesses may

augmented by the fantasy of the sailors an d by recounting th enews fro m m ou th to mou th , must have caused in the hearts of thepeop le. T h e first chron iclers and historiographers relate this fact.

P ro m th at atmosphere, w hi ch the nation breathed, were toissue forth the imposing figures of the first captains of India, menof the tem perament of Pacheco, of D o m Francisco de Al m eid a, orof Albuqu erque." (a)

( a ) Hist, da Colonisacao do Braxil by Jaime Gortezao, p. 12.

Kin g Dom M anuel'sfetter to the Klagof Castile.


48/330


49/330


" Most Reverend Father in Christ, whom we love as a brother'W e , Dona Man uel by the Grace of God , Ki ng of Portuga l and ofthe Aigarves, of both sides of the African sea, Lord of Guine and of

the Conquest, Nav igation and Com merceof Eth iopia , Ara bia, Persia and In di a,send to give to Your Most Reverend Paternity great news... Our L o rd giving us thecomp letion of our work regard ing the

investigation of Eth iop ia and In di a, other lands and the 'Or ienta lIslands.••with pleasure we inform you,... and in order that you mayknow the process of this case about wh ich we writ e to the H o lyFather, we send you in this the draft of his letter, besides what we

wri te to H is Holiness. Y ou r Most Reveren d Paternity wi ll kno wtha t those persons, who have just now retu rned from the saidinvestigation and discoveries, have been, among other ports of

delles mesmos, e muita pedraria fina de todas sortes, a saber, Robyse outras ; e aind a acharao ter ra em que ha minas d'ouro, do qu ale da dita especiaria e pedra ria nao trou xer am logo tan ta soma como

poderam, por nao leva rem mercadoria. E por que sabemos queVossas Altesas disto ham de receber grande praser e contentamento,ouvemos por bem dar lhe disso notefica ao ; E cream Vossas Al tesas, que segundo o que por estes sabemos que se pode fazer, quonam ha hy duvida que, segundo a disposicao da gente ehristaam queacham, posto que tao confirmada na fee nao seja nem della tenhamtarn in te iro conhecimen to, se nam sigua e faga m uito servi§o deDeos em serem convertidos inteiramente confirmados em sua santafee, com grande eixalgam ento de lla ; e depois de serem assimconfirmados, ser azo da destroygao dos mouros daquellas partes ;al em de esperarmos em Nosso Senhor, que o trau to pr inc ipa l, deque toda a mourama daquellas partes se aproveitava e que por suaemaos se fazia, sem outras pessoas nem linhageens nisso entenderem,por nossas ordenan as com os naturaes e navios de nossos Reynos86 m udar todo, para daqu y se largam ente poder prover toda achristandade desta parte da Europa das ditas especiarias e pedrarias,que sera, com ajuda delle mesmo Deos que assy por sua merce hohordena, mais causa de nossas ten oens e propositos com mais fervorse exercitarem por sen servigo na gue rr a dos mouros de nossas

conquistas destas partes, para que Vossas Altesas tern tan to propos i t i e nos tanta devocam. M u y to altos, m uit o excellentes Principesy muito poderosos Senhores, Nosso Senhor Deos haja sempre vossaspessoas e Reales Estados em sua santa guarda . Escrita em Lisb oa 'de julho 1499."

4

King Dom Manuel'slet ter to the Car dinalProtector'


50/330

26 INDIA IN POR TUG UESE LITERATURE

I n d ia in a ci ty called Quolic ut ( Ca li cu t) fro m where they brou ghtus cinn amo n, cloves, & c. & c . . . T h e K i n g considers himself Chr istia nas w e l l as the greater par t of the peo ple ... One finds there al l theyear ro un d cucumbers, oranges, lemons and ci tr on s.. . . . .T he re aregreat flee ts T he island of Taprobana, w h ic h they call Ceilam(Ceylo n), is 150 leagues fr om Quol icut . Our me n br ou gh t five orsix In dian s fr om Quolicut,. . . ,besides a M oo r fr om Tu ni s.. . ,a nd a Jewcon ver ted to Ch rist ian ity, a merchan t an d lapi dary , very learnedin th e kno wled ge of lands of th e coast fro m Al exa nd ri a to tha t side,an d of the lands of Ind ia , towar ds the int eri or, an d Ta rt ar y up toth e Greater Sea .... .W e, as soon as we h ea rd th is news, at once gaveorde rs for gene ral processions to be made in al l our kin gdom s,g iv in g many thanks to Our L o r d ; and Hi s Holiness and Y ou rReverence must show pu bl ic ly no t less jo y and give great praisesto G o d ' Besides, alth oug h we ho ld very ampl y by apostolicdonations the lor ds hip and do mi ni on of al l we have fou nd so tha ti t appears l i t t l e necessary, yet, because i t w i l l please us muchwe ask y ou affectionately that , after h av in g p laced our letter sbefore the H o l y Fathe r and the College (of Cardinals ), yo u w i l lbe pleased speaking of th is as co min g fr om yourself, at least as aproof of some fresh satisfaction for us, in something so new and of

such great and novel merit, to obtain from His Holiness a renewedap prov al an d gr an t thereof, in the fo rm w h i c h seems best to Y ou rM os t Reverend Patern ity, wh o m may Our L o r d keep as yo u desire.

W r i t t e n in Lis bon , the 28th, August 1499. ( ' )

i1) Cop y of the letter w r i t t e n to the Card inal Protector :" Reverendissimo em X p to . Padre que como ir ma o m u i to

amamos. Nos, D. Ma nue l per graca de Deus Rei de Po rtu ga l e dosAlgarves daquem e d'alem mar em Africa e Senhor de Guine e daConq uista, da navega ao e com mer cio da Et hi op ia , Ara bia , Persia eda India, nos enviamos encommendar a V. Rma. P...da mui grandeno va dan do nosso Senhor fim ao nosso tra ba lho aoerca dainvestiga ao da Ethiopia e India, terras outras, e Ilhas Orientaes;.. .com praser vo l lo noteficamos. ..e para saberdes o processo destecaso pelo que egcrevemos ao Santo Padre vos enviamos den tro nelaa m in u t a de sua c art a... alem do que a S. Santidade escrevemos,

gaberi V. Rma- P. que estes que ora tornaram da dita investigacame descobrimen to entre outros portos da I n d i a estiveram em um andade chamada Quolicut donde nos trouzerao canela, cravo

( & c . &c . ) O re i se te m por christao e a ma io r parte do seupovo ... ha 14 po r tod o o anno pipi no s, laranjas, lim oes e cidras ...ha grandes frotas, . . .A ilha Taprobana, a qual Ia se chama Ce ila m,


51/330


52/330

2 8 I N D IA I N P O R T U G U E S E L I T E R AT U R E

Indians with the magnificence of this second expedition,in orde r to obt ain the greatest prestige possible in th eseas of In di a. C abral left L i sbon w i t h the avowedpurpose of going to India, but by chance or intention, (l)he went furthe r west and reached in 1500 a place calledVera C ruz, w h ic h is to-day in the rep ub lic of B raz il.

A t h i r d flee t of four ships fo llowed in 1501, underJoao da Nova, and a fo ur th , cons isting of tw en ty ships,sailed in 1502 w i t h Vasco da Gama as A d m i ra l . T h efif th ( ' ) squadron left P ortugal in 1503 unde r A ffonsod'A lbu qu erq ue and Duarte Pacheco. Affonso d 'A lb u -querque conceived the magnificent plan of an ori en talPortuguese empire. He extended the dominions in Indiaan d in other parts of A sia . H e took Goa in 1510, thussecuring Malabar ; his conquest of Ormuz gave him thekey to Persia and C en tra l A sia, whil e the possession ofMalacca secured for h i m the commerce w i t h the E xtreme O rient , and thus he founded the L usitanian E mpire i n India . ( ' )

I ' 1 1505, D o m Ma nu el nom inated D o m Franciscod f A lme ida , a valiant admi ral w i t h exceptional ab il it y as astatesman, to be the first Viceroy of India ; and the firsttr ad ing station was established in the factory at C oc hi n,The factories of Cannanore, Quilon and Angediva (4)

( 1 ) Manoel Xavier in his " Compendio Universal de todosViso Reis, Governadores, Capitaes e Geraes ", p. 4, says that Cabralwent to Brazil "fogindo de Guine " (running away from Guine )probably owing to the weather.

( ' ) " Breve tratado ou Epilogo de todos os visoreis que ternhavido no Estado da India, successos que tiuerao no tempo de seusgovernor, armados de naus, etc. 1?

Barreto de Rezende, Sec. do Conde de Linhares, 1635.

( ' ) Portugal nos Mares ", Oliveira Martins, Appendix B.page 66.(4 ) The island of Angediva is situated to the south of Goa

in Latitude N. , 14' 58' and Longitude east of Greenwich 74° 49"It is mentioned in the " Roteiro da primeira viajem de Vasco daGama a India ", of Alvaro Velho,


53/330

T H E C L A S S I C E P O C H 29

were founded du ri ng the rule of D o m Francisco de A lmeida. D abu l was taken by h i m in revenge for the

death of his son. H e also took D i u after a blo od ybattle.The navigation and conquests of the Portuguese in

the East increased the nu mber of mar it im e discoveriesday by day. In 1506, Joao H o m e mfo und the islands of Mar ia da Garcia,S. Jorge and S. Joao, off the coast of

S outh A fri ca . In the same year, T rista o da C unha fo un dthe islands of his o w n name an d R u y Pereira C ou tin hoto uc he d the island of Madagascar. In 1507, L ou renc ode Almeida reached the Maldive Islands ; the next year,T rista o da C unha fo und the island of A scen ao, not to beconfused w i t h the one (l) discovered in 1501 by Joaode N ova near the coast of B ra zi l. D io go Lopes deSequeira occupie d Malacca in 1509, an d ex plo red theis land of Sumatra ; three years later, Francisco Serraodiscovered the Moluccas ; in 1512 or 1513, the islandof B ou rb on or Reun ion , east of Mogam bique, wasclaimed for the Portuguese c ro wn by Pedro de Masca-renhas. In 1515-1518, du ri ng the governm ent of L opoSoares de Albergaria, Fernao Peres de Andradecon struc ted a fortress in Pacem, we nt to C oc hi n-C hinaan d C anton , made peace w i t h the Ma ndarin s an d

established relations between P ortu ga l an d C hina. In1520, Fernao de Magalhaes, a Portuguese sailor in theSpanish service, passed th ro ugh the Straits of Magalhaes

( ' ) Goes ( " Chronica de Dom Manuel", 1 p. C. 63 i, p- 84 )writes: "Na qual viagem (deLisboa a Mozambique; 5 Marco

1501 e Agosto ), sendo ja da banda do sol acharam uma ilha a quepozeram nome Conceif ao. E Ascensao."( I n that journey from Lisbon to Mozambique, 5th. March

1501 to August, being already on the south side, they found anisland to which they gave the name of Conception. It is Ascen-sion).

Discoveries.


54/330


55/330


to w h o m the fo llo wi ng lines of Camoes co uld be w e llapplied :

" O bom religioso verdadeiro,Gloria vi nSo pretende, nem dinheiro."(The good and true monk desires neither vain

glory nor wealth).

H a v in g laboured as a missionary from I n d ia toJapan, he sleeps to-day in the Convent of Bom Jesus in

O l d Goa, where his bo dy is venerated by thousands ofOrientals, both Catholics and non-Christians.T he engrossing desire of the first discoverers and

conquerors was to expand the tem poral an d spir itu alconfines of the kingdom of Portugal and to unite the Eastan d W es t w i t h ties of affection. T he captains an dviceroys followed in the footsteps of the great Affonso deA lb uq ue rq ue , who used to address as u daughters " theH i n d u and M us li m wom en of Goa w h o m he convertedand married to his soldiers and sailors.

The mercantile monopoly remained in the hands ofthe Portuguese t i l l 1595, before which time there wereno E uropean competitors. T he ir com mercia l programmeobl ig ed the crea tion of factories along the coasts unde rthe ju ri sd ic ti on of the respective captains and governors.

T he colonial institu tions inve nted by the Portugueseand reproduce d by the nations w h ic h followed the m inthe East, were the means of the colonizat ion of theA siatic Islands, A frica and Br az il .

T h e influence w h ic h the Portuguese had in In di a,resulted from several causes: viz, their direct governmentover the people ; thei r comm erc ial intercourse w i t h the

different races ; the po li ti ca l influence w h ic h theyexercised in their relations with the various Indianpotentates ; the nearness of the Portuguese possessionsto the I nd ia n States, and the re ligious propaganda w h i c hthey carried out.


56/330

3 2 IN D I A I N P O RT U G U E S E L I T E R AT U R E

The colossal fortresses which were scattered all overthe East, massive monuments of Portuguese glory, and

the Portuguese surnames which may be heard in allparts of India , testify eloquently to Portugal's meteoricpassage, which, although ephemeral in various parts,exercised powerful influence and left lasting traces onthe whole of India.

As it is not within the scope of this work to treat ofPortuguese history at length, for that would requireseveral volumes, it is enough to say that the dominion ofthe Portuguese in the East was of short duration. H e rimperial sway was never firmly established. To quoteOliveira Martins : " It was an epic adventure/ ' Evenas early as the reign of Pedro I I , 1683-1706, thePortuguese standard was no longer waving on the borders

oi the H ugh, or in the city of Bombay, (') on the coastof Coromandel, or in Ceylon, Malacca and Ormuz. Of the

immense empire that was founded, as if by enchantment,by the strong arm of the terrible Albuquerque and theable Castro, now only a few fragments remain.

Th e reigns of Do m Joao I I I , 1521-1557, Do mSebastiao, 1557-1578, and Dom Henrique, 1578-1580,

correspond to the period of thefull development of the ClassicEpoch or the Ital ian School. Th isepoch is the most bri lliant in

Portuguese literary history.The fall of Constantinople had caused the exodus

of the Greek scholars of that place into Italy, where theycarried the treasures of their learning' The invention ofgunpowder which changed the politics of the European

( l ) See '' Tratados e concertos de Pazes ", by J. Biker, pages18 to 95.

See also I. Gracias, " Notes " to Saldanha's "Historia de Goa"about this subject.

The literary movement in Portugal during the Classic Epoch.


57/330

T H E C L A S S I C E P O C H 3 3

nations, the art of print ing which cheapened andincreased the circulation of books, the accumulation ofwealth owing to the discoveries of the East, all combinedto produce the Revival of Learning which spread toPortugal through the medium of Spain which set theexample, and also to Italy, with which country thePortuguese people had already much literary intercourse.From the classic lands of Italy came educationists aswell as religious teachers, and besides the clericalschool a secular one was established. It was for Portugalthe golden age of learning.

As we have previously noted, in Portugueseliterature, we find that the early writers did not dealwith subjects relating to India, but, after the discoveryof the way to India by sea and the establishment ofPortuguese rule in the East, familiarity with the East,especially India, produced a number of brilliant writers,both in poetry and prose, wh o show intimate andenthusiastic knowledge of the country.

The r iches w h i c h had come from the ove rflow ingO rie nt , were eclipsed by the more precious treasures oflearning wh ic h embell ished the k ing do m of D o m M anu elan d his successors. It was enough to have prod uc ed anepic poet lik e Camoes, a dram atist such as G i l Vic en teor a historian like Goes, to make any epoch glorious.

The superhuman deeds of bravery accomplished bythose intrepid early explorers, aroused the loudest

enthusiasm and admiration amongthe writers, whose minds hadalready been developed by their

contact with the Italian learning,and the w orld was startled by the memorable productionof the great epic poem of Camoes, dealing with thediscovery and conquest of India by Vasco da Gama.

5

Poets of theSixteenth Century,

CamSea1 5 2 4 ? - ! 5 80 .


58/330


59/330


was imprisoned for nearly a year on account of a quarrelin the street

In 1553, he embarked for India. ElizabethBarrett Browning sees in her " Vi s i o n of Poets ":

Camoens, with that look he hadCompelling India's genius sadFr om the wave through the Lusiad ;The murmurs of the storm-cape ocean

Indraw n in vibrative emotionAlong the verse. ( )

H is pro longed stay there has made his won de rfulpoem so valuable ; for he saw w i t h h is ow n eyes theplaces which he described in his Cantos, often having tolay aside the pen, for he had begun his great poem

already in 1544 or 1545 (2

), to take up the sw ord. H earr iv ed in Goa in September 1553, after a severe stormencounte red off the Cape of Goo d H op e, an account ofw h i c h is fo un d in his elegy, " O poeta Simonidesfallando." He l i v e d in the Portuguese colonies t i l l 1556,whe n he wen t to Malacca. T hence he proceeded to theMolucca Islands, returned to Malacca in 1558, and wentto Macao. T here he wro te the greater part of hi sc Lusiadas ', so tradition says.

O n his re tu rn to Goa, he was ship wreck ed off thecoast of C ambodia, sou th of A nnam , in the C hina Sea;he saved his precious work by sw im m in g to shore w i t hit in his mouth :

0 ) Th e poetical works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning fr om1826-1844, pp. 400. Wa rd Lock & Co., L td ., London.

( 2) Mendes dos Remedios " Historia da Literature Po r-tuguesa ", Coimbra, p. 141.


60/330

3 6 I N D IA I N P O RT U G U E S E L I T E R AT U R E

" In his embrace the song that swam to landFrom sad and piteous shipwreck dripping wet,1 Scaped from the reefs and rocks that fang the strand/ ( !)

Can to X , Es t . CXXVII I .

This incident reminds us of a similar occurrence inthe life of Julius Caesar so graph ical ly t o ld by P lu ta rch,when he saved his manuscr ipts in an engagement offPharos, b y h old ing them in one han d and sw im m in g w i t hth e other. ( )

T he story of the succeeding years is not k no w n . Wek now that he went to Mo zam biq ue and return ed toL is bo n in 1570 in company w i t h Di og o de Couto w h o mhe met on the way and who mentions the meeting inh i s "Decada" V I I I , Chapter 28. (3 ) H e got backbringing with him from the East, only a sense of failureand pro fo un d discouragement in his heart, to find hiscountry devastated by plague, his friends gone, hisbeloved dead. H is o l d moth er alone rem ained totake a natu ral prid e in the poem he had wri tt en . 4 O sLusiadas ", the work of twenty-five years, was concludedand p r in te d in 1571. I t was dedicated to D o m Sebastiao,the yout hf ul sovereign of P ortu gal. T he battle ofA lcac er Q ebi r foreshadowed the do mina tion of Spainover P or tuga l. Camoes, being a true pa triot, was mostdistressed by th is , " as beseemed the aged sold ier whosesw ord had often vin dic ated his country 's hon our ", andhe wrote to his fr iend, D o m Francisco de A l m e i d a :" A t last m y life w i l l en d an d a ll w i l l see th at I was so

( l ) Translation from " Os Lusiadas ".(2 ) Plutarch's " Caesar 1', Everyman's Library, p. 567.( ) " Historia da Literatura Portuguesa ", by Mendes dos

Kemedios, has cited Decada V I I , Chapter 28, while in " Studiesin Portuguese Literature", Aubrey C. Bell makes it appear in hisNotes that the quotation comes from Decada V I I I , Chapter 26.The quotation is from Decada V I I I , Chapter 28.


61/330


dev oted to my co un try that I was no t content merely todie in her, b u t w i th her."

O n the 19th . of June 1580, th is noble pa triot an dglo rious singer of his coun try 's brave deeds, breathedhis last in a hospital in L is bo n , attended by a priest tow h o m he gave his copy of the ' Lusiadas,' H e was b u r iedin the li tt le Franciscan ch ur ch of St. A nn a, H i s boneswere afterwards rem oved an d reveren tly pla ced by theside of other heroes in { Jeronym os/ wh ere he sleeps inthe shadow of the b u i ld in g erected in me mo ry of thediscovery of the way to the contemplative East.

Camoes is just as perfect in his ly r ica l poems ashe is in his great epic. W o rd sw o rt h in his im m or ta l" Sonnet on the Sonnet ", refers to Camoes' power inthe w el l- k now n lines : " W i t h it CamSes soothed anexile's grief ."

M any of his sonnets describe experiences of the

East. H i s celebrated " Redon dilhas ", " Ba be l e S iao"were probab ly com posed du ri ng his voyages from Goa toMalacca. T h e seventy-five verses of these "R ed on dilha s"are the expression of Camoes5 grief at his ex ile , as thefo ll ow in g selection shows :

" Que se vida tSLo pequenaS'accrescenta em terra estranha ;E se amor assi o ordenaRazao e que cansa a pennaDe escrever pena tamanha,Porem, se para assentarO que sente o coraf ao,A penna ja em cansar,N5o canse para voarA mernoria em Siao."

( H o w li fe w h i c h is so sho rt seems lo ng draw n ou t in a strange

country, and if Love ordains it thus, the reason is that the pen getsti re d of w r i ti n g of so mu ch sorro w. B u t if my pen should be ti re dof w r i t i n g wh at my heart feels, let my me mo ry not tir e to fly toSion.)

H is " A u t o de F i lod em o" , o r " T h e P lay o f


62/330


63/330

THE CLASSIC EPOCH

by the Orient :Aquella captiva,Que me tern captivo,Porque nella vivo,Ja nao quer que viva.Eu nunca vi rosaEm suaves molhos,Que para meus olhosFosse mais formosa.

Nem no Campo flores,Nem no Ceo estrellas,Me parecem bellas,Como os meus amores.Rosto singular,Olhos socegados,Pretos e cansados,Mas nao de matar.

Uma gra?a viva,

Que nelles Ihe mora,Para ser SenhoraDe quern e captiva ;Pretos os cabellos,Onde o povo vao,Perde opinulo,Que os louros sao bellos.

Pretid5o de amor,

Tao doce a figuraQue a neve lhe juraQue trocara a cor ;Leda mansidSo,Que o sizo acompanha,Mas barbara nSo.

Present a serena,Que a tormenta amansa ;Nella emfim descansaToda minha pena.Esta 6 a captivaQue me tern captivo :6 pois nella vivo,E fo rt a que viva.


64/330

40 INDIA IN PORTUGUESE LITERATURE

( T h a t captive, who has made me captive, for in her I live,does not now care that I should live. I never saw a rose in its soft

bunch of leaves, that seemed more beautiful to my eyes.Ne ither the flowers of the field nor the stars of heaven seemto me as beautiful as my love. Uncommon face, quiet eyes, blackand weary, but not ( weary ) of killing.

But containing a lively charm to be the mistress of him whoseslave she is- H er black hair makes fickle people change theiropinion that light hair is beautiful . T he blackness of Love—sosweet is her face—that snow swears to her it w il l exchange itscolour for hers.

She is smiling suavity accompanied by good sense. Indeed ,she appears a foreign beauty, but not barbarian. She has a serenepresence which stills my passions, and in the end takes away all mysorrow. This is the captive that has enslaved me, and since in herI live it is necessary that she should live ).

The poem " Os Lusiadas " ( ) is the epic poem

(1

) Dr. Jose Maria Rodrigues, Professor of the Facultv ofArts, L isb on Uni ver s i t y, discussed w i t h m e the qu estio n of ' O sL usi ada s" being fe m in in e. H e referred me to his ow n book ,his edition of " Os Lusiadas11 entitled, " Re-impressao Facsimiladada verd adeir a p ri m ei ra edi ao dos Lusiadas de 1572 ", precededby an in tr od uc tio n and fol low ed by a cr i t ic ism by the said autho ras wel l as l4 O s Lusiadas de L u is de Camoes," E d i ao N aci on alCamoneana, 569 B . N . L . , the same ed iti on w i t h the sp ell ing andpu nc tua tio n refo rm ed and revised by the u Mes tre C amonista ",

Dr. Jose Maria Rodrigues."A palavra " Lusiadas " e da autoridade de Andre de Resendeque a de rivo u de " Luso 1% po r im it a ao de V i r g i l i o , que deA eneas f o r m o u o pa tr im on io A eneades. Os Lusiadas sao os descendentes de Lu so , os Lu sos, os Lu sitano s, os Portugueses. E m bo ra dedata recente, f o i este voc& bulo escolh ido para o t i t u l o do poema ,por causa do cunho epico que o caracteriza. E para Ihe dar todo orealce, Camoes so o empregou no frontispicio da Epopeia. O artigotamb6m pertence ao ti tulo , de que na grafia se nao deve desligar.

Intoleraveis sao as alteracoes que ja se tern f eito para " Lusiada "e " As Lusiadas ".( The w or d " Lusiadas " is authorised by An dr e de Resende,

who derived it from u Luso " ,i n imitation of V ir g il who formedthe patronymic Aeneades from Aeneas The Lusiadas are thedescendants of Luso, the Lusos, the Lusitanos, the Portuguese.


65/330


of the Portuguese Fatherland, the autobiography of thepoet and an encyclopaedia

" . transunto reduzidoEm pequeno volume "

( transcript compressedinto a small volume. )

of all the knowledge of the period, of the discovery andconquest of India , of the traditions peculiar to thesixteenth century in Europe and of those whic h at thattime had come from the O rien t

11 The Lusiadas'1—a poetic historical record soaptly expressed by Oliveira Martins as " an epitaph ofthe nation/'—describes the memorable voyage of Vasco

Though of recent date, the name was chosen for the ti tle of the

poem on account of the epic nature which characterises it . And morder to give it all its value, CamSes used it only in the fron ti spiece of the " Epopeia ,f • Th e article ( os ) also belongs to the ti tl e,and should not be separated from it . The alterations whi ch havealready been made from " Os Lusiadas to " Lusiada " and " AsLusiadas " are intolerable.

p. X L V , Notas filologicas, historicas, geograficas, e cosmol6gicag.Th e work ent itled " A obra monumental de Luis de Camoes"

by Brito Aranha contains, as D r . Jose Mar ia Kodrigues put i t ,

" todos os disparates que teem f eito os traductores," all the nonsensewhich the translators have made, for example :P. 197. " La Lusiada de el famoso poeta Luys de Camoes.

Traduzida en verso Castellano de Portugues, por elMaestro Luys Gomez de Tapia Yezino de Sevilla

Salamanca.P. 20 1. La Lusiade du Camoens by M. Duperron de Castera

a Paris.P. 201.2.° La Lusiade du Camoens by M. Duperron de CasteraP. 206. La Lusiade de Louis Camoens.P. 207 . La Lusiade de Camoens by M. de la Ha rpe, Londres.

Lusiada Itali ana de Carlo Antonio PaggiThis is enough to show that many mistakes have been made.

The great authorities say that the word was nerer feminine at a l l -«


66/330


67/330


myth , w h ich had attracted the kno wn w o r ld sinceearliest times. It is also the descr iption of the fo u n d in g

of a vast empire in the romantic East.T he determinat ion of D o m Joao I I , " th e second of

the name, the valiant John" and " thirteenth monarch/'to find the elusive k in g d o m of Prester John, is refer redto in C anto I V , E st . L X :

" Este, por haver fama sempiterna,Mais do que tentar pode homem terrenoTentou, que foi buscar da roxa AuroraOs terminos, que eu vou buscando agora.

( But as thro' gathered shades of night eterneAfonso sped to realms of endless joy,The Prince who rose to rule our realm in turnWas John the Second and the thirteenth Roy.This, never-dying glory's meed to earn,

Higher than ventured mortal man to fly,Ventured, who sought those bounds of kindly morn,Which I go seeking, this my voyage-bourne.)

( Richard Burton's Translation,

Vo l. I , Canto I V . , P. 159, Est . L X . )

A n d about the depa rture of the great explorers, P ero

de C ov ilhan an d A ffonso de Paiva in obedience to th eKing's behest, he says: u Man da seus mensageiros "(S el ec te d messengers his w i l l obey) , and then thecountries through which they pass are described :

" ...que passaramHespanha, Fran?a f Italia celebradaE la no illustre porto se embarcaram

Onde ]£ foi Parthenope enterrada,Napoles, onde os fados se mostraram,Fazendo-a a varias gentes subjugada ;Pola illustrar no fitn de tantos annosCo'o senhorio de inclitos Hispanos,


68/330

44 INDIA IN PORTUG UESE LITERATURE

Pelo mar alto Siculo navegamVao-se, as praias de Rhodes arenosas,E dali as ribeiras altas chegam,Que co'a morte de Magno sao famosas,Vao a Memphis e as terras, que se regamDas enchentes Niloticas undosas ;Sobem a Ethiopia sobre Egypto,Que de Christo la guarda o sancto ri to.

Passam tambem as ondas Erythreas,Que o povo de Israel sem nao passou ;Ficam-lhe atras as serras Nabatheas,Que o filho de Ismael co'o nome ornou ;As costas odorif eras Sabeas,Que a mal do Bello Adonis tanto honrou,Cercam, com toda a Arabia descoberta,Feliz, deixando a Petrea e a Deserta.

Entram no estreito Persico, onde duraDa confusa Babel inda a memoria ;Ali co'o Tigre o Euphrates se mistura,

Que as fontes onde nascem tern por gloria.Dali vao em demanda da agua pura,Que causa inda sera de larga historia,Do Indo, pelas ondas do Oceano,Onde nao se atreveo passar Tra jan o.

( C an to I V , Est. L X I - L X I V . )

(Through Spain and France they hold their vent'rous

sway.Through Italy they reach the port that gaveT h e fair Parthenope an honoured grave ;That shore which oft has felt the servile chain.But now smiles happy in the care of Spain.Now, from the port the brave advent'rers bore,And cut the billows of the Rhodian shore ;Now reach the strand where noble Pompey bled ;And now, repair'd with rest, to Memphis sped ;And now, ascending by the vale of Ni le ,( Whose waves pour fatness o'er the grateful soil ),Through Ethiopia's peaceful dales they stray,Where their glad eyes Messiah's rites survey ;And now they pass the famed Arabian flood,Whose waves of old in wondrous ridges stood,


69/330


70/330

46 TH E CL AS SIC EPOC H

The poem contains the vision of the King D o mManoel, when he sees the Indus and the sacred Ganges,which addressed him :

" Eu sou o illustre Ganges, que na terraCeleste tenho o berpo verdadeiro ;Est outro e o In do, Rei , que nesta serraQue ves, seu nascimento tern primeiro.Custar-te-hemos com tudo dura guerra,Mas, insistindo tu, por derradeiro,Com nao vistas victorias, sem receio,A quantas gentes ves poras o f reio. "Nao disse mais o rio illustre e sancto,Mas ambos desaparecem n'hum momento ;

Acorda Manuel

( Canto I V , E st. L X X I V & L X X V . )

( 4 i I am the illustrious Ganges, who beginmy real source on celestial ground :Th is brother is King Indus, who, wi thinThis serra thou dost see, his first birth foundH ar d warfare we shall cost withal to win ;B»t, if thy courage to the last be sound,W i t h victories unseen, and without fear,Thou shalt lay bonds on all thou seest here."No more the illustrious holy river said,But both within a moment disappear ;Manuel awakes

(Tran slated by J. J. Aubertin, )

T he journey having been decided upon, Vasco daGama was chosen to lead the way ;

" Eu vos tenho entre todos escolhidoPara huma empresa, qual a vos se deve ;Trabalho illustre, duro e esclarecido,O que eu sei que por mi vos sera leve. "

( C anto I V , E st. L X X I X , )


71/330


( " For this dread labour, to your valour due,From al l your peers 1 name, O Vasco, you.Dread as it is, yet light the task shall beTo you, my Gama, as performed for me.)

( Translation by Mickie.)

Then followed the departure from Lisbon, attendedby " a woeful, weeping, melancholy throng ", u a sceneso solemn " w i t h " the tender woe of parting friends f \

T hey sailed on thei r adventurous path along the coastof Af r ica towards the East t i l l they reached the shoresof Melinde " where India's ocean laved the orient shoresof gold/ 1 Camoes has gi

India in Portuguese Literature 1498-1580

Documents

Transcript of India in Portuguese Literature 1498-1580