ha. His power was still great, but it was
threatened by the Muhammadan dynasties established in the Deccan,
which eventually destroyed the power of the Vijayanagar kingdom at
the battle of Talikot in 1565. But when Albuquerque took up his
office the Hindu kingdom was still powerful, and it might have been
able with the assistance of the Portuguese to resist the advance of
the Muhammadans.

The Portuguese felt none of the hatred which they showed to the
disciples of Islam towards the Hindus. They had found to their great
delight that the Christian religion flourished on the Malabar coast,
and that the native Christians[1] were a prosperous and thriving
community. They inclined to believe that the Hindus or
Krishna-worshippers believed in a form of Christianity. The grounds
for their belief were very {66} slight, but sufficient to impress
ardent Christians like Albuquerque himself. One of the first designs
of the great Governor was to strike up a cordial alliance with the
Hindu rulers. The friendship which the Raja of Cochin had
consistently shown to the Europeans gave him confidence, and one of
his earliest measures was to send a Franciscan friar, Frei Luis, on a
special embassy to the Raja of Vijayanagar. The aim of this embassy
was to induce the Raja to attack the Zamorin of Calicut by land while
the Portuguese attacked him by sea, but there was also a general
desire expressed to make an alliance with the Raja.

[Footnote 1: On the early history of Christianity in India, see
Hunter's _Indian Empire_, chapter ix, pp. 229-241.]

Frei Luis was directed to state in the name of Albuquerque:

'The King of Portugal commands me to render honour and willing
service to all the Gentile Kings of this land and of the whole of
Malabar, and that they are to be well treated by me, neither am I
to take their ships nor their merchandise; but I am to destroy the
Moors [Muhammadans], with whom I wage incessant war, as I know he
also does; wherefore I am prepared and ready to help him with the
fleets and armies of the King, my Lord, whensoever and as often as
he shall desire me to do so; and I likewise, for my part, expect
that he will help us with his army, towns, harbours, and munitions,
and with everything that I may require from his kingdom; and the
ships which navigate to his ports may pass safely throughout all
the Indian sea, and receive honour and good treatment at the hands
of the fleets and fortress