“From the period of the abdication of Shermanoo, to that of the arrival of the Portuguese at Calicut, the Mahomedan religion had made considerable progress in Malabar; and the Arabian merchants received every encouragement from the Samoories or Zamorins, as they made Calicut the staple of their Indian trade, and brought large sums of money yearly to that place, for the purchase of spiceries and other commodities.  As the rajahs of Cochin and other petty sovereignties on the coast, were exceedingly jealous of the superior riches and power of the zamorins, and of the monopoly of trade enjoyed by Calicut, they gave every encouragement to the Portuguese to frequent their ports; from whence arose a series of warfare by sea and land, which has finally reduced them all under subjection to the Europeans.”

“According to an Arabian author, Zeirreddien Mukhdom, who is supposed to have been sent to assist the zamorins and the Mahomedans in India, in their wars with the Portuguese, Malabar is then said to have been divided among a multiplicity of independent princes or rajahs, whom he calls Hakims, some of whom commanded over one or two hundred men, and others one, ten, fifteen, or even as high as thirty, thousand, or upwards.  The three greatest powers at that time were, the Colastrian[53] rajah to the north, the zamorin of Calicut in the centre, and a rajah in the south, who ruled from Coulan, Kalum, or Coulim, to Cape Comorin, comprehending the country now belonging to the rajah of Travancore.”

“We now return from this digression, to follow the narrative of the Portuguese Discovery and Conquest of India, as related by Castaneda.”

So great was the trade and population of Calicut and the surrounding country, and the revenues of its sovereign through these circumstances, that he was able to raise a force of thirty thousand men in a single day, and could even bring an hundred thousand men into the field, completely equipt for war, in three days.  This prince, in the language of the country, was styled the Zamorin, or Samoryn, which signifies Emperor; as he was supreme over the other two kings of Malabar, the king of Coulan and the king of Cananor.  There were indeed other princes in this country, who were called kings, but were not so.  This zamorin or king of Calicut was a bramin, as his predecessors had been, the bramins being priests among the Malabars.  It is an ancient rule and custom among these people, that all their kings must die in a pagoda[54], or temple of their idols; and that there must always be a king resident in the principal pagoda, to serve those idols:  Wherefore, when the king that serves in the temple comes to die, he who then reigns must leave his government of temporal affairs to take his place in the temple; upon which another is elected to take his place, and to succeed in ruling the kingdom.  If the king who is in possession of the temporal authority should refuse to retire to the pagoda, on the death of the king who officiated in spirituals, he is constrained to do so, however unwilling.