Every individual or community takes advantage of the times and events that they lived in. History is replete with such examples. Why did the Muslims or the Europeans come to India? In both cases it was in search of greener pastures or in search of trade routes, land and people, where they could spread their faith or simply the lure of a more luxurious life.
“Almas e especiaria” (We come to seek Christians and Spices) were the words of Vasco da Gama when he landed at Kappad beach near Calicut in 1498, after sailing round the Cape of Good Hope, the first to search a new sea route between Europe and India. Timmayya the Vijaynagar Admiral (of Goan origin) has the burden of history of having invited the Portuguese to Goa. Could it therefore be concluded as suggested by Pandurang S S Pissurlencar, that it was at the invitation of the Goan Hindus that Afonso de Albuquerque decided to attack Goa?
Timmayya prompted Afonso de Albuquerque to launch an attack on Goa, rather than sailing all the way to the Red Sea to destroy the fleet of the Sultan of Egypt. The Portuguese chroniclers referred to him as Timoja. Goa was then under the Sultan of Bijapur, Yusuf Adil Shah and also formed a base where the Turks and the Egyptians were building ships. Timmayya had earlier served as a mediator in peace negotiations when D Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy, who was at war with the King of Gersoppa in 1505. Timmayya actively assisted the Portuguese in the capture and recapture of Goa in 1510. Even if history records him as a traitor, a collaborator or a quisling; he deserves the benefit of doubt.
Much research has been done on Timmayya like Pissurlencar, Collaborades Hindus de Afonso de Albuquerque in Portuguese as early as in 1941. Dr Joseph Barros wrote a research article entitled, “Local collaborators of Albuquerque” and B S Shastry wrote, “Timmayya and his relations with the Portuguese”. Last but not the least, Carmo Azavedo’s, “Timmayya: A Quisling?”
There is no unanimity with regard to the nationality of Timmayya. V T Gune suggests that he was a Maratha, while his name seems to be that of a Kannadiga. João de Barros in his series on De Asia wrote that Timmayya had a brother in Goa named Chidambara, who had forced him to leave Goa and had deprived him of his share in the family estate, taken his wife and even killed his son!
The Portuguese chroniclers refer to him as gentio, thus implying his religion to be that of a Hindu or Jain as can be deduced from the name of his brother and also from the fact that he was married to the Princess of Gersoppa. G Correa, a Portuguese chronicler, in his book Lendas de India refers to Timmayya as a Muslim. Carmo Azavedo also agrees that there is a remote possibility of his being a Mohammedan and that he held the post of Admiral and Governor of Honavar in the Vijayanagar Empire.
The letters of Afonso de Albuquerque (Cartas of Afonso de Albuquerque) alludes, “Timmayya was a good man”. J Barros refers to him as, “a man of high standing and great ambition, eager to befriend the Portuguese”. Others refer to him as, “a self-proclaimed vassal and a willing collaborator”. T B Cunha and Evagrio George, as freedom fighters consider Timmayya “a quisling”.
At the time the Portuguese arrived in India, it was a geographical entity but it was not in the modern sense of the term a ‘nation’. India comprised of a multitude of kingdoms or principalities, fighting among themselves for survival or domination. Some Chieftains were Hindus, a few Jains or Buddhists and some were Muslims. The Hindu and the Muslim rulers of that period were never friends. The Vijaynagar Empire was formed as a bulwark against the growth of the Muslim power in the South. The germ of communalism was therefore not a new occurrence in Indian history. The Portuguese had borne a historical distaste for the Moors, ever since the days of their occupation of the Iberian peninsula for over seven centuries (712-1492). This explained why the Portuguese were inclined to be friendly towards the Hindus and therefore worked hand in hand with the Vijaynagar Kingdom.
Under Adilshahi, Goa grew in importance even more than Honavar and Bhatkal, the two important harbours of the Vijaynagar kingdom on the west coast. As these important harbours were lost for trade, it was natural that the kings of Vijaynagar, as they could not capture Goa, would attempt to minimize their loss by preventing the merchant ships from sailing up to Goa, bypassing either Bhatkal or Honnavar. In fact it was from instructions from the Vijaynagar King. Krishna Deva Raya that Timmayya was forcing ships to avoid Goa in favour of the two harbours and on their refusal would attack and loot them. Therefore Timmayya was acting on the orders of his emperor as an admiral of Vijayanagar and therefore could not be considered a pirate.
Timmayya also had personal reasons for helping Albuquerque to capture Goa. As he was disposed of his inheritance by his brother, he hoped that it would be restored to him by Albuquerque, after Goa was captured. Under Francis de Almeida, the Portuguese were only interested in being masters of the seas with some fortresses and factories along the coast and did not have any territorial ambitions. Timmayya may have hoped that once the Portuguese freed Goa from the Muslim rule, he would be rewarded for his help by being made its Governor or at least obtain it as a jagir with a fixed amount payable monthly or yearly.
In fact on the death of Timmayya, Albuquerque granted a pension to his family for the services rendered to the Portuguese. Albuquerque thus completely reversed his predecessor’s policy of controlling the seas and now aimed at an empire building venture with Goa as its headquarters. Timmayya believed that with Goa restored to the Vijaynagar an alliance could be agreed upon with Portugal which benefited both.
Does this make Timmayya an anti-national or unpatriotic? As a loyal admiral of the Vijaynagar kingdom he acted in the best interest of his king by seeking help from the Portuguese against a common enemy. The idea of a common Indian identity or nationality, in whose cause he and his ally kings must be united together, could not have even remotely occurred to him as per the political climate in India at that time. Thus the argument that Timmayya was neither a traitor to Goa or India, nor a collaborator or a quisling: that he was simply a product of his times in which the very idea of a nation or nationhood did not exist.
What would be the path of history if King Porus had not met Alexander the Great and Megasthenes had not been present to record this historic meeting in his book Indica? Similarly what would be the course of history for our tiny State? Would the Portuguese have been able to find their feet entrenched in the soil of Goa without the help of Timmayya? Having given the benefit of doubt to Timmayya, historiography cannot castigate the community that he belonged to. The society in today’s world should not judge the community with an individual’s deeds. That would be the abuse of history!
(Prof (Dr) Sushila Sawant Mendes is an Author and Professor in History, Govt. College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Quepem)