The Zamorin was disposed to call off the campaign, if not for the pressure of his commanders, who proposed to abandon Kumbalam and try to reach Cochin via two passages further north –
Palignar and
Palurte.
Location of the passes Palurte is almost definitely
Palluruthy, south of Cochin. The location of
Palignar (alternatively given as Palinhar, Palinhard, Palignard, Pallinganad, Palimbão) is Panangad an island east of Kumbalam, south of Ernakulam, studded in the Vambanad River. All we know of Palignar is that it is a league or half-league from Palurte (either to the north or south – surprisingly unclear in the chronicles). 'Palignar' (or similar-sounding counterparts) is not easily found in usual geographies of the
Kerala backwaters. The chronicles suggest that the passages went via the island of
Arraul (or
Darraul or
Arrail). This could be a reference to
Aroor, a southerly peninsula, that indeed might be crossed north towards Palluruthy. Of course, this would require us to consider the location of the original 'Cambalão' to be
Kumbalangy (rather than Kumbalam). This is not outlandish – as Aroor is indeed behind Kumbalangy and it does accord with occasional suggestions (e.g. Castanheda, p. 228) that the main encampment of the Zamorin's army between these assaults were in the 'lands of Porquá' (probably
Purakkad, thus a reference to the southern end of the
Vembanad lagoon). However, picking Aroor as 'Arraul' does not really seem to give us an intuitive idea of where Palignar & Palurte might be relative to each other. Geographies of Kerala backwaters show there are plenty of places with'Aroor'/'Aryoor'- sounding names in the region. And in the documents we have of the Trimumpara's title, he cites his lordship of Arraul as third in importance (after Cochin and Vypin), suggesting it should not be obscure or a great distance away. Moreover, there are suggestions (e.g. Castanheda, pp. 224, 227) that the fighting was very close to Cochin city and Fort Manuel. Finally, some of the chronicles suggest that the route via Arraul was a rather direct passage to Cochin city – indeed, the very passage taken by the Zamorin's armies in the first siege of 1503. As a result, one probable hypothesis is that
Arraul island might be modern
Willingdon Island in Kochi harbor (or rather underlying island located there previously, as most of Willingdon was artificially created in the 1920s). Thus 'Palignar' and 'Palurte' were passes through it that entered directly onto the landmass where Cochin city sits. However, all this is speculative conjecture. There is no agreement among chronicles, scholars or historians on any of these locations.
Redeployment to Arraul Chroniclers claim that Palignar (Panangad)-Palurte (Palluruthi) crossings via Arraul (Aroor) island were available and unprotected during the Kumbalam ford attacks, but that the Zamorin never attempted them because the Kumbalam destination, once fixed, "became a point of honor" to adhere to. Moreover, the northerly passages were covered by dense forests and thickets unsuitable for the easy passage of his large army. But the biggest drawback is that they were not easily passed – that is, Palignar was only
fordable on foot at low tide, whereas Palurte required ferry boats. But such considerations were now set aside. The principal advantage of the Arraul passages is that they were two – that is, that the Portuguese would not be able to defend both Palignar and Palurte simultaneously. In late April, the Zamorin lifted his camp at Kumbalam and began to withdraw – seemingly back to Calicut. But Duarte Pacheco Pereira soon received notice that Zamorin's army was in fact heading to the Palignar-Palurte passes, and that advanced troops of the Zamorin, some 500 Nairs, were already on Arraul island, cutting down thickets to ease the passage of the army. Pacheco rushed with a couple of boats up to Arraul, while the Trimumpara Raja dispatched an army of some 200 Cochinese
Nairs from Cochin city to join him there. Pacheco took command of them, divided them into two columns, one under himself another under Pêro Rafael, and drove the thicket-cutters back. Duarte Pacheco set about organizing his position before the arrival of the rest of the Calicut army, estimated to be but a mere one day way. His caravels could only go as far as Palurte ferry – lack of water depth prevented the caravels from advancing beyond that. So Pacheco ordered the two caravels (under
Pêro Rafael and Diogo Pires) to anchor in at Palurte with iron cords, while he proceeded with the two smaller bateis on to Palignar ford. At Palignar, Duarte Pacheco anchored both his
bateis on the bank, placing them under the command
Simão de Andrade and
Cristóvão Jusarte [Note: Correa (p. 402) calls the latter "Jusarte Pacheco" or "Lisuarte Pacheco", and identifies him as the son of Duarte Pacheco]. The near bank of the ford was to be held by a 600-strong force of Cochinese Nairs dispatched by the Trimumpara Raja, under the command of his nephew and heir, Unni Goda Varda (
Candagora). The factor's assistant,
Lourenço Moreno, apparently bored of Fort Manuel and wanting some action, showed up at the ford and was assigned to either take command of a land entrenchment or aboard some Cochinese canoes. But perhaps the most critical step, Duarte Pacheco ordered the troops and crews to clear the opposite banks of vegetation, so as to deprive enemy archers and cannons any form of protective cover. The critical key to Duarte Pacheco's defense was the
tides. Although forced to defend two passages, he realized he did not have to defend them both at once. Palignar ford could only be crossed on foot at low tide, during which time the water at Palurte is too shallow for the Zamorin's ships and ferry boats to move. At high tide, boats could move at Palurte, but the infantry could not ford at Palignar. So Duarte Pacheco calculated he could shuttle himself and some of his forces back and forth via shallow
launches between the two passes – reinforcing the Nairs and bateis at Palignar in low tide, and then slip down the strait to help the caravels at Palurte at high tide.
Fourth assault The vanguard of the Zamorin's army, some 15,000 infantry led by Prince Naubeadarim, arrived at Palignar ford a day or two after the skirmish at Arraul. Around the same time, the Calicut fleet, some 250 vessels under lord Ercanol of Edapalli, reached the environs of Palurte. Naubeadrim set himself to seize control of the ford with his army, leaving Ercanol to dislodge the two caravels at Palurte. The attack began at dawn of 1 May. As the tide was high during the morning, Palignar was impassable to Naubeadarim's infantry, so Pacheco left the
bateis with only a small crew under the command of Andrade and Jusarte, and rushed most of his forces on longboats down to Palurte. A contingent of Cochinese Nairs accompanied Pacheco, although the bulk stayed with prince Candagora at the near side of the Palignar ford. The clearing of the vegetation on the opposite banks immediately paid off as, upon reaching Palurte, Pacheco easily noticed a number of Calicut cannons being rolled into position, aiming to sink the anchored caravels. Duarte Pacheco ordered concentrated fire from the ships on their position, scattering the Calicut artillery crews. He then landed a Portuguese-Cochinese assault force on the beach, who rushed up to finish off the lingering Calicut crews and dragged away or spiked the abandoned Calicut cannons. The cannon threat nullified, the troops returned to the caravels to face the arriving Calicut fleet. The strait at Palurte was not as narrow as it had been at Kumbalam, allowing the admiral Elcanol of Edapalli to send in a substantial first wave, a broad front of 40 paraus, tied across, against the caravels. But the speed of Portuguese gunners decimated the advancing fleet. A second wave of nearly the same size was sent after it, but it was also repulsed. By then, the tide had begun to fall, and the Calicut paraus began having trouble moving in the obstacle-ridden shallow waters of Palurte, so the Calicut admiral Ercanol ordered the fleet to retire. News quickly arrived that the Calicut infantry of Naubeadarim was getting ready to wade the passage at Palignar. Duarte Pacheco and his troops went back on their longboats. The tide low enough, Naubeadarim's infantry column launched their assault to gain the ford. But they were unable to make much headway or reach the opposite back, held back by the rapid and heavy gunfire from the
bateis and incessant missile fire from the Cochinese Nairs on the bank. After two heavy-fought but fruitless assaults, the tide began rising again, and Naubeadarim ordered the column to retire. In this first encounter, Calicut is said to have lost some 1,000 men and a few ships. The disgusted Zamorin arrived on the scene with the rest of his army soon after, and upbraided both Naubeadarim and Elcanol for what he believed was cowardice in calling premature retreats. The day's fight at Palignar and Palurte was probably the heaviest the Portuguese had yet faced. They had little time to prepare proper defenses and were lucky to get away with it. The Portuguese were exhausted and suffered many injured (but still no deaths, according to the chroniclers). Had the Zamorin renewed the assault the next day, his forces might very well have taken the ford. But as luck would have it, torrential downpours prevented resumption of operations, followed quickly by a devastating epidemic of
cholera that swept through the Calicut camp. This gave the Portuguese and Cochin allies about a week to rest, recuperate and prepare.
Fifth assault Duarte Pacheco used the cholera-induced break from the fighting to repair his ships and strengthen his position at Palignar ford. A strong
stockade (palisade with ramparts) was erected on the near bank. Sharpened poles, burnt at one end and tied down to each other, were lodged deep into the mud throughout the ford, to severely complicate the infantry's passage. [In more detail, Saraiva (1849: p. 140) describes them as flat boards covered in upturned sharp metal spikes and large nails laid across bottom of the Palignar ford to impale the feet of the wading soldiers; he introduced the poles to serve a double role – as anchors to prevent the planks from floating away or being removed, and as stilts to hold up the planks and prevent them from sinking into the soft river mud.] The cholera epidemic had taken a heavy toll on the Zamorin's army – more than 10,000 men were lost. The success of the resistance had also brought back some of the old Cochinese vassals who had earlier abandoned the Trimumpara Raja. According to Correia (p. 482), these were the lords (
Kaimals) of
Mangate (
Alengad),
Primbalão (
Perumbalam) and
Diamper (
Udayamperoor). Their return was welcome less for any concrete help they might give, and more because they deprived the Zamorin of possible reinforcements. Around 6 May (date uncertain), the Zamorin launched his biggest assault yet, concentrating all his forces on gaining the ford at Palignar. It was spearheaded by some 4,000 men with 30 brass cannons, brought forth to sink the bateis. Then came the vanguard column, some 12,000 men under Prince Naubeadarim. Ercanol of Edapalli commanded a column of the same size, and the Zamorin himself brought up the rear with some 15,000, including specialized hatchet crews (some 400) to clear the passages and chop down the stockade. At that point, the Portuguese had a mere 40 men on the bateis at Palignar, and only some 200 Cochinese troops at the ford palisade. [Apparently, the Nairs of the Cochinese vassal lord of
Mangate (Alangad), assigned to man the palisade, unexpectedly abandoned their posts during the night, leaving only this small number behind. Pacheco dispatched an urgent message to prince Candagora back in Cochin, to rush in reinforcements, but the message did not get conveyed on time. The assault on Palignar began with a cannonade duel between the Calicut artillery on land and the
bateis. The Portuguese artillery got the better of it, and the Calicut batteries were dispersed. But by this time, however, the tide was low, and the bateis, now scraping the riverbed, not easily manoeuvrable into optimal firing positions. The Zamorin gave the order to advance, and Calicut infantry poured into the Palignar ford, to regain the other bank. The spiked planks had their intended effect – the front lines slowed down to watch their step, the rear lines shoved them from behind, and the Calicut army clustered up into a concentrated mob. Portuguese cannons directed their fire on this dense human mass, causing horrific numbers of casualties in the Calicut ranks. Nonetheless, urged on by their officers, the Calicut infantry kept pressing forward. Pêro Rafael directed some of the fire to assassinate the Zamorin himself, and a cannonball landed near enough to his person to cut two of the nobles standing near him to pieces. The blood-covered Zamorin was hurried off the field by his guard, leaving the rest of the assault to Naubeadarim and Ercanol. Enraged at the assassination attempt, Naubeadarim rallied the Calicut troops and pressed forward furiously. Painfully working over the impaling spikes, the vanguard finally reached the palisade on the Cochinese bank. It is said that the Cochinese troops manning the ramparts fell back or fled their positions, and the few Portuguese stationed there were given up for lost. But by this time the tide had begun to rise again, and the bateis were dislodged from the mud and freely manoeuvrable once more. The bateis rushed forward, straight into the ford, and with concentrated fire, broke up the heavy assault on the palisade. Then crossing the ford back and forth with near-point blank cannon, forced the Calicut troops back on to the banks to retreat to the tree line. After nine hours of intense fighting, the high tide was back and the assault was over. The Zamorin's army had failed once again. Duarte Pacheco was furious with the Cochinese troops who abandoned the palisade ramparts in the heat of the battle, and even more furious with the troops of the vassal lord of Mangate who had deserted their posts before the fight even began. But Trimumpara Raja sadly reminded him of the general faithlessness of all his vassals, and assured Pacheco that it would not happen again, that his heir, the prince Cadangora, would move to the ford permanently, and supervise the maintenance of the stockade. It is said that sometime during this encounter a detachment of around 2,000 Calicut Nairs, using a different little-used passage (or perhaps landed by paraus), managed to circumvent and land behind Portuguese lines. The Nairs were making their way to launch a surprise attack on the ford from the rear, when some local Cochinese peasants working in the rice fields, plucked up their courage and attacked the detachment with their spades, seeing them off rather quickly. Allegedly, the
Indian caste system played a significant role, the
Nairs fearing defilement by low caste peasants more than any injury from the agricultural implements they were wielding. Pacheco, disgusted with his own Cochinese Nairs, is said to have tried to persuade the Trimumpara Raja to promote these brave peasants to
Nairs and assign them to the palisade. The King gave him a lengthy lecture on the intricacies of the caste system.
Plots and skirmishes The depressed Zamorin had no stomach for another failure in the field and dismissed ideas of a renewed direct assault. Delay was also forced by a renewed breakout of the cholera epidemic. Instead, there were just a series of underhanded plots and occasional skirmishes seeking to weaken or draw out the Portuguese position at the passes. As usual, intelligence networks in south India ensured most of the Zamorin's plots were leaked. Already earlier, the Zamorin's agents had induced a conspiracy by some Cochinese Nairs to assassinate Duarte Pacheco. The plot was uncovered, and Pacheco had two of them flogged and hanged. (This caused some consternation in Cochinese ranks, as while the execution was acceptable, the flogging of a
Nair was a grievous insult to the noble caste. Not wishing to provoke trouble among the Nairs, Duarte Pacheco handed the remaining conspirators over to the Trimumpara Raja to do with them as he will.) During this interlude, the Zamorin's advisors devised a new plan to have agents infiltrate Cochin and bribe
victuallers to poison the food and water being sent out to the troops at Palignar ford. But as usual, the plot was leaked. To ensure themselves, new wells were dug on the beaches at Palignar on a daily basis, and victuallers, vendors and transporters were forced to taste their own food at every stage before being distributed to the army. The Zamorin's advisors kept concocting more plots – an uprising in Cochin, then a plan to send in boats under the cover of night to Cochin and set the city on fire, then to sneak baskets of venomous
cobras aboard the Portuguese ships, etc. But all these plots were quickly foiled by leaked intelligence. In one of the more infamous instances (reported by Correia, pp. 474–75), the Zamorin determined on a night attack. The troops were to cross a ford near Palurte, hitherto unutilized because it was within shot range of the anchored Portuguese caravels. But at night, the caravels would not see them and the troops could wade across. That evening, two Calicut armies set out – the vanguard to go first, and give a torch signal to the second army to advance after they had crossed the ford. But as usual, Pacheco got wind of the plan. And not long after the vanguard started their march, Pacheco gave the pre-arranged torch signal himself and got the second army to advance prematurely. The vanguard, thinking they were being ambushed from behind by a Cochinese column, turned around and attacked the second army. In the dark of the night, the two armies of Calicut did not notice they were fighting each other! During the interlude, Pacheco repeatedly launched his own excursions to harass the Calicut encampment and raid supporting villages. On one of these excursions, Pacheco is said to have been ambushed and surrounded by a Calicut fleet of some 54 paraus, but managed to defeat them.
Sixth assault Preparations for a new assault on Palignar ford began sometime in late May (or possibly June.) 30,000 troops were assembled for the new assault on Palignar. The artillery was moved into pre-prepared trench-lines, where the batteries would be better shielded from Portuguese return-fire. Against Palurte, Elacanol of Edapalli repaired and prepared the fleet anew – the vanguard led by 110 well-armed and well-shielded paraus, tied together, followed by some 100 boat transports, packed with soldiers for the grapple. There were a few innovations – firstly, a series of fire-boats (
brulotes), loaded with incendiary material, were prepared, intended to be sent into the Portuguese caravels. Then, most peculiar of all, a series of 'floating castles' (invented by a certain 'Cogeale', an 'Arab of Edapalli'). Essentially, a 'floating castle' was a wooden
siege tower, about 18 hands tall, with heavily reinforced sides, capable of carrying 40 armed men, mounted on two
paraus lashed together. There were eight such castles, mounted on 16 boats, tied to each other, forming a single imposing line. As usual, Duarte Pacheco was aware of all these preparations, and had himself taken counter-measures. Against the fire-boats, he ordered the construction of a wide raft (mounted with masts), which he anchored firmly across the strait. Hearing of the floating castles, he ordered the erection of wooden structures on the prows of his caravels, to match the height of the Calicut castles. Candagora, prince and heir of Cochin, presented himself with one thousand of the best Cochinese Nairs at Palignar ford. The two
bateis at Palignar were, as usual, under the command of
Cristóvão Jusarte and
Simão de Andrade, while
Lourenço Moreno, the factor's assistant, was placed in command of some Cochinese boats. On the dawn of the day of the attack, the Zamorin's infantry began their march towards Palignar. To taunt the sea-king, Pacheco sailed in a boat up to the tip of Arraul island and landed with a small squad to engage in a skirmish with the advance squads of the Calicut army. The irritated Zamorin redirected a large detachment of his forces after him. Pacheco just climbed back on his boat and sailed away. The tide being high, the battle began at Palurte, where the caravels were anchored. The Calicut fire ships were the first to be launched – but they were caught by the anchored raft and burned harmlessly. The row of floating castles were then launched against the caravels. This proved more difficult, as their reinforced sides seemed to resist all the cannon fire the Portuguese had to offer. The situation seemed bleak and Duarte Pacheco is said to have desperately uttered his famous line: "Lord, don't make me pay for my sins just yet", before focusing concentrated heavy fire on the nearest approaching castle and finally breaking its sides. A second soon followed, and the whole apparatus began to drag and fragment, the
paraus to sink. [According to Correia (p. 487) Pacheco is said to have offered a bounty of 100 cruzados to any sailor who dared swim out with a torch and set fire to the paraus underneath the castles. While the caravels at Palurt were thus engaged, the tide had come down and the Zamorin's infantry marched on Palignar ford. Incessant gunfire from the two bateis, joined by continuous missile fire from the Cochinese on the palisade ramparts and in the launches, mowed down line after line of Calicut infantry as they stepped into the ford. The assault was repelled, until the high tide returned and forced the armies of Calicut to end the attempted crossing. According to Osório (p. 311), the army of Calicut suffered more casualties on this day than any other; the Portuguese still had no deaths, only wounded. The victory over the Zamorin's greatest assault yet was greeted with great festivities in Cochin.
Seventh assault and end The chronicles are generally scant on details of the subsequent events. It seems the Zamorin ordered a couple of more assaults on the Portuguese positions, one of which used the same floating castles (now repaired), but to no avail. In these assaults, the Zamorin had fewer troops – depleted by disease and desertion – and, with less enthusiasm and energy, the attacks were largely desultory. By now, the
monsoon season had begun to turn, and the heavier rains and winds were working against the Zamorin's army – rain spread disease and complicated movement, water levels were higher at the passages, sailing the paraus more difficult. Moreover, one by one, the vassals of Calicut were sneaking away from the Zamorin's camp. It was generally anticipated that a new
Portuguese armada would be arriving in August. Many of the Zamorin's vassals, having lost hope of seizing Cochin by then, figured it was best to negotiate their own peace terms with the Trimumphara Raja before the Portuguese arrived, lest their dominions be slated for vengeful punitive raids. The last of the vassals to make a separate peace with Cochin was the lord Elcanol of Edapalli himself. Finally, on 24 June 1504 (
Nativity of St. John), the Zamorin of Calicut decided he had enough, and abdicated his throne, passing it on to his nephew and heir, Naubeadaraim (the general who had led the Calicut infantry), and retired to a temple, dedicating himself to religious life. But the tired Zamorin was lured by the chiding of his own mother to emerge from the temple and organize one last assault. But after that failed to go anywhere, the Zamorin returned to religious seclusion permanently. The army of Calicut retired from the shores of the
Vembanad lagoon around 3 July.
Aftermath Immediately after the Zamorin withdrew his forces from the vicinity of Cochin (some say early August, 1504),
Duarte Pacheco Pereira, set sail with his caravels out of Cochin for
Quilon. There were rumors that Arab traders in the city had raised a
conspiracy or riot and attacked the Portuguese factory there, killing at least one Portuguese agent. Almeida captured a squad of Arab merchant ships and exacted his revenge on them. Pacheco was still settling matters in Quilon when the
6th Portuguese India armada, under the command of
Lopo Soares de Albergaria reached
Cochin in September 1504. Duarte Pacheco returned to Cochin in late September or October to meet him there. In October, Pacheco participated in a pre-emptive Portuguese-Cochinese raid on
Cranganore, where it was said the (new) Zamorin was re-assembling his army, to attack Cochin again after the 6th Armada left in January. The razing of Cranganore and the subsequent defection of the ruler of Tanur, one of the Zamorin's most important vassals, rolled the Calicut frontline north, and placed the
Vembanad lagoon out of the reach of the
Zamorin's army and fleet. It put an end to any prospect of the Zamorin of
Calicut attacking Cochin again via the
Kerala backwaters. == Assessment ==