The Kagemusha effect. The Portuguese firearms and the State in early modern South India

Authors

  • Sanjay Subrahmanyam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/his.v45i0.7947

Keywords:

armas de fogo, Índia, séculos XVI e XVII, portugueses na Ásia, Estado da Índia, firearms, India, 16th and 17th centuries, Portuguese in Asia, State of India

Abstract

The present paper examines the extent of the spread of the use of
firearms in Southern India in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the role played by the Portuguese, especially by private Portuguese. The sources used are largely European, supplemented however by some literary material in Telugu and Sanskrit, generated in the courts of the so-called “Nayaka” kingdoms of 16th and 17th century Tamilnadu. Using these, it is hoped to shed light not merely on the actual use of firearms, but on how they were perceived in the south Indian polities of the period.

How to Cite

Subrahmanyam, S. (2006). The Kagemusha effect. The Portuguese firearms and the State in early modern South India. História: Questões E Debates, 45(2). https://doi.org/10.5380/his.v45i0.7947

Issue

Section

Dossiê: Homens e armas no Império Português - Organizadora: Andréa Doré