With news of the samudri’s abject defeat resounding along the Malabar coast, the new arrivals made a powerful impression on the trading cities and their rulers. The Portuguese were evidently invincible; defections to their cause grew; another of the samudri’s vassals, the king of Tanur, pledged his allegiance to the Portuguese when the fleet reached Cochin. The mood among the Muslims of Mecca darkened. One by one the trading ports were being closed to their business.
