125 In the kingdom of Calicut, the Panikkar who taught him, makes him a knight at his school, with the king’s permission, to serve him and receive his stipend. They hold a great celebration for him, in which they place a bare sword in one hand and an oval shield in the other. He gives the nair a certain sum of money and says the same words to him as I mentioned above, but they do not gird his sword. They take him from the school to the palace and order that he be put on the payroll, then they hand him two fanões, as thefirst payment of his wages. They consider this to be a great honour. Thus, they are all made knights before they live with the king or take up arms to defend anyone. Nevertheless, the King of Calicut knights some from leading families himself, just like the King of Cannanore, to honour and favour them. They are, however, few in number. When these nairs go to war, theyfight with the utmost commitment. They take the sword of the enemies they kill, and they work hard for it as they consider it a great honour. They and their relatives and friends immediately and joyfully take it to their king or the lord who they live with. They carry the sword they took in their right hand and their own sword in their left hand. Even if the king is far away from the battlefield, they still take it and present it to him with much joy. The king stands up and raises his hands towards the rising run and worships it; he then receives the sword and bestows much honour and favour on the nair who brought it to him and immediately orders the clerk to note it down, and gives the nair a gold bracelet, which he puts on his arm as an honour, bidding him farewell. He orders that the sword be put in a store where he keeps many others as souvenirs. Whenever these nairs go to live in the king or some other person’s service, from whom they will receive a stipend, they promise to die for him, and this law is upheld by most of them but some do not respect it. This is an obligation for all; thus if their king or lord is slain in a war, in
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