_ 134 _ petty kings again formed a group within the Bahman empire. However, this empire was disintegrating at the time when the Portuguese were establishing themselves in Malabar, and power was falling into the hands of the Adil Shahs of Bijapur, the Nizam Shahs of Ahmadnagar and the princes of Bidar and Golconde. These great changes had not interrupted the unending struggle between those sultanates and Vijayanagar, the great Hindu kingdom of the peninsula, whose rulers had conquered the south and built up a great empire extending from the Sea of Oman to the Bay of Bengal. Only the kingdoms of Malabar had been able to keep some degree of independence. This enduring struggle was a source of prosperity for the western ports which imported horses from Persia and Arabia for the cavalry of the powers involved. The trade was paid for in gold by sultans and rajahs and it made the fortune of Goa, which was situated on the frontier between the two rival blocs. From 1510 the chief beneficiary of this fortune was to be Portugal's Estado da India. The maritime existence of India's western coast was concentrated in the area of ports which had been active since ancient times. Cambay was difficult of access, but it was the great market of Gujarat, so much so that the
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