Mayimama Mārakkār was an Indian ambassador of the Zamorin ruler of Calicut. In 1504, he went on an embassy to the Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

 ruler in order to obtain an intervention against the Portuguese who were preying on India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

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He returned to India in 1508 with a Mamluk fleet of 12 ships, which, in combination with the local forces of Gujarat defeated a Portuguese fleet in the Battle of Chaul (1508)

Battle of Chaul (1508)

The Battle of Chaul was a naval battle between the Portuguese and an Egyptian Mamluk fleet in 1508 in the harbour of Chaul in India. The battle ended in a Mamluk victory. It followed the Siege of Cannanore in which a Portuguese garrison successfully resisted an attack by Southern Indian rulers...

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Mayimama Mārakkār had initially been a Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 merchant who had had a dispute with the Raja of Cananor, and following a complaint of the Raja had been gravely mishandled by the Portuguese Captain Vincent Sodre. He had held a desire for revenge since then.

Mayimama Mārakkār was killed in the 1508 naval encounter at Chaul

Chaul

Chaul is a former city of Portuguese India, now in ruins. It is located 60 km south of Mumbai, in Raigad District of Maharashtra state in western India....

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