A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of IndiaSewell, Robert
History
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India
Sewell, Robert
Vijayanagar (Empire) -- History
The narrative being thus brought down to the close of the year 1443,
let us, before passing on, turn to other records and see what they
tell us about the reign of Deva Raya II. I have already stated that
he appears to have been very young at his accession in A.D. 1419. In
1443 he had already reigned twenty-four years. Now the Hakluyt
translation of Abdur Razzak's chronicle states that Razzak saw
King Deva Raya II. in 1443, and the India Office copy contains the
additional information that the king was then "exceedingly young." I
am not aware which version is the more accurate. But even if these
added words be accepted as part of the original, the difficulty is
capable of being explained away by the supposition that perhaps the
ambassador was presented to one of the princes and not to the king
himself. The king appears to have been in doubt as to whether the
traveller was not an impostor in representing himself as an envoy
from Persia, and may have refrained from granting a personal interview.
Several inscriptions of the reign are extant. One records a
proclamation made in the king's name in A.D. 1426.[117] According
to another bearing a date corresponding to Wednesday, October 16,
in the same year,[118] he caused a Jain temple to be erected in
the capital, in a street called the "Pan Supari Bazaar." This
temple is situated south-west of the temple marked as No. 35 on
the Government map. It is within the enclosure of the royal palace,
and close to the rear of the elephant stables still standing. The
king is honoured in this inscription with the full imperial title
of MAHARAJADHIRAJA RAJAPARAMESVARA. The site of this bazaar is thus
definitely established. It lay on either side of the road which ran
along the level dry ground direct from the palace gate, near the temple
of HAZARA RAMASVAMI, in a north-easterly direction, to join the road
which now runs to the Tungabhadra ferry through the fortified gate on
the south side of the river immediately opposite Anegundi. It passed
along the north side of the Kallamma and Rangasvami temples, leaving
the imperial office enclosure with its lofty walls and watch-towers,
and the elephant stables, on the left, skirted the Jain temple and the
temple numbered "35" on the plan, and passed along under the rocky
hills that bound this plain on the north till it debouched on the
main road above mentioned. This street would be the direct approach
from the old city of Anegundi to the king's palace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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