A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s5.t1.39

c13.s5.t1.39

The actual site of the city covers an area of nine square miles, but the fortifications and outposts include a space far larger. In the days of its greatness the capital was filled with magnificent granite edifices erected by forced labour, and adorned in the most lavish manner with every form of decoration agreeable to the taste of a semi-barbaric court. The extant detailed accounts of the glories of Vijayanagar in the sixteenth century recall the familiar stories of the Aztec capital as it was seen by its Spanish conquerors, the administration of both courts combining unbridled luxury with ferocious cruelty.