The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c16.52

v1.c16.52

Was this sack so destructive as it has been supposed? I regret to say that Mr. Sewell, whom we may rightly call the pioneer historian of Vijayanagara, has completely misdescribed the state of Vijayanagara as caused by the Muhammadans during those six months⁵. More than three centuries have elapsed since those memorable days, and time is as sure a destroyer as man. His statement is perhaps founded on the Muhammadan authors, who seem to give a picture of a most tremendous havoc. Ferishta says: "They plundered, rased the chief buildings to the ground and committed every species of excess" ¹. The anonymous chronicler states that "the conquerors were directed to the destruction of the stone buildings" ², and Ali ibn Aziz relates that during their stay they were busy "destroying the temples and dwellings of the idolaters and utterly laying waste all the buildings of the country" ³. I do not doubt that many a temple was desecrated in those days, that many idols were partially broken or completely destroyed, or that several shrines were, perhaps, razed to the ground by the fanatical iconoclasts; but I cannot admit Ferishta's saying, that the chief buildings were razed to the ground, for the simple reason that the chief buildings of the capital of the old Hindu Empire may be partly seen even now. The huge imposing basements both in the royal enclosure and in the zenana; the partly destroyed gopurams of the Vitthalaswami, Krishna and Achyuta Temples, of which only the brick-work has partially disappeared; the beautiful well-kept gopuram of the Pampapati temple at Hampi, one of the first the invaders saw on their coming from Anegundi; even the two small shrines of Ganesa between the Hampi temple and the one of Krishna, of which not a stone has crumbled down after three centuries, are manifest proof of the exaggeration in Ferishta's statement. His religious prejudice against the idols and the temples of the unbelievers made him suppose things done in the imperial city of which its invaders were never guilty.