Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s7.1

v1.c10.s7.1

The fact of the Hindu government having assessed revenue in money brings us incidentally to the question whether it had any treasury worth the name. We do not know whether the Vijayanagara State maintained the tradition of testing gold by stone which, we are told in an inscription dated A.D. 907, was known to the ancient Tamil people.¹ There are valid reasons to suppose, however, that a government like that of Vijayanagara, which dazzled the world with its splendour, must have had a gold treasury, and perhaps a diamond treasury as well. Foreign travellers, Hindu writers, and engravers are all unanimous about the existence of both in Vijayanagara. The opinion of 'Abdur Razzāq as regards the "universal practice" of the people bringing their revenue in gold to the mint, has already been cited. The Persian ambassador further tells us that the Daṇṇāyaka after his victorious return from Gulbarga, heard of the vile deeds of "Hambah Nunīr", and gave 'Abdur Razzāq "an assignment of 7,000 fanams on the mint the very day of his arrival".² The Portuguese chronicler Paes has the following to say about the treasury: "And now I wish you to know that the previous kings of this place for many years past have held it a custom to maintain a treasury, which treasury, after the death of each, is kept locked and sealed in such a way that it cannot be seen by any one, nor opened, nor do the kings who succeed to the kingdom open them or know what is in them. They are not opened except when the kings have great need, and thus the kingdom has great supplies to meet its needs. This king has made his treasury different from those of the previous kings, and he puts in it every year ten million *pardaos*, without taking from them one *pardao* more than for the expenses of his house. The rest remains for him, over and above these expenses and of the expenses in the houses of his wives, of whom I have already told you that he keeps near him twelve thousand women; from this you will be able to judge how great is the richness of this kingdom, and how great the treasure that this king has amassed".³ Then again, "Here I saw a little slab of green jasper, which is held for a great thing in this house. Close to where this jasper is, i.e., underneath some arches where is the entrance into the palace, there is a little door closed with some padlocks: they told us that inside it there was a treasury of one of the former kings".¹