Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c11.s2.t4.124

v1.c11.s2.t4.124

There were some special features of Vijayanagara rule which may be here mentioned. The most prominent of these was the despotic will of the monarch. This showed itself in those acts of absolutism which were perhaps inevitable in an age when the monarchs stood forth as the embodiment of might and power. Those were times when the ruler could dispose at will of the estates of a high official, as it happened in the case of Ambūr Khān, who fought a duel with Ibrāhim Qutb Khān. It is Nuniz who relates this in his *Chronicle*.⁴ Whether the fact of the Paravars of the Fishery Coast having sought the protection of the Jesuits and the Portuguese was in any way due to the tyranny of Muttu Kṛiṣhṇappa Nāyaka⁵ or to the theocratic designs of the former is a point which, for want of independent evidence, cannot be definitely determined.