Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c14.s1: Section 1. Treatment of Ambassadors
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c14.s1
- Language
- English
Section 1. Treatment of Ambassadors
v1.c14.s1.1
BITTER as were the relations between the Hindus and the Muhammadans, yet they were not without some redeeming features which shed a pleasant light on their mutual dealings. The Hindu State owed its origin to the spirit of resistance which confronted the Muhammadans when they swept over the southern peninsula in search of wealth and power; it was well-nigh shattered when the Sultans of the north formed a great coalition against their southern neighbours, whose increasing influence was a continual menace to the Muhammadans. The story of the alleged contempt that was shown by Rāma Rāja to an ambassador from the court of 'Ali 'Ādil Shāh, as given in the Bakhair, was only a flimsy veil which the Muhammadans used to cover the fact that their position as the rulers of a great part of southern India was incompatible with that of the Hindu sovereigns, whose power showed no sign of decline in the early part of the sixteenth century. From the time when poor Bahā-ud-dīn took shelter under the Rāja of Kampili till the dismal days of the battle of Rākshasa-Tangadi, the Hindus endeavoured to sow the seeds of mutual goodwill and respect, which, however, save in one or two notable instances, proved barren in the annals of the two peoples. It is with these attempts that we are concerned, since with their aid we can see the brighter side of the Hindu-Muhammadan relations in mediaeval ages.
v1.c14.s1.2
The Hindu rulers gave concrete expression to their desire to promote good feelings with their avowed enemies in their mode of receiving foreign ambassadors, in the aid which they gave the Muhammadans against their own enemies, in their willingness to enlist foreigners, and, finally, in promoting the cause of Islām in their Empire. The most trustworthy account of the treatment which the kings of Vijayanagara gave to foreign ambassadors is from the pen of 'Abdur Razzāq. The Persian ambassador gives us the details of the manner in which the emissaries were summoned and received, the rations that were allotted to them, and how they were dismissed from the royal presence. "They then brought a tray, and gave me two packets of betel, a purse containing 500 fanams, and about 20 miskāls of camphor, and, obtaining leave to depart, I returned to my lodging. The daily provision forwarded to me comprised two sheep, four couple of fowls, five mans of price, one man of butter, one man of sugar, and two varāhas in gold. This occurred every day. Twice a week I was summoned to the presence towards the evening, when the king asked me several questions respecting the Khākān-i-Sa'id, and each time I received a packet of betel, a purse of fanams, and some miskāls of camphor".¹ The Emperor assigned a lofty mansion to the Persian ambassador. "The author of this history who arrived at Bijānagar at the close of Zi-hijja, took up his abode in a lofty mansion which had been assigned to him, resembling that which one sees in Hirāt on the high ground at the King's gate".²
v1.c14.s1.3
¹ Elliot, Hist. of India, IV, p. 113; Major, India, p. 31.
v1.c14.s1.4
² Elliot, ibid., p. 112.
v1.c14.s1.5
But the Hindu rulers do not seem to have always been as generous towards foreign ambassadors as Dēva Rāya II had been to 'Abdur Razzāq. Nuniz tells us the following about the ambassador, whom he calls "Matucotam", from the court of 'Ali 'Adil Shāh: "As soon as he had thus settled himself the ambassador sent to inform the King (Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya) of his arrival, and begged that His Highness would grant him an audience and despatch him without delay. The King replied that he would see him, but told him that he should not be impatient since he himself had but now arrived, and that he would give him leave to depart as soon as the time had arrived. And with this the ambassador stayed there a month without the King having sought to see him, nor having asked to know why he had come; he went every day to the palace, and seeing the way in which the King acted towards him he determined to speak no more but to wait till the King summoned him".¹ According to the Bakhair of Rāma Rāja, the Mahaldar, who came also from the same court, was not ordered into the royal presence immediately on his arrival. "He (the Mahaldar) then considered with (in) himself that the Raja (i.e., Rāma Rāja) by not sending for him on his arrival to receive his Sovereign's letters, had shown great slight and contempt; yet (he thought) it was not prudent to open his mouth on this subject as it might not be to his honour. . ."²
v1.c14.s1.6
¹ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 350. ² Rama Raja Charitre, Mac-Coll, VII, India Office. ³ This name, also written Harcarah, seems to have been given to an ambassador or vakil in the mediaeval times. I believe it may have originally referred to the harikāra or an elephant courier. See E.C., VII, Hl. 7, dated A.D. 1204, p.
v1.c14.s1.7
This indiscreet ambassador, whose name is not given in the Bakhair of Rāma Rāja, was in no small measure responsible for the coalition of the Muhammadans against the Hindus. There is reason to believe that he was rather inaccurate in his estimate of the great Hindu Regent. For in the same account we are informed that the moment "he (the Mahaldar, or as he was also called 'Harracarra')³ came to the Gates (of the Capital), the Raja sent for his Dalavāy and ordered him to lodge the Mahaldar in the Ananda Mahall near Chaupesh-hazara".⁴ The Vijayanagara ruler at once "also ordered him (the Dalavāy) to defray all his (the Mahaldar's) expenses. The Dalavāy accordingly lodged the Public Messenger Harracarra there and defrayed his expenses agreeable to his rank and reported all these circumstances to the King".⁵ Even after the disagreeable incident of the fowls and the swine for which none but the Mahaldar was responsible, the Vijayanagara monarch "took pains to quiet his (the Mahaldar's) uneasiness and presented him with Clothes and Betle (suited to his rank) and despatched him apparently in good humour".¹
v1.c14.s1.8
¹⁵⁹ B.A.S. ⁴ Rama Rāja Charitre. ⁵ Ibid.
v1.c14.s1.9
¹ Rama Raja Charitre. ² Sewell, For. Emp., p.
v1.c14.s1.10
Rāma Rāja's generous attitude towards the foreign ambassador, in spite of the latter's provocative speech, as it is reported in the Rama Raja Charitre, was modelled on that of the benevolent Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya the Great. This monarch too dismissed the ambassador from the court of 'Ali 'Adil Shāh in the accredited manner with "a robe of silk and the cloths that are customary".² That the mode of dismissing foreign ambassadors was the same in early times in Vijayanagara can be seen by noting the remarks of 'Abdur Razzaq: "The king approved highly of my reply, and ordered that I should receive several bags of fanams and betel, and some fruits reserved for his special use".³
v1.c14.s1.11
The delay which marked the presentation of an ambassador to the king may have been caused by State reasons rather than by personal or religious causes. The prominence which the mischievous Mahaldar gave to the alleged contempt shown to him was perhaps his own creation. For, in the same account, we are told that it was on the day after his arrival that he sent a verbal message to the Regent thus: "Though Your Majesty has not sent for me at once to receive the letters I bear, as they are written on matters of particular importance, I request (that) Your Majesty will be pleased to order me into the Presence where on delivering them, you shall be informed of all other circumstances".⁴ On hearing this the "Rajadhiraja was satisfied with the message of the Mahaldar and ordered him to be conducted into his presence . . .".⁵ Rāma Rāja was evidently at a loss to know why 'Adi Ādil Shāh, to whom he was attached by mutual friendship, should have sent an express messenger to the Hindu court when the political horizon was uncommonly clear of all clouds of conflict. It is true that the Bakhair does not enlighten us on all these points relating to the alleged contempt shown to the Mahaldar. But from the attitude which the Hindu rulers generally bore to the foreign ambassadors, it may be assumed that they were not always guided by motives of pride or ill will towards their northern neighbours.
v1.c14.s1.12
³⁵² See also pp. 350-1 for the treatment given by the same ruler to the emissaries from foreign courts. ³ Elliot, Hist. of India, IV, p. 120. ⁴ Rama Raja Charitre. ⁵ Ibid.
v1.c14.s1.13
For they were truly hospitable to foreign emissaries. And that this was neither forced nor feigned is apparent from the accounts of the Portuguese chroniclers. Paes relates to us how Christavão de Figueiredo with many Portuguese went to see Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya: "When we came to this country the king was in this new town, and there went to see him Christovão de Figueiredo with all of us Portuguese that came with him, and all very handsomely dressed after our manner, with much finery; the king received him very well, and was very complacent to him. The king was as much pleased with him as if he had been one of his own people, so much attention did he evince towards him; and also towards those amongst us who went with him he showed much kindness . . . . The king gave to Christovão de Figueiredo on dismissing him a cabaya (tunic) of brocade, with a cap of the same fashion as the king wore, and to each one of the Portuguese he gave a cloth embroidered with many pretty figures, and this the king gives because it is customary; he gives it in token of friendship and love".¹
v1.c14.s1.14
¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.* pp. 251-2.
v1.c14.s1.15
The Vijayanagara monarchs maintained their high traditions in this matter in the later ages. Floris and some Englishmen were received by Veṅkaṭapati Rāya in A.D. 1614 in the following manner: "The nine and twentieth of July, arrived foure persons as Ambassadors, with my man Wengali", writes Peter Williamson Floris, "from the Great King of Narsinga or Velur, bringing me a Caul with his Abestiam (which is a white Cloth where his owne hand is printed in Sandall or Saffron) as also one from the Queene of Paleacatte, and diverse Letters from Jaga Raja, Tima Raja, Apocondaia and others. The King's Letter was written upon a leafe of Gold, wherein he excused the former fault done to us in Paleacatte desiring that now we would come into his Countrey and chuse a place to our best liking, and that there we should build a house or Castle according to our owne liking, with other priviledges. He gave me a Towne of about foure hundred pound of yearely revenue, with promise to doe more at my comming thither. . . . My man Wengali had beene in person before the King and spoken with him, the King laying his hand on his head, and presenting him with a Tesseriffe'.¹
v1.c14.s1.16
¹ Floris, Purchas, Pilgrims, III, p. 337.
v1.c14.s1.17
The Vijayanagara viceroys imitated their rulers in this as in other matters. Pimenta, A.D. 1599, tells us how he was received by the Nāyaka of Gingee. "The Naichus of Gingi was come thither, in whose Dominion it standeth. He commanded that we should be brought to his Presence. . . .He entertained us kindly, and marvelled much that wee chewed not the leaves of Betels which were offered us, and dismissed us with gifts of precious Cloths wrought with Gold, desiring a Priest of us for his new Citie which hee was building".²
v1.c14.s1.18
² Pimenta, ibid., X, p. 208. Cf. the method in which ambassadors were received in the seventh century A.D. Bāṇa, Harshacharita, p. 215.
v1.c14.s1.19
But the history of the Hindu-Muhammadan relations in mediaeval ages was not always one of mutual good will and exchange of costly presents. It was marked by actions and episodes which indicate as much the inebriated oriental recklessness of the Sultans as the uncommon haughtiness of the Hindu rulers. Firishtah quotes from the Thofut-us-Sulatin, written by Mulla Da'ūd, when the latter was only twelve years of age: "One evening, when the fragrance of the garden of pleasure had suffused the cheek of Mahmod Shah (Bāhmani I) with the rosy tinge of delight, a band of musicians sang two verses of Ameer Khusrow, descriptive of royal festivity; when the King, delighted beyond measure, commanded Mullik Seif-ood-Deen Ghoory to give the three hundred performers a draft for a gratuity on the treasury of the Raja of 'Beejanuggur'."³ Firishtah also relates how the Hindu king received this order of the Sultan. "The Raja, naturally haughty, and proud of his independence, seated the person presenting the order for the money on an ass, and having exhibited him through all the quarters of Beejanuggur, sent him back, after he had been subjected to every mark of contempt and derision".⁴
v1.c14.s1.20
³ Firishtah, Briggs, The Rise, II, pp. 308-9.
v1.c14.s1.21
⁴ Ibid., p. 309.
v1.c14.s1.22
But that was not the manner in which the Hindus treated the members of royalty. Firishtah tells us how Firūz Shāh Bāhmani tried to bring about a Hindu-Muhammadan alliance after inflicting a defeat on Dēva Rāya II in A.D.
v1.c14.s1.23
1406: "For forty days communication was open between the city and the King's camp, a distance of fourteen miles. Either side of the road was lined with booths of Mahomedans and Hindoos; while the jugglers, dancers, and buffoons of the Carnatic, displayed their skill to amuse passengers. Khan Khanan and Meer Fuzl Oolla were deputed, in great state, to Beejanuggur, with the customary present of a bridegroom; from whence, at the expiration of seven days, they brought the bride (i.e. the daughter of the Hindu king), with a rich portion and offerings from the Ray, to the King's camp. Dew Ray having expressed a desire to meet his son-in-law, Feroze Shah, in the excess of his politeness, consented to pay his father-in-law a visit, attended by his bride.
v1.c14.s1.24
"A day being fixed, the King proceeded with the bride to Beejanuggur, leaving the camp in charge of Khan Khanan. He was met on the road by Dew Ray in great state. From the gate of the city to the palace, being a distance of nearly six miles, the road was spread with cloths of gold, velvet, satin and other rich stuffs. The two monarchs rode on horseback together, between ranks of beautiful boys and girls, who waved over their heads plates of gold full of incense and silver flowers, which they scattered abroad, to be gathered by the populace. This ceremony being over, the inhabitants of the city, both men and women, made offerings according to their rank. After passing through a square in the centre of the city, the relatives of Dew Ray, who had lined the streets, made their obeisance, and joined the cavalcade, marching on foot before the two Kings. On their arrival at the palace gate, Feroze Shah and the Raja dismounted from their horses, and ascending a splendid litter, set with valuable jewels, were carried together to the apartments prepared for the reception of the bride and the bridegroom. Dew Ray then took his leave, and retired to his own apartments. The King, after being feasted magnificently for three days, took leave of the Ray, who pressed upon him richer presents than he had before given, and attended him for four miles on his way to his camp, before he returned to the city. Feroze Shah was offended, however, at his not going with him to his camp, and said to Meer Fuzl Oolla that he would one day have revenge for the affront offered him by such neglect. This remark being conveyed to Dew Ray, he made use of some offensive observations, so that, notwithstanding the union of the two families, their animosity was not allayed".¹
v1.c14.s1.25
¹ Firishtah, Briggs, The Rise, II, pp. 385-8; Sewell, For. Emp., p. 61.
Cites (2)
- Harṣacarita — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit
- Epigraphia Carnatica