Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c14.s2.19

v1.c14.s2.19

The alleged matrimonial alliance, therefore, is not mentioned by a historian who was a contemporary of Firishtah.⁶ In the epigraphical records and Hindu literature there is no reference to it. In the light of all this it may reasonably be doubted whether Firishtah's statement can be given any credence at all.⁷ But a dynastic marriage especially between the Hindus and the Muhammadan royal families would, barring the taint of compulsion which was associated with conquest, have gone a long way towards softening the acrimonious differences which marked the relations between the two peoples in the mediaeval ages. That such an idea was not alien to the Hindu rulers is clear from the history of their dealings with the Christian princes of Europe. Dom Francisco de Almeida in A.D. 1505 on reaching Cannanore "assumed the title of Viceroy. He also received a visit from the minister of Narasimha Rao (Sāluva Narasimha) of Vijayanagar, who then ruled the chief portion of Southern India, who proposed an alliance of marriage between his master's daughter and the King of Portugal's son'.¹ How far this could be accepted as an historical fact cannot be determined for want of independent evidence.