Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s2.t2.1

v1.c15.s2.t2.1

It may be doubted whether any other part of the Vijayanagara was so important as the cavalry. The foreign policy of the rulers was to a large extent governed by the necessity of securing for themselves a continuous supply of horses from Ormuz, and they were thus brought into close contact with the Portuguese in Goa. This was, as remarked elsewhere, due to a dearth of good horses in the Empire.¹ The Hindu rulers were so obsessed with the idea of controlling a monopoly of horses for their State that they were blind to the fact that their endeavours in this direction only aided a foreign power to settle down permanently on the west coast of their Empire.² This had an abiding effect on the history of the land. But, for the moment, the Vijayanagara monarchs allowed principles of profit to over-ride the greater question of the stability of their Empire.