Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s3.t2.23

v1.c15.s3.t2.23

The Persian ambassador tells us that "the sipāhīs receive their pay every four months, and no one has an assignment granted to him upon the revenues of the provinces".⁵ According to 'Abdur Razzāq, therefore, the military organization was thoroughly centralized. But the Portuguese travellers do not agree with him as regards the time when the soldiers received their pay, although all of them admit that the State disbursed salaries to its soldiers. In a passage already cited above, Paes informs us that it was their custom to pay salaries year by year.⁶ In another connection he tells us: "Each of these captains labours to turn out the best troops he can get because he pays them their salaries . . .".⁷ Perhaps the rulers of Vijayanagara might have introduced a reform as regards the time of the disbursement of the salaries to the soldiers, after the days of Dēva Rāya II. But it is certain that, as Barbosa narrates, they had pay books on which the names of the soldiers with all necessary details, remained enrolled.¹