Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s4.2

v1.c15.s4.2

"Dew Ray, upon this gave orders to enlist Musulmans in his service, allotting to them estates, and erecting a mosque for their use in the city of Beejanuggur. He also commanded that no one should molest them in the exercise of their religion, and, moreover, he ordered a Koran to be placed before his throne on a rich desk, so that the faithful might perform the ceremony of obeisance in his presence without sinning against their laws.¹ He also made all the Hindoo soldiers learn the art of archery; to which both he and his officers so applied themselves, that he could soon muster two thousand Mahomedans, sixty thousand Hindoos well skilled in archery, besides eighty thousand cavalry, and two hundred thousand infantry, armed in the usual manner with pikes and lances".²