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Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s6: Section 6. Some Features of the Army

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s6

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Section 6. Some Features of the Army

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Much can be gathered about this phase of their military life from foreign travellers. We shall deal with the method by which the Hindus mustered their troops, pitched their camp, conducted their campaigns and concluded peace. The very fact that the annual military review was held at the close of the great Mahānavami festival, and that during its course the king examined the troops in company with an image, which was obviously carried in a palanquin, suggests that the Vijayanagara monarchs attached some religious significance to their military manoeuvres. In the methods by which they summoned their army we have a further proof of the same sentiment. Barbosa tells us how the king went for war. "He then gives out in how many days from that time he will start, and this news runs through the whole city and kingdom. Thence he goes forth at once and fixes his camping ground in the open country where he awaits the time fixed for his advance. When the time is fulfilled he issues a proclamation [ordering that the whole city shall be at once set on fire, saving the palaces, fortresses, and temples, and those of certain lords which are not thatched and this he does in order]"¹ that all men shall attend with their wives and sons and households, all are ordered to go thither, for he says that men fight better if they have the responsibility of wives and children and household goods on them".² If wives and children, according to Barbosa, were also ordered to follow the soldiers, then, it is difficult to understand why the Government should have included "numerous unmarried women"—mentioned by the same traveller in the same passage—among the camp followers.

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¹ This "ridiculous statement" is explained by Dames, Barbosa, I., p. 225, n. (1).

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² Ibid., I., p. 225; Stanley, p. 97.

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The devoutness with which Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya the Great started on his campaign is thus described by Nuniz: "After the King had made his offerings and performed sacrifices to his idols he left the city of Bisnaga with all his troops; and they marched in the following order".³

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³ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 326.

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This must evidently have been after the customary consultation with the Brahmans and nobles who formed the King's Council. Firishtah, while narrating the events of a great campaign, which he assigns to the year A.D. 1366, relates that "The Raja, Kṛṣṇa Ray, on receiving the intelligence (of the movement of the Muhammadans) summoned the nobles of his court, and consulted on the best mode of opposing the Mahomedans".⁴

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⁴ Firishtah, Briggs, The Rise, II, p. 314; Sewell, ibid., pp. 36-7.

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The Rāyavāchakamu gives us an account of the military preparations of Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya prior to the siege of Sivanasamudra. After examining the treasury and army, and making all the necessary preparations for the expedition with the assistance of the able minister Appāji (Sāluva Timma), the Emperor entertained all the Bōya nobles (Dōras) and the men of the eighteen Kappaṇas (Kampaṇas? provinces?) at a grand feast. He then ordered them to proceed to a distance of about three āmaḍas (thirty miles) into the territories of the enemy, and gather from there men, cattle, sheep and goats, that they might not be available to the enemy. Leaving a company of horse to guard the city along with the minister Sāluva Timma, and ordering all the people of the viniyōgams [executive department?], he directed the war-drum to be sounded, and then set out for the city.¹

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¹ Rāyavāchakamu, The Sources, pp. 111, 118.

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But there are other interesting aspects of this question, and these relate to the manner in which the soldiers were stirred to action, and the activities of the poets and generals during a campaign. Firishtah informs us that during the expedition of A.D. 1366, the king "commanded the brahmins to deliver every day to the troops discourses on the merit of slaughtering the Mahomedans, in order to excite the zeal of his soldiers. He encouraged the brahmins, also to arouse their indignation, and confirm their hatred of the enemy, by representing them as the destroyers of temples, and of the images of their gods, and also as the slaughterers of cows".²

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² Firishtah, Briggs, The Rise, II, p. 314.

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The fact of the king delivering a speech to the soldiers before or during a campaign is also proved by what Nuniz says about one of the early kings of Vijayanagara. He describes the war which the king of Nagundy (Anegundi) waged with the king of Delhi. "Then the King of Bisnaga, seeing the determination of the soldiers of the King of Delly that they would never leave the place without making an end of those whom he had with him in the fortress, made a speech to them all, laying before them the destruction that the King of Dely had caused in his own kingdoms; and how, not content with that, he had besieged this fortress, so that now there was nothing for them to look to but death, since already there was no water in the fortress nor anything left to eat. And (he said) that of the fifty thousand men who had been in the city of Nagundy he had chosen them alone as his companions and true friends, and he begged of them that they would hold fast in death to the loyalty which they had borne him in their lives; for he hoped that day to give battle to the King of Delly. Then he said that already there remained to him of his kingdom and lordship nothing but that fortress and the people that were in it, and so he asked them to arm themselves and die with him in battle, giving their lives to the enemy who had deprived them of all their lands.

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"All of them were very content and glad at this, and in a short space were all armed; and after they were so the King made them another speech, saying, 'Before we join battle we have to wage another war with our sons and daughters and wives, for it will not be good that we should allow them to be taken for the use of our enemies'."¹

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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, pp. 294-5.

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Nuniz writes about a king whom he had never seen and about whom even the people of Vijayanagara could have had but dim recollection. Nevertheless on the evidence of Firishtah, who speaks of the events of A.D. 1366, one may be inclined to give some credit to the observations of Nuniz. On the strength of these two witnesses, it is not improbable that the Regent, as is related in the Bakhair,² may have delivered a speech to his soldiers on the battlefield of Rākshasa-Taṅgaḍi.

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² Mack. Coll.

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This method of infusing courage into the heart of the soldiers was not an invention of the Vijayanagara monarchs. Kauṭilya has laid down the following rules as regards the encouragement that was to be given to the army: "As to an open fight or fair fight, a virtuous king should call his army together, and, specifying the place and time of battle, address them thus: 'I am a paid servant like yourselves; this country is to be enjoyed (by me) together with you; you have to strike the enemy specified by me'. His minister and priest should encourage the army by saying thus: 'It is declared in the Vedas that the goal which is reached by sacrificers, after performing the final ablutions, in sacrifices in which the priests have been duly paid for, is the very goal which brave men are destined to attain'."³

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³ *Arthaśāstra*, Bk. X, Ch. III, 367, pp. 425-6.

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From the Muhammadan standpoint the Brahmans appealed to the baser instincts of the soldiers, confirming the hatred of the latter for the enemy by depicting them as destroyers of temples, images and cows. But according to the ancient Hindu lawgivers, the Brahmans in Vijayanagara were only doing what was laudable, since Manu had decreed that they should instigate the soldiers by laying stress on the supreme need of self-sacrifice for the sake of the Brahmans, cows and women. For, according to him, "dying without the expectation of a reward, for the sake of Brahmans and of cows, or in the defence of women and children, secures beatitude" to the soldiers.¹ Those who delivered speeches to the army in Vijayanagara times must also have been acquainted with the injunctions of Manu as regards the duties of Kshatriyas on the battlefield.²

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¹ Manu, X., 62, p. 416. But this refers to those excluded from the Aryan community.

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² Ibid., VII., 87-95, pp. 230-1.

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The Rāyavāchakamu says that when Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya was ready to proceed against Koṇḍavidu, the court poets commemorated the event by composing two triumphal verses in honour of the king.³

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³ Rāyavāchakamu, The Sources, p. 122. See infra.

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The third feature of the Vijayanagara army was the encouragement given to the soldiers by the king who presented to them precious ornaments and bestowed on them the unique distinction of receiving betel leaf and nut at the royal hands. There is reason to suppose that this latter practice was the acknowledged mode of conferring on warriors and statesmen great honour in southern India. Before we deal with its political significance, we may note that on the eve of a great conflict, the king gave costly presents to the generals and soldiers. The Brahmans also came in for their share of the royal labour. On the battlefield of Rākshasa-Taṅgaḍi, Rāma Rāja, according to the Bakhair, presented the Brahmans with 50,000 gold pieces as alms. To the nobles the great Regent gave valuable jewels of stones, bracelets, necklaces, ear jewels, crowns, "caustobhāram, culkeetoorayyes" and to the feudatories, the finest new cloths. The same honour was extended even to the jamadars who were presented with rich gifts.⁴ We may assume that the generous Regent, who cared to win the confidence of the jamadars, would not have passed over in silence the claims of the rank and file on that memorable occasion.

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⁴ Mack. Coll.

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The traditional custom of permitting soldiers and generals to accept betel leaf at the royal hands was common in southern India since early times. It does not figure in the *Arthaśāstra* nor is it mentioned in the *Śukranīti*. The author of the latter mentions the preparation and preservation of betel among the *kalās*.¹ One may venture to suggest that this particular custom may have originated in the south. When victory hung in the balance, the commander called some noted chieftain to lead a forlorn hope, and devote his life to gain the day. To be chosen for such an enterprise was always represented as a great honour and the charge was confirmed with the presentation of betel leaf to the champion from the hand of his chief.² Thus in A.D. 1276 by order of Rāmachandra Dēva, the Yādava king, Timma of Sātuvali with the betel bearers (*haḍpadavaru sahitam*) opposed the force of Kumāra Bommarasa, stirred up the enemy, stopped their army, captured and slew them.³ In the eleventh year of the same monarch (A.D. 1282) Bommarasa's son Tammiyarasa along with another chieftain laid siege to a fortress (probably Hosaguṇḍa) and sending for Kōḍi Nāyaka's son, Soḍḍiga Nāyaka, honoured him with betel leaf, and giving him an order, saying "Fight and help in battle". On which, that able bodied Soḍḍiga, taking the betel leaf from the hand of his ruler, entered into the fight, pierced the horse and men, distinguished himself, and gained the world of gods.⁴

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¹ Śukranīti, II, ll. 410-11, p. 84; Sarkar, Pos. Back., I, pp. 187-8.

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² Rice, Mysore & Coorg, p. 171.

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³ E.C., VIII., Sa. 69-70, pp. 104-5.

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⁴ Ibid., Sa. 86, p. 107. Sa 84-5 of the same date evidently refer to the same episode.

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This usage was by no means confined only to the Yādavas of Dēvagiri, and their feudatories in the north of the Karṇāṭaka. Kōṭe Sōmeya Nayaka was the ruler of Paṭṭi Pombuchchapura (mod. Humacha, Nagar tāluka) in A.D. 1290. He marched against Baṅki Nāyaka and pitched his camp in Kānilachelave. In the course of the siege, Sōyya (i.e., the ruler Sōmeya Nāyaka) called Masūr Jakkaya's son Bammeya Nāyaka and "giving him betel leaf from his tray (*pariyāḷada viḷeyava koḍut int endam*) and holding him with his lotus hands, directed him in the full character of hero to conquer the hill fort".⁵ Three years later (A.D. 1293) Kōṭi Nāyaka, the ruler of Sētu, sent for Bīre Nāyaka, and ordered him thus: "Recover the cows which the daḷavāyi of the Yādava family, Paraśurāma Dēva by his servant Mojoru has impounded, and come", and giving him betel leaf said, "March with all your army". Bīre Nāyaka hastened away with his army, released the cows but fell in the fight with the Yādava general Paraśurāma Dēva.¹

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⁵ Ibid., Nr. 33, p. 133.

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¹ E.C., VIII, Sa. 102, p. 110.

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These instances prove that a great political significance was attached to the betel leaf in early times. It has no doubt played a conspicuous part in the social life of the people about which we shall relate in detail in a subsequent connection. In the political sphere too its importance was equally felt. Twenty-five people (named) of the Eighteen Kampanas of the Āraga-vēṇṭhe, agreeing among themselves, in A.D. 1404 granted a vile or betel leaf to Virappa Oḍeyar, the Viceroy of Āraga, stating that since they were unable to plough all the land, (obviously in the village of Bondi, in Mēlubhāgi of Maduvaṅka-nāḍ), they gave it to the Viceroy for twenty-five hon to provide offerings for the god Kalinātha of the Mūlasthāna of Āraga, on the specific understanding that they had no further connection with that land of the Bondi village, having bestowed it, in the presence of witnesses, of their own free will.²

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² Ibid., Tl. 10, p. 164. See also ibid., Tl. 9.

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Foreign travellers do not tell us that the ancient custom of presenting generals with betel leaf prevailed in Vijayanagara. Their remarks are mainly confined to the importance of the betel leaf in the every day life of the people. But the Rāyavāchakamu narrates many events of the time of the great Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya. During his northern campaign, he came to know, chiefly through his spies, the atrocities committed by the Muhammadans in his own territory to the south of the Kṛṣṇa. Summoning the chief of his amara-nayakas, Pemmasāni Rāmaliṅga, he told him about the Muhammadan advance to the south, and consulted him how best to act under the circumstances. The general Pemmasāni Rāmaliṅga said that it was no serious matter, and assured him that he could, if entrusted with the attack, march into the enemy's camp and cut the ropes of their tents. He also gave other advice at which the Emperor presented him with betel and nut in token of his approval of Pemmasāni Rāmaliṅga's leading the attack.¹ From the Bakhair we learn that on the eve of the great battle, Rāma Rāja caused immediately the arrears of the army and their pay to be disbursed accompanied with betel leaf.²

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¹ Rāyavāchakamau, *The Sources*, pp. 112, 119. ² Mack. Coll., op. cit. ³ Firishtah, Briggs, *The Rise*, III, pp. 241-2; Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p.

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Firishtah narrates that one of the conditions imposed by Vijayanagara on Husain Nizām Shāh I, in A.D. 1559, was that he "should submit to pay Ramraj a visit, and receive a *pān* (betel leaf) from his hands". The Sultan came to the Hindu court and gave the keys of Kallyān to Rāma Rāja, and said, " 'I give them to you as a present'. Ramaraj immediately sent them to Ally Adil Shah, and gave Hoossein Nizam Shah *pān* . . ."³

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