Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c3.1

v1.c3.1

I ACCEDE with pleasure to the request of Dr. B. A. Saletore, M.A., PH.D., that I should write a foreword to his work, *Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire*. This was the thesis accepted by the University of London for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1931. It is published, as it is stated, with a grant from the University of London. Dr. Saletore steers clear of the political history of the Empire of Vijayanagara and addresses himself to writing an account, mainly from epigraphical sources, from the works of foreign travellers, and, to some extent, from contemporary literature, of the social and political life of the people living in the empire. It will be seen from the actual division of chapters of the work that the author attempts to give a full picture of the life that the people led under the protection of the empire.