Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c8.s3.1

v1.c8.s3.1

Ancient writers on polity have laid down definite rules as regards the means of communication between the city (pura) and the country (janapada). Although it is not possible at the present stage of our investigations to say in what respects the Vijayanagara monarchs and people followed in every detail the directions of the Hindu writers, yet it is not improbable that in most matters connected with the general well-being of the State, scrupulous care was bestowed by them on the observance of such of the rules that were most suited to their times. Hindu theorists like Śukrāchārya have, as is well known to students of Hindu polity, carefully considered the question of linking the capital with the country, and, consequently, the topic of building good roads for the comfort and convenience of travellers and for State purposes. An efficient government of a large empire like that of Vijayanagara for a period of nearly three centuries presupposes, in addition to other things, the existence of some means of communication. In this section we shall see to what extent the Vijayanagara people solved the question of land and water transport.