Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c17.s1.1

v2.c17.s1.1

THE huge and costly forces, some aspects of which we have described, were necessary in an age when the rulers stood as champions of the thought and culture of the people. In the statement of an epitaph that Bukka-mahipati was a reincarnation of Kṛṣṇa, who "re-appeared as a king to deliver the world when it was overspread by *Mlechchhas*", we have one of the most salient features of the Hindu classical lawgivers expressed in terms of contemporary history. The Vijayanagara age, as we have elsewhere remarked, saw the resuscitation of Hindu life. And this was only possible with a revival of the ancient Dharma modified to some extent by the experience of ages.