Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c17.s2.3

v2.c17.s2.3

Inscriptional evidence proves that the Hindu monarchs were Defenders of the Dharma; foreign travellers attest to the fact that their Empire, specially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was almost unrivalled for its riches and splendour. The Vijayanagara monarchs realized that material wealth was indispensable for the attainment of freedom of any kind. There was of course nothing new in this: Śukra had already expressed the mediaeval view in the following words: "Man is the slave of wealth, not wealth of anybody. So (one) should always carefully labour for wealth. Through wealth men get virtue, satisfaction and salvation"¹. The ultimate significance of such a conception was indeed profound; it meant that the life of an average citizen was to be governed by considerations of material wealth rather than by those of metaphysical calculations. We may be permitted to repeat that there is no definite evidence to prove that the mediaeval treatise of Śukrāchārya influenced the thought and action of the Hindu rulers. Nevertheless we may assert, on the evidence of both foreign and indigenous accounts, that the Vijayanagara monarchs achieved remarkable success in co-ordinating the apparently divergent lines of action enunciated by legists from Manu down to Śukrāchārya.