Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s3.t2.7

Language: English

v2.c18.s3.t2.7.1

There is one more consideration against Barbosa. From his description of the sati performed by the wives and queens of the Vijayanagara king, it appears that he witnessed personally one of those sad events. For he gives us the number of women who died with the king—four or five hundred; he speaks of the great pit and huge fire that was lit in it; and he says that "Some of these women throw themselves in suddenly while the king is burning, others with the ceremonies I have just described, and such is the rush as to who shall be burnt with him that it is a frightful thing". Now, we may be permitted to repeat one or two statements we made while describing the country in general. Duarte Barbosa "was in the service of the Portuguese Government in India from about 1500 till about 1516 or 1517".³ He gives us no date in his own writings,⁴ and it is difficult, if not impossible, to find out when he was in Vijayanagara. We know that his book was completed in A.D. 1517-18.⁵ Between the years when he is said to have visited India, two Vijayanagara monarchs had died—Sāḷuva Nṛisiṁha (A.D. 1496-1506) and Vīra Narasiṁha (A.D. 1504-9). The fact that Barbosa has not a word to say about either of these monarchs suggests that he may not have visited Vijayanagara till after the death of Vīra Narasiṁha in A.D. 1509. This supposition of ours is borne out by the statement of Barbosa about the wars which the ruler of Vijayanagara waged against the neighbouring states.

v2.c18.s3.t2.7.2

"This king of Narsyngua is offtimes at war with the King of Daquem and the King of Otisa (who is another Heathen king), which is also situated in the interior; and all these do one another all the injury they can".¹ The rulers referred to here are, of course, the Muhammadan Sultans of the Deccan and the king of Orissa. Fragmentary as the evidence for the reign of Sāḷuva Nṛisiṁha is, we may admit that that powerful king may have been at war with the "King of Daquen and the King of Otisa", especially when we know that shortly after A. D. 1489 in order to aid Qāsim Barīd of Ahmadabad against Yūsūf Ādil Khān of Bijapur, he seized the two important strongholds of Mudkul and Raichur.² Further, Rājanātha Diṇḍima in his *Sāḷuvābhyudayam* informs us that Sāḷuva Nṛisiṁha marched against Kaliṅga, besieged the capital, and compelled its ruler to surrender. Then, again, the same writer tells us that the Vijayanagara ruler at the instance of a chief who is called Kuṭavāchalēndraṭaṭavāsin, invaded Nāgamaṇḍala, stationed a garrison there, and while desiring to conquer Pṛithugiri, he was attacked by a Muhammadan army. He won a complete victory over the Muhammadans and justified his titles *Dharaṇīvarāha* and *Sāḷuvēndra*.³ According to Rājanātha Diṇḍima, who was the court poet of Sāḷuva Nṛisiṁha, the latter undertook his expedition against Kaliṅga soon after his coronation.⁴ We know that Sāḷuva Nṛisiṁha came to the throne in A.D. 1496.

v2.c18.s3.t2.7.3

We may allow two or three years for this campaign, and place the event in A. D. 1498 or 1499. Barbosa could never have been in the Hindu capital while the ruler undertook a war against the "King of Otisa", for the earliest date given to Barbosa is, as related above, A.D. 1500. There is one more point which we may note in this connection. Rāja-nātha, in spite of the fact that he describes the conventional tour of his royal master to Benares (Kāśi), does not mention anywhere the Sultans of the Deccan in the course of his narrative. These significant details make it impossible for one to believe that the ruler referred to by Barbosa could have been Sāḷuva Nṛisiṃha. As regards Vira Narasimha, it is not impossible that affairs at the capital were too engrossing to allow him to think of extending his frontiers in the north. We come now to Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya, who, as is well known, led his campaigns against the Sultans of the Deccan and the king of Orissa. The ruler mentioned by Barbosa has, therefore, rightly been identified with Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya.¹ This monarch ruled from A. D. 1509 to 1529.² We conclude, therefore, that Barbosa could not have any opportunity of witnessing the death of a Vijayanagara king who waged wars against the "King of Daquen and the King of Otisa"—in or about A. D. 1509 or A. D. 1514.³