Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c20.s3.71

v2.c20.s3.71

How far these accounts of the wealth of the public women of Vijayanagara were based on extravagant reports it is difficult to say; but admitting the possibility of their having been rich, it is doubtful whether they could have failed to enliven their quarters by their bickerings and broils which formed a feature of their lives. We have to read the following description of a quarrel between public women as given by the poet Kumudendu to form an adequate idea of the scene. Although this poet lived in about A.D. 1275, yet his words are as applicable to the times of the Vijayanagara monarchs as they are to those of the Hoysala rulers :