Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c20.s4: Section 4. The Seraglio
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c20.s4
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Section 4. The Seraglio
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As already remarked in connection with the description of sati, it appears almost certain that it was a fashion in those days for men, especially among the wealthy classes, to have many wives. Inscriptions contain notices of the many wives of rulers as well as subjects. Thus, for example, in A.D. 1120, Dēmiyakkā is said to have been the chief wife among the wives of the merchant Chāmuṇḍa Seṭṭi, "who was beloved by many kings," and "who protected the merchants from the rakshasa, the Kali age."¹ Śāntala Dēvī, the queen of the Hoysala king Viṣṇuvardhana, according to an inscription dated A.D. 1131, was "a furious elephant to her haughty co-wives."² The Hoysala king Narasimha Dēva, as an inscription dated A.D. 1161 relates, had 384 wives.³
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¹ E.C., II, No. 49, p. 128 (1st ed.).
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² Ibid., No. 53, p. 133.
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³ E.C., V, P. I, Bl. 193, p. 106.
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The harem of the Hindu rulers of Vijayanagara has received particular attention at the hands of foreign travellers. Nicolo dei Conti thus informs us: "Their king is more powerful than all the other kings of India. He takes to himself twelve thousand wives, of whom four thousand follow him on foot wherever he may go, and are employed solely in the service of the kitchen. A like number, more handsomely equipped, ride on horseback. The remainder are carried by men in litters, of whom two thousand or three thousand are selected as his wives on condition that at his death they should voluntarily burn themselves with him, which is considered to be a great honour for them".⁴
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⁴ Major, India, p. 6.
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‘Abdur Razzāq gives a more sober estimate of the inmates of the harem in his description of the properties of the betel-leaf. "It is probably owing to the stimulating properties of this leaf, and to the aid of this plant that the king of that country is enabled to entertain so large a seraglio; for it is said that it contains as many as 700 princesses and concubines." In the same passage the Persian ambassador has some further remarks to make on the policy adopted by the rulers in their seraglio. "With respect to all these establishments no male child is permitted to remain in them after attaining the age of ten years. Two women do not dwell together in the same apartment, each one having her concerns separate. When any beautiful girl is found throughout the whole kingdom, after the consent of her father and mother has been purchased, she is brought in great state to the harem, after which no one can see her; but she is treated with great consideration."1
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Barbosa has the following to add: "The king and the country-people marry almost in our way, and have a marriage-law; yet they marry several wives, especially the rich who are able to maintain them. The king has in his palace many women of position, daughters of great lords of the realm, and others as well, some as concubines, and some as handmaids. For this purpose the fairest and most healthy women are sought throughout the kingdom, that they may do him service with cleanliness and neatness..."2 Barbosa gives us some more details about the harem: "They (the women) sing and play and offer a thousand other pleasures as well to the king. They bathe daily in the many tanks, of which I spoke above, as kept for that purpose. The King goes to see them bathing, and she who pleases him most is sent for to come to his chamber. The first son born, whether of one woman or another, is heir to the kingdom. There is such envy and rivalry among these women with regard to the King's favour, that 'some kill others' and some poison themselves".³
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³ Ibid, I, p. 208; ibid., pp. 88-9.
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This evidence of Barbosa cannot be reconciled with that given by Paes as regards the discord between the wives of the king, and especially as regards the question of appointing an heir to the kingdom. Paes discreetly observes the difference between the principal queens, the lawful wives, and the other inmates of the harem. "This king (i.e., Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya)," says Paes, "has twelve lawful wives, of whom there are three principal ones, the sons of each of these three being heirs of the kingdom, but not those of the others; this is (the case) when there are sons to all of them, but when there is only one son, whosoever he may be, he is heir."[1] It is this last assertion of Paes which we meet with in the statement of Barbosa given above, that "the first son born, whether of one woman or another, is heir to the kingdom".
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¹ Elliot, Hist of India, IV, pp. 114-15. That 'Abdur Razzāq is correct when he says that those who entered the harem were not permitted to visit their parents afterwards, is seen when we compare what he says with what the beautiful girl of Mudkul told her parents when she refused to accept the necklace sent by the king of Vijayanagara. See supra, pp. 131-3.
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² Barbosa, Dames, I, p. 208; Stanley, p. 88.
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Paes continues to give details of the harem thus: "One of these principal wives is the daughter of the King of Orya (i.e., the Gajapati king, evidently), and others, daughters of a king his vassal who is king of Serimgapatao; another wife is a courtezan whom in his youth he had for mistress before he became king, and she made him promise that if he came to be king he would take her to wife, and thus it came to pass that this courtezan became his wife. For love of her he built this new city,[2] and its name was ... Each one of these wives has her house to herself, with her maidens and women of the chamber, and women guards and all other women servants necessary; all these are women, and no man enters where they are, save only the eunuchs, who guard them. These women are never seen by any man, except perhaps by some old man of high rank by favour of the king".[3]
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If this was the case, the assertions made by Barbosa about the amorous activities of the king and the manner in which the selection of an heir to the throne was made, may be accepted with caution, since Barbosa could never have been an eye-witness to the things which he has described in connection with the seraglio.
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We shall proceed with the account of Paes. "When they wish to go out they are carried in litters shut up and closed, so that they cannot be seen, and all the eunuchs with them, fully three or four hundred; and all other people keep a long distance from them. They told us that each one of these queens has a very large sum of money and treasure and personal ornaments, namely, armlets, bracelets, seed-pearls, pearls and diamonds, and that in great quantity: and they also say that each of them has sixty maidens adorned as richly as could possibly be with many jewels, and rubies and diamonds and pearls and seed-pearls".¹
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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 247. In this connection we may mention that the later monarchs also had more than two wives. Veṅkaṭapati Dēva II married four wives. Heras, *Aravidu*, pp. 495, 502. Śrīraṅga Rāya VI married three wives. *The Sources*, p. 311.
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² Paes refers to the town of Nāgalāpura. Nāgalāpura may also have been named after Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya's mother called Nāgalādēvi. See *Ep. Ind.*, I, p. 370, n. 65; *Kavicharite*, II, p. 189. B. A. S.
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³ Sewell, *ibid.*, pp. 247-48.
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¹ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 248.
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How far Barbosa's words about the rivalry between the queens are reliable is seen by comparing his account with that of Paes on the same subject. "These three principal wives have each the same, one as much as the other, so that there may never be any discord or ill feeling between them; all of them are great friends, and each one lives by herself".²
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² Ibid., p. 249.
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The manner in which the king summons his wives is also given by Paes. "The king lives by himself inside the palace, and when he wishes to have with him one of his wives he orders a eunuch to go and call her. The eunuch does not enter where she is, but tells it to the female guards, who make known to the queen that there is a message from the king, and then comes one of her maidens or chamber-women and learns what is wanted, and then the queen goes where the king is, or the king comes where she is, and so passes the time as it seems good to him without any of the others knowing".³
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³ Ibid., p. 249. Paes confounds all the women—12,000 according to him—in the royal service with the wives of the king in the passage we have already cited. See ibid., p. 282.
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About these eunuchs Paes relates they they guarded both the apartments of the king and of the queens. To the remarks we have cited in this connection, we may add the following: "Amongst these eunuchs the king has some who are great favourites, and who sleep where he sleeps; they receive a large salary".¹ According to him, "fully three or four hundred" eunuchs formed the escort of the queens.²
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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 249.
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² *Ibid.*, p. 248, op. cit. The harem of the Hindu rulers may be compared with that of contemporary Muhammadan monarchs. In the seraglio of Firūz Shāh, each wife of the king had three attendants; there were mistresses of all nationalities; and the king was able to converse with every one of them in her own language. See Firishtah, Briggs, *The Rise*, II, pp. 369-70.