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Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c23.s1: Section I Houses

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c23.s1

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Section I Houses

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FROM the accounts of foreign travellers we can gather some information about the food, dress and houses of the people and princes of Vijayanagara. Paes relates the following about the general situation of the royal palace: "This palace of the king is surrounded by a very strong wall like some of the others, and encloses a greater space (*teraa moor cerca*) than all the castle of Lisbon."[²] The same chronicler gives a detailed description of the royal palace, "The palace is on this fashion: it has a gate opening on to the open space of which I have spoken, and over this gate is a tower of some height, made like the others with its verandahs; outside these gates begins the wall which I said encircled the palace. At the gate are many doorkeepers with leather scourges in their hands, and sticks, and they let no one enter but the captains and chief people, and those about whom they receive orders from the Chief of the Guard. Passing this gate you have an open space, and then you have another gate like the first, also with its doorkeepers and guards; and as soon as you enter inside this you have a large open space, and on one side and the other are low verandahs where are seated the captains and chief people in order to witness the feasts, and on the left side of the north of this open space is a great one-storeyed building (terrea); all the rest are like it. This building stands on pillars shaped like elephants and with other figures, and all open in front, and they go up to it by staircases of stone; around it, underneath, is a terrace (corredor) paved with very good flagstones, where stand some of the people looking at the feast."¹

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² Sewell, For Emp., p. 254.

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¹ Sewell, For Emp., p. 263.

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The same Portuguese chronicler tells us why they were allowed to see the interior of the palace. "The king (Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya), then, being in his new city, as I have said, Christovão de Figueiredo begged him of his kindness that he would permit him to be shown the palace of the city of Bisnaga, forasmuch as there had come with him many Portuguese who had never been in Bisnaga, and they would rejoice to see it, in order to have somewhat to tell of on their return to their own lands, whenever God should take them there. The king at once commanded that they should be shown certain of his residences, for that of his wives no one ever sees. As soon as we had returned to the city of Bisnaga, the governor of that place, who is called Gamdarajo, and is brother of Salvatinica,² showed us the palace.

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² The "Guandaja" of Nuniz, Sewell, ibid., pp. 284, n. (1) 361. I believe this name stands for Sājuva Gōvinda Rāja, who has already figured in these pages. B. A. S.

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"You must know that on entering that gate of which I have spoken, by which the ladies serving the king's wives make their exit when they come to the feast, opposite to it there is another of the same kind. Here they bade us stand still, and they counted us how many we were, and as they counted they admitted us one by one to a small courtyard with a smoothly plastered floor, and with very white walls around it. At the end of this courtyard, opposite this gate by which we entered, is another close to it on the left hand, and another which was closed; the door opposite belongs to the king's residence. At the entrance of this door outside are two images painted like life and drawn in their manner, which are these; the one on the right hand is of the father of this king, and the one on the left is of this king. The father was dark and a gentleman of fine form, stouter than the son is; they stand with all their apparel and such raiment as they wear or used to wear when alive. Afterwards, wishing to pass in at this door, they again counted us, and after they had finished counting us we entered a little house which contained what I shall now relate.

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"As soon as you are inside, on the left hand, are two chambers one above the other, which are in this manner: the lower one is below the level of the ground, with two little steps which are covered with copper gilded, and from there to the top is all lined with gold (I do not say 'gilded' but 'lined' inside), and outside it is dome-shaped. It has a four-sided porch made of cane-work over which is a work of rubies and diamonds and all other kinds of precious stones, and pearls, and above the porch are two pendants of gold; all the precious stone-work is in heart-shapes, and, interweaved between one and another, is a twist of thick seed-pearl work; on the dome are pendants of the same. In this chamber was a bed which had feet similar to the porch, the cross-bars covered with gold, and there was on it a mattress of black satin; it had all round it a railing of pearls a span wide; on it were two cushions and no other covering. Of the chamber above it I shall not say if it held anything because I did not see it, but only the one below on the right side. In this house there is a room with pillars of carved stone; this room is all of ivory, as well the chamber as the walls, from top to bottom, and the pillars of the cross-timbers at the top had roses and flowers of lotuses all of ivory, and all well executed, so that there could not be better,—it is so rich and beautiful that you would hardly find anywhere another such. On this same side is designed in painting all the ways of life of the men who have been here even down to the Portuguese, from which the king's wives can understand the manner in which each one lives in his own country, even to the blind and the beggars. In this house are two thrones covered with gold, and a cot of silver with its curtains."¹

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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, pp. 284-6.

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Then they passed on to a courtyard which will be described in the following pages of this treatise. "Then at the entrance of this building in the middle nave, there is, standing on four pillars, a canopy covered with many figures of dancing-women, besides other small figures which are placed in the stone-work. All this is also gilded, and has some red colour on the under-sides of the leaves which stand out from the sculpture".²

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² Ibid., pp. 286-7.

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"Descending from this building, we passed on the left side of the courtyard, and we entered a corridor which runs the whole length of it, in which we saw some things. On entering the corridor was a cot suspended in the air by silver chains; the cot had feet made of bars of gold, so well made that they could not be better, and the cross-bars of the cot were covered with gold. In front of this cot was a chamber where was another cot suspended in the air by chains of gold; this cot had feet of gold with much setting of precious stones, and the cross-bars were covered with gold. Above this chamber was another, smaller, and with nothing in it save only that it was gilt and painted. Passing this chamber, along the same corridor in front was a chamber which this king commanded to be made; on the outside were figures of women with bows and arrows like amazons. They had begun to paint this chamber, and they told us that it had to be finer than the others, and that it was to be all plated with gold, as well the ground below as all the rest. Passing this corridor and mounting up into another which is higher, we saw at one end three caldrons of gold, so large that in each one they could cook half a cow, and with them were others, very large ones, of silver, and also little pots of gold and some large ones. Thence we went up by a little staircase, and entered by a little door into a building which is in this manner".¹ This was the royal dancing hall which will be described at length in the chapter on games and amusements. The concluding lines of Paes are significant: "They did not show us more than this (dancing hall). The residence of the women no one may see except the eunuchs, of whom I have already told you. From here we returned by the way we had entered to the second gate, and there they again counted us."²

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¹ Sewell, For. Emp. pp. 287-8.

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² Ibid., p. 289.

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Pietro della Valle in A. D. 1623, gives us a picture of the provincial palace at Ikkēri. "In this manner we rode to the Palace, which stands in a Fort, or Citadel, of good largeness, incompass'd with a great Ditch and certain ill built bastions. At the entrance we found two very strong, but narrow, Bulwarks. Within the Citadel are many Houses, and I believe there are shops also in several streets; for we pass'd through two Gates, at both of which stood Guards, and all the distance between them was an inhabited street. We went through these two Gates on Horse-back, which, I believe, was a privilege, for few did so besides our selves, namely such onely as entred where the King was; the rest either remaining on Horse-back at the first Gate, or alighting at the Entrance of the second. A third Gate also we enter'd, but on Foot, and came into a kind of Court, about which were sitting in Porches many prime Courtiers and other persons of quality. Then we came to a fourth Gate, guarded with Souldiers, into which onely we Franchi, or Christians, and some few others of the Country, were suffer'd to enter; and we presently found the King (Veṅkaṭappa Nāyaka), who was seated in a kind of Porch on the opposite side of a small Court, upon a Pavement somewhat rais'd from the Earth, cover'd with a Canopy like a square Tent, but made of boards, and gilded. The Floor was cover'd with a piece of Tapestry something old, and the King sat, after the manner of the East, upon a little Quilt on the out-side of the Tent, leaning upon one of the pillars which up-held it on the right hand, having at his back two great Cushions of fine white Silk. Before him lay his Sword, adorn'd with Silver, and a little on one side, almost in the middle of the Tent, was a small, eight-corner'd, Stand, painted and gilded, either to write upon, or else to hold some thing or other of his. On the right hand and behind the King, stood divers Courtiers, one of whom continually wav'd a piece of fine white linen, as if to drive away the flies from the King. Besides the King there was but one person sitting, and he the principal Favourite of the Court, call'd Pulapaaia, and he sat at a good distance from him, on the right hand, near the wall."¹

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¹ Pietro della Valle, *Travels*, II, pp. 250-2.

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As regards the houses of the nobles there are but meagre notices in the foreign accounts. In the course of his description of the manner in which the king of Vijayanagara started on his compaigns, Barbosa makes, as we saw in an earlier connection "a ridiculous statement" to the following effect: "When the time is fulfilled he issues a proclamation (ordering that the whole city shall be at once set on fire, saving the palaces, fortresses and temples, and those of certain lords which are not thatched...)"² But we may reject this last assertion on the strength of his own evidence and that of Paes. Barbosa in another passage says: "In the city as well there are palaces after the same fashion (i.e., "with many enclosed courts and great houses very well built", and with "wide open spaces, with water tanks in great numbers, in which there is reared abundance of fish"), wherein dwell the great Lords and Governoursthereof."¹ Paes writes about the "houses of captains and other rich and honourable men," with many "figures and decorations pleasing to look at."²

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² Barbosa, Dames, I, p. 225; Stanley, p. 97. Dames explains why this is "a ridiculous statement", ibid., n. (1)., The nobles had elaborate houses in Gingee. Heras, I. A., LIV., p. 43. See *supra* Volume I, p 144.

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¹ Barbosa, Dames, I, p. 202 ; Stanley, p. 85.

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² Sewell, For. Emp., p. 254.

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The houses of the ordinary people seem to have been of course modest in their appearance. The few details we have about them in the inscriptions are supplemented by the remarks of foreign travellers. Hindu tradition has always associated a house with a garden around it.³ In southern India there is good reason to believe that people lived in early times in houses built of bricks and burnt tiles.⁴ From an inscription dated A. D. 1372 we can make out that houses in Karṇāṭaka,—and we may as well presume, also in the Tamil land,—were built according to standard rules. The record narrates, as we have already seen, the activities of the Pañchāḷas, and speaks of the "Five foundations, . . . domes, pinnacles, crests and the sixteen signs of the original house, the signs of the sacrificial hall, the sign of the pit for consecrated fire, the sign of slopes, etc., according to standard rules, for these and all other signs."⁵

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³ Bāṇa, Harshacharita, p. 67. For some notices of houses in the Buddist times, see Acharya, Dicty. of Hind. Arch, p. 11.

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⁴ S. I. I., II, P. III, p. 360.

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⁵ E. C., IV, Gu. 34, p. 42, op. cit.

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That the people were not unacquainted with house-sites is evident from two records dated Śaka 1343 (A. D. 1421-2) and Śaka 1348, Parābhava (A. D. 1426-7) respectively. The former which belongs to the reign of Vira Bhūpati Oḍēyar, informs us that a gift of a house-site was made to a private individual.⁶ The latter contains the information that in the reign of Kumāra Dēva Rāya (II), eight house-sites in Jayaṅgoṇḍachōḷamaṇḍalam, being declared lost to the stānattār of Māḍanpākkam, and that fresh sites were given to them in the street of the Kaikkōḷar of the same town.⁷

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⁶ 653 of 1902.

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⁷ 319 of 1911.

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We can only assume that the size of the houses in Vijayanagara must have remained much the same as it was in the thirteenth century. In about A. D. 1297, the Brahmans (of Bogguvaḷḷi in Tarikere tāluka ?) made a settlement as to the size of the houses in the first and second rows, and of the gardens. It ran thus: *mahājanaṅgaḷu māḍida grāma samaya manē-prathama-nivēśanakke hannoṇḍu kayi dvitīya-nivēśanakke hattu kayi tōṇṭa-vṛttige kamba eṇṭu kaḷani-vṛttige henneraḍu-kayya agala nālvattu kayya agala ī-mariyādeyalu māḍida dhruva*¹.

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¹ *E. C.*, VI., Tk. 89, p. 123, text, p. 476.

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A record dated A. D. 1328 contains some additional details as regards the size of the houses. We are told in this inscription that there were some houses which measured six cubits in width and twenty cubits in length, others which were twelve cubits wide and twenty cubits long, and others still twelve cubits wide and thirty cubits long.²

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² *E. C.*, IV, Yl. 39, p. 31, op. cit.

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A copper-plate grant dated A. D. 1336, of doubtful authenticity, ascribed to the times of Bukka Rāya, gives us some idea of the cost of building a house. On the reverse of this grant we are told that Rāmaṇa Gauḍa, who along with five others had received certain villages from the king as a gift, borrowed 300 *nāṇanka varāha* from Rāma Reḍḍi for the construction of houses in the newly acquired plot.³ From a record dated A. D. 1393 we learn that houses had upper storeys (*māḷige*)⁴ They may have had their houses whitewashed in the manner Sāḷuva Gōparasa-ayyaṇ did the spires he had caused to be built for the temple of the god Raghunāyaka of Yajñavāṭika in Koṇḍavīḍu in Śaka 1442 (A. D. 1520-1)⁵

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³ S. R. Aiyangar, *Cat. of C. P.*, in the *Mad. Mus.*, No. 1, p. 42. The Śaka year given is 1001! The plate evidently cannot be relied upon for historical purposes.

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⁴ *E. C.*, X, Kl. 150, p. 53.

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⁵ *Ep. Ind.*, VI, p. 232. For house-building ceremony, see *Grihya Sūtras* (Śaṅkhāyana), Part I, 3 Adhyaya, Kaṇḍa 2, p. 92 *seq*.

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The remarks of foreign travellers on the habitation of the people are more numerous than those given in the inscriptions. We have had an occasion of citing the testimony of ‘Abdur Razzāq who speaks highly of the houses of Bidrūr, which were like palaces.¹ According to Barbosa, "The other houses of the people are thatched, but none the less are very well built and arranged according to occupations, in long streets with many open spaces."² Paes as usual has some interesting observations to make on this subject. While describing the first range of fortifications, he says "... and inside very beautiful rows of buildings made after their manner with flat roofs."³ Then, again, while dealing with Nāgalāpura: "In this city the king made a temple with many images. It is a thing very well made, and it has some wells very well made after their fashion; its houses are not built with stories like ours, but are of only one floor, with flat roofs and towers, different from ours, for theirs go from storey to storey. They have pillars, and are all open, with verandahs inside and out, where they can easily put people if they desire, so that they seem like houses belonging to a king. These palaces have an enclosing wall which surrounds them all, and inside are many rows of houses."⁴ Further, we have the following by the same chronicler: "... and (we) entered some beautiful houses made in the way I have already told you—for their houses are single-storeyed houses with flat roofs on top, although on top there may be other houses; the plan is good, and they are like terraces."⁵ Finally, while describing the population of the capital, he says: "Of the city of Bisnaga they say that there are more than a hundred thousand dwelling-houses in it, all one-storeyed and flat-roofed, to each of which there is a low surrounding wall...."⁶

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¹ Elliot, *Hist. of. India*, IV, p. 104 Supra, Volume I., pp. 74—5.

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² *Barbosa*, Dames, I, p. 202; Stanley, p. 85; Sewell, *For. Emp.* p. 129.

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³ Sewell, ibid., p. 244.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, p. 246.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, p. 286.

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⁶ *Ibid.*, p. 290.

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Caesar Frederick in A.D. 1567 remarked thus: "The houses stand walled with the earth, and plaine, all saving the three Palaces of the three tyrant Brethren, and the Pagodes which are Idoll houses: these are made with Lime and fine Marble."⁷

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⁷ Caesar Frederick, *Purchas, Pilgrims*, X, p. 97.

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Linschoten in A. D. 1583, while describing the " Canariins and Corumbiins ", says : " They dwell in little straw Houses, the doores whereof are so low, that men must creepe in and out, their household stuffe is a Mat upon the ground to sleepe upon, and a Pit or hole in the ground to beat their Rice in, with a Pot or two to seeth it in, and so they live and gaine so much, as it is a wonder."¹

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¹ Linschoten, Purchas, Pilgrims X., p. 262.

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Pietro della Valle noticed in A. D. 1623 a universal custom which escaped the attention of the previous travellers. " When we arriv'd at this Town (which he calls Tumbrē) we found the pavements of the Cottages were varnish'd over with Cow-dung mix'd with water; a custom of the Gentiles in the places where they are wont to eat, as I have formerly observ'd. I took it for a superstitious Rite of Religion; but I since better understand that it is us'd only for elegancy and ornament, because not using, or not knowing how to make, such strong and lasting pavements like ours, theirs, being made sleightly of Earth and so easily spoyl'd, therefore when they are minded to have them plain, smooth and firm, they smear the same over with Cow-dung temper'd with water, in case it be not liquid (for if it be there needs no water), and plaining it either with their hands, or some other instrument, and so make it smooth, bright, strong and of a fine green colour, the Cows whose dung they use never eating anything but Grass; and it hath one convenience, that this polishing is presently made, is soon dry and endures walking, or anything else, to be done upon it; and the Houses wherein we lodg'd we found were preparing thus at our coming, and presently dry enough for our use. Indeed this is a pretty Curiosity, and I intend to cause tryal to be made of it in Italy, and the rather because they say for certain that the Houses whose pavements are thus stercorated, are good against the Plague, which is no despicable advantage. Onely it hath this evil, that its handsomeness and politeness lasteth not, but requires frequent renovation, and he that would have it handsome must renew it every eight, or ten days; yet, being a thing easie to be done and of so little charge, it matters not for a little trouble which every poor person knows how to dispatch. The *Portugals* use it in their Houses at *Goa* and other places of *India*; and in brief, 'tis certain that it is no superstitious custom, but onely for neatness and ornament; and therefore 'tis no wonder that the *Gentiles* use it often and perhaps every day, in places where they eat, which above all the rest are to be very neat".¹

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¹ Pietro della Valle, *Travels* II, pp. 230-1.

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The above rather lengthy digression into the use of cow-dung is not altogether valueless, since it is a feature of the Hindu houses which deserves special mention because of its universality. Pietro della Valle has some more remarks to make on the houses inside the palace at Ikkēri. "Some say there are others within, belonging to the Citadel, or Fort, where the Palace is; for *Ikkeri* is of good largeness, but the Houses stand thinly and are ill built, especially without the third inclosure; and most of the situation is taken by great and long streets, some of them shadow'd with high and very goodly trees growing in Lakes of Water . . ."²

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² *Ibid*, p. 245. For some assumptions as regards houses in Vijayanagara, see Longhurst, *Hampi Ruins*, p. 111; for remarks on rural habitation in southern India, see Hayavadana Rao, *Q. J. M. S.* XIV, p. 318 *seq*.

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