Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c25.s2: Section 2. Games and Amusements

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c25.s2

Language: English

Section 2. Games and Amusements

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Great importance was attached to games in Vijayanagara times. The few bas-reliefs which to are be found in the neglected hamlet of Hampi, depict some phases of the brighter side of the life of the people of Vijayanagara. The most prominent among these bas-reliefs are those related to dancing and music. Never was dancing held in greater esteem in the history of southern India than in the days of the Vijayanagara kings. From the earliest times of Indian history in the north as well as in the south, music and dancing were considered great accomplishments. Without entering into further details about the position these two arts occupied in the life of the people in pre-Vijayanagara days,¹ we may observe that the traditions which the Tamil rulers handed down to the medieval monarchs as regards the patronage that was to be accorded to dancing and music, carried with them one or two significant considerations which may be found interesting in our estimate of Vijayanagara history. An epigraph of the twelfth century relates that, on the eighth night of the Āvaṇi festival, the Chōḷa king Rājarāja III attended the dancing of agamārga performed by a lady who bore the title Uravakkinan-talaikkoli. Ancient Tamil literature informs us that ladies who were acknowledged experts in dancing were favoured by the kings with a special mark of honour and were invested with the title of talaikkoli. The investiture of this title was preceded by a grand ceremony and was followed by the presentation of a staff embellished with nine gems and covered with gold plates.²

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¹ For some notices on music and dancing, see S. I. I., II, P. III, 299; III, P. III, p. 378, A. S. R., for 1924-5, pp. 120-1.

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² A. S. R. for 1921-2, p. 117. An inscription of the times of Kulōttunga III, also introduces a lady with the title of Talaikkoli.

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We know that dancing in the Karṇāṭaka was also popular from references in inscriptions. Even the titles of Jaina sages were associated with the ideas of dancing. Thus Prabhāchandra Dēva in A. D. 1139 is called Sukara-kavi-nivāsam Bhārati- This page appears to be blank, except for a faint, rectangular impression in the center, likely from a plate or illustration on the opposite page. There is no text to transcribe.

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Dancing Scenes. [Vol. II, p. 408.]

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nrityarangam.¹ There were royal dancing-girls in the Karṇāṭaka. Mangāyi of Belguḷa, a lay disciple of Chārukīrti Paṇḍita Āchārya, is called *Rāyapātra-chūḍāmaṇi* (a crest jewel of royal dancing-girls).²

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¹ E. C., II, No. 141, p. 67 (2nd ed.).

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² Ibid., No. 341, p. 145 (2nd ed.). For the different postures as given in the *Bhāratīya Nāṭyaśāstra*, and as depicted on the walls of Chidambaram, see *Ep. Rep.* for 1914, p. 74, *seq.*

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While describing the *Mahānavami* festival and also the status women occupied in Vijayanagara, we remarked that Nuniz, Paes and Abdur Razzāq were struck by the beauty of the dancing-girls and the dexterity of their movements. The daily routine of the *dēvadāśis* who belonged to a temple in a city which Paes calls "Darcha" has been thus described by him. "They (i.e., the Brahmans) feed the idol every day, for they say that he eats; and when he eats women dance before him who belong to that pagoda, and they give him food and all that is necessary, and all girls born by these women belong to the temple."³

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³ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, pp. 241-2.

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As regards the *dēvadāśis* attached to the palace, Nuniz relates the following: "Every Saturday the dancing-girls are obliged to go to the palace to dance and posture before the King's idol, which is in the interior of his palace."⁴

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⁴ Ibid., p. 379.

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There was a dancing-hall for the ladies of the royal household. This is proved by the following statement of Paes: "Thence we went up by a little staircase, and entered by a little door into a building which is in this manner. This hall is where the king sends his women to be taught to dance. It is a long hall and not very wide, all of stone sculpture on pillars, which are at a distance of quite an arm's length from the wall; between one and another is an arm's length and a half, perhaps a little more. These pillars stand in that manner all around the building; they are half-pillars (?) made with other hollows (?) all gilt. In the supports (or pedestals) on the top are many great beasts like elephants, and other shapes; it is open so that the interior is seen, and there are on the inner side of these beasts other images, each placed according to its character; there are also figures of men turned back to back and other beasts of different sorts. In each case from pillar to pillar is a cross-bar (the architrave) which is like a panel, and from pillar to pillar are many such panels; there are images of old men, too, gilded and of the size of a cubit. Each of the panels has one placed in this way. These images are over all the building. And on the pillars are other images, smaller, with other images yet more subordinate, and other figures again, in such a way that I saw this work gradually diminishing in size on these pillars with their designs, from pillar to pillar, and each time smaller by the size of a span and it went on, becoming lost; so it went dwindling gradually away till there remained of all the sculptured work only the dome, the most beautiful I ever saw. Between these images and pillars runs a design of foliage, like plates (*a maneyra de lamines*), all gilt, with the reverses of the leaves in red and blue, the images that are on the pillars are stags and other animals, they are painted in colours with the pink on their faces; but the other images seated on the elephants, as well as those on the panels, are all dancing women having little drums (tom-toms).

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"The designs of these panels show the positions at the ends of dances in such a way that on each panel there is a dancer in the proper position at the end of the dance; this is to teach the women, so that if they forget the position in which they have to remain when the dance is done, they may look at one of the panels where is at the end of that dance. By that they keep in mind what they have to do.

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"At the end of this house on the left hand is a painted recess where the women cling on with their hands in order better to stretch and loosen their bodies and legs; there they teach them to make the whole body supple, in order to make their dancing more graceful. At the other end on the right, in the place where the king places himself to watch them dancing, all the floors and walls where he sits are covered with gold, and in the middle of the wall is a golden image of a woman of the size of a girl of twelve years, with her arms in the position which she occupies in the end of a dance."¹

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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, pp. 288-9. ² E. C., XII., Kg. 29, p. 36. ³ Kōlu? Grey erroneously connects this word with Kāli. Pietro della Valle, *Travels*, II., p. 258, n. (2).

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Kolatam. [Vol. II, p. 411.]

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The name of this dancing-hall which Paes was fortunate enough to see cannot be determined from his account. But it is quite possible that it may have been called by the name *paṭṭada-nāṭaka-śāle* in the Karṇāṭaka. This we infer from an inscription dated A. D. 1599 which relates that Śṛingārammā, of the Eḷahaṅka-nāḍ Prabhu Immaḍi Hiri Keṃpaya Gauḍa's state dancing-saloon (*paṭṭada-nāṭaka-śāle*), founded Śṛinagārasāgara *agrahāra*.²

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A series of sculptures on the walls of Vijayanagara represent a popular game which only Pietro della Valle noticed at Ikkēri. This is *kolāṭam* or stick-play. We have recorded his description of the agile girls whose heads were decked with yellow and white feathers "which made a pretty sight". In the same connection he says: "All of them carry'd in each hand a little round painted Stick, about a span long, or a little more, which they struck together after a musical measure, to the sound of Drums and other instruments, and one of the skillfullest of the company sung one verse of a song, at the end of which they all reply'd seven or eight times, in the number of their meter with the word, *Cole, Cole, Cole*,³ which signifies I know not what, but, I believe, 'tis a word of joy. Singing in this manner they went along the street, eight or ten together, being either friends, or neighbours, follow'd by many other women, not dress'd in the same fashion, but who were either their Mothers, or Kins-women . . . I understood afterwards that they went to the Piazza of the great Temple which is moderately large, and there danc'd in circles, singing their songs till it was late; and that this was a Festival which they keep three dayes together at the end of a certain Feast in Honor of Gaurī, one of their Goddesses, wife of Mohedaca; and therefore "tis celebrated by girls".¹

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¹ Pietro della Valle, Travels, II, pp. 258-9.

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It is superfluous to say that music was as highly cultivated in Vijayanagara as dancing. There are notices of some of the most important musical instruments in the inscription. So early as A. D. 994 mention is made of the vīṇā. A record of this date of the times of Rājarāja I registers a grant of land for the maintenance of a musician who was to play on the vīṇā and of a vocalist who was to accompany it in the Tiṇḍīśvara temple at Kiḍaṅgil in Kiṭkkai-nāḍu, (mod. Kiḍakkai-nāḍu) a subdivision of Ōymā-nāḍu.² Another instrument which was known in the Koṅgu country about the middle of the thirteenth century was the yāl.³

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² Ep. Report for 1900, p. 8. "Of course there is nothing in this to seded about this time by the viṇai." ibid. p. 8. See also Rangachari, Top List., I SA., 446, p. 183; Seshagiri Sastri Report on Sans. & Tam. MSS. for 1897, p. 58.

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³ Ep. Report for 1910, p. 93.

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Students of Karṇāṭaka history are aware of the pañcha-mahāśabda which occurs so frequently in the early inscriptions. The musical instrument needed for the pañcha-mahā-śabda, according to an inscription dated A. D. 1092, were the following: tivari (? trumpet), daṭṭa, kahaṇḍikke, jaya-gaṇṭe, and kāḷe or (horn).⁴

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⁴ E. C., III, Nj. 164, p. 112. It is interesting to observe that the epigraph which records a grant of land for the Īśāna-Īśvaram Uḍaiyar (of Gaṛikegāla?) contains the following on the pañcha-mahā-sabda. ". . . Also a gift of one tivari (trumpet), three, daṭṭa, three khaṇḍikke, one jaya-gaṇṭe (bell), and three kāḷe (horns) with grants to provide for the sounding of those pañcha-mahāśabda (five great instruments) three times a day." On the pañcha-mahāśabda, see I. A., V, pp. 251-354. On the horn kahaḷe, see Ep. Ind., V, p. 260, n. (3); I. A., XV, p. 352; I. A., XVIII, p. 359.

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Among the drums and fifes of Vijayanagara the bhēri, dundhubhi, and mahā-muraja, as related in an inscription cited elsewhere, and dated about A.D. 1400, may be noted.⁵

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⁵ E. C., VIII, Sb. 153, p. 22, op. cit.

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A record of A. D. 1432 contains the following praise of the poet Maṅgarāja : "Capable of producing good musical modes (*otherwise* joy to the good) by its association with the sound (*otherwise* suggested meaning) of the composition, the poetry of the poet Maṅgarāja resembles the *vīṇā* (lute) of Sarasvatī".¹ To the tambourine players (*tammuṭukārarige*) of the Hanumaṅta temple at Huruvaḷi, Koppa, a grant of land in Koppa was made in A. D. 1533 by Allappa Nāyaka.²

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¹ E. C., II, No. 258, p. 121 (2nd ed.)

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² E. C., VIII, Sb. 379, p. 67.

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Paes relates that Christovao de Figueiredo gave to the Emperor Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya "certain organs that the said Christovao de Figueiredo brought him."³

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³ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 251, and n. (3).

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That great monarch was himself proficient in music. One of his titles as given in a record dated A. D. 1528-9 is the following : "He who was unrivalled on the battlefield (*as well as*) in music and rhetoric."⁴ We have ample evidence to prove the first assertion relating to the valour of that ruler. From Nārāyaṇa's *Rāghavēndravijayam* we learn that Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya presented his tutor Kṛṣṇa, who taught him to play on the *vīṇā*, costly pearl necklaces and jewels as *guru-dakshiṇe*.⁵

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⁴ *Ep. Ind.*, I, p. 401. See also ibid., p. 370 where the same ruler is described thus—"who, (*like*, a second Bhōja), knew the mysteries of poetry, of the drama, and of Rhetoric".

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⁵ *Rāghavēndravijayam*, *The Sources*, pp. 252, 254. This music master Kṛṣṇa was the maternal grandfather of Rāghavēndra who is the subject of *Rāghavēndravijayam*. In this connection we may observe that Mr. Suryanarayana Rao speaks of a Vīṇā Rāmappa at the court of Harihara II. *The City*. p. 20. It would have been better if the source of information for this detail had been cited. B. A. S.

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The famous Regent Rāma Rāya also seems to have been well known for his musical attainments. This assertion is based on the fact that in an inscription dated A. D. 1589 he is said to have "had great pleasure in music on the *vīṇā* and singing."⁶ Further Rāmayāmātya, son of Timmamātya of the Toḍaramalla family, is described to have exhibited skill before Rāma Rāya, and to have written at the instance of the great Regent a book on music called Svaramēlakalānidhi.¹

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⁶ E. C., XII, Ck. 39, p. 84, text, p. 239, ll., 44-5.

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¹ Svaramēlakalānidhi, The Sources, p. 190; Rangachari-Kuppuswamy Sastri, Triennial Cat. of Sanskrit MSS. for 1910-15, I, P. I, p. 495.

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Raghunātha Nāyaka's proficiency in music has already been dwelt upon in connection with the description of the court he held to examine the talented ladies of his court. He was author of the Saṅgīta-sudhā and he invented a new mēḷa, called after his own name, and new rāgas.²

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² Sangita-sudhā, The Sources, p. 269.

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About the cunning Brahman, who was a perfect master of music and dancing and who brought about the war between Dēva Rāya I and Firūz Shāh for the sake of the Mudkul beauty, Firishtah, as we remarked in an early connection, has much to say.³

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³ Firishtah, Briggs, The Rise II, p. 380, op. cit.

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With the patronage which the rulers gave to this fine art, it is only natural that the people should have had theatres and shows. From very early times in southern India dramatic art has been associated with temples and royalty. In the days of Rājarāja I and Parakesarivarman, dramas were acted in temples.⁴ The raṅga-sthaḷa or stage is mentioned in the Karṇāṭaka in A. D. 1224.⁵ There is no denying the fact that both in the Tamil and Karṇāṭaka dramas were acted in early times.

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⁴ S. I. I. III, P. III, pp. 260-1.

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⁵ E. C., XI, Dg. 25, p. 36.

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The tradition of conducting musical performances in temples was continued under the Vijayanagara kings. In A. D. 1363, the sole manager (sarva-nirvāhakan) of Kampaṇa Oḍeyar's palace, Abhaṅga Garuḍa NārāyaṇaChakrakōla Vijaya Chūḍāmaṇi Duggaṇṇa, granted certain specified offerings for the worship of the gods Vāḷavanda-perumāḷ and Villiyār of Veḷḷiyūr alias Śrī-Viṣṇuvardhana-chaturvēdimaṅgalam. The grant also made provision for the vocal and instrumental music in the temple,¹ Kallarasiyammā, the wife of a Nāyaka whose name is effaced in a record dated A. D. 1470, repaired the shrine of the god Sidda-Mallikārjuna, erected a *bhōgamaṇṭapa* and for the decorations and enjoyments of the same god provided thirty vessels and granted lands. The epigraph relates that singers and players on the tambourine was also made over to the temple.²

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¹ E. C., X, Kl. 101, p. 31.

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² E. C., XII, Gb. 29, p. 23.

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From the opening verses of the same epigraph, we gather that puppet shows were also common in those days. For it commences thus with an invocation to Śrigiri Mallikārjuna : "As the stage manager pulls the strings of the puppet and makes him dance, so (?) (control my actions), Śrigiri Mallikārjuna" (*bombeyan ēkamam piḍidu sūtrikan āḍisuv-antey āḍut ā-bom-bege . . .*)³ In A. D. 1521 Gaṅga Rāya Dēva Mahārāja-aya granted to the puppet player (*bommalāṭa*) Puruvaṭi Purāṇar Virapa's son Kṛishṭapa (Kṛishṇappa) Uppakuṇṭipale belonging to Sādali, free of all imports.⁴

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³ Ibid, text, p. 67.

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⁴ E. C., X, Sd. 100, p. 195. On the *Bhāgavata-sampradāya*, see E. C. III. Intr., p. 22.

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Literature throws some light on the Vijayanagara stage. In *Gaṅgādāsapratāpavilāsam* by Gaṅgādhara, of the times of Mallikārjuna Rāya, we are told that an actor of the court of the Vijayanagara king on hearing that Prince Gaṅgadāsa was in need of a proper person to stage the new drama written by the poet, proposed to go to the court of that ruler.⁵ The farce in two acts entitled *Dhūrtasamāgama Prahasana* by Jyōtiriśvara Kaviśēkharāchārya,⁶ must also have been staged in the reign of Sāḷuva Nṛisimha. The theatrical world of Vijayanagara was no doubt considerably benefited by Sāḷuva Gōpa Tippa Bhūpāla's *Tāḷa Dīpikā*.⁷ We have already stated that Kṛishṇa Dēva Rāya's *Jāmbhavatī Kalyāṇa* was enacted in the Chaitra or spring season.

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⁵ *Gaṅgādāsapratāpavilāsam*, *The Sources*, p. 66.

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⁶ Eggeling, *Cat. of Sanskrit MSS. in the India Office*, VI, pp. 1622-3.

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⁷ Colophon on the *Tāḷa Dīpikā*. *The Sources*, p. 63.

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The provincial courts were not without theatres. Vijaya-rāghava Nāyaka of Tanjore in his *Raghunāthābhyudayam* tells us that there was a theatre adorned with gems of all sorts at Tanjore.¹ The existence of a beautiful theatre at Ikkēri in the times of Saṅkaṇṇa Nāyaka is proved by Basava Rāja's *Śivatattvaratnākara*.²

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¹ *Raghunāthābhyudayam*, *The Sources*, p. 265.

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² *Śivatattvaratnākara*, ibid., pp. 339, 343.

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The amusements mentioned above do not explain the vitality of the people so much as the following games which are an index to the character of the Hindu people. Fencing and duelling, wrestling and hunting—these attracted the common folk. Here, too, the monarchs set an example, as is evident from the following account of Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya by Paes. "This king is accustomed every day to drink a *quartilho* (three-quarter pint) of oil of gingelly before daylight, and anoints himself all over with the said oil; he covers his loins with a small cloth, and takes in his arms great weights made of earthenware and then, taking a sword, he exercises himself with it till he has sweated out all the oil, and then he wrestles with one of his own wrestlers. After this labour he mounts a horse and gallops about the plain in one direction and another till dawn, for he does all this before daybreak. Then he goes to wash himself, and a Brahman washes him whom he holds sacred."³

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³ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, pp. 249-50. Paes seems to have been misinformed about this last detail. Cf. Nuniz's account cited elsewhere.

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Fencing and duelling were held in high repute in Vijayanagara. Castanheda in his *History of Portugal* deals with duels in Vijayanagara in the sixteenth century. He writes thus: "There are many duels on account of love of women wherein many men lose their lives. Those who fight ask the King for a field, which he gives them and also seconds (*padrinhos*, 'step-fathers'), and if they are men of position he goes to see the duel. They fight on foot in a place surrounded with steps, whereinto they enter naked and wearing turbans. They are armed with swords and shields and are girt with daggers. They have seconds and judges who give judgment as to the fight, and duels are so usual among them and the King takes so great delight therein that any man whom he knows to be a valiant knight he orders to wear a golden chain on his right arm to show that he is the bravest of all, and this he must defend in arms against any who come to demand it, if he would not lose it. And he who wishes to fight tells the king he has insulted him by giving the chain to one who is not so good a knight as he . . . And these duels also take place among the officials as to which of them knows his duties best, and also among any skilled in matters known to men, for he who knows best wears the same chain, which is called berid."¹

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¹ Castanheda, Bk. II, Ch. 16, p. 53. Translated by Dames, Barbosa, II, p. 236, n. (2) (to p. 190 of Vol. I).

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We may compare Cashtanheda's account with that given by Barbosa who speaks of the events that took place in Bhaṭkal. "They are accustomed to challenge one another to duels, and when a challenge has been accepted and the king gives his permission, the day for the duel is fixed by the persons challenged, and the weapons to be used must be according to measure; that of the one of the same length as that of the other. The king appoints seconds and a field for the fight, and when this has been done, they go thither naked, covered only with some cloth wrapped round their middles, with very cheerful faces. Then after saying their prayers they begin to fight, and as they are bare it is over in a few strokes in the presence of the king and his court. No man may speak to them while they are fighting, except the seconds, each of them stands by his own man: and this is such a common practice among them, that some are slain daily."²

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² Barbosa, Dames, I, pp. 190-1; Stanley, p. 80. We may note here that Marco Polo describes duels at Cael (Kayal) on the Coromandal coast. Yule, Marco Polo., II, p. 306 (1870).

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Nuniz confirms both Barbosa and Castenheda in their account of the duelling in Vijayanagara. We have seen that according to Nuniz great honour was done to those who fought in a duel, and to those who won they gave the estate of the dead man. Although the versions of Barbosa and Castanheda differ from each other as regards the person who authorized people to fight duels—the former tells us that "no one fights a duel without first asking leave of the minister," the latter asserts that "those who fight ask the King for a field,"—yet the descriptions of Castanheda and Barbosa may be supplemented by the following account of the duel between the Gajapati Prince Virabhadra and one of the king's own men. Nuniz here, it must be noted, commits an error in saying that that Prince lost his life in a duel, thereby contradicting the evidence of inscriptions which speak of Prince Virabhadra as a provincial governor in the Karṇāṭaka. Nevertheless the account of Nuniz is not without its interest. "And he (i.e., Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya) sent to call the son of the king of Orya who was taken captive in the first fortress, and told him that as people said he was a very active man and was very dexterous with both sword and dagger, he would be pleased to see him fence.

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"The young man (i.e., Prince Virabhadra) said that since His Highness summoned him he would do what he could, and asked that this might be put off till next day. And when the next day came the King sent to call him, and also sent for one of his own men who at that time was very expert in the art, that he should fence with him. And when the son of King of the Orya saw him, being offended with the King for sending a man to fight with him who was not the son of a King but only a man of humble birth, he cried out to the King:—'God forbid that I should soil my hands by touching a man not of the blood royal', and saying this he slew himself."1

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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, pp. 319-20. Cf. Duelling in the Muhammadan courts. Prince Ibrāhim Qutb Shāh fights against Ambūr Khān. Firishtah, Briggs, *The Rise*, III., pp. 328-9.

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In the *Śivatattvaratnākara* we are told that Saṅkaṇṇa Nāyaka defeated Ankus Khān in a duel in the presence of the Delhi Sultan in about A. D. 1550.¹ Tilting was also practised in the court of Ginjee in about A. D. 1597.² Pietro della Valle informs us that fencing was common at Ikkēri. Viṭṭhala Śeṇai, the ambassador from the court of Veṅkaṭappa Nāyaka, travelled with Pietro della Valle "but apart by himself, came to visit, and entertained with the sight of two young men, who fenc'd very well a good while together, only with Swords made of Indian Canes. On which occasion, I shall not omit to state that amongst the Indians,' tis the custom for every one to manage and make use of one sort of Arms, where unto he accustoms himself, and never uses any other even in time of War."³

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¹ *Śivatattvaratnākara*, The Sources, pp. 337-8.

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² *Heras*, Aravidu, p. 405.

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³ *Pietro della Valle*, Travels, II, p. 225.

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The other manly pastime which deserves special notice is wrestling. Paes informs us on many occasions that women knew wrestling in Vijayanagara. We have cited his description of the women who handled sword and shield, others who wrestled, and others who blew trumpets and pipes, while dealing with women.⁴ Then again we observed that, according to the same eye-witness, during the Mahānavami festival the dancing-women wrestled in a large arena in the presence of the nobles and the king. In the same connection he gives us further details about wrestling. "Then the wrestlers begin their play. Their wrestling does not seem like ours, but there are blows (given), so severe as to break teeth, and put out eyes, and disfigure faces, so much so that here and there men are carried off speechless by their friends; they give one another fine falls too. They have their captains and judges, who are there to put each one on an equal footing in the field, and also to adjust the honours to him who wins."⁵

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⁴ *Supra*, Chapter IV, Women; Sewell, For. Emp., p. 249, op. cit.

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⁵ *Sewell*, ibid., pp. 268, 271.

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Nuniz adds the following : "The King has a thousand wrestlers for these feasts who wrestle before the King, but not in our manner, for they strike and wound each other with two circlets with points, which they carry in their hands to strike with, and the one most wounded goes and takes his reward in the shape of a silk cloth, such as the King gives to these wrestlers. They have a captain over them and they do not perform any other service in the kingdom."¹

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¹ Sewell, *For Emp.*, p. 378. For Du Jarric's account of the gymnasium at Chandragiri, read Heras, *Aravidu*, pp. 313-4. A gymnasium was called *garidi* or *garaḍi*. Cf. Suryanarayana Rao, *The City*, p. 47. This word occurs frequently in the folk-songs of the Tuluva people. B. A. S.

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With the aid of the above we may appreciate the following description of a *malla-yuddha* (or wrestling match) as given by the poet Chāṭu Viṭṭhalanātha:

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ತಳವ ತಳದಲಿ ಹೊಯ್ದು ಭುಜಮಂ |
ದಲವನಾಸ್ಪೋಟಿಸಿ ಪರಸ್ಪರ |
ಕಲಿತಕರ ಜಾನುರು ಪಾದದ್ಧಿತಯ ಬದ್ಧಲಿ ||
ತಳಿಸಿ ತೊದರುವ ಬೀಸಿ ಬಿಸುಡುವ |
ನಿಲುವ ಸಿಂದದಿಯಿಂದ ಬಲಿಸುವ |
ಹಲವು ಪರಿಯಲಿ ಹಳಚಿ ತವಿದಾಡಿದರು ಪಟುಭಟರು || ²

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² *Kavicharite*, II, p. 224.

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A *viragal* was set up by Channappa in about A. D. 1466 to commemorate the death of his elder brother Māḍi Gauḍa, son of Nāga Gauḍa, son of Tāṛi Gauḍa, while fighting with wrestlers.³

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³ *E. C.*, VII, Sk. 1, p. 39, op. cit. For later accounts, see Wilks, *Sketches*, I, p. 52, n. (1810); I, p. 32, n. (1869). These wrestlers are also called *jaffis*.

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The provincial capitals too had their own wrestling grounds. From the *Raghunāthābhyudayam* by Vijayarāghava Nāyaka we know that there was a gymnasium in Tanjore.⁴

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⁴ *Raghunāthābhyudayam*, *The Sources*, p. 265.

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There were also beast-fights and gladiators in Vijayanagara. An inscription dated about A. D. 1434 tells us that Gōpa Rāja directed his minister to rebuild the inner and outer forts of Tēkal, originally erected in the time of Ballāḷa Rāya but which had been overturned and gone to ruin. On the completion of the bastion called *rājagambhīra*, Gōpa Rāja and his son called Tippaya had tigers brought there and hunted them at this indispensable bastion. In this their hound called Sampige distinguished itself by its courage. This was a remarkable hound. The epigraph which gives us this information contains a dog holding a tiger by the throat. It tells us that the hound Sampige seizing the tail of tigers dragged them along so as to frighten them.¹

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¹ E. C., X, Intr., p, xxxvi; Mr. 2, p. 155; *My. Ins.*, p. 208.

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Hunting Scenes. [Vol. II, p. 421.]

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We are told in *The Accounts of Tirumali-Naicker, and of his Buildings* that there was an arena for the combat of gladiators to the north of the palace of Tirumala Nāyaka at Madura, that various kinds of animals were there, and pavilions and buildings on the western side of the arena were reserved for the relations and favourites of the king for looking at the spectacle.² In another connection the account continues to state that Tirumala Nāyaka built public choultries at a distance of every seven miles. "At nearly the same time he established in the town of Madura combats between gladiators and elephants, tigers and bears; and for the purpose of looking on during this spectacle, he had a two-storied building constructed, in an excellent manner, in a place named *Tamakam pottal*. From that time forwards the Carnataca governors always came hither to see the spectacle".³

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² Taylor, O. H. MSS., II, pp. 153-9.

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³ *Ibid*, p. 153. Peter Mundy in A. D., 1637, speaks of elephant fights and buffalo fights at Ikkēri. He describes them in detail. *Travels*, II, pp. 127-8; III, P. I, p. 85. (Hakluyt).

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There are many references to hunting in the writings of foreign travellers and in the inscriptions. We are aware of the existence of hunting grounds from a record dated A. D. 1482 which says that the Kādalaunni village described as the *umbali* of Mallarasa, the Penugoṇḍe minister, was the place which he visited on the occasion of his coming there for hunting.⁴ We may reasonably suppose that the adjacent districts may have been reserved as hunting grounds. Dēva Rāya II came to Māchanahaḷḷi for hunting in A. D. 1434 and visited the god Jataṅgi Rāma. On this occasion he directed that a village yielding an income of twenty varāha was to be granted to the local god.¹

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⁴ E. C. X, Gd. 53, p. 224.

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¹ E. C., XI, Mk. 32, p. 25. According to his personal order (sammukhada nirūpa) the tract (kōru) on Sanga Bōva's channel in Hāneya-nāḍ was granted to the temple.

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Foreign travellers also remarked on the facilities which Vijayanagara offered to hunters. Varthema, as we have once observed, writes thus about the capital. "It occupies the most beautiful site...with certain very beautiful places for hunting and the same for fowling, so that it appears to me to be a second paradise".² Barbosa confirms Varthema's remarks about the hunting grounds in the following words: "The people of this kingdom are great hunters both of flying game and wild beasts. There are many small hacks, and very good ones to go".³

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² Varthema, Jones, p. 126; Temple, p. 51, op. cit.

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³ Barbosa, Stanley, p. 98; Dames, I, p. 228. The story of the buffalo hunt in which Visvanātha showed his prowess has been given in a previous page.

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From the manner in which elephant hunting has been associated with one of the titles of the kings of Vijayanagara, we may assume that it was specially patronized by the princes. We know that one of the birudus of Dēva Rāya II was Gaja-bēṇṭekāra (Hunter of elephants). In earlier times as well this game attracted the attention of the rulers. Harihara Oḍeyar is said to have gone a-hunting elephants in A. D. 1349.⁴ Abdur Razzāq's detailed description of the methods by which they caught and trained elephants for hunting and other purposes, figures in one of the previous chapters of this treatise. An inscription dated Śaka 1373 expired, Prajāpati (A. D. 1451), contains the information that Dēva Rāya witnessed an elephant hunt.⁵ There is no reason to doubt that Dēva Rāya might have been justified in appending the *birudu* Gaja-bēṇṭekāra to his name.¹

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⁴ Shama Sastry, Q. J. M. S., XIII, p. 760.

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⁵ 67 of 1907. See also 474 of 1908; 703 of 1904.

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¹ For a discussion on this subject, see *A. S. R.* for 1907-8, p. 250. One of the titles of Virūpāksha was *Gaja-mṛgayā-vihāra*. *Ibid.*

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Among nobles, who also were known by that *birudu*, was Immaḍi Rāya Oḍeyar (A. D. 1484).² The *Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara* Nañja Rāja Oḍeyar of Ummattūr in A. D. 1504 is also called a Gaja-bēṇṭekāra.³

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² *E. C.*, IV, Ch. 127, p. 17.

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³ *Ibid.*, Gu. 5. p. 36.

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The fame of Immaḍi Rāya Oḍeyar as a hunter of elephants was maintained by his son Dēpaṇṇa Oḍeyar, who is called *Gaja-mṛgayā-vihāra* (celebrated for sport with elephants and deer) in a record of A. D. 1505.⁴ His son Vīra Chikka Oḍeyar is likewise styled the great elephant hunter-*Mahāgaja-bēṭekāra*-in A. D. 1511.⁵

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⁴ *Ibid.*, Gu. 67, p. 47.

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⁵ *E. C.*, IX, Ma. 79, p. 61.

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The *birudu* of "One who witnessed the elephant hunt" continued to be a royal title in later days. Achyuta Rāya also is said to have witnessed the elephant hunt in a record dated Śaka A. D. 1455 (1533-4).⁶

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⁶ 337 of 1908. See 166 of 1904, dated Śaka 1461 expired Sōbhakṛit (A. D. 1539) where Sadāśiva Rāya is called by the same *birudu*.

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About deer and tiger hunts we have a few notices in the inscriptions. Virūpāksha's claims to be called *Gaja-mṛgayā-vihāra* were not ill-founded. An inscription of A. D. 1474 relates that Haryaṇa invited Virūpāksha Rāya for a great deer hunt, evidently nearabouts Ālugōḍu in the Gayā-tristhāna.⁷

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⁷ *E. C.*, III, Ml. 121, p. 68.

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A record of the fourteenth century, found in the Kāḷahastiśvara temple at Kāḷahasti, informs us that a certain Valli-araśar, who was called Lord of Ayōdhyāpura, killed 150 tigers.⁸

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⁸ *Ep. Report* for 1904, p. 16.

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There was boar-hunting too in Vijayanagara. This game was also prevalent in the Hoysala times. Sokka-Iliṅgattōn, we are told in a record dated about A. D. 1310 "having gone boar-hunting, pierced the boar and died, along with his dog".¹ The Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Vira Parvati Rāja Oḍeyar, brother of Dēva Rāya II, being on his horse called Pārvatinātha, "in the hunting plain at the ditch to the east of the hill of the god Tirumalenātha, in the Terakaṇāmbi kingdom which he was ruling, and seeing a boar, in order to seize it, crossed over the ditch." The epigraph, which unfortunately breaks off, relates, however, that Hulihara Hāyaṇṇa's son Hariyaṇṇa set up a pillar of victory as a signal stone (jayastambhada kuruhina kallu.)²

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¹ E. C., IX, Kn. II., p. 122. ² E. C., IV, Ch. 195, p. 24. ³ Firishtah, Briggs, The Rise, II, p. 405, op. cit. ⁴ Elliot, Hist. of India, IV, p. 121. ⁵ E. C., X, Mr. 1, p. 155, op. cit.

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There is one point which may be noted here—whether hawks were used in hunting and whether they were unknown to the Hindus before they were introduced by the Muhamadans. Firishtah tells us, as we already remarked, that Aḥmad Shāh Bāhmani gave to the son of Dēva Rāya, among other presents, "dogs for the chase and a leash of hawks; to which last, the people of Carnatic had been till then strangers".³ In the reply which Dēva Rāya sent to Alā-ud-din Aḥmad Shāh, according to ‘Abdur Razzāq, there is evidence of the existence of falconers in Vijayanagara. The king says: "Now let all that my enemy can seize from out my dominions be considered as booty, and made over to his saiyids and professors; as for me, all that I can take from his kingdom I will make over to my falconers and brahmans".⁴ If hawks had been introduced into Vijayanagara only in the reign of Dēva Rāya, we would not have met with the word Sāḷuva in Indian history in early times. But as we have already seen, one of the relatives of Harihara Rāya II was called Sāḷuva Rāma Dēva. In the record dated about A. D. 1434 which has been cited above, Sāḷuva Tippa Rāya Oḍeyar is styled as a hawk to royal birds—rāya-pakshi-sāḷuva.⁵ We may, therefore, accept Firishtah's assertion with some reservation.

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There are some other amusements which may be briefly reviewed here. To foreigners the jugglers of Vijayanagara gave much delight. ‘Abdur Razzāq gives in the following words a detailed account of the feats of the jugglers during the Mahānavami festival. “The jugglers performed astonishing feats; they set up three beams joined one to the other, each was a yard long and half a yard broad, and about three or four high. Two other beams were placed on the top of the first two beams, which are of about the same length and breadth. They placed another beam a little smaller on the top of the second beams, which were already supported by the lower beams, so that the first and second series formed two stages supporting the third beam, which was placed on the top of them all. A large elephant had been so trained by them, that it mounted the first and second stages, and finally to the top of third, the width of which was less than the sole of the elephant's foot. When the elephant had secured all four feet on this beam, they removed the remaining beams from the rear. Mounted thus on the top of the third beam, the elephant beat time with his trunk to every song or tune that the minstrels performed, raising his trunk and lowering it gently in accord with the music.

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“They raised a pillar ten yards high, through a hole at the top of the pillar they passed a beam of wood, like the beam of a balance, to one end of this they attached a stone about the weight of an elephant, and to the other they attached a broad plank about one yard in length, which they fastened with strong cords. The elepnant mounted this plank, and his keeper by degress let go the cord, so that the two ends of the beam stood evenly balanced at the height of ten yards; at one end the elephant, and at the other his weight in stone, equal as two halves of a circle. In this way it went (up and down) before the king. The elephant in that high position, where no one could reach him, listened to the strains of the musicians, and marked the tune with motions of his trunk.

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“All the readers and story-tellers, musicians, and jugglers, were rewarded by the king with gold and garments”.¹

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¹ Elliot, Hist. of India, IV., pp. 118-9.

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With the evidence of ‘Abdur Razzāq before us, we may give credence to the following description of jugglers by poet Aṇṇāji in A. D. 1660:

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ಗಣಿಯ ತುದಿಯಲಿ ಶಸ್ತವನಿಟ್ಟು ವಂಗುಟದ | ಕೊನೆಯೂರಿ ಪುಟವೆದ್ದು ಲಾಗುಲವಣೆಯ ಕೊಂಡು | ಮಣಿಯ ಹುರಿಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಮರಗಾಲಕಟ್ಟಿ ದುವ್ವಾಳಿಸುತ ಡೊಂಬತಿಯರು || ಮಣಿದು ಹಿಂಗರಣಮನೆ ಕೊಂಡು ವೈಜಿಯ್ಯಗಿದಲಗ | ಪಣಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗುಂಬಿಯ್ಯಗ್ರದೊಳಟ್ಟು ಜೋಯಿಸುತೆ | ತ್ರಿಣಯನಾಪರ ರೂಪನೇ ನೋಡುನೋಡೆಂದು ಡೋಳು ಬಡಿದರು ಡೊಂ ಬರು || 1

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Foreign witnesses have left us a few details about fire works in Vijayanagara. While describing elephants Varthema, as we have seen, spoke of the great dread which they had of fire. He remarks that the people of Vijayanagara were great masters of the art of making fireworks.² In his description of the Mahānavami festival Paes also spoke of the different kinds of fireworks mentioned above.³

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² Varthema Temple, p. 52; Jones, p. 127, op. cit.

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³ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 271, op. cit.

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Swimming and horse riding were two other games also popular in Vijayanagara. Linschoten, while dealing with the Canariins, says that " they are very expert in Swimming and Diving, they rowe up and down the Rivers in Boates called Almadias, whereof some of them are hewen out of a piece of wood, and so narrow that a man can hardly sit in them, and it chanceth of often times that they turne over and over twice or thrice before they passe the River, and then they leape out into the water and turne them up, and so powring out the water they get into them againe".⁴

Linked texts (8)

Nāṭyaśāstra — Bharata, Sanskrit
Svaramelakalānidhi — Rāmāmātya 1550, Sanskrit
Epigraphia Carnatica
South Indian Inscriptions
Ikkēri
Śivatattvaratnākara — Basappa Nāyaka 1684, Sanskrit
Saṅgītasudhā (Raghunātha) — Raghunātha 1589, Sanskrit
Rāghavendravijaya — Nārāyaṇa, Sanskrit