Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c25.s2.59

v2.c25.s2.59

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