Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c25.s2.9

v2.c25.s2.9

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