A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.108

c17.108

It now remains to say something on the political, administrative and military system of the empire before concluding the chapter. The empire was in theory a hereditary monarchy; but the times were hard, and the hostility of the Muslim states on the one side and the instransigence of feudatories on the other made it imperative that the king should be possessed of high attainments in diplomacy and war. No wonder that weak kings were either imprisoned or dethroned by able and ambitious ministers, and that there was a change of the ruling dynasty on three occasions as the result of usurpations in which the nobles of the court played their own parts and took sides with rival claimants. On the whole, however, political factions in Vijayanagar did not develop the rancour that marked the politics of the Bāhmani court and of its successors; with rare exceptions, the leaders of the Hindu empire showed a readiness to recognize facts, and to prefer compromise, whenever possible, to open rebellion.