A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.114

c17.114

Vijayanagar was perhaps the nearest approach to a war-state ever made by a Hindu kingdom; and its political organization was dominated by its military needs. The emperor maintained a large standing army consisting of an elephant corps, cavalry and infantry; in this force, ‘the soldiers receive their pay’, noted Abdur Razzak, ‘every four months, and no payment is ever made by a draft upon the revenues of any province’. In addition, military fiefs studded the whole length and breadth of the empire, each under a nāyak or military leader authorized to collect revenue and to administer a specified area provided he maintained an agreed number of elephants, horses, and troops ever ready to join the imperial forces in war. Nuniz counted more than two hundred such nāyaks. There were regular military schools where men were trained in archery, swordsmanship, and so on, and prepared for enlistment in the army; the artillery, however, seems generally to have been manned by foreigners. A military camp was a moving city, ‘arranged in streets with many open spaces’. The number of non-combatant camp-followers was too large not to impede the troops, but this was a common feature of the times. Fortresses played a large part in the defence organization, and the arts of siege were well known and extensively practised. There must have been a navy of some sort for the Rāyas had the command of several ports and of parts of Ceylon; but we have no definite information on its strength or organization.