A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c6.54

c6.54

The rise of Vijayanagar in the fourteenth century and of the Portuguese power in the East a little later attracted many foreigners to India, and as a consequence foreign evidence on South India increases vastly in volume, variety and interest. We cannot possibly go over all this evidence here, but must confine our attention to those sections of it which are of particular value to us. The earliest European visitor to Vijayanagar whose account has come down to us is the Italian Nicolo Conti who came to the city in 1420 or 1421; he wrote nothing himself, but narrated his experiences to a papal secretary who wrote them down in Latin for his master's information; this was translated into Portuguese and from Portuguese into Italian. The original Latin version is not extant. Conti gives a description of the Vijayanagar court and its festivals, its currency and other matters. At about the same time, there came to Vijayanagar the Persian ambassador Abdur Razzak, sent on an important mission to the Zamorin by Shah Rukh. He sailed to Calicut from Ormuz in 1442, and did not much like that city. His stay there was cut short by a message from the Rājā of Vijayanagar asking that he should be sent on to the capital without delay. Abdur Razzak went to Vijayanagar by way of Mangalore, was well received and witnessed the Mahānavami festival. Later some jealous merchants from Ormuz cast doubts on his credentials with the result that the ambassador came to be treated with less consideration than before; he left Vijayanagar for Mangalore towards the end of 1443, and Mangalore for Persia early in 1444. The record of his mission is the testimony of a trained official on the state of administration and society at the time.