A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c14.173

c14.173

Abdur Razzâk gives a glowing account of the brilliancy of a great festival of which he was a spectator while in the capital. He calls it the Mahânavamî¹ festival, but I have my doubts as to whether he was not mistaken, since he declares that it took place in the month Rajab (October 25 to November 23, 1443 A.D.). The Hindus celebrate the Mahânavamî by a nine days' festival beginning on Âsvina Sukla 1st in native reckoning, that is, on the day following the new moon which marks the beginning of the month Âsvina; while the New Year's Day at that period was the first day of the following month, Kârttika (if the year began, as it certainly did at Vijayanagar in the time of Paes, eighty years later, on 1st Kârttika). But the new moon of Rajab in A.D. 1443 corresponded to the new moon of Kârttika, not to that of Âsvina.² Either, therefore, the festival which he witnessed was the New Year's Day festival, or the traveller was in error in giving the month "Rajab." It seems most probable that the former was the case, because he apparently makes the festival one of only three days' duration, whereas the *Mahânavamî*, as its name implies, was a nine days’ feast. But there is also another difficulty. The *Mahânavamî* celebrations began with the new moon, whereas Razzâk says that the festival he saw began with the “full moon.” This, however, may have been due to a slip of the pen.