A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c14.95

c14.95

The narrative being thus brought down to the close of the year 1443, let us, before passing on, turn to other records and see what they tell us about the reign of Deva Râya II. I have already stated that he appears to have been very young at his accession in A.D. 1419. In 1443 he had already reigned twenty-four years. Now the Hakluyt translation of Abdur Razzâk’s chronicle states that Razzâk saw King Deva Râya II. in 1443, and the India Office copy contains the additional information that the king was then “exceedingly young.” I am not aware which version is the more accurate. But even if these added words be accepted as part of the original, the difficulty is capable of being explained away by the supposition that perhaps the ambassador was presented to one of the princes and not to the king himself. The king appears to have been in doubt as to whether the traveller was not an impostor in representing himself as an envoy from Persia, and may have refrained from granting a personal interview.