A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c14.96

c14.96

Several inscriptions of the reign are extant. One records a proclamation made in the king's name in A.D. 1426.¹ According to another bearing a date corresponding to Wednesday, October 16, in the same year,² he caused a Jain temple to be erected in the capital, in a street called the "Pân Supâri Bazaar." This temple is situated south-west of the temple marked as No. 35 on the Government map. It is within the enclosure of the royal palace, and close to the rear of the elephant stables still standing. The king is honoured in this inscription with the full imperial title of *Mahârâjâdhirâja Râjapara-mesvara*. The site of this bazaar is thus definitely established. It lay on either side of the road which ran along the level dry ground direct from the palace gate, near the temple of *Hazâra Ramasvâmi*, in a north-easterly direction, to join the road which now runs to the Tungabhadra ferry through the fortified gate on the south side of the river immediately opposite Ânegundi. It passed along the north side of the Kallamma and Rangasvâmi temples, leaving the imperial office enclosure with its lofty walls and watch-towers, and the elephant stables, on the left, skirted the Jain temple and the temple numbered "35" on the plan, and passed along under the rocky hills that bound this plain on the north till it debouched on the main road above mentioned. This street would be the direct approach from the old city of Ânegundi to the king's palace.