A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c16.s1.49

c16.s1.49

"Forty-five leagues from these mountains there is a very large city which is called *Bijanaguer*, very populous, and surrounded on one side by a very good wall, and on another by a river, and on the other by a mountain. This city is on level ground; the king of Narsinga always resides in it. He is a gentile, and is called Raheni.¹ He has in this place very large and handsome palaces, with numerous courts. . . . There are also in this city many other palaces of great lords, who live there. And all the other houses of the place are covered with thatch, and the streets and squares are very wide. They are constantly filled with an innumerable crowd of all nations and creeds. . . . There is an infinite trade in this city. . . . In this city there are many jewels which are brought from Pegu and Celani (Ceylon), and in the country itself many diamonds are found, because there is a mine of them in the kingdom of Narsinga and another in the kingdom of Decani. There are also many pearls and seed-pearls to be found there, which are brought from Ormuz and Cael . . . also silk-brocades, scarlet cloth, and coral. . .