A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c21.s3.t16.8

c21.s3.t16.8

In his palace within the gates he is served by women and eunuchs and servants numbering fully five or six hundred; and these wives of the King all have their own officials for their service, each for herself, just as the King has within the gates, but these are all women. The palaces of the King are large and with large rooms; they have cloisters like monasteries, with cells, and in each one is one of his wives, and with each of these ladies is her maid-servant; and when the King retires to rest he passes through these cloisters, and his wives stand at the doors and call him in; but these are not the principal wives, they are the daughters of captains and nobles of the country. Inside the gates of the palace they say that there are over two hundred milch-cows, from the milk of which they make butter for these ladies to eat.