A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c21.s3.t17.3

c21.s3.t17.3

The Kings of Bisnaga have always liked, for show, to have many horses in their stables, and they always had eight or nine hundred horses and four or five hundred elephants, on account of which, and on account of the people that looked after them, they were put to great expense; and this King that now is (Achyuta Râya) has in his stable seven hundred and odd horses and four hundred elephants. He spends on account of them and for their attendants, to whom he gives food, two thousand gold *pardaos* per day. And of horsemen whom the King pays he has six thousand, and all of them are on the stables establishment (?) (*comem da estrebarya*); and those who serve them are paid each year, some a thousand *pardaos*, some five hundred, some three hundred, and those who have less pay receive not less than a hundred. Of these six thousand, two hundred are obliged to ride with the King.