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The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c23.s2.t5: The administration of Vijayanagar

The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c23.s2.t5

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The administration of Vijayanagar

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*Central Government.* The king of Vijayanagar empire was the fountainhead of all power in the State; but he was an enlightened despot. Though he was the supreme civil, military and judicial authority, he was not a tyrant or even an irresponsible despot. He governed the empire according to *dharma* and had always the interests of the kingdom and the welfare of the people at heart. The ideal of kingship of Krishnadeva Raya, who was the most important king of the dynasty, was like that of Frederick the Great of Prussia. "A crowned king," writes he, in one of his books entitled *Amuktamalyada* (in Telugu), "should always rule with an eye towards *dharma*." He goes on to say : "A king who should rule, collecting round him people skilled in statecraft, should investigate the mines yielding precious metals in his kingdom, and extract the same and levy taxes from his people moderately, should counteract the acts of his enemies by crushing them with force, should be friendly, should protect one and all of his subjects, should put an end to the mixing up of the castes among them, should always try to increase the merit of the Brahmans, should strengthen his fortress and lessen the growth of the undesirable things and should be ever mindful of the purification of his cities......"

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There was a council of ministers to assist the king in the work of administration. We do not know their exact number; but, for a big kingdom like Vijayanagar, there must have been six to eight ministers. They were appointed and dismissed by the king and held their posts at the king's pleasure. The ministers were from the Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya castes. Sometimes the office of a minister was hereditary; but this was not so in all cases. There was a secretariat. Besides the ministers, there were other officers holding lower ranks, such as, the chief treasurer, officer in charge of jewels, officer in charge of commerce, the prefect of the police, the master of the horse, and so on. The household department of the king, too, was well organised. The court was thronged by nobles, priests, astrologers, musicians, scholars and poets. The splendour of the court, on which the ruler spent a huge sum, was considered an object of wonder to foreign diplomats and travellers.

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*Provincial government.* The Vijayanagar empire was divided into six provinces. Some writers, who base their conclusion on the statement of Domingos Paes, wrongly hold that there were two hundred provinces in the empire. The mistake is, probably, due to Paes's confounding the tributary vassals with the provincial governors. Each province was under a governor called *naik* who was either a member of the royal family or an influential noble. The governor exercised civil, military and judicial powers within his province. He had, however, to furnish an account of the income and expenditure of his province to the central government. He was also required to send military assistance in time of need. The governors, though controlled by the king if he happened to be a man of strong personality, enjoyed wide powers within their jurisdictions.

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*Local administration.* The provinces were divided into districts which were further sub-divided into smaller units. The lowest unit of administration was the village which was self-sufficient. There was a village assembly, like the *panchayat* of northern India, in every village. It carried on the administration of the village through its hereditary officers, such as the village accountant, the village weightsman, the village watchman and the village officer in charge of forced labour. These officers were paid by grants of land or by a portion of agricultural produce. The central administration maintained contact with the village through an officer, called *Mahanayakacharya*, who had a kind of supervisory authority over the administration of the village.

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*Finance.* The mainstay of the government was the land revenue. There was a separate land revenue department. For the purpose of assessment, the land was classified as wet land, dry land and orchards and woods. The State demand during Hindu times was generally one-sixth of the produce; but the kings of Vijayanagar seem to have charged a little more than one-sixth, as they had to maintain a huge army to protect the kingdom from the perpetual hostility of the Bahmani Sultans. Besides the land tax, the government levied the grazing tax, the marriage tax, the customs duty and a tax on gardening and manufactures of various articles. The taxation was rather high; but there was no extortion. The taxes were realised both in cash and in kind.

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*Army.* The empire maintained a huge army, the strength of which varied from time to time. Under Krishnadeva Raya the State army consisted of 3,600 horse, seven lakh foot and 651 elephants. There was an artillery department; but the artillery must have been rather crude. The military establishment was under the management of the commander-in-chief who was assisted by a number of subordinate officials. But the organisation and discipline of the Vijayanagar army seems to have been inferior to those of the Muslim Sultans of the Dakhin.

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*Justice.* The king was the fountainhead of justice and decided cases. There were also regular courts. The judges were appointed by the king. The village people had their cases decided by their own village assembly or *panchayat*. In some cases disputes were settled by the judges with the help of the local bodies. The law administered in the court was that which had come down from the past and was based on traditional regulations and customs and constitutional usage of the country. Criminal law was severe. Theft, adultery and treason to the State were punished with death or mutilation. For ordinary offences the punishment was fine or confiscation of property or ordeal.

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*Religious toleration.* The Vijayanagar kings were deeply religious people. They were devoted to Vaishnavism. But they tolerated all religions, whether of Indian origin or absolutely foreign. Edoardo Barbosa writes : “The king allows such freedom that every man may come and go and live according to his own creed without suffering any annoyance and without enquiry whether he is a Christian, a Jew, a Moor or a Hindu."

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*Defects of Vijayanagar administration.* On the whole the administration was elaborately organised and just. It suffered, however, from a few defects, the most glaring of which was the great power enjoyed by the provincial governors which, subsequently, proved to be the cause of the disruption of the empire. Secondly, the army organisation was not as efficient as it should have been specially as Vijayanagar had to fight almost a continuous war against the Bahamani Sultans. Thirdly, the rulers committed the mistake of allowing the Portuguese to settle on their western coast for the sake of commercial profit. Fourthly, the individualistic tendency of the people was not curbed. Finally, the rulers "failed to develop a sustained commercial activity inspite of various facilities."

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*The social life.* We get a clear picture of the life of the people from the writings of foreign travellers. Society seems to have been well organised. Women occupied a high position and took an active part in political, social and literary life of the empire. They were trained in wrestling, in the use of various weapons of offence and defence, in music and in fine arts. Some of them received literary education of a high order. This presupposes some kind of general female education. Nuniz writes that the king had women wrestlers, astrologers and soothsayers, besides women accountants, women clerks and women guards. Of course, in music and dancing and other fine arts they excelled men. There were some women judges, too. Polygamy was recognised and was practised by the wealthy people. Child marriage was common. Among the rich people dowry was practised on a large scale. Widows committed *sati* on funeral pyres of their husbands. The Brahmans exercised great influence in the society. They were important not only in social and religious matters, but also in administrative and political affairs. Except for the Brahmans, there was no restriction in matters of diet. The kings and the general public were meat-eaters and they ate all kinds of animal food except the flesh of oxen or cows. Animal sacrifices were common. Buffaloes and sheep were sacrificed on the occasion of important festivals.

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*Art and literature.* The empire of Vijayanagar had high cultural and artistic achievements to its credit. We have already seen that Krishnadeva Raya was a profound scholar and a generous patron of literature. Other kings, too, were fond of learning and were surrounded by great scholars and poets. They encouraged Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada languages and literatures. Such notable scholars as Sayana, the well-known commentator of the Vedas, and his brother, Madhava Vidyaranya, flourished in the early days of the Vijayanagar rule. Under Krishnadeva Raya literary activity reached its zenith. There were great poets, philosophers and religious teachers at his court. They were generously rewarded by grants of money and land. The king himself was a scholar and author of note. The tradition passed on and was continued by his successors. The example of the kings was followed by the members of the ruling family and by the nobles and other well-to-do people. Many works on music, dancing, drama, grammar, logic, philosophy and other branches of knowledge were produced. Art and architecture were not neglected. Temples of remarkable beauty were constructed by the kings. Krishnadeva Raya built the famous Hazara temple which, in the opinion of an art critic, is “one of the most perfect specimens of Hindu temple architecture in existence.” The Vitthalaswami temple is another example of the excellent architecture produced by the Vijayanagar kings. Painting was also patronised. Music, too, was greatly encouraged. Theatre was not forgotten. In short, the history of the Vijayanagar empire was marked by an outburst of great literary and artistic activity. In the opinion of a scholar the empire brought about a ‘synthesis of south Indian culture’.

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*The economic condition.* The empire of Vijayanagar was one of the richest states then known to the world. Several foreign travellers, who visited our country during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, have left glowing accounts of its splendour and wealth. The Italian traveller, Nicolo Conti, who visited Vijayanagar in 1420, writes : “The circumference of the city is sixty miles; its walls are carried upto the mountains and enclose the valley at their foot, so that its extent is thereby increased. In this city there are estimated to be ninety thousand men fit to bear arms....the king is more powerful than all the other kings of India.” The Persian diplomat and traveller, Abdur Razzaq, who visited Vijayanagar in 1442-43 remarks : “The country is so well populated that it is impossible, in a reasonable space, to convey an idea of it. In the king’s treasure there are chambers with excavations in them, filled with molten gold forming one mass. All the inhabitants of the country, whether high or low, even down to the artificers of the bazaar, wear jewels and gilt ornaments in their ears and around their necks, arms, wrists and fingers.” Portuguese traveller, Domingos Paes, writes: “Its king has much treasure and many soldiers and many elephants......In this city you will find men belonging to every nation and people, because of the great trade which it has and the many precious stones there, principally diamonds......This is the best provided city in the world and is stocked with provisions, such as rice, wheat, grains, Indian corn and a certain amount of barley and beans, *moongs*, pulses, horse grain and many other seeds which grow in this country on the food of the people and there is a large store of these, and very cheap......The streets and markets are full of laden oxen without count...” Barbosa, who came to India in 1516, is equally full of praise and says that the city is “of great extent, highly populous and the seat of an active commerce in country diamonds, rubies from Pegu, silk of China and Alexandria, and cinnabar, camphor, musk, pepper and sandal from Malabar.”

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From the unanimous testimony of foreign writers it is evident that the empire of Vijayanagar was very rich and prosperous. It was the policy of its rulers to encourage agriculture in the different parts of the empire and to increase agricultural production by a wise irrigation policy. Its agricultural wealth was supplemented by numerous industries, the most important of which were textile, mining and metallurgy. Another important industry was perfumery. Industries and trades were regulated by guilds. It was the common practice of people of the same trade to live in one and the same quarter of the city. There was a great deal of commerce, both inland and overseas. The empire possessed numerous ports and had commercial relations with the islands in the Indian Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, Burma, China, Arabia, Persia, South Africa, Abyssinia and Portugal. The chief articles exported were cloth, rice, iron, saltpetre, sugar and spices. The articles imported into the country were horses, elephants, pearls, copper, coal, mercury, China silks and velvets. For maritime commerce there were ships. Vijayanagar had a small navy of its own and people were acquainted with the art of shipbuilding. For internal transport bullocks, horses, carts and asses were made use of.

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The Vijayanagar empire had gold and copper coins. There were some silver coins also. The upper and middle classes of the people were wealthy and were accustomed to a high standard of living. The common people were not devoid of the necessities of life, but they were poor as compared with the upper classes. One chief defect in the economic system of the empire was that the common people had to bear the brunt of taxation. Otherwise, however, they were quite happy. They were much more prosperous than the people in the Bahamani kingdom.

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In short, the empire "served a high historical purpose by acting as a champion of Hindu religion and culture against the aggressions of the Muslims in southern India."

Cites (2)