Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c16.t4: (a) Palaces and public buildings in Vijayanagar
Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c16.t4
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(a) Palaces and public buildings in Vijayanagar
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The palaces and other civil buildings that were constructed by the kings at Vijayanagar are now in ruins. Many of them were razed to the ground by the Mussalmans who committed all manner of excesses after the battle of Rakṣas Taṅgḍi. As a result, instead of the buildings we see only platforms. But the following remains can be noted.
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Within the citadel there is a very large basement which appears to have been that of an important building—perhaps the audience hall of the Vijayanagar kings. The upper surface of the platform shows traces of the existence of six rows of pillars, each row containing ten pillars, for there are to be seen sixty bases on which the pillars probably rested. They were in all likelihood made of timber since no stone pillar is seen there now even in a broken condition. From the statement of Abdur Razāk that the king’s “Audience Hall was elevated above all the rest of the lofty buildings in the Citadel” we can fairly presume that it had one or two stories above it. But it appears they were all in timber. The basement of the platform is adorned with simple carvings.
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But the “Throne Platform” is the most attractive among the many to be seen there. Paes calls the building that stood upon this platform as the “House of Victory” on account of the fact that it was built by Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya soon after his return from his victorious campaign against the ruler of Orissa. It was the place where the king used to be sitting to witness the celebration of the Mahānavami festival. The platform “is a massive structure, originally faced with carved granite blocks and slabs which have subsequently been partly refaced with dark green chlorite stone on the front or west side of the platform. . . . . . . . . The spaces between the different rows of the plinth mouldings of the platform are mostly elaborately carved in a similar style to that employed in the ornamentation of the enclosure walls of the Hazāra Rāma temple, the different scenes representing processions of soldiers, horses, elephants, camels and dancing girls.”³⁰ᵃ A few bas-reliefs on the walls of the platform depict hunting scenes and conventional animals. The sculptures are, however, crude on account of the granite on which they are made. “The upper course of stone is decorated with a procession of elephants. Two foreign-looking men with pointed beards and Persian-like caps are shown bowing to a group of figures seated on a throne. Perhaps the scene is intended to represent a visit of two foreign ambassadors to the court.”³¹ Longhurst is of opinion that there is a pronounced Jaina style about these old bas-reliefs, and says that it is at times a little difficult “to know whether some of the figures represent men or women owing to the curious manner in which both sexes wear their hair.”³² Be-
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30a. Longhurst, Hampi Ruins, p. 58.
31. Ibid., p. 62.
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low the procession of elephants are seen a row of sacred geese and conventional crocodiles which was a favourite design of the early Jains and Buddhists. Under this there are three rows of dancing girls. The figures are full of spirit and action. In another place in the same building, there are a few other sculptures. In the top panel we see a parade of the king's horses. Below it is seen a hunting scene. "One man is shown spearing a tiger or panther, whilst two men, one armed with a bow, and the other with a curiously shaped weapon and leading brace of grey hounds, are depicted hunting antelope. In the centre is a tree in which are two armed men being attacked by some wild beast. Below the tree is a boar on one side and a cross on the other, the latter is certainly peculiar, but in this case it is merely a conventional method of representing an ornamental tank. Below are represented two boxers giving an exhibition of the "noble art" before the king in the manner related by Nuniz. To the left we have a very Assyrian looking bas-relief representing a warrior slaying a bear by calmly plunging a dagger into its open mouth as it charges.... Processions of horses and warriors, camels carrying drummers with kettledrums shaped like baskets, elephants, dancing girls and musicians make up the rest of the scenes depicted in these quaint old bas-reliefs."33 The gorgeous processions connected with the Mahānavami festival described by the foreign travellers are all represented on the sides of the platform. In one of them a young noble is seen taking part in the festival along with a group of dancing girls, "two of the latter being armed with squirts full of saffron water." Longhurst takes this to be a representation of the Holi festival described by Nicolo dei Conti. But the panel appears to represent a very common feature of the life of the Vijayanagar nobility—the water sports or *jalakrīḍā* which contemporary literature describes elaborately.
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There is another platform in the locality which appears to have been that of the palace since it is situated within the royal enclosure near the king's Audience Hall and the Throne Platform. The walls standing on this Platform are of brick and mortar instead of stone, while the superstructure and the pillars appear to have been of wood, which were burnt down by the Muhammadans. The basement stands on a platform of about five feet on the panels of which are engraved interesting Mahānavami processions.
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(b) Irrigation works :
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For the supply of water to the city of Vijayanagar great facilities were provided. Water seems to have been got from a tank situated at a comparatively high level. But Longhurst suggests that it must have been got from a well outside the city, "in the usual Indian fashion by means of large leather buckets worked by bullocks the water being poured into a main channel connected with branch pipes."³⁴ A stone channel which is near the Throne Platform leads to the enclosure walls of the citadel. Another branches from it to the Zenānā enclosure. It goes up to the Queen's Bath. This is a square building in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture and is surrounded by a moat. An arched corridor with small projecting balconies surrounds the building, and from it a view can be had of the Bath in the centre. To the north of the Candraśēkhara temple in the citadel is an octagonal tank with a dilapidated pavilion in the centre and a pillared corridor with a flat roof running all round the tank. It was perhaps used as a pleasure resort. The Turuttu channel runs alongside of the hill and "takes off from the Turuttu anicut across the river Tuṅgabhadrā about a mile west of Hampi. Apart from these, there are two objects of great interest. One is a stone trough opposite the platform of the king's "Audience Hall." It was used perhaps for storing water for the horses and elephants of the ambassadors and nobles who sought the audience of the king. It is made of a single block of granite measuring 41½ feet in length and 3 feet in width, and 2 feet 9 inches in thickness and contains a small drainage hole for flushing out purposes. The other building is the octagonal pavilion, rather a large structure. It is built in the Indo-Saracenic style. On all sides of the building there are arched openings and there is a small fountain basin in the centre of the building. The building also contains a massive stone trough carved out of a single block of granite in which, it is said, milk was kept for distribution to the poor during the big festivals at the capital.
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³⁴ Op. cit., p. 52.
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(c) Bazaars :
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Interesting examples of street architecture in the Vijayanagar days can be seen in the Hampi bazaar which continues to exist even to the present day in a fairly perfect condition. It is opposite to the temple at Hampi and is 35 yards wide and 800 yards long. Many of the buildings in the street are simple maṇṭapas standing on stone pillars supporting ornamented lintel. A few of them have two stories “and a row of moulded columns with carved capitals in front, supporting a moulded and ornamental cornice and parapet.”³⁵ At the east end of the street is a large Nandi (the Sacred Bull of Śiva) facing the Hampi temple. Just in front of the maṇṭapa in which it is housed is the two-storied building with many finely carved pillars of black stone in the Cāḷukyan style of which we have spoken.³⁶ Another street known as the Śūḷai Bazaar or the dancing girls’ street runs north of Acyuta Rāya’s temple. The dancing girls are said to have lived here. The houses are in ruins, but the dancing girls appear to have lived in houses separated by rubble walls which were plastered over. There is a tank or bath at the north-western end of the street which was probably used by the dancing girls.
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³⁵ Rea, Madras Chr. Coll. Mag., II, p. 506.
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³⁶ See p. 391.
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To the east of the Kṛṣṇasvāmi temple there is another bazaar; but this is on a lower ground than the temple itself. The buildings have all only one story and the lintels used for them stand on stone piers. At the north side of the street there is a large tank surrounded by a corridor and it is entered by an ornamented gateway. Both this and the Śūḷai Bazaar are now deserted, and the lands between the ruins are under cultivation.