Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c8.98

c8.98

(b) *Criminal Cases*: We also get some information about the manner in which criminal cases were tried both at the imperial court and in the mofussil centres. But the material at our disposal is not much, and hence we cannot definitely say much about the method by which criminal cases were tried. But the following details may be noted. Nuniz says: “When any one suffers wrong and wishes to represent his case to the king he shows how great is his suffering by lying flat on his face on the ground till they ask what it is he wants. If, perchance, he wishes to speak to the king while he is riding, he takes the shaft of a spear and ties a branch to it and thus goes along calling out. Then they make room for him and he makes his complaint to the king, and it is there and then settled without much ado and the king orders a captain, one of those who go with him, to do at once what the supplicant asks . . . and even if some (robberies) are committed you give some little present and a description of the man who stole from you, and they will soon know by the agency of the wizards whether the thief be in the city or not; for there are very powerful wizards in this country. Thus there are very few thieves in the land.”⁵⁹