Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c9.19

c9.19

But it is not quite clear whether these huge forces constituted the imperial standing army at Vijayanagar or whether they included also feudal levies. In the light of the figures of Duarte Barbosa who modestly estimates the strength of the trained armies of the Vijayanagar kings at 100,000, the cavalry alone being 20,000, it is reasonable to infer that the exaggerated figures of most of the foreign travellers do not indicate the normal strength of the forces which the kings generally maintained, but that of the forces that were assembled in times of war. For instance the huge army that marched to Raicūr was made up not only of the regular troops but also of the war levies furnished by the feudal vassals. According to Nuniz, Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya had a permanent force of fifty thousand paid soldiers amongst whom were six thousand horsemen, who comprised the palace guard. He had also with him two hundred horsemen who were a part of the palace guard, their duties being to be always with the king and ride with him. There were also in the king's service twenty thousand spearmen and shield bearers besides three thousand men to look after the elephants in the stables.¹⁷ The figures of Duarte Barbosa and Nuniz show that the standing army was a fraction of the large army called to the field of battle. The Vijayanagar rulers depended on the irregulars who formed a very large portion of the army.¹⁸