FOUND AT VIJAYANAGAR. 



3 



Vijayanagar was known to the first travellers in India as Bisnagar, 

 and the kingdom of Narsinga, the name of one of the sovereigns, ( NarasinhaJ 

 being erroneously given to the country. Odoardo Barbessa, who published 

 an account of his travels and a summary description of India in 1516, calls 

 the king of Narsinha, Rasysena, mistaking titles for a name. He describes 

 the city as of great extent, highly populous, and the seat of an active and 

 valuable commerce, especially in the diamonds of the country*, pearls from 

 the Persian Gulf, rubies from Pegu, silks and brocades from China and 

 Alexandria, and broad cloths from the latter ; quicksilver and cinnabar, 

 opium, sandal, aloes, camphor from various quarters, musk and pepper 

 from Malabar. The king, he adds, maintains about 900 elephants, 200 of 

 which are always ready for war, as well as a force of 20,000 cavalry and an 

 immense host of infantry ; Vijayanagar being in constant hostility with the 

 kings of Dakhan, the Muhanimedan prince of Bijapur and the west, and 

 the Hindu sovereign of Orissa. The palaces of the king and his courtiers, 

 and the numerous temples are said to be stately buildings of stone, but the 

 greater part of the population resided in hovels of mud and straw. The 

 provinces forming the kingdom of Nirsinha are called by Barbessa, Tuliman 

 ( Tuluva ), Canarini ( Canara ) Cormandel, and two others of which the name 

 or names Trenlique are evident errors of transcription : the provinces were 

 probably Telingana and Dravira — so that in the commencement of the 16th 

 century, the kingdom comprised the whole of the Peninsula south of the 

 Krishna, inclusive of the Portuguese possessions and the petty principalities 

 of Malabar. 



There are various traditions current in the Dakhan respecting the 

 foundation of the kingdom of Vijaya^iagar. According to one account, the 

 celebrated scholar and statesman Madhava, surnamed Vidyaranya, implying 



* Probably of the Rourconda mines, situated about 30 miles east of Vijayanagar, or north 

 of the Kistna ;— See Tavernier's account of them. R. 



