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An Imperial Capital : Vijayanagara
Question
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Mention the main features of city and bazaar of Vijayanagara given by the foreign travellers.

Answer

More generally, he described the city as being “the best provided city in the world” with the market stacked with provisions such as rice, wheat, grains, Indian corn and a certain amount of barley and beans, moong, pulses and horse-gram” all of which were cheaply and abundantly available. According to Fernao Nuniz, the Vijayanagara markets were “overflowing with abundance of fruits, grapes and oranges, limes, pomegranates, jackfruit and mangoes and all very cheap”. Meat too was sold in abundance in the marketplaces.

Nuniz describes “mutton, pork, vension, partridges, hares, doves, quail and all kinds of birds, sparrows, rats and cats and lizards” as being sold in the market of Bisnaga (Vijayanagara).

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Some More Questions From An Imperial Capital : Vijayanagara Chapter

What do you think were the advantages and disadvantages of enclosing agricultural land within the fortified area of the city?

What do you think was the significance of the rituals associated with the Mahanavami dibba?

Fig. 7.33 is an illustration of another pillar from the Virupaksha temple. Do you notice any floral motifs? What are the animals shown? Why do you think they are depicted? Describe the human figures shown.

Discuss whether the term “royal centre” is an appropriate description for the part of the city for which it is used

What does the architecture of buildings like the Lotus Mahal and elephant stables tell us about the rulers who commissioned them?

What are the architectural traditions that inspired the architects of Vijayanagara? How did they transform these traditions?

What impression of the lives of the ordinary people of Vijayanagara can you cull from the various descriptions in the chapter?

On an outline map of the world, mark approximately Italy, Portugal, Iran and Russia.Trace the routes the travellers mentioned on p.176 would have taken to reach Vijayanagara.

Find out more about any one of the major cities which flourished in the subcontinent during c. fourteenth-seventeenth centuries. Describe the
architecture of the city. Are there any features to suggest that these were political centres? Are there buildings that were ritually significant? Is there
an area for commercial activities? What are the features that distinguish the urban layout from that of surrounding areas?

Visit a religious building in your neighbourhood. Describe, with sketches, its roof, pillars and arches if any, corridors, passages, halls, entrance, water supply, etc. Compare these features with those of the Virupaksha temple. Describe what each part of the building is used for. Find out about its history.