Foreign Visitors to Vijayanagar

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The splendor and affluence of the Vijayanagara city and empire has been described in the accounts of travellers who visited this South Indian Hindu Kingdom at regular intervals. Prominent among them are the Italian Nicolo dei Conti and Abdur Razzaq (15th century AD) and the Portuguese travelers Paes and Nuniz who visited India in the 16th century. 

Nicolo Conti, First European Visitor To Vijayanagar 

Born at the coastal town of Chioggia in Italy, Nicolo Conti was an Italian and the earliest European visitor to the mighty Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. The ruins of the great city of Vijayanagar are found at Hampi in the state of Karnataka. Nicolo Conti reached the city in 1420 -21 in the reign of Devaraya I. His original travel account in Latin is lost. Conti gives a vivid account of the city of Vijayanagar, its court, customs, currency, festivals and other matters. 

Abdur Razzaq 

Abdur Razzaq was a Persian who was sent by Timur's son and successor Shah Rukh as ambassador to the Zamorin of Calicut. In April 1443, Abdur Razzaq also visited Vijayanagar during the reign of Devaraya II. Abdur Razzaq was overawed with the size and grandeur of the city of Vijayanagar. He says, “The city is such that eye has not seen nor ear heard of any place resembling it upon the whole earth. It is so built that it has seven fortified walls, one within the other.” His narrative supplies valuable information on the topography, administration and social life of Vijayanagar at that time. 

Duarte Barbosa

Duarte Barbosa was another Portuguese traveller who came to Vijayanagar during the reign of Krishnadeva Raya. He was proficient in Malayalam. Barbosa returned to Portugal between 1517 and 1518. His work "An Account of Countries Bordering the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants" was completed in 1518.

Domingo Paes 

He was a Portuguese traveler who visited Vijayanagar during the reign of its greatest ruler Krishnadeva Raya in 1520. Paes saw the glory of Vijayanagar and has written what he saw, without relating legends, fables, stories, etc. The narrative of Domingo Paes provides an eyewitness account to the reign of Krishnadeva Raya. Paes found the city of Vijayanagar “as large as Rome, and very beautiful to sight. This is the best provided city in the world…”

Fernao Nuniz

Fernao Nuniz was a Portuguese horse-dealer and chronicler who spent three years in Vijayanagar during the reign of Achyuta Deva Raya from 1535 to 1537.  

Caesar Frederick 

Caesar Frederick was a Venetian traveler who visited Vijayanagar a couple of years after the famous battle of Rakshasa Tangadi or Talikota in 1565. 

Reference:

Prof K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar