Abdur Razzak visited Vijayanagara with an embassy (group of representatives) from Persia.

"At the end of the month of Zoul'hidjah (April 1443), we arrived at the city of [Vijayanagar].
The king sent an enormous group to meet us, and appointed us a very handsome house for our residence. 

"The city of [Vijayanagar] is such that the pupil of the eye has never seen a place like it, and the ear of intelligence has never been informed that there existed anything to equal it in the world. It is built so that seven citadels and seven walls enclose each other…

"This empire contains so great a population that it would be impossible to give an idea of it without extensive details… [In the city], one meets a numberless crowd of people… 

“By the king's palace are four bazaars… Roses are sold everywhere. These people could not live without roses, and they look upon them as quite as necessary as food. Opposite the palace… is the house of the elephants… Opposite the Mint is the house of the Governor, where are stationed twelve thousand soldiers on guard.... On the two sides of the [main] avenue… are represented figures of lions, panthers, tigers, and other animals. Thrones and chairs are placed on the platforms, and the courtesans seat themselves thereon, bedecked in gems and fine raiment.

"In the front of this place rose a palace with nine pavilions magnificently ornamented. In the ninth the king's throne was set up. In the seventh was allotted a place to the humble author of this narrative.... Between the palace and the pavilions ... were musicians and storytellers.

"The throne, which was of extraordinary size, was made of gold, and enriched with precious stones of extreme value.... Before the throne was a square cushion, on the edges of which were sown three rows of pearls."

Source: http://www.hampionline.com/history/abdurrazzak.php 

"A king should improve the harbours of his country and so encourage its commerce that horses, elephants, precious gems, sandalwood, pearls and other articles are freely imported ... He should arrange that the foreign sailors who land in his country on account of storms, illness and exhaustion are looked after in a manner suitable to their nationalities..." 

Source: Stein, Burton. "Vijayanagara." The New Cambridge History of India, 2008. 

"The Navaratri festival was a perfect blend of the social, cultural, religious and political life of the kingdom, all wrapped into one non-stop celebration lasting for much longer than its namesake nine nights. 

"It was the most important event of the year, for these weeks of celebration brought together all aspects of imperial life, from elaborate pujas and public entertainment to a review of troops and the payment of salaries. And of course, luxurious feasting, for if there was one phrase that [Portuguese traveler and witness to the festivities Domingo] Paes repeats more than any other in his description of the festival it is ‘and now, returning to the feasts!’

"All the king’s chief lords, along with all their respective retainers, arriving in the capital were housed in giant tents erected near the palace walls. And every morning for nine days the king would arrive near the Bhuvana Vijayam [Great Hall] to perform the morning pujas. 

"Before him came some twenty horses, fully decked out and saddled with cloths embroidered with gold and precious stones, for ‘they show off well the grandeur and state of their king’. 

"All the lords filed in to ‘make their salaam’ to Krishnadevaraya who was seated on a throne fashioned of gold and precious stones. 

"Next came the priests carrying boiled rice, cooked edibles, water, fire and many kinds of fragrances which they used to conduct their elaborate rituals. Both [Portuguese travelers] Nunes and Paes describe how the rites were often accompanied by great sacrificial slaughter. Paes informs us that Krishnadevaraya witnessed the slaughter of twenty-four buffaloes and 150 sheep, all of which were offered as a sacrifice to the idol. He adds, ‘You must know that they cut off the heads of these buffaloes and sheep at one blow with certain large sickles which are wielded by a man who has charge of this slaughter; he is so sure of hand that not a single blow misses.’ 

"On certain days, the idols would be finely decorated, placed in a giant chariot, and pulled through city lanes in a glorious procession. Behind the idol would follow hundreds of skilled dancing girls, for they played an especially important role in all state and religious functions. All of them were fair and young, from sixteen to twenty years of age, some of them so heavily bedecked with bracelets and jewels that their arms needed to be supported by other women. 

"And last would come the massive elephants in full decoration, as the idol wended its way back to the Bhuvana Vijayam where the king performed yet more pujas, followed by more sacrifices and even more dancing. 

"And then there was dinner, a most grand and sumptuous banquet, for the king fasted during those nine days and only ate at midnight. And with the feasting came the spectacular evening entertainment when the whole palace was filled with flickering torches. There were plays, water sports, mock battles, colourful ‘rockets’ and fireworks, and gory wrestling matches to boot in which huge men struck at each other with knuckledusters, delivering blows severe enough to break teeth, put out eyes and disfigure faces. Incapacitated contenders would be carried off silently by their friends while judges honoured winners with a silken cloth of victory."

Source: Reddy, Srinivas. Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.
New Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2020. 

One of the greatest and certainly the most famous of the emperors of south India was a man named Krishnadevaraya, the last great King of Vijayanagara, who ruled from 1509 to 1529. 

Krishnadeva was never meant to be the king. He was a prince, but his mother was a lower-ranking woman than any of his other brothers, and so his older brothers each took a turn at the throne before he did. But they catastrophically mismanaged the kingdom, and faced constant rebellions and uprisings. When Krishnadeva’s older brother finally lay on his deathbed, he was determined that his own infant grandson should take the throne, but he knew that many of the lords backed his brother Krishnadeva. In a final dying wish, he ordered that his brother should be blinded, which under Indian law would mean he could not become king. According to legend, the King’s servants had no confidence in his baby son actually taking the throne, but they were still afraid to anger the dying king. In a bold move, they brought him the eyes of a recently slaughtered goat, still dripping with blood, and told him that his wishes had been carried out. 

The King died satisfied that his line was secured, and Krishnadeva effortlessly took the throne. 

The Portuguese traveler Domingo Paes visited Vijayanagara Empire around the year 1520, during a golden age under the rule of Krishnadevaraya, the most powerful king of Vijayanagara. He gave the following account of the appearance of King Krishnadeva: 

The King is of medium height and of fair complexion and good figure – rather fat than thin. He has on his face signs of smallpox. He is the most feared and perfect King that could possibly be, cheerful of disposition and very merry. He is one that seeks to honor foreigners and receives them kindly, asking about all their affairs, whatever their condition may be. He is a great ruler, and a man of much justice, but subject to sudden fits of rage. And this is his title: King of Kings, Lord of Great Lord of India, Lord of the Three Seas and of the Land.

Under King Krishnadeva, the Vijayanagara empire nearly doubled in size, and would soon reach its largest historical extent, and would also achieve its greatest degree of centralization. At heart, it was still a feudal society, and its regions were still ruled by lords… who paid taxes to the empire, but otherwise enjoyed a degree of independence. As the Portuguese visitor Domingo Paes recalled: 

These captains he has over these troops of his are the nobles of his kingdom. They are lords, and they hold the cities and the towns and the villages of the kingdom. There are captains amongst them who have a revenue of 1 million and 1.5 million pagodas [the unit of currency in Vijayanagara]. Others 100,000 pagodas, others 200, 300, or 500,000 pagodas. And as each one has revenue, so the King fixes for him the number of troops he must maintain, in foot, force, and elephants. These troops are always ready for duty, whenever they may be called out, and whenever they may have to go. Besides maintaining these troops, each captain has to make his annual payments to the King.  

Source: Reddy, Srinivas. Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar. Juggernaut Books, 2020. 

"This process by which the king took on divine status had been evolving for centuries, and perhaps the clearest indication of this change was the insertion of the term deva or god into the names of these kings. During Krishnadevaraya’s own time he was known only as Krishnaraya, and the addition of ‘deva’ seems to have happened much after his death, probably in the seventeenth century by when much of the ‘golden age’ history of Vijayanagara had crystallized."

Source: Reddy, Srinivas. Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.
New Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2020. 

"Krishnadevaraya and [his rival] Prataparudradeva were both well educated; they were scholars and accomplished poets in their own right and actively participated in the creation of their literary legacies. 

"Indeed, this was very much in line with another important theme of Indian kingship: the ideal of a kavi-raja or poet-king. 

"As Sanskrit scholar Sheldon Pollock notes, the figure of the learned ruler ‘became virtually mandatory for the fully realized form of kingliness’. To be a truly righteous Hindu monarch, one had to be a master of both body and mind – a monarch and a philosopher who could rule with both might and wisdom...

"Central to this ancient belief was the balance between a king’s body and his mind. He was to be a mighty warrior, of course, but also a man of culture and scholarly wisdom. A kavi-raja had mastery of śastra (weapons) and śāstra (texts), and so he was equipped to rule a vast kingdom with both strength and compassion. As the court pandits in Vijayanagara declared of Krishnadevaraya: ‘You are an emperor in the fields of war and letters!’"

Source: Reddy, Srinivas. Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.
New Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2020. 

In many ways Vijayanagar was a blend of Classical South Indian forms of military and governance as well as Islamic ones, and as a result had a pretty interesting organization. 

The Origins of the Vijayanagar State

So, while there are three dynasties of the Vijayanagar Kingdom they are generally grouped together as one continuous state. 

The first of these dynasties and the one that laid the foundation for the establishment of the Kingdom was the Sangama dynasty. This dynasty began from two brothers; Harihara and Bukka, who were originally military men from Karnataka. They had approached Muhammad bin Tughluq, who was the Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate, and became his vassals and were appointed as governors of Kampili. However after Muhammad bin Tughluq's death they,  like many other vassals in the Sultanate, sought independence and political sovereignty. 

The various conquests of these two brothers out of their base at Kampili would lead to the initial establishment of the Kingdom of Vijayanagar in the mid-14th century. 

Now, this origin story is important for a couple of reasons. The first is that as a state created by conquest and by soldiers from Karnataka, it defined Vijayanagar as distinctively militaristic and a state that was geared towards warfare, perhaps more so than many other South Indian states at the time. The other important thing to note is the Delhi connection, which was important as this connection laid the groundwork for the way Vijayanagar organizaed its money and military. 

The Administrative System of the Vijayanagar Kingdom

So as mentioned the Kingdom of Vijayanagar was state that was largely structured around warfare, and as a result its administrative systems were focused just as much on warfare as they were on wealth extraction. 

Now this administrative system changed considerably throughout the polity's history but the general gist of it is something like this:

• The Kingdom was divided into various regions, in each region there was a chieftain known as a Nayaka who was given their position by the King of Vijayanagar. 

• The Nayakas were responsible for three things: (1) the collection of tax revenues, (2) the raising of local armies, and (3) paying tribute or gifts to the King, which was separate from taxes. 

• The armies that these Nayakas raised were commanded by the Nayaka himself and were to be paid through part of the taxation revenue of the region. While some of the rest of that payment would go to the Nayaka himself, nearly all of what was left (after paying for the army, I mean) would be sent to the King. 

• It is generally agreed that under the King Krishnadevaraya in the early 16th century, the Vijayanagar military administrative apparatus reached its most centralized and bureaucratic form, after that and the sack of Vijayanagar in the mid 16th century the state gradually decentralized and fell apart.

Now this administrative system bears a striking resemblance to that of the Iqta' system that was prevalent in much of the Muslim world during this time, and given the origins of the Vijayanagar state it is not too much of stretch to think that their administrative system was based on, if not an adaptation of, the Delhi Sultanate.

Alright moving on let's go in to the details about what kind of Armies were raised and their structure.

The Military of the Kingdom of Vijayanagar

Much like the administration of the Kingdom, the military too underwent some drastic shifts throughout the state's history and we'll have to go over them here.

So there were two components to the military of Vijayanagar. 

The first was previously discussed: the Nayakas who were both governors and commanders of various regional armies. While these armies may have received some sort of martial training they were by no means professional armies. 

The second was the King's own army, which seems to have been a standing army that the King recruited and paid for based on the revenues received from the provinces. Qualitatively this army was similar to those of the provincial ones, but there was King's Guard made up of elite troops who do appear to have had some level of training.

In terms of numbers, the reported numbers are something along the lines of 100 thousand for the King's army and including the armies of the Nayakas its something along the lines of 1 million men for the complete army of Vijayanagar. Now, this is almost certainly an exaggeration, but it is true that Vijayanagar did have an exceptionally large military, even when compared to other South Indian states and when compared to its principle rival the Bahmani Sultanate, which could only muster a fraction of the troops that Vijayanagar could. Despite this big difference in numbers, however, both sides were roughly equal in strength, and this is largely due to the composition of the army. The military of the Kingdom of Vijayanagar was primarily infantry, whereas the Bahmani Sultans primarily utilized cavalry, and were called "Lords of the Horses." 

The Vijayanagara infantry were largely spearmen, swordsmen and archers. The Kings of Vijayanagar did have other military elements at their disposal like archers on elephants and some (horse) cavalry, but these were often inferior to those of the Deccan Sultanates of the north. And Bahmani horsemen were often much better trained and equipped than those of Vijayangar and just qualitatively better in terms of military skill. 

A key factor of the superiority of Muslim cavalry was the Central Asian warhorse which they rode, which was a breed of warhorse that was way way better than any of the horses in India. Since Vijayanagara was cut off from the overland warhorse trade by the Bahmani Sultanate, they had to rely on overseas trade of horses which was much more expensive and less reliable. So cavalry remained one of the weak points of the Vijayanagar Kingdom's military for quite some time.

This situation changed in the 15th century, when under Devaraya II, the Kings of Vijayanagar began to recruit Muslim mercenaries and soldiers into his armies. These Muslim groups were pretty much all cavalry and they were organized into ethnic based regiments (i.e. Turks, Siddis, Afghans, etc..) led by a representative officer. There were reported to be around 200 of these officers and 10,000 of these soldiers in the army of Devaraya II. These Muslim cavalrymen introduced a whole bunch of different military technologies and innovations, for instance nailed horseshoes, better stirrups, and so on, which helped narrow the gap between Bahmani and Vijayanagar cavalry. They also helped facilitate the warhorse trade between Muslim merchants and the Kingdom. Moreover, once the Portuguese arrived in the Indian Ocean and asserted control over trade they favored trading with Vijayanagar over the Muslim Sultanates and directed trade towards them. Over time, the Muslim regiments grew in size and importance, and it reached its peak during the reign of Krishnadevaraya in the 16th century, who employed not just an increasing amount Muslim cavalrymen but also Muslim and Portuguese musketeers and cannoneers to great effect, and in his reign the territory of Vijayanagar reached its peak.

Sources:

• Asher, Catherine B., and Cynthia Talbot. India before Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

• Eaton, Richard M. “‘Kiss My Foot,’ Said the King: Firearms, Diplomacy and the Battle for Raichur, 1520.” Chapter. In Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History: Essays in Honour of John F. Richards, edited by Richard M. Eaton, Munis D. Faruqui, David Gilmartin, and Sunil Kumar, 275–98. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

• Narayana Rao, Velcheru, David Dean Shulman, and Sanjay. Subrahmanyam. 1992. Symbols of Substance Court and State in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu Delhi ;: Oxford University Press.

• Stein, Burton. The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara. The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

• Sinopoli, Carla M. "From the Lion Throne: Political and Social Dynamics of the Vijayanagara Empire." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 43, no. 3 (2000): 364-98.

• Wagoner, Phillip B. ""Sultan among Hindu Kings": Dress, Titles, and the Islamicization of Hindu Culture at Vijayanagara." The Journal of Asian Studies 55, no. 4 (1996): 851-80.

Link to this source

One revealing incident told in the Rayavacakamu * speaks of Krishnadevaraya’s clever plan to galvanize his lords, as well as [his minister and advisor] Timmarasu’s equally shrewd assistance in making it happen. 

It began one morning as the king was listening to the recitation of stanzas on royal conduct. He heard a poem by Baddena that struck him deeply:

Only when a king has an army greater than his lords

will he grow strong enough to secure the authority 

needed to deploy his forces far and wide.

Krishnadevaraya immediately summoned all the palace accountants and treasurers and asked them, ‘How much revenue comes to the Lion Throne of Vijayanagara from the provinces? How many forts and citadels are there in the kingdom? How many cities and villages are there, and how much cultivated land?’ And then he commanded, ‘I want you all to prepare detailed figures for our holdings in coin, precious ornaments and jewels; for the savings treasury; for the accounts from district temple superintendents; and for the palace’s salaried forces, including elephants, horses, and their attendants.’ 

Allalanatha, the keeper of the treasury, replied apologetically, ‘All these days, king Viranarasimha never once inquired about the details of the accounts. But, now that my Lord has shown an interest in these matters, I will gladly prepare the figures you have requested.’ And after carefully working all day and night, Allalanatha submitted a detailed financial report. He said, ‘By my calculations, the nayaka [noblemen] estates ought to provide the king a standing army of 24,000 horses, 1,200 elephants, and 200,000 infantrymen. But the nayakas have continually failed to provide the correct number of horses, elephants, and infantrymen. This disparity is certainly worthy of your majesty’s consideration.’

The young king was stunned by this disturbing report; his lords had larger armies than his own! Krishnadevaraya turned to his ministers for advice, but they all bowed their heads in silence. Finally Timmarasu spoke up, saying, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll run things to your satisfaction, your lordship needn’t say another word.’ 

This upset the king even more, for he felt inconsequential and powerless, unable to act independently among his ministers. He mulled this over for a long time, and then one night, as he slipped out to make his rounds, Krishnadevaraya escaped to a temple some leagues north of the city. He was determined not to return to the palace and spent the night there in secret. 

In the morning, Timmarasu was alarmed not to find the king in his chambers. He quickly sent spies off in every direction with instructions to find the king and report back to him. And soon enough, one spy returned and informed the minister of the king’s whereabouts.

When he heard this, Timmarasu sent written messages to all the lords, nobles and chief nayakas, telling them that the king had decided to go hunting, and that they should all come quickly with their full forces. And so they hurried about and made ready their men, and as soon as everyone had gathered – all the horsemen, elephant riders, infantrymen, retainers, nobles and lords present in the city – they rode forth with Timmarasu at the head.

Once they crossed the city walls, Timmarasu ordered the men to fall in rank, get into formation and stay at the ready. Then he dismounted and made his way to the temple where Krishnadevaraya was waiting.

A cordial exchange of grievances sprinkled with pleasantries passed between king and minister, until Krishnadevaraya finally expressed his pressing desire for a strong standing army, along with the funds required to pay them all a proper salary. Timmarasu replied that he would ensure this happened right away and quickly summoned the troops gathered nearby.

Right then and there, with the palace accountants by his side, Timmarasu made public all the discrepancies in both the military and monetary tribute due to the state by the lords present. Shamed and remorseful, the lords immediately offered to their king 500 elephants, 12,000 horses and 1,000,000 infantrymen from their own ranks. And so, just like that, the wise old Timmarasu turned the king’s wish into reality. 

Krishnadevaraya was amazed! He exclaimed, ‘Who else but you has the power to make the impossible possible?’ He ordered Timmarasu to be presented with the seven worthy gifts: a cap, an ornamental shirt, a necklace, a pair of pearl earrings,

a yellow shawl, fragrant musk and paan. 

‘Indeed,’ rejoiced the king, ‘today at last my kingship has been set on firm ground!’ The king mounted his elephant named Masti Madahasti and climbed into the golden howdah. He called upon Timmarasu to take the seat behind him, and king and minister triumphantly marched back to the capital with a mighty new army

following close behind.

This unique story reveals several important themes related to a stable government: the critical importance of a salaried army stationed in the capital, the loyalty and goodwill of lords, a strong-willed king and a clever minister. The Rayavacakamu adds that when Krishnadevaraya returned to the palace, he boasted to his retainers, ‘Is there any other minister in this world who is like my Appaji Saluva Timmarasu? Just look at what can be done when you have a minister like Appaji!’ And indeed they would accomplish much together, for the man who was like a father to the young

king would prove to be Krishnadevaraya’s fiercest ally and most trusted adviser.

One verse written by the king himself echoes what he believed were the qualifications of an effective minister. It is more than evident that Appaji was the inspiration for it, and perhaps the poem even corroborates the eventful day described above:

A learned brahman, versed in statecraft

and horrified by injustice,

older than fifty but younger than seventy,

devoid of ego and from a healthy family,

who only takes up the office of minister 

at the behest of the king, will discharge

his duties successfully, and in just one day,

strengthen every branch of the government.

* The Rayavacakamu is an update to a king about the goings on in his kingdom. Although often taken to be a contemporary document of Krishnadevaraya's period, the Rayavacakamu is in fact a historiographic representation of that period written some ninety years later at the Nayaka court of Madurai, one of Vijayanagara's most important successor states. 

Source: Reddy, Srinivas. Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.
New Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2020. 

"A few days after the [Navaratri] festival (see the Religion section above) came the annual review of the armed forces and the paying of officer salaries. 

"It was an impressive event, for the troops that guarded the city alone stood at some 50,000 men including shield bearers, spearmen and archers, not to mention thousands of the finest stallions and hundreds of elephants in all their colourful trappings. 

"In a glorious procession the king would set out for a specially erected tent a full league from the city. From this vantage point he would watch as his captains marched out towards him according to rank with their troops arrayed in perfect formation. It was a grand public display of martial prowess designed to further glorify the empire and its sovereign lord. 

"As [Portuguese traveler Domingo] Paes witnessed, ‘The king passed along gazing at his soldiers, who gave great shouts and cries and struck their shields. The horses neighed, the elephants screamed, and it seemed as if the city would be turned upside down! The hills and valleys and all the ground trembled with the firing of guns and muskets; and to see the bombs and fire-missiles over the plains, this was indeed wonderful. Truly it seemed as if the whole world were collected there! I was so carried away with myself, it felt like I was in a dream.’

"Part of the men’s excitement must have come from the fact that the spectacle was also occasion for the payment of annual salaries. Captains would renew their pledges of fealty and the king would distribute, all according to rank, thousands upon thousands of pardaos. These gold coins struck in the Vijayanagara mint had an image of the king on one side and the imperial boar insignia on the other. For this reason they are also known as varahas, from the Sanskrit word for boar. The currency was valued and accepted all throughout the Deccan, and particularly in Portuguese Goa." 

Source: Reddy, Srinivas. Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.
New Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2020. 

"Warhorses imported by sea from West Asia were the most sought-after imperial commodity. And since indigenous horse breeds were not hardy enough for warfare, sturdier foreign horses were constantly being imported into the subcontinent.

[Portuguese commander] Albuquerque... had seized control of Middle East ports like Hormuz and Aden, and so they could channel all foreign horse imports to Goa and monopolize the South Asian overseas horse trade. [Internal conflict in the empire to the north meant that] horses could no longer be brought to the Deccan overland from Central Asia and north India, but had to be shipped across the Arabian Sea.’ It was this lucrative trade network that the Portuguese sought to control exclusively.

In a letter to [his] King Dom Manuel, Albuquerque wrote:

'Because the king of Vijayanagara wants to secure a steady supply of horses to his land, he will do whatever you request. With Goa [a west coast port city, which the Portuguese had just captured] in your power, the kings of Vijayanagara and the Deccan will both pay tribute.’ 

In another letter to his king, Albuquerque boasted:

‘I have determined that all the horses from Arabia and Persia should be in your hand. First in order to receive the high duties paid on horses, and second because the kings of Vijayanagara and the Deccan will strive for peace with you. They see that you have the power to give them victory over each other, because without doubt, whoever has the horses from Arabia and Persia will win.’ 

Thus the rise of the Portuguese in India was tightly linked to war and horses; it was nothing short of a medieval arms race. And Albuquerque’s strategy of conquest was simple: pit local states against each other and exploit native hostilities to further Portugal’s imperialist agenda.

Krishnadevaraya grasped this new reality but it was still too early for him to fall in league with the Portuguese... Only later would Krishnadevaraya favour the

Portuguese and try to seek exclusive access to the all-important warhorses they traded in.

Source: Reddy, Srinivas. Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.
New Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2020. 

Duarte Barbosa was a Portuguese representative who visited Vijayanagara 1504-14

“There is an infinite trade in this city.... In this city there are many jewels which are brought from Pegu and Celani [Sri Lanka], and in the country itself many diamonds are found, because there is a mine of them in the kingdom of [Vijayanagara] and another in the kingdom of Deccan. There are also many pearls and seed-pearls to be found there, which are brought from Ormuz and Cael... also silk-brocades, scarlet cloth, and coral.”

Source: http://www.hampionline.com/history/duarte.php 

Domingo Paes was a Portuguese traveler who visited Vijayanagara Empire around 1520:

“This kingdom has many places on the coast of India; they are seaports with which we are at peace, and in some of them we have factories.

“The land has plenty of rice and Indian-corn, grains, beans, and other kind of crops which are not sown in our parts; also an infinity of cotton. This country wants [for] water because it is very great and has few streams; they make lakes in which water collects when it rains…

“Going forward, you have a broad and beautiful street, full of rows of fine houses and streets of the sort I have described, and it is to be understood that the houses belong to men rich enough to afford such. In this street live many merchants, and there you will find all sorts of rubies, and diamonds, and emeralds, and pearls, and seed-pearls, and cloths, and every other sort of thing there is on earth and that you may wish to buy. Then you have there every evening a fair where they sell many horses, and also many citrons, and limes, and oranges, and grapes, and every other kind of garden stuff, and wood; you have all in this street.

“The size of this city I do not write here, because it cannot all be seen from any one spot, but I climbed a hill whence I could see a great part of it; I could not see it all because it lies between several ranges of hills. What I saw from thence seemed to me as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight; there are many groves of trees within it, in the gardens of the houses, and many conduits of water which flow into the midst of it, and in places there are lakes; and the king has close to his palace a palm-grove and other rich-bearing fruit-trees.

“This is the best provided city in the world.”

Source: http://www.hampionline.com/history/domingo.php 

Paes goes on to provide a detailed description of the king’s royal attire. He was decked in fine white clothes ornamented with golden roses, and wore around his neck a diamond necklace of very great value. 

"This matches quite well with Krishnadevaraya’s own verse about kingly attire: 

"A king should don a single gem whose luster shines throughout the world. He should wear the finest clothes embroidered with sparkling silver, and ornament himself with matching jewels according to the day of the week."

Upon his head was a brocade cap of the finest silk which reminded Paes of a war helmet from his native Iberia. And last but not least, he was barefoot, "for no one ever enters where the king is unless one has bare feet." 

This intimate encounter with the great king of Vijayanagara left a deep impression on Paes. He memorialized Krishnadevaraya as "the most feared and perfect king that could possibly be, cheerful of disposition and very merry. He seeks to honour foreigners, and receives them kindly . . . so gallant and perfect is he in all things!" 

Source: Reddy, Srinivas. Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.
New Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2020.