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Bharat Ek Khoj—The Discovery of India A Production of Doordarshan, the Government of India’s Public Service Broadcaster Episode 28: The Vijayanagar Empire With Om Puri as Krishnadevaraya, Salim Ghouse as Ramaraya, Anjan Srivastava as Appaji, Richard Lane-Smith as Father Luiz, Fr. Tasso as Domingo Paes, K.K. Raghuvanshi as the Ambassador, Ajay Kumar as Achyutadevaraya, and Muneera Surati as Mother. Nehru records how, late in the 14th century, Timur Lang, the Turk, swooped down from the north and smashed up the Delhi Sultanate. After this terrible affliction, North India remained weak and divided into small potentates. But South India was comparatively well off with Vijaynagar as the largest and most powerful of the southern kingdoms. This state and the city attracted many Hindu refugees from the north. From contemporary accounts, it appears that the city was incredibly rich and beautiful. Said Abdur-Razzak, a traveller from Central Asia: The city is such that eye has not seen nor ear heard of any palace resembling it upon the whole earth. There were arcades and magnificent galleries for the bazaars, and rising above them all was the palace of the king, surrounded by many rivulets and streams flowing through channels of cut stone, polished and even… With splendid aerial views of Vijaynagar, we can hear Nehru approvingly quoting Domingo Paes, the Portuguese visitor who came in 1522 AD after visiting the Italian cities of the Renaissance: The city of Vijaynagar is as large as Rome and very beautiful to the sight; it is full of charm and wonder: with its innumerable lakes and waterways and fruit gardens. It is the best-provided city in the world and everything abounds. The chambers of the palace are a mass of ivory, with roses and lotuses carved in ivory at the top; it is so rich and beautiful that you would hardly find anywhere another such… In the ensuing drama, Krishna Deva Raya is seen occupying the throne after some palace intrigues upstaging the aspirant Achyuta Deva Raya. Nehru quotes Paes: He is the most feared and perfect king that could possibly be, cheerful of disposition and very merry: he is one that seeks to honour foreigners, and receives them kindly, asking about all their affairs whatever their condition may be. We witness the king watching classical Kuchipudi dance presenting Mandodari Sabdam and eulogising Ravana in the same breath as the King and confabulating on expanding the northern boundaries to Bijapur. To ‘honour the foreigners’ is evidenced in receiving the Portuguese delegation and their gifts. Deals are struck with their Governor Albuquerque of Goa to procure horses and guns, beside trade relations, in preference to the Arab trade for horses. Events noted in the Portuguese diary are: retention of an outstanding swordsman from Malaysia for training the infantry and arrangements made with Albuquerque to get Portuguese expertise for improving Vijaynagar’s water distribution system. Bijapur is subjugated and so is Kalinga, with the latter’s prince held captive. In the widespread kingdom, many temples are built with the king emerging to represent godhead. The haughty Kalinga prince’s duel with the Malaysian swordsman results in the former’s defeat, followed by suicide. Bijapur’s recalcitrant rebel Adil Khan is subjugated. The ageing king is taken ill and his attempts to fix the succession issue prove futile, with the vast empire showing signs of decay. Even when the Deccan kings began teaming up among themselves, the sprawling empire refused to read the signs on the wall.