Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 39

FEBRUARY, 1931 ]
THE PRISON OF EMPEROR SADASIVA RAYA
During this period the buildings in the Zenana enolobure were undoubtedly put up, except one, the edifice on the central stone base. Accordingly, this style may properly be called the Aravidu style of South Indian architecture.
Now the precise period when the buildings were erected is not very difficult to determine. After the battle of Talikota, during the short stay of Tirumala Raya at Vijayanagara, the new regent's sole thought was to prepare the empire for future wars with the Deccani Musalmans, as his wish of buying horses from the Portuguese evidently shows. Moreover, the same fact, carefully recorded by Frederick, shows that Tirumala had not much money to spend uselessly on erecting new buildings in a deserted city, for he had not enough money even to pay the Portuguese merchants for the horses sold to him. 10 It is therefore evident that those buildings were built in the time of Rama Raya. His purpose in erecting such edifices was intimately connected with his ambitious project to usurp the throne. When he decided to imprison the youngem peror, he did not intend to throw him into a dark dungeon, but to place him in one of the old palaces of the royal enclosure to serve as a residence befitting a king. He erected a wall round the plot-for, after all, that palace was to be a prison but it was not necessary that this wall should be as thick and strong as the walls of the other enclosures of the city. This would explain the difference between the walls of the so-called Zenana and the other walls of the city. A prison, moreover, required guards, and on this account three watch towers were built in the corners (the fourth one being perhaps ruined). The small house attached to the northern wall was undoubtedly for the servants. The pur. pose of the Lotus Mahal is another proof of the cunning nature of that great politician.
The Svaramolakalanidhi informs us that Rama Raya constructed for himself a palace called Ratna-kita, which was surrounded by gardens adorned with statues and tanks abounding with swans. 11 Now, we do not know of any other building in the so-called HinduMuslim style which could be the Ratna-kuța, the residence or palace of the great ruler. In all probability the so-called Lotus Mahal is the Ratna-kita. It is surrounded by a pit or ditch, which could be filled up with water. Thus the building became like a small island in the centre of a small lake. Another small lake or tank is to be seen on the northern side of this mahal.
The smallness of this palace does not create any objection against this identification. For Rama Raya was not living there. It was a place for recreation and enjoyment. “Seat. ed within this palace," again says the Svaramelakalanidhi," he spent his time in the midst of soholars versed in literature, music and other arte."19
It was very convenient for Rama Raya's purposes to build this palace for enjoyment within the walls of the Emperor Sadasiva's prison. It was necessary for the latter not to realize that he had wholly lost his freedom. Thus the regent could safely and steadily climb the steps to the throne. Had Sadasiva realized his real state, he would perhaps have broken his shaing, and the plans of Rama Raya would have suddenly failed. The fact that Sadakiva's "treatment while there was such as befitted a king," as noted by Couto, proves the intention of the far-sighted regent. To build the Ratna-kata within the walls of the empe. ror's prison was the wigest stroke of his ambitious policy. How could Sadasiva imagine that he was in prison, when his regent, the real master of the whole empire, came to spend the hours of his recreation within the walls of his own garden
The above reflexions will show how probable it is that the so-called Zenapa was the prison of Emperor Sadasiva Raya; and though this theory does not reach certainty, it is nevertheless better founded than that which assumes the enclosure to be the harem of the emperors of Vijayanagara. It would therefore be prudent for the Archæological Department to remove the board stating that the enclosure is the Zenada, and substitute another suggesting that the encloapire was probably the prison of Emperor Sadasiva Ropa betwoon 1650 and 1565.
10 Purchas, His Pilgrimes, X. p. 94. 11 Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagara History, p. 190. 19 Ibid.