Domingo Paes

Also called: Paes · Topic: Vijayanagara and the Deccan · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map"; Class 12, Ch 3 "An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara"

Meaning

Domingo Paes was a Portuguese visitor to Vijayanagara in the 16th century, during the reign of Krishnadeva Raya. He wrote one of the fullest eyewitness descriptions of the city, its markets and its king. His account matters because Vijayanagara left few records of its own daily life. Paes helps fill that gap, and he gives a plain, honest picture of the king that differs from the king's official image.

Explanation

Background: why a Portuguese visitor was in Vijayanagara

• Vijayanagara wrote little about its own street life. Much of what we know about the city comes from foreign visitors who walked through it and wrote down what they saw.
• Writers came from Arabia, Italy, Portugal and Russia, which shows how far the city's fame had spread [3].
• In the 16th century the visitors were mostly Portuguese: Barbosa, Paes and Nuniz.
• Portugal had set up trading bases on the west coast of India.

• So Portuguese traders and horse-dealers had regular business with the Vijayanagara court.

• Paes was one of these men. He was an outsider writing for readers back in Europe.

What Paes saw: the city

• "As large as Rome." Paes wrote that the city "seemed to me as large as Rome".
• For a European, Rome was the biggest city he could name.

• So it was his measuring stick for size.

• A green, well-planned city. He described:

• Groves of trees, so the city was green and not just bare stone.
• Water conduits (built channels that carry water) and lakes. Water was moved and stored on purpose, through engineering.

• The king's palm-grove, a royal orchard.

• "The best-provided city in the world." He meant the best supplied with food and goods.

What Paes saw: the markets

• Cheap everyday food. The markets were well stocked, at low prices, with:
• rice, wheat, India corn (maize or a jowar-type grain), pulses and horse-gram (a cheap pulse often used as horse feed).

• This is food for ordinary people and fodder for horses, not luxury goods.

• Precious stones in the same bazaar. The market also sold "rubies, and diamonds, and emeralds, and pearls".

• Why the mix matters:
• A huge city population had to be fed.
• A rich elite also had to be supplied.
• One market served both.

What Paes saw: the king

• Paes described Krishnadeva Raya as a real man: "of medium height … rather fat than thin", with smallpox marks on his face.
• Paes had no reason to flatter the king. He was writing for readers far away.
• This makes his account a useful check on the king's own idealised image (see below).

The problem of perspective: how to read Paes

• Every source has a point of view. A source is not a camera.
• Source A, the statue. The statue of Krishnadeva Raya on the gopuram (the tall gateway tower of a South Indian temple) at Chidambaram shows a perfect, handsome, godlike king.

• This is self-projection. The king paid for it, so it shows how he wanted to be seen.

• Source B, Paes's words. These show a plump king with a pockmarked face.

• What to do with the clash:
• Do not pick one source and throw away the other.
• The statue is evidence of royal ideology, meaning how kingship wanted to appear.

• Paes is evidence of the person.

• The same caution applies to his praise. "Best-provided city in the world" came from a man who had crossed oceans and seen little like it. The plenty was real, but the superlative is his own.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 16th century, during the reign of Krishnadeva Raya (Tuluva dynasty, ruled c. 1509–1529). The Vijayanagara period as a whole runs from 1336 to 1646.
• Place: the capital city of Vijayanagara. Its ruins stand today at Hampi, in the Tungabhadra river basin, Bellary district, central Karnataka [2].
• Fellow travellers (the traveller table):
• 15th century: Nicolo de Conti (Italian trader), Abdur Razzaq (ambassador of a Persian ruler, sent to Calicut, who came from Herat) [3], and Afanasii Nikitin (Russian merchant).

• 16th century: Barbosa, Paes, Nuniz, all from Portugal.

• How we know: written evidence. Paes's own account, which NCERT Class 12, Ch 3 "An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara" quotes.

• How we know: archaeology that supports his account.
• The Group of Monuments at Hampi was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986 [2].
• The protected area covers 4,187.24 hectares, about 42 sq km [2].
• More than 1,600 surviving remains have been recorded. They include forts, temples, mandapas (open pillared halls), gateways, defence check posts, stables and water structures [2].
• Paes wrote about water conduits and lakes, and the site still holds its water structures [2]. The written account and the ground agree.
• Many temples had wide bazaars running up to them, lined on both sides by storeyed mandapas (pillared halls with more than one floor) [3]. So the bazaars were permanent stone architecture, not just cloth stalls.

• The Vitthala temple is the most richly carved structure at Hampi [2].

• Hampi is a living site: 29 villages and working farmland lie inside it [2].

Don't confuse with

• Fernao Nuniz: also Portuguese and also 16th century. But Nuniz called the city "Bisnaga" and wrote the line about markets selling "rats and cats and lizards". Paes wrote "as large as Rome" and "best-provided city in the world".
• Abdur Razzaq: a 15th-century ambassador of a Persian ruler, sent to Calicut, who came from Herat [3]. Paes was a 16th-century Portuguese visitor, not a diplomat from a Persian court.
• Nicolo de Conti / Afanasii Nikitin: 15th-century Italian and Russian traders. None of the three Portuguese visitors (Barbosa, Paes, Nuniz) belongs to the 15th century.
• Chidambaram gopuram statue of Krishnadeva Raya: an idealised, royal-sponsored image of the king. Paes's description of the same king (medium height, fat, smallpox marks) is a realistic outsider's view.

Prelims Hooks

• "Seemed to me as large as Rome" and "the best-provided city in the world": both phrases are by Domingo Paes.
• Paes, Nuniz and Barbosa were all Portuguese and all 16th century. Conti, Abdur Razzaq and Nikitin are 15th century.
• Paes described Krishnadeva Raya as "of medium height … rather fat than thin", with smallpox marks. The idealised statue of the same king is on the Chidambaram gopuram.
• Trap: the "rats and cats and lizards" line and the name "Bisnaga" belong to Nuniz, not Paes.
• Paes's markets sold rice, wheat, India corn, pulses, horse-gram and also rubies, diamonds, emeralds and pearls.
• Group of Monuments at Hampi has been on the UNESCO list since 1986. It lies in the Tungabhadra basin, Bellary district, Karnataka, covers about 42 sq km, and has over 1,600 remains [2].

Mains Points

• Paes is essential, but he must be cross-checked.
• Vijayanagara's own records say little about street life, so Paes fills a real gap.
• But he was an outsider, writing for a home audience and drawn to the huge and the wonderful.

• The right method is to test his words against Hampi's archaeology: water structures, and bazaars lined with storeyed mandapas [2][3]. Where they agree, treat it as confirmation.

• His market list is evidence of a working urban economy, not just wealth.

• Cheap grain, pulses and horse-gram point to a large non-farming population fed from the countryside, plus a big cavalry that needed fodder.
• Rubies, diamonds, emeralds and pearls in the same bazaar point to long-distance trade and a rich elite.

• One market held two economies, one on top of the other.

• Image versus description shows how power built its own picture.

• The Chidambaram statue and Paes's plump, pockmarked Krishnadeva Raya cannot both be literally true.
• This is a ready example for GS-I questions on the reliability of historical sources, or on how rulers used temple patronage and royal portraits to make political claims.

Related concepts

• Nicolo de Conti
• Fernao Nuniz

Read more

• Travellers' accounts and city life