UPSC Prelims 2021 Q35: Nuniz on Women of Vijayanagara — Explained
According to Portuguese writer Nuniz, the women in Vijayanagara Empire were expert in which of the following areas?
1. Wrestling
2. Astrology
3. Accounting
4. Soothsaying
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- 1, 2 and 3 only
- 1, 3 and 4 only
- 2 and 4 only
- 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer: (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Statement-wise explanation
- 1: correct — Fernão Nuniz, a Portuguese horse trader, lived in the Vijayanagara capital from about 1535 to 1537, during the reign of Achyuta Deva Raya. His chronicle says the king 'has women who wrestle'. So wrestling is one of the skills he records among the palace women.
- 2: correct — In the same passage, Nuniz says the king had other women 'who are astrologers'. Robert Sewell translated the chronicle in 'A Forgotten Empire' (1900), and the passage appears there.
- 3: correct — Nuniz writes that women kept the accounts of all expenses incurred inside the palace gates. He adds that other women wrote down the affairs of the kingdom and checked their books against those of the scribes outside. That is accounting and record-keeping work.
- 4: correct — Nuniz names astrologers and soothsayers together in one phrase: 'others who are astrologers and soothsayers'. Soothsaying means foretelling the future, and Nuniz lists it as its own skill.
How to eliminate
This question mainly tests whether you know the fact. Remember Nuniz's passage on Achyuta Raya's palace women: wrestlers, astrologers, soothsayers, accountants and record-keepers, musicians, and even judges, bailiffs and watchwomen. Two things can still help you narrow it down. First, astrology and soothsaying are closely linked, so an account that mentions one usually mentions the other. That makes the option with neither of them unlikely. Second, UPSC asked the question because the account is surprising. A list that includes 'wrestling', the most unexpected item, points toward the broad answer. Look at the option structure too. Each of the three partial options drops a different item, and none of them gives a clean reason for leaving it out. That favours the option that includes all four.
Know more
Foreign travellers in Vijayanagara
Much of what we know about daily life in Vijayanagara (1336–1565 as the capital at Hampi) comes from foreign visitors. UPSC often asks who came, when, and under which king.
| Traveller | Origin | Approx. visit | Ruler |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicolo de Conti | Italian | c. 1420 | Deva Raya I |
| Abdur Razzaq | Persian (Timurid envoy) | 1443 | Deva Raya II |
| Duarte Barbosa | Portuguese | c. 1516 | Krishnadeva Raya |
| Domingo Paes | Portuguese | c. 1520–22 | Krishnadeva Raya |
| Fernão Nuniz | Portuguese (horse trader) | c. 1535–37 | Achyuta Deva Raya |
Paes vs Nuniz. Paes describes the city and its markets, the Mahanavami festival, and Krishnadeva Raya in person. Nuniz writes a chronicle of the dynasty's history from hearsay and court sources. He also gives the most detailed picture of palace administration. Both texts were translated together by Robert Sewell in A Forgotten Empire (1900).
Women in the palace (Nuniz). Nuniz says thousands of women lived in the palace. Many of them were employed in skilled roles:
- wrestlers
- astrologers and soothsayers
- accountants of palace expenditure
- recorders of state affairs who cross-checked accounts against those of male scribes outside
- musicians and dancers
- judges, bailiffs and watchwomen inside the palace
Reading these accounts critically. Foreign travellers saw the court from outside. Some of what they wrote is hearsay, and they often exaggerated numbers. Historians compare them with inscriptions, Telugu and Kannada literature, and archaeology at Hampi. Even so, they remain key sources for the empire's economy (horse trade, diamonds, markets), its festivals and its court life.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Vijayanagara Empire: The question asks about society in this empire as a foreign chronicler recorded it in the 1530s.
- Hampi: Nuniz described the palace at Hampi, the capital where these women worked.
- Nicolo de Conti: Another foreign visitor to Vijayanagara. UPSC often mixes up travellers, their origins and their dates.