The kings and nobles of the Vijayanagara Empire lived in royal splendour. Abdur Razzaq, the Persian ambassador to Vijayanagara, notes that the king’s palace had several cells filled with gold.
Royal marriages were elegant displays of royal wealth. When King Deva Raya I’s daughter was married off to Firuz Shah Bahmani, the road from the city gate to the palace that spans over ten kilometres was draped with gold, velvet and satin cloth.
Vijayanagara city was 96 kilometres in circumference; it had seven fortresses, four bazaars, and numerous streams and canals made of polished stone. Accounts of a traveller suggest that it was larger than Rome. Art and literature flourished in the wealthy empire; however, common people lived in poor conditions. Much of the riches of the Vijayanagara Empire was destroyed by wars.
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