Q1.
From the chronicle of the Portuguese traveller to India, Fernão Nunes, who visited the Vijayanagar Empire: “He [the King] has also women who wrestle, and others who are astrologers and soothsayers; and he has women who write all the accounts of expenses that are incurred inside the gates, and others whose duty it is to write all the affairs of the kingdom and compare their books with those of the writers outside; he has women also for music, who play instruments and sing.” What are the different vocations women were involved in as a part of the King’s staff?
Answer
Six, and they are of four quite different kinds.
| Vocation | Nunes’s own words | What kind of work it is |
|---|---|---|
| Wrestlers | “women who wrestle” | Physical and professional — trained athletes retained at court |
| Astrologers | “others who are astrologers” | Learned — it needs calculation and knowledge of texts |
| Soothsayers | “and soothsayers” | Advisory, consulted before decisions |
| Accountants of the household | “women who write all the accounts of expenses that are incurred inside the gates” | Clerical and financial — they must be literate and numerate |
| Record-keepers and auditors of the kingdom | “others whose duty it is to write all the affairs of the kingdom and compare their books with those of the writers outside” | Administrative, and the most striking of all — they check the male scribes’ books |
| Musicians | “women also for music, who play instruments and sing” | Artistic, both instrumental and vocal |
What the list proves, beyond the six jobs: two of the six require reading, writing and arithmetic, so women at Vijayanagara were educated. One of them is an audit function — comparing the inside books against the outside writers’ books — which means these women were trusted with the check on other officials, the most sensitive position in any treasury. This is exactly why the chapter says that “for the most part, the situation for women in south India did not change during this period”, and why the wall engravings at Hampi show women in many public activities.
Read the source carefully: Nunes is describing the King’s staff — women employed in a royal establishment. It is strong evidence about what elite and professional women could do, and it should not be stretched into a claim about every woman in the empire. Knowing the limits of a source is part of using it.