court.... The prince was seated in a hall, surrounded by the most
imposing attributes of state. Right and left of him stood a numerous
crowd of men arranged in a circle. The king was dressed in a robe of
green satin, around his neck he wore a collar, composed of pearls of
beautiful water, and other splendid gems. He had an olive complexion,
his frame was thin, and he was rather tall; on his cheeks might be
seen a slight down, hut there was no beard on his chin. The expression
of his countenance was extremely pleasing.[144] ...

"If report speaks truly, the number of the princesses and concubines
amounts to seven hundred."

Abdur Razzak gives a glowing account of the brilliancy of a great
festival of which he was a spectator while in the capital. He calls it
the Mahanavami[145] festival, but I have my doubts as to whether he
was not mistaken, since he declares that it took place in the month
Rajab (October 25 to November 23, 1443 A.D.). The Hindus celebrate
the MAHANAVAMI by a nine days' festival beginning on Asvina Sukla
1st in native reckoning, that is, on the day following the new moon
which marks the beginning of the month Asvina; while the New Year's
Day at that period was the first day of the following month, Karttika
(if the year began, as it certainly did at Vijayanagar in the time of
Paes, eighty years later, on 1st Karttika). But the new moon of Rajab
in A.D. 1443 corresponded to the new moon of KARTTIKA, not to that
of ASVINA.[146] Either, therefore, the festival which he witnessed
was the New Year's Day festival, or the traveller was in error in
giving the month "Rajab." It seems most probable that the former
was the case, because he apparently makes the festival one of only
three days' duration, whereas the MAHANAVAMI, as its name implies,
was a nine days' feast. But there is also another difficulty. The