author
active 16th century Domingos Paes
A Portuguese traveler whose rare firsthand account helps bring the great city of Vijayanagara to life. Writing about his visit around 1520, he left one of the clearest early European descriptions of South India’s most powerful empire.
1 Audiobook
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India
by Robert Sewell, active 16th century Fernão Nunes, active 16th century Domingos Paes
About the author
Little is firmly known about his personal life, but Domingos Paes is remembered as a Portuguese traveler associated with Portuguese India in the early 16th century. He visited the Vijayanagara Empire around 1520, during the reign of Krishnadevaraya, and his observations became an important historical source.
His narrative is especially valued for its vivid picture of the imperial capital, often identified with present-day Hampi. He described the city’s scale, wealth, markets, ceremonies, and courtly life in a way that has helped later readers imagine Vijayanagara at its height.
Because so few biographical details about him survive, his reputation rests mainly on the travel account itself. Even so, that record has given him a lasting place in the history of travel writing and in the study of South India.