• The Kudirai Chettis were a local community of horse merchants. Warfare during the Vijayanagar times depended upon effective cavalry, and the import of horses from Arabia and Central Asia was very important for rival kingdoms. This trade was initially controlled by the Arab traders. Local communities of merchants known as Kudirai Chettis or horse merchants, also participated in these exchanges.

• Abdur Razzaq, an ambassador sent by the ruler of Persia to Calicut in the fifteenth century, was greatly impressed by the fortifications and mentioned seven lines of forts. He points that what was most significant about this fortification is that it enclosed agricultural tracts. He noted that “between the first, second and the third walls there are cultivated fields, gardens and houses”.

• One of the most prominent waterworks, to be seen among the ruins of Vijayanagar waterworks is the Hiriya canal. This canal was built by the kings of the Sangama dynasty. It drew water from a dam across the Tungabhadra and irrigated the cultivated valley that separated the “sacred centre” from the “urban core”.