Domingo Paes description of Krishnadevaraya’s Army:
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Nuniz also has a very similar description. There are many Vijayanagara temples that have sculptures of horsemen and horses with quilted armour eg. Jalakanthesvara temple. Although there are many examples of South Indian metal armour, fabrics seemed to have been preferred. 2/
metmuseum.org/art/collection…
This helmet from the Met museum belongs to the early 17th century. Probably belonged to a Vijayanagaran cavalry man or Nayaka. The helmet is similar to one described by Paes. Vijayanaraga era armour set the tone for future south indian kingdoms. 3/
This helmet from the Met museum belongs to the early 17th century. Probably belonged to a Vijayanagaran cavalry man or Nayaka. The helmet is similar to one described by Paes. Vijayanaraga era armour set the tone for future south indian kingdoms. 3/
Raghunatha Nayaka’s horsemen were said to have trailing turbans that were quilted, and whose shields were made of 40 folds of silk. Nayaka armour although not very different from the Vijayanagara, there seems to have been more use of metal plates. 4/
Use of quilted armour persisted 4 long time in India. See link 4 Tipu’s helmet. It is a cloth armour helmet that was taken by the Brits. Tipu also used a lot of quilted armour. There are many quilted helmets and body armour of his that are in museums. collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc… 5/
As late as the 19th century there are accounts of Marathas and the Sikhs using quilted armour. As per Brit accounts, Sikh soldiers would burn up because of mishandling matches used on cannons. 6/
Colonel Blacker in his memoir says that the British sword could not penetrate Maratha armour due to the numerous folds in the armour. Similar was the case with helmets where several folds in the fabric would protect the soldier from swords and sometimes even bullets.
