Courtesans' Street

About this place

Courtesans' Street, known locally as Sule Bazaar and to archaeologists as the Achyutaraya Bazaar, is a straight, ruined market avenue about 500 metres long that once linked the royal centre to the Achyutaraya Temple. Double-storey stone colonnades line both sides, their open pavilions once housing merchants, perfumers and the court dancers and courtesans whose presence gave the street its English name. The route runs from the temple's eastern gateway toward Gandhamadana Hill through a valley between Matanga and Gandhamadana, and is far quieter than Hampi Bazaar. Portuguese chronicler Domingo Paes noted the wealth of goods traded in Vijayanagara's market streets; here the scale and symmetry of the surviving granite pavilions still convey that prosperity.