The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c21.55

v1.c21.55

The viceroy of Seringapatam and the Nayaks and feudatory chiefs were a great help to the Emperor in the administration of such an extensive Empire. But the country which was immediately subject to him was, it seems, divided into different administrative units. A grant of 1596 of the temple authorities of Kanchivaram gives a clue to this supposition; it states that this city is situated in the Chandragiri portion of the Tondaimandalam province of the country of Soramandalam ⁷. According to this inscription, the smallest administrative unit was the so-called *portion* or district, which, if we must judge from the distance between Chandragiri and Kanchivaram, was not very small; the next higher and larger administrative unit was the *province*, and the highest, the so-called *country*. We venture to say that during the time of the Tamil Viceroyalty two *countries* probably composed it, the Chola and the Pandya *countries*.