Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s5.t2.89

v1.c10.s5.t2.89

We may presume that there may have been occasional friction between the people and the revenue officials of the government, when the latter went round to collect dues, obviously in arrears, from the fact that special mention has been made in inscriptions of the necessity for the people to treat the tax-collectors with consideration. On the representation of Vira-Saiva Vira Pratāpa Chōḷa Rāya to certain Seṭṭis, the heads of the caste, in about A.D. 1402, a grant of specified dues was made by the latter. The inscription ends as follows: "Directions for honourable treatment of the bearers of the śāsana when they came to collect the dues". The honourable treatment which the tax-collectors received is expressed in the following words: *yi śāsana tegedukoṇḍu archakaru sthalāntaragaḷige bandalli yedurra koṇḍu karadukkoṇḍuhōgi biḍidi vulupe vuḍugere sakalavū koṭṭu varttaneyū koḍisi maryādegūḍi naḍisikoṇḍu baratakkad-embaḍāgi baresi-koṭṭa dāna śāsana.*¹