Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s8.4

v1.c10.s8.4

We shall not concern ourselves with what the later Dutch records have to say on the matter, since we are able to ascertain with the aid of contemporary foreign evidence corroborated by trustworthy local records, the actual state of affairs in the Hindu Empire. At the outset it may be stated that in the passages given above, Mr. Moreland confounds two distinct systems prevalent under Vijayanagara—the granting of a fief to lords or noblemen under what was essentially a military tenure, and the leasing out of lands, groves, liquor shops, and the like, on what was purely a contract system. The former question will be dealt with in its proper place;³ for the present, we may note that the confusion between the two systems arises out of the futility of maintaining that the contract system—which for practical purposes, may be here taken to mean the farming system—was an innovation brought by the Muhammadans, and that as such it was unknown to the land before their advent into southern India. From contemporary epigraphs we know that the rulers of Vijayanagara appointed, at first, members of the royal family as viceroys over the provinces; that the most important provinces were, at least for the greater part of Vijayanagara history, directly controlled by the nearest relations of the Emperor himself; that famous generals and noblemen were raised to the rank of governors: and that, as in the famous instance of Virūpaṇṇa Oḍeyar, the tenure of office of a viceroy sometimes extended over a period of twenty years. Foreign travellers do not give us these details, but they have a few observations to make on the nature of the system of conducting the provincial government. Paes narrates the following: "These captains whom he has over these troops of his are the nobles of his kingdom; they are lords, and they hold the city, and the towns and villages of the kingdom; . . . and as each one has revenue so the king fixes for him the number of troops he must maintain, in foot, horse and elephants".¹ According to Nuniz: "Within these nine days (i.e., of the great Mahānavami festival) the King is paid all the rents that he receives from his kingdom; for, as already stated, all the land belongs to the King, and from his hand the captains hold it. . . only the captains are put to charges on account of the troops for whom the King makes them responsible, and whom they are obliged to provide in the way of service".² Neither of these contemporary witnesses says that the Provincial governors, the lords, and the captains of Vijayanagara enjoyed their estates on a contract or farming system. On the other hand, their observations conclusively prove that the nobles held land—"the city, the town and the village of the kingdom"—on military tenure, that is to say, they were obliged to supply the ruler with troops in virtue of the fiefs which they held at the hands of the king. There cannot be any divergence of opinion, we believe, about the fact of the fief system having been indigenous to the land.³