Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c10.s9.48

v1.c10.s9.48

The influence of these local bodies and corporations was, therefore, felt by the Central Government, whose officers could neither remit taxes nor make gifts without the consent of the former. Abbarāja Timmappa, the Agent of the Pradhāni Tirumala Rāja, in Saka 1457 (A.D. 1535-6), granted the mūle-visa of certain villages for the offerings of the god Tiruveṅgalanātha at Tirumaladēviyarapaṭṭana, (Bellary district?), with the consent of the seṭṭipaṭṭanasvāmis of the villages of Tirumaladēviyarapaṭṭana, Varadarājamannapaṭṭaṇa and Kṛṣṇāpura, and of the mahā-nāḍu (General Assembly) of Dēsāvara.⁴ An officer of Achyuta Rāya, Kampa Dēvarasa, is said to have made a gift of some duties on crops and of the fees on marriages to the temple of Gaurēśvara at Tirumaladēviammanavarapaṭṭaṇa, obviously the same locality referred to above, in Saka 1433, with the consent of the nānā-dēśis.¹ From these instances one may reasonably conclude that the Vijayanagara Government was liberal enough to acknowledge the existence and power of important organizations like the guilds of merchants and the popular assemblies of villagers.