Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c11.s2.t2: Section 2. Some Remarks on Administration in Pre-Vijayanagara Days
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c11.s2.t2
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Section 2. Some Remarks on Administration in Pre-Vijayanagara Days
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The assumption that the Vijayanagara government was "brilliant and imposing" only in external appearance while it was "utterly rotten at the core" makes us inquire whether a government that came into existence on the ruins of the great empires in the Karṇāṭaka and Chōḷa lands could really have had no redeeming features in its administration. The fact that the Vijayanagara rulers successfully withstood foreign aggression for at least two centuries is in itself sufficient to make us believe that it must have been conducted on lines approved by the people both in the southern and in the western parts of the Empire. To these regions good government was not entirely an unknown thing; and all trustworthy records agree in ascribing to pre-Vijayanagara rulers both in the Chōḷa and Karṇāṭaka lands much of the wealth which characterized southern India in the early ages of her history. It is profitable to note that in the dark days which preceded and followed the Muhammadan invasions of the south in the fourteenth century, the government of the Hindu monarchs was capable of dealing with minute questions relating to land and administration of justice. We shall not set ourselves to the task of examining in detail how government was conducted in pre-Vijayanagara days; but we shall give one or two facts that tell us how careful the rulers were, prior to the rise of the sons of Saṅgama, in exercising governmental authority. Under Rājarāja Dēva III, in about A.D. 1230, according to an inscription of that date found at the dēvadāna village of Kulōttuṅga-Sōḷanallūr, the lands of certain persons, who were declared enemies (drōhin) of the State, were sold by public auction (rajarājapperuvilai), and the price for them being fixed by eight officers of the king, the lands were purchased by some private individuals on payment of 33,000 kāśu to the royal treasury.¹ In pre-Vijayanagara times, at least so far as Chōḷamaṇḍala was concerned, the king went on a royal tour through his dominions, and thus acquired first-hand information about the actual state of affairs in the country. On one such circuit Rājarāja III paid a vist to the Tiruvorriyūr temple on the occasion of a great festival when, as we shall relate presently, he was present at the muscial performance given by one of the dancing-girls of the temple.² Grants were made on such or different occasions to persons of approved merit or to institutions; and these endowments were recorded on stones placed within the precincts of the temple. When such lithic records were wanted or had to be renewed, they were copied, obviously at the instance of the Government.³
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¹ 113 of 1911; *Ep. Report* for 1911, p. 75. See also S. K. Aiyangar, S. India. p. 28. For selling land by public auction, see 260 of 1906.
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² 211 of 1912; S. K. Aiyangar, ibid., p. 30. See infra, p. 321.
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³ *Ep. Report* for 1911, p. 75.
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The concern with which the Government set matters right is seen in an inscription dated in the 3rd regnal year of an unidentified king who ruled over the Koṅgu-dēśa. This epigraph of Parakēsari Tribhuvana-chakravartin Kōṇērinmaikoṇḍān, king over northern Koṅgu-dēśa, deals with the remission of a tax called voṭṭachchu in favour of the Saiva temples of Koṅgu-dēśa. The inscription relates that the tax voṭṭachchu which these institutions were paying (to Government?) in previous days, being found subsequently heavy because of the requirements of daily worship, was altogether abolished. In this connection it was ordered—(a) that in accordance with the agreement with Kuṭṭāḍum Nāyaṉār, the managers of these temples were not to pay further taxes even on the production of the king's order (ōlai); (b) that no (frivolous) demands from chiefs who took possession of the district (as governors) were to be noticed; (c) that in remunerating the servants who carried the royal order one paṇam was to be paid on orders actually bearing the king's signature, and one paṇam on orders which were issued under royal warrant; (d) that the king's messengers might not receive any travelling expenses and food, nor even handfuls of rice; (e) that the two paṇam (mentioned above) were to be paid only by such as had been paying already; (f) that when under the king's orders, the 600 achchu thus payable to Government (?)
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together with 100 *achchu* payable to Toṇḍaimāṇār were collected, no (additional commission?) was to be paid to those who received the money (into the royal treasury); and (g) that these privileges granted were to be engraved on copper and stone.¹ This epigraph proves not only that the servants of the Government made huge demands on the people but also that the State was prepared to take prompt action into alleged complaints against heavy taxation, and to guard the interests of the people against further encroachments by the officials of the king himself.
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¹ 185 of 1910; *Ep. Report* for 1911, pp. 77-8.
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Lest it should be surmised that Hindu governments in pre-Vijayanagara days were partial to the Brahmans, we shall give an incident which took place somewhere in the middle of the thirteenth century, during the reign of a certain Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya, in connection with Brahmans who were found in unlawful possession of arms. It is stated that at Uttippākam alias Ādināyaka-chaturvēdimangalam, the Brahmans, Ātakoṇḍavillai, Pāmbaṇaiyāṉ, Malaivāyakakōṉ, Varadaṉ and Salvaṉ and some Veḷḷāḷa Sūdras gave up the duties legitimate to their caste and following the profession of lower classes, wore weapons (dangerous to human life), murdered Brahmans, cut off (their) ears, insulted the Brahman ladies, committed robbery, destroyed cattle and sold them, to the great distress and terror of the residents of the district. When, on a previous occasion, this matter had been reported to the ruling authorities, the chief Vikrama-śōḷa-dēva alias Iruṅgōḷaśaniyaṉ Vāṇarāyar, Tirumalaitandār alias Muṇaiyadaraiyaṉ and others, who were in charge of the country, had got 'the offenders together, beaten them, fined them, pulled down their houses, and kept them under surveillance(?)'". But as these offenders were not actually imprisoned, and as this leniency in punishment did not contribute to any change in their character, the people again complained of their misdeeds to Prince Pottappiyarāyar, who next took charge of the country, and requested him to apprehend the mischievous people. Under orders from this prince, the chief Vaḷḷuvaṉāḍāḷvāṉ Iruṅgōḷar and a band of Malaiyala soldiers went to capture the rebellious persons, with the result that the criminals escaped to the hills after they had killed (a few of the soldiers that had followed them), pierced some, shot others down with arrows, and robbed the rest of their weapons. However, Ātkoṇḍavillai and Pāmbaṇaiyāṇ were secured and locked up in the prison-house of Tirukkachchūr. After sometime, they were being taken along with some other prisoners, to the king (Ulaguḍaiya-Perumāḷ) at Kaṇṇattūr. On entering the forest of Sāṇūr Arasippākkam, the northern hamlet (of Uttippākkam?), the three other Brahman brothers, who were still at large, and who, in the meantime, had collected together a number of people, attacked and killed the party which was leading the captive brothers to the king, liberated them and escaped. The news of this action of the rebels having reached the king, he issued stringent orders that they be captured wherever found, and punished according to the rule applicable to the lower classes, that their houses and other hereditary property be sold to the temple and other charitable institutions, that the money thus realized be credited to the treasury in payment of the fine imposed on them, and the balance, if any, be presented to the temples (of Tiruvagattīśvaramuḍaiya-Nāyaṇār and Kailāyamuḍaiya-Nāyaṇār at Uttippākkam) as a permanent charity in the name of the criminals. The order of the king was carried out by the people and the money realized by the sale of lands was deposited in the treasury at Tirukkachchūr.¹ This tradition of impartiality² was handed down to the rulers of Vijayanagara, whose administration we shall now examine from the point of view of the divisions of the Empire, the problems which faced them, and the methods that were adopted to solve them.
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¹ *Ep. Report* for 1910, p. 98.
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² For Chōḷa administration, see S. K. Aiyangar, *Some Contributions*, pp. 391, seq., 406, 412-41; *A.S.R.* for 1924-5, p. 117. For early Hindu administration, see Rice, *My. Gaz.*, I, p. 572, seq. (Rev. ed.). Consult also Nilakantha Sastri, *Studies in Chōḷa History and Administration*. (Madras, 1932.)