Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c11.s2.t3.24

v1.c11.s2.t3.24

Whether over their large Empire the Vijayanagara monarchs introduced any gubernatorial changes can be made out by acquainting ourselves with the administrative divisions in the pre-Vijayanagara days. In about A.D. 1150 the territorial divisions, following the conventional standard, were these in the ascending order—grāma, nagara, khēḍa, kharvaḍa, maḍamba, paṭṭaṇa, drōṇāmukka, and siṁhāsana.³ That the conception of these divisions was common in the western parts of India is proved by an inscription dated A.D. 1181 which speaks of the gramas, nagaras, khēḍas, kharvaḍas, maḍambas, drōṇāmukkas, puras, and paṭṭaṇas of Lāṭa, Gaula, and Karṇāṭaka.⁴ Some idea of the general classification of the territories in the Tamil land is gathered from an inscription dated in the thirty-ninth regnal year of a king (Kulōttuṅga Chōḷa I ?), when a village called Uppanelli is spoken of as having been in Muḍukuṛukki in Vaḍa Puli-nāḍu, a subdivision of Perumbāṇappāḍi in Nigarili-Chōḷamaṇḍalam.⁵ Another inscription dated in the fifteenth regnal year of Chōḷa Rājarāja Dēva mentions a village known as Tirukkachchūr in Seṅguṉṛa-nāḍu a subdivision of Kaḷattūr-kōṭṭam, in Jayaṅgoṇḍa-Chōḷamaṇḍalam.⁶ Further, a similar record dated only in the tenth regnal year of Rājēndra Chōḷa Dēva gives the name of Puṇṇai alias Parukalāntaka Chaturvēdimaṅgalam in Valla-nāḍu, a district of Dāmar-kōṭṭam, in Jayaṅgoṇḍa-Chōḷamaṇḍalam.⁷ The village called Mūk-kaivāḍi, according to an epigraph dated only in the third year of Parākramavarman alias Uḍaiyar Śrī-Adhirājēndra-dēva, was situated in Puli-nāḍu, a subdivision of Perumbāṇappāḍi in Paḍavūru-kōṭṭam, a district of Jayaṅgoṇḍa- Cōḷamaṇḍalam.¹ From the above examples one may venture to suggest the corresponding divisions in the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil lands: