Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c12.s2.t2.34

v1.c12.s2.t2.34

The inscription of about A.D. 1533 is interesting in the sense that it tells us something about the manner in which a sthala-gauḍige was conferred. The Mahānāyakācārya Harati Aimangala Tippaḷa Nāyakācārya granted to Vaḍḍa Iraṇa-bōva through Bālana Gauḍa of Kaṇḍehaḷḷi, a hamlet of the Dharmapura-sammat, an inām (gift) of one bracelet, one necklace, one small sized turban, and one check suit, for having expended 250 gadyāṇa and erected four high towers for the Kaṇḍehaḷḷi fort; and in addition to this, enjoined the following: "And you (i.e., Bālana Gauḍa) having come before us with the waterman (or turncock), the village servants the sānabhōga Puṭaraṅgappa, the watchman Vōba, the bēgāras Timma and Dāsa, and made petition at our palace,—in order that the usual customs may be carried on in accordance with our orders, we have conferred on you the sthala-gauḍige of the said village, and orders are issued to grant a śāsana to that effect. . . the sthala-gauḍike of this Kaṇḍehaḷḷi village will be enjoyed by the posterity in succession of the family of the Noṇaba Bālana Gauḍa, and so also the talavāra, the bēgāra and others".² Another inscription of about A.D. 1547 is identical in its contents: the same Mahānāyakācārya granting similar ināms to the same contractor but through Doḍḍa Dāmana Gauḍa of Sūgūr in Guḍḍa-nāḍ for having built four towers for the Sūgūr fort at a cost of 200 varāha; and to Doḍḍa-Dāmana Gauḍa, the Mahānāyakācārya also gave the sthala-gauḍike of the village.³