Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c13.s2.15

v1.c13.s2.15

These precedents of what might appear to be mild punishments, were, however, not always the rule. In the case of those whose activities disturbed public peace, heavier penalties were imposed by the State. This sometimes took the shape of forfeiture of lands. A certain Āliyaṅgaiyan Saṭṭiyanāvaṇ with his armed accomplices killed one Vāmana Bhaṭṭa on the night of the 25th Arpasi, in the eleventh year of Jaṭāvarman Tribhuvanachakravartin Sundara Pāṇḍya Dēva, while the Brahman was returning home from the temple. Saṭṭiyanāvaṇ eluded imprisonment, but the king ordered that the property belonging to the criminal including his village called Karuvērkrichchi, houses, male and female servants etc., was to be confiscated and added as a tirunāmattu-kāṇi to the temple of Nāyanar Sokka-Nārāyaṇa at Tirukkoshṭiyur in the Rāmnāḍ district.⁴ This drastic action of the king had the desired effect of bringing the guilty person to his senses. A representation was made to the State by several individuals on behalf of the accused, Saṭṭiyanāvaṇ Seramlaip Perumāl, on the ground that he was not an accomplice in the murder; and the village assembly of Tirukkoshṭiyur, obviously at the instance of the king, decided to return to the accused all the confiscated property for a consideration of 800 pon.⁵