Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c13.s2.4

v1.c13.s2.4

Rulers, who, as we remarked while dealing with the local administration of Vijayanagara, were proud to consider themselves as promoters of the *pūrvada-maryāde* of the country, naturally could not have escaped the influence of ancient custom, especially in the south and west, where the Tamil and Karṇāṭaka kings had already established an efficient system of judicial administration. In the Tamil land, for example, even villages had their own well defined courts of justice. In an inscription dated in the third regnal year of king Pārthivēndravarman, the members of the great assembly of Uttaramēlūr-chaturvēdimaṅgalam, enacted the following: "We, *(the members)* of the big Assembly *(also)* ordered that if *(any such taxes are)* shown *(against it)*, each person *(so showing)* shall be liable to pay a fine of twenty-five kalañju of gold in the court of justice (*dharmāsana*)."³