Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c13.s3.14

v1.c13.s3.14

It was this liberal atmosphere which the great example of Bukka Oḍeyar spread that concerns us here. The royal officers appointed in temples, for example, also followed the precedent set by that ruler. Viṭṭappar (also called Viṭṭppar of Anegundi), the treasurer of Kampaṇa Oḍeyar (I), was the officer appointed in the Tiruvorriyūr temple, Chingleput district, in Śaka 1290 (A.D. 1368-9). He found that the padiyilār the ishabhattaliyar and the dēvaraḍiyār had struck work in the local temple. This was the third occasion since the days of Rājanārāyaṇa Sambuvarāya that the Mudaliyar of Perumbarrappuliyūr (Chidambaram) and the trustees of the temple had failed to bring about an amicable settlement in that temple. Viṭṭappar caused an enquiry to be made, and with the co-operation of the Vīraśōḷa-aṇukkar and the kaikkōḷars he summoned a joint meeting of the śrī-rudras, śrī-māhēśvaras, the ishabhattaliyar and the devaraḍyar in the vyākaraṇadāna-maṇḍapa of the Tiruvorriyūr temple. He then fixed upon a procedure in the matter of the order that was to be followed in the temple service. But even this official decision was of no avail. Three years later (in Śaka 1293) [A.D. 1371-2] the assembly composed of the same dignitaries met in the very same maṇḍapa, under orders from Kampaṇa Oḍeyar himself, presided over, this time, by the king's officer Tuṇaiyirunda-nambi Koṅgarāyar. More representatives than those who had met before had now gathered, and these included the trustees (of the temple)