Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c13.s5.29

v1.c13.s5.29

The fire ordeal in Vijayanagara took the form of dipping hands in burning ghee. A communal dispute broke out in about A.D. 1580 between the barbers and washermen on one side and the potters on the other. The point at issue was whether the potters, at the time of marriage, were entitled to pare the toe-nails and tie on the upper-cloth. The barbers and washermen denied them this privilege; and the chiefs of the potters (kumbhāra-seṭṭigalu) placed the matter before the Government. The chiefs of the potters insisted on their rights and dipping their hands in (boiling) ghee, in the presence of the god Divya-Liṅgēśvara in Haradanahaḷḷi, won the case. Rāma Rāja Nāyaka then issued the following charter (śāsana) to the headmen of the potters (kumbhāra-svāmi): "For the potters the toe-nails may be pared and the upper cloth may be tied on—thus it is ordered".¹ The State, therefore, sometimes decided social questions by the ordeal of ghee.²