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Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s3.t1: A. Designation

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s3.t1

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A. Designation

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Without dwelling at length on the details of the military department as given in the *Arthaśāstra* and *Śukranīti*², we may observe that the idea of entrusting the charge of the army to the care of a commander-in-chief called *daṇḍanāyaka* or *daṇṇāyaka*, was borrowed by the Vijayanagara monarchs from their predecessors, the rulers of Hoysala-vaṃśa. Under these the office of a *daṇṇāyaka* sometimes combined in itself the functions pertaining to the civil and military departments. This is evident from the designation of *Mahāpradhāna*, *Sarvādhikari*, *Sēnadhiptai Hiriya Haḍavala* (*periya paḍaivala* in Tamil) Sokkimayya (Bōkimayya) in A.D. 1155.³ They were sometimes also given the title of *sāmantādhipati* when they were placed over the feudatory chiefs. But the military designation generally remained as *sēnādhipati* or *daṇḍanāyaka* or, as in later times, merely *dalavāyi*. The life-guards, as we might term them, were called *garuḍas* under the Hoysalas. The general Chokimayya (Bōkimmayya) claimed to be Biṭṭi Dēva's (Viṣṇuvardhana's) *Garuḍa*. The Prince Lakshmaṇa was Ballāḷa Dēva's *Garuḍa*.⁴

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² *Arthaśāstra*, Bk., Ch. 11, pp. 398-402; *Śukranīti*, IV, vii, pp. 216-7; Sarkar, *Pos. Back.*, II, P. 1, p. 114.

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³ E.C., X, Bp. 9, p. 136; E.C., P.I., V, Hn. 69, p. 21.

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⁴ Rice, *My. & Coorg.*, pp. 170-1.

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The military department under Vijayanagara was called *kandāchāra*.⁵ The royal grant of a rent-free *agrahāra* in the villages of Hosakere, otherwise called Kṛṣṇasamudra, and Gaurāpura in Pāṇḍya-nāḍ, in A.D. 1551, was caused to be written on stone by Lakshmaṇa Bhaṭṭa of the *kandāchāra* as a perpetual service (*sadā sēve*).⁶

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⁵ Rice, *My. Gaz.* I, p. 472. (1st. ed.); I, p. 579 (Rev. ed.).

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⁶ E.C., XI, Jl, 24, p. 87.

Cites (3)