Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s6.19

v1.c15.s6.19

From the Muhammadan standpoint the Brahmans appealed to the baser instincts of the soldiers, confirming the hatred of the latter for the enemy by depicting them as destroyers of temples, images and cows. But according to the ancient Hindu lawgivers, the Brahmans in Vijayanagara were only doing what was laudable, since Manu had decreed that they should instigate the soldiers by laying stress on the supreme need of self-sacrifice for the sake of the Brahmans, cows and women. For, according to him, "dying without the expectation of a reward, for the sake of Brahmans and of cows, or in the defence of women and children, secures beatitude" to the soldiers.¹ Those who delivered speeches to the army in Vijayanagara times must also have been acquainted with the injunctions of Manu as regards the duties of Kshatriyas on the battlefield.²