Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c7.s3.85

v1.c7.s3.85

The fact of their having sprung from a Karṇāṭaka tribe is never mentioned in any epigraph or poem. It is tradition which says that "the kings during whose reign they (Mādhava and Sāyaṇa) flourished, belonged to a low non-aryan caste, viz., that of the Canarese cow-herds; a caste which is respected to a certain extent on account of its members dealing with the sacred cow, though they are proverbially stupid to a degree and of filthy habits".¹ It may even be said that the original home of the Kuruba line was round about modern Hampe or the ancient Pampākshētra. This is inferred from the inscription dated A.D. 1376, already cited, which says that to drive out the Mlechchhas or Muhammadans, Kṛishṇa reincarnated himself "in the region of Pampāpuri", as Bukka-mahīpati, son of Saṅgama and Kāmāmbikā.²