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Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18: Chapter II. Section 1. The Castes

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18

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English

Contents

Chapter II. Section 1. The Castes

A. Preliminary Remarks

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THE frequent occurrence of the two phrases *varṇāśrama-dharmaṅgaḷa(n)u pālisulla* and *sakala-varṇāśrama-dharmaṅgaḷa(n)upālisutta* in the inscriptions indicates that the Vijayanagara monarchs were fully aware of the great social problems which confronted them as custodians of the Hindu Dharma. Long before they had assumed the reins of government, the purely Aryan institution of the four *varṇāśramas* had already taken deep roots in the soil of southern India.¹ Both in the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil lands, the rulers considered it their duty to protect the *varṇāśrama-dharma* in its proper sphere. We are told in a copper-plate grant dated A. D. 517, that the Gaṅga king Koṅgaṇi-Vṛiddha-Rāja, also called Durvvinīta, was "like Vaiśvasvata Manu able for the protection of the castes and religious orders which prevailed in the South".² About A. D. 650 the great Jaina *āchārya* Ariṣṭha Nēmi having left the whole group (*gaṇa*) consisting of the four castes (*chātur-varṇa*) and having given up food, etc., mounting on the Kaṭavapra, attained perfection.³ The existence of the four castes among the Jainas is proved by an inscription which probably belongs to the middle of the tenth century A. D. This record commemorates the death of Chāmakabbe and A'yvaśāmi. Chāmakabbe is described as the supporter of the Jaina assembly (*Śravaṇa-saṅgha*) of the four castes. A'yvaśāmi was the son of the *Pṛittuvī-paramēśvara mahānāygara* Rēchayya, supporter of the Jaina assembly of the four castes.¹ Cāmuṇḍa Rāya, in an epigraph dated about A.D. 893, is thus described: "A sun in the shape of a jewel adorning the crest of the eastern mountain the Brahma-Kshatra race, a moon in the shape of the splendour of his fame in causing to swell the ocean the Brahma-Kshatra race, a central gem to the pearl necklace of Lakshmī procured from the Rōhaṇa mountain the Brahma-Kshatra race, a strong wind to the fire the Brahma-Kshatra race."² Two prominent castes, therefore, are clearly suggested in the praise given to Cāmuṇḍa Rāya.

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¹ Barnett, *Hinduism*, p. 53, *seq*; Srinivasa Aiyangar, *Tamil Studies*, pp. 61, 66; Ghosal, *Hind. Pol. Theor.*, pp. 44-5 (1st ed.). On the origin of caste, read Oldenberg, *Journal of the German Oriental Society*, 1897, pp. 267-290.

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² *E. C.*, IX, DB. 68, p. 73.

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³ *E. C.*, II, No. 11, p. 4; text p. 3 (2nd ed.).

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¹ My. Arch. Report for 1912-13, p. 31.

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² E. C., II, No. 281, p. 126 (2nd. ed.), No. 109, p. 169 (1st ed.).

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The four varṇāśramas and the duty of protecting them became more and more prominent in the later ages. The Hoysala Queen Śāntala Dēvī, in A.D. 1123, is said to have been the cause of the elevation of the four samayas (or creeds).³ We are told that in A. D. 1157 "the Brahmans and others of the four castes, the four religious orders, Brahma and the gods" were engaged in gifts of learning.⁴ Gāṅgeyana Māreya and his wife Bāchale, in A. D. 1232, requested the king Iruṅgōḷa Chōḷa to make a grant of land for the daily services of Pārśvanātha Jinēśa and for the distribution of food to the four castes.⁵ Jaganakere Kalle Gauḍa, the great nāḍ-prabhu under the Hoysala king Sōmēśvara Dēva, in A. D. 1242, is described to have been "the upholder of the four castes" (chatus-samaya-samuddharaṇa).⁶

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³ Ibid. No. 132, p. 60 (2nd ed.).

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⁴ Rice, My. Ins., p. 191.

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⁵ E. C., XII, Pg. 52, p. 125.

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⁶ E. C., IV, Kr. 76, p. 111, text, p. 316. Under the Pāṇḍyas some sections of the castes like the sāliyars had streets for themselves. 269 of 1913; Rangachari, Top. List., I, SA. 61, p. 131.

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Side by side with the question of protecting the four prominent castes, whose existence in southern India in early times is proved by the instances we have cited above, there arose another need in connection with what the people said to be the sakala-varṇāśrama. This term has been used with much latitude, and may have been originally intended to mean the eighteen castes which formed a sort of an extension of the four original varṇāśramas.¹ We are, it is admitted, in the dark as to the precise meaning and function of the eighteen castes. But it is not improbable that they may have had something to do with the Right Hand and Left Hand sections of the people. These shall be separately treated anon. Here, however, we may observe that the adjustment of the duties of, and the distribution of patronage to, the four varṇāśramas and the eighteen castes was indeed a problem which called forth the ingenuity of the Vijayanagara rulers. For, in addition to the need of reconciling the differences between the various communities, without lowering in any way the prestige of the Hindu monarchs as promoters of the Dharma, there was the grave question of defending the country against an ever-watchful enemy who was waiting for an opportunity of crushing the Hindu Empire. The fact that the monarchs of Vijayanagara were able to achieve both these ends for a considerable length of time, in spite of the many short-comings in their political system, is enough to prove that, so far as the social side of their history is concerned, they must have conferred on the people those advantages of person, property and religion which assured them the heartiest co-operation of the people in times of grave political crisis. The existence of the four great varṇāśramas and the eighteen subsects proved no barrier to them. On the other hand, their public avowal to promote sakala-varṇāśrama-dharmas, may have been partly responsibe for their success. Instead of championing the cause only of the four original varṇas, they took upon themselves the duty of protecting all the varṇas. This meant that, especially in regard to the various sects and subsects, on condition that these latter confined themselves to their own svadharma or duties proper to their individual caste, they could reasonably expect of their rulers the same patronage which was extended by the State to the four great *varṇāśramas*. Only in this light can we understand the co-operation between the Vijayanagara Government and their people for the realization of the most urgent need of the hour—guarding the interests of the country against a relentless enemy.¹ The history of the Hindu State viewed from this standpoint becomes interesting as the record of a people who, although divided into four main groups with their numerous subdivisions, yet lived to turn the times in which the monarchs struggled to maintain the honour of the land, into an age of intense social and intellectual activity.

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¹ The Eighteen Castes or samayas, we admit, may have been only conventional divisions. On the other hand, they may also refer to religious orders. Cf. Lākulāgama samaya mentioned in a record dated A.D. 1177. E. C. V, Ak. 62, p. 135.

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¹ Cf. S. K. Aiyangar, *Some Contributions*, p. 302.

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We go to many of the foreign travellers in vain for details about the numerous communal subdivisions in the Empire. To the foreigners, unacquainted with the customs of the people, it sometimes appeared that the land was made up only of one class; and at other times, of three great divisions. In addition to the vague notices of the Hindu subjects which we find in the writings of most of the foreign travellers, there is another consideration which depreciates the value of their accounts in this particular connection. It is that their narratives contain conflicting statements, especially as regards the character of the people. Varthema in about A.D. 1500 observed the following: "The people are of a tawny colour; they go naked and bare-footed, and wear nothing on the head."² Linschoten in A.D. 1583 is more vehement in his wholesale condemnation of the people of the Karṇāṭaka: "They are so miserable, that for a Penie they would indure to be whipped, and they eate so little, that it seemeth they live by the Aire, they are likewise most of them leane, and weake of limbes, of little strength and very Cowards, where by the Portuguals doe them great outrage and villanie, using them like Dogs and Beasts"³. A still more pronounced view of the people, this time of the eastern coast, is from the pen of John Nieuhof, who writes thus about Madura in A. D. 1662: "The Inhabitants of those places are very black and strong; they are deceitful and cunning, make little account of their Wives, but generally keep two or three Harlots, by whom they have sometimes sixteen or eighteen children".¹

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² Varthema, Jones, p. 121; Temple, p. 49; Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 118.

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³ Linschoten, *Purchas, Pilgrims*, X, p. 264.

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¹ Churchill, *Voyages*, II, p. 295; Satyanatha, *Nayaks*, p. 327.

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If these sweeping assertions had been corroborated by the evidence of other foreign travellers, one might have accepted them as valid. But the remarks of more impartial eye-witnesses make us believe that the above mentioned observations were the result of ignorance and prejudice which may be said to be characteristic of those who went to the East with the idea of learning something about the pagan people of India. Other foreigners have left behind them more favourable proof of the character and classes of the Hindu people. According to Barbosa there were three sections of the people. "In this kingdom of Narsyngua there are three classes of Heathen, each of which has a very distinct rule of its own, and also their customs differ much one from the other.

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"The principal of these is that of the King, the great Lords, the Knights and fighting men, who may marry, as I have said, as many women as they wish, and are able to maintain: their sons inherit their estates : the women are bound by very ancient custom," to commit sati.² This was not entirely true: the kings, especially of the Sangama and Tuluva dynasties, can hardly be said to be of the same class to which the great nobles like the Brahman Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar and Kampalli alias Aṇṇam, and the Brahman-generals like Mādhava Rāya, Sāḷuva Timma and Nādeṇḍla Gōpa Mantri belonged. We shall deal with them subsequently.³ Neither were the rulers and the nobles, during the time Barbosa visited Vijayanagara (A.D. 1504-14), of the same castes which composed the fighting men—the Bēḍars, the Muhammadans, and others. But the account of Barbosa is nevertheless valuable. Among the Heathens "is another class of people whom they call Bramenes ",¹ about whom we shall have to speak in detail subsequently. There was one more class of people. " There is in this kingdom also another class of folk very like unto the Bramenes, who wear round their necks certain cords of twisted silk, from which hangs a cloth bag containing a stone the size of an egg, which they say is their god. These also are much regarded and held in respect, nor will any man do them harm by reason of their reverence they have for that stone, which they call Tambarane ".² These could only be the Lingāyats or Jaṅgamas.

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² *Barbosa*, Dames, I, pp. 212-13; Stanley, p. 91.

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³ *Infra*, Chapter III, The Brahmans.

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¹ Barbosa, Dames, I. pp. 217-18; Stanley, pp. 93-4. ² Barbosa, ibid. ³ Barbosa, Dames, I., p. 205; Stanley, p. 87. ⁴ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 280. ⁵ Firishtah, Briggs, II, p. 337.

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Whether these went "naked and bare-footed", as Varthema makes us believe, will be seen in connection with the dress and habits of the people. As regards the colour of the people, Barbosa says: "The natives of this land (Vijayanagara) are Heathen like himself (the king); they are tawny men, nearly white ".³ Paes tells us the following about their industrious character : " There are working people and all other kinds of men who are employed in business, besides those who are obliged to go into the field; there are also a great number of Brahmans ".⁴

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The erroneous nature of the observations of Linschoten is seen when we read the account of the very people whom he calls " Canariins" (or people of Kanara or the Karṇāṭaka) in the history of the most uncompromising critic of the Hindus. Firishtah writes thus : " The country of Canara (Carnatic) is in length, from north to south, from the Krishna to Sata Bund Rameswur, six hundred coss, and its breadth, from west to east, one hundred and fifty, from the shores of the Indian ocean to the boundaries of Tulingana. The people speak in some parts the Canarese, and in some the Tulingy language, and are so brave that they advance to battle with songs and dances ; but their ardour does not last ".⁵ On the law-abiding nature of the people, the same historian continues: "His (i.e., the Emperor's) country was well peopled, and the subjects submissive to his authority".¹

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¹ Firishtah, Briggs., II., p. 338.

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The following given by Martin Correa (A.D. 1528) is in striking contrast to the deceitful and cunning character of the people mentioned by Nieuhof. "Two pictures may be given from one voyage of Martin Correa up the coast in 1521, of which it was said, as it was of many others, that it was an unnecessary expedition, as the people they robbed were but poor people who neither followed the sea nor did evil to any one. Landing at one place, Correa marched up country with 25 men till he came to a large country-house with court-yards and gardens, and many poor, both men and women, sitting round. Seeing the Portuguese, a man accosted them courteously, who was the almoner of a wealthy Muhammadan gentleman who lived there retired from the world and who spent his money in alms giving. Presently the owner himself came out and treated them with hospitality. When a friendly understanding had been arrived at, Correa had the curiosity and the naivety to ask him why he gave alms and what satisfaction he could get from it. A little later, among the captives Correa took, was an old man past work, who offered £ 3 for his liberty, and asked that as he had no friend he might be allowed to fetch the money himself. Correa, more in jest than earnest, gave him his liberty and made him swear on his sacred thread, for he was a Brahmin, to bring the money back. A few days latter, to the amazement of the Portuguese, the old Brahmin returned with half the money and eight fowls in lieu of the rest—all that he had been able to scrape together. To the credit of the Portuguese they refused to take anything from him".²

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² Whiteway, The Rise of the Portuguese Power in India, pp. 28-9. See also p. 28 where it is said that "when St. Thome (in A.D. 1559) was held for ransom for the intolerant acts of some Jesuits and Franciscans, the Raja of Vijayanagar kept such faith with the Portuguese that, as one of them says, such humanity and justice are not to be found among

Section. 2. The Castes in Detail

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Having seen the futility of relying on some of the foreign travellers for information about the four castes and their sub-divisions, we may now attempt to glean as much information as possible about them from epigraphical and literary sources. The most prominent name amongst the four *varṇas* is of course that of the Brahmans. These deserve a treatment for themselves. A section equally important, although outside the pale of the orthodox group of the four *varṇāśramas*, was that of the Jainas. The significant part played by these in the religious and to a great extent in the commercial life of the people will be discussed in a subsequent paper

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While we have some definite details about these, practically nothing can be gathered about the second recognized division of the *varṇāśramas*, the Kshatriyas. It may not be too bold to suggest that Kshatriyas, as known especially to the history of northern India, were not native to the soil of the south.¹ This we infer from the absence of the name Kshatriya in two stone records written in cave characters and Prakrit language, dated about A.D. 150 and A.D. 250 respectively. In these the Brahmans are mentioned together with a Brahman endowment, the Vedas, the cows, the *dharma* and the soldiers. These last are called *abhaṭa* and not Kshatriyas.² But by A.D. 450, the idea of the Kshatriyas had already reached the south. In that year Mayūraśarma, the Kadamba king, defeated the Pallavas of Kañchī. This epigraph tells us that "through the Kshatras Brahmanhood is (reduced to mere) grass"; and that his successor Kākushtha, while protecting his subjects, honoured "the chief twice-born with the best of his wealth ".³ There was another name which was associated with the Brah-

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¹ But the Vanniyans or Vanniyars, as narrated below, are spoken of by some as the non-Aryan Rajputs of the south.

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² E. C., VII., Sk. 263, 264, p. 143, text, pp. 325-6.

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³ Ibid., Sk. 176, pp. 113-14.

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Christians". For a later account of the courage of the soldiers, read Satyanatha, *Nayaks*, p. 275. The pertinent remarks of Sewell on the character of the Portuguese may also be read here. *For. Emp.*, pp. 177-8.

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mans and Kshatriyas—the Brahma-Kshatriya, whose representative we have in the famous viceroy over Āraga, Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar.¹ But neither about this race nor about the other called the Ārshēya Kshatriya can we find out anything in epigraphs. Rājanātha Rāutta, son of Viśvanātha Rāutta, in A.D. 1526, in the reign of Kṛishṇa Dēva Rāya, is said to have been an Ārshēya-Kshatriya². In the Bakhair of Rāma Rāja, as noted in connection with the army, we have a contingent of Kshatriyas, who may have been enlisted in the Vijayanagara service as fortune-seekers from the north, towards the beginning of the sixteenth century. Yet, in spite of the paucity of materials, we come across the incessant claims of the rulers to be the promoters of the four varṇāśramas. It may be that the nobles and other high dignitaries, because of their prowess, were included among the Kshatriyas, who have ever been associated with all that is noble and chivalrous in Indian history.

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¹ The origin of the Saṅgama dynasty has been discussed in Volume I, Chapter I. As regards the beginnings of the Sāluva dynasty, it is rather a thorny question. We know, as stated elsewhere, that both Sāluva Timma and Sāluva Gōvinda Rāja were Brahman generals. The Telugu Jaimini-Bhāratamu traces the origin of the Sāluvas to the Yadu-vaṁśa. See Ramayya Pantulu, Ep. Ind., VII., p. 76; E. C., X., Intr. p. xxxv; Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar, will figure in the Chapter on Brahmans, Infra. See also E.C., VI., Kp. 52-3, pp. 86-7.

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² E. C., XI., Jl. 41, p. 88.

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One reason which may explain to a certain extent the absence of the name Kshatriya in the history of Vijayanagara is that the vitality of the Hindu Empire was due to the activities of the commercial and agricultural classes. These, as will be evident from the observations we shall make in connection with the corporate life of the people, vindicated their rights and privileges in the numerous grants they made to the provincial rulers; and helped to increase the material prosperity of the country upon which, among other things, depended the success of the Vijayanagara arms. Our assumption that the middle classes were mainly responsible for the greatness of Vijayanagara is in a way borne out by the praise given to the generals in terms of their achievements rather than in those of their Kshatriya descent. From the very beginning of Vijayanagara history the tendency was to ignore the Kshatriya claims of generals, and to describe them with the usual titles of *Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara* and the like, and with an account of their brave deeds. It is true that for the present we are unable to prove the veracity of the documents which give us these details. We are told in A. D. 1355, for example, that the great general Mallinātha who, as we remarked in an earlier connection, acquired greatness on the Turuka, Seuna, Telunga, Pāṇḍya, and Hoysala armies, was also honoured by the "Suratāla King" (the Bāhmani Sultan) "as the brave of a foreign army".¹ We have to remember in this connection the solid contributions to the State by the Jaina generals like Irugappa Daṇḍanāyaka and others in order to know that, from the infancy of the Empire, the privilege and honour of defending the country had already been monopolized by people who never belonged to the Kshatriya caste.

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¹ E. C., XI., Cd. 2 and 3 p. 2, op. cit.

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Among the middle classes of southern India mention must be made of the wide group which comprised the Seṭṭis or Cheṭṭis. These have figured prominently in the early history of both the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil lands. In the Karṇāṭaka, for example, in the twelfth century they are said to have had different sections among them. Thus in A. D. 1150 the *gavaregas*, *gātṛigas*, *seṭṭis*, *seṭṭiguttas*, *aṅkakāras*, *biras*, *bira-vaṇigas*, *gandigas*, *gāvuṇḍas*, and *gāvuṇḍa-svāmis*, as mentioned elsewhere, are all classed together.² Of all these subsections, the Seṭṭis exercised remarkable influence in Vijayanagara times. They had their own heads of caste to whom sometimes even the feudatories were compelled to petition for granting dues and sanctioning gifts to local temples. Thus, in about A. D. 1402, the Vira Śaiva Vira Pratāpa Chōḷa Rāja (who, we may incidentally note, assumed the imperial titles of *Mahārājādhirāja*, etc.) "having made a representation to (with numerous titles) certain *seṭṭis* (named), the heads of the caste", they agreed to grant certain specified payments and to permit him to levy specified taxes.¹ Some of these Seṭṭis rose to great prominence at the provincial courts. One of them was the royal Śrēṣṭhi Ambuvaṇa at the court of Dēva Rāya, the Sāḷuva ruler of Gērasoppe.²

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² E. C., VII, Sk. 118, p. 87. See Infra, Social Institutions. Section on Guilds.

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¹ See, Volume I, Chapter IV, Section 5, B.; E.C., IX, Bn. 96, p. 19, op. cit.

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² E. C., VIII, Sa. 55, p. 101, op. cit. Dames [Barbosa, II., p. 71. n. (1)] has some interesting remarks to make on the origin of the word seṭṭi.

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We may record the observations of Barbosa on these people. "First of these races whom I call foreigners who dwell in Malabar is a caste called Chalis, natives of the province of Charamandel of which I shall speak further on. They are tawny men, almost white, and fat. The more part of them are great merchants, and they deal in precious stones, seed pearls and corals, and other valuable goods, such as gold and silver, either coined or to be coined. This is their principal trade, and they follow it, because they can raise or lower the prices of such things many times; they are rich and respected; they lead a clean life, and have spacious houses in their own appointed streets; they also have their own houses of worship, and idols different from those of the natives of the land. They go naked from the waist up, and below gather round them long garments many yards in length, little turbans on their heads and long hair gathered under the turban. Their beards are shaven, and they wear finger marks of ashes mixed with sandal-wood and saffron on their breasts, foreheads and shoulders. They have wide holes in their ears,³ into which an egg would fit, which are filled with gold with many precious stones, they wear many rings on their fingers, they are girt about with girdles of gold and jewellery and even carry in their breasts great pouches in which they keep scales and weights of their gold, and silver coins and precious stones. Their sons also begin to carry them as soon as they are ten years of age, they go about changing small coins. They are great clerks and accountants, and reckon all their sums on their fingers. They are given to usury, so much so that one brother will not lend to another a ceitil,¹ without making a profit thereby. They are sober and orderly in eating and spending. They speak a tongue which differs from that of Malabar as it is with the Castilians and Portuguese. They marry as with us, and their sons inherit their property. If her husband dies the wife never marries again, young as she may be; if the wife dies the husband may marry again, and if she offends he may poison her without any punishment. They manage their own affairs, the Kings may not enquire into their crimes; they do justice to one another with which the King is satisfied. When they die, their bodies are burnt; they eat everything save the cow only.² The same traveller writes thus about the Cheṭṭis of Chōḷomaṇḍala which he calls Chara-mandel. "The more part or all of the Heathen merchants or Chatis who live throughout India are natives of this country, and are very cunning in every kind of traffic in goods."³

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³ Cf. Barbosa's account of the Banyas, whom he calls Baneanes of Gujarat. Dames, I, p. 114, and 114, n. (3).

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¹ "A very small Portuguese coin of copper which took the place of the dinheiro in the reign of D. Joao. (1481-95)". Barbosa, Dames, II, p. 73, n (1).

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² Barbosa, Dames, II, pp. 70-3.

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³ Barbosa, Dames, II, pp. 125-6 Cf. the account of the Komatis given by Metthwold, Relations, pp. 15-17. Here he describes also the Jangamas, Kāpus and the prostitutes.

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Of equal importance as the Seṭṭis or Cheṭṭis were the members of the trading and artisan class called the Vīra Pañchāḷas. Thus do they boast about their antiquity and greatness in a record dated A. D. 1372: ". . . all the Vīra Pañchāḷa (s), the originals of the Manu race, of incomparable character . . . delighting in Parabrahma, creators of the fourteen worlds . . . of unshaken joy, of daily pure and enlightened salvation, self-known and self-manifest; by their authority as the original men, making (?) in Tuṅgaḷa (or Tuṅgaḷale) of Beṇḍukaliyūr, hundreds and thousands of inquiries of all manner of seeds and plants; versed in weighing and comparing, in Vedas, science, logic, grammar, poetry, in pronouncing distinctly the palatals and labials, in training horses and elephants, and in holding the breath charged with perfume; passed masters in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the deception of (?) skilful people . . . perfumers of Sarasvati with rare jasmine; ornaments in the ears of Sarasvati; distinguished for cities; island forts, hill forts, forest forts . . . five foundations . . . domes, pinnacles, create and the sixteen signs of the original house, the sign of the sacrificial hall, the sign of the pit for consecrated fire, the sign of slopes, etc., according to standard rules, for these and all other signs; authorities for the creation of . . . mansions...adorners of Śrīparvata; deeply learned in all the science of language and the purāṇas to the utmost limits; fond of and merciful to war elephants.... accomplished as Rāmā; boon lords of Piṇḍōtipura"—such were the Vira Pañchāḷas of Terakaṇāmbi.¹

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¹ E. C., IV, Gu. 34, p. 42, text, p. 105.

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In later Vijayanagara history there seems to have been some restriction placed over the Vira Pañchāḷas in a few unspecified areas. This we infer from a record dated A. D. 1632, which informs us that: "...a śāsana was granted to the followers of the Pañchāḷa god as follows : within the boundaries fixed from . . . to the western gate, you may perform your festivals and marriage processions".² In the fourteenth century, however, the artisan classes were wealthy and of some consequence. In about A.D. 1396, the five classes of artisans presented the tax they had to pay to the goddess Banna of Baṇḍaṇike in Nāgara-khaṇḍa-nāḍ.³

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² E. C., XI, Hr. 46, p. 110.

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³ E. C., VII, Sk. 241, p. 138.

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The Kaikkōḷars (or Keyikōḷars) were also a prominent community. Somewhere about A.D. 1370, the Kaikkōḷars of Haṭṭalakōṭe secured a remission of taxes imposed on them from the Viceroy Chikka Kampaṇa Oḍeyar, son of Bukka Rāya⁴. These Kaikkōḷa weavers have also figured in the revenue history of Vijayanagara detailed in the previous pages.

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⁴ E. C., IV, Ch. 97, p. 13.

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Another class which was likewise responsible for the material prosperity of the land was composed of Reḍḍis. These exercised considerable influence in the Telugu provinces of the Empire. They come into prominence from the times of Dēva Rāya II. The Reḍḍi chief Pāṇṭa Mailāra is said to have pleased his royal master Dēva Rāya II by destroying wicked kings by his wisdom and valour, by paying homage to the Vijayanagara ruler, and by giving him great gifts. This is related in a record dated A.D. 1428-29.¹ The military achievements of Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya were of course responsible for a close co-operation of the Reḍḍis with Vijayanagara. This is suggested in the epigraph dated A.D. 1515-16, which says that the Gaṅga-Reḍḍi chief Gaṅgādhara, son of Viṭṭa (Chiṇṭa?), requested the Emperor to give the learned Brāhmaṇa Sūraya—who had foretold that many forts in the Telugu land would pass into the hands of Vijayanagara—the village Nāgulavaram.² These Reḍḍis may have helped the cause of the great movement for colonizing the south, and this may explain their presence in the districts of Trichinopoly, Coimbatore and Salem.³

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¹ Butterworth-Chetty, *Nellore Ins.*, I., v. 17, p. 153.

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² *Ibid*, I, pp. 127-8.

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³ Rangachari locates them around these districts, *I. A.*, XLIII, p. 133.

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Much as one would like to know about the Tuḷuva Vēḷāḷers, it is unfortunate that contemporary records throw no light on their history. They are, as we shall narrate presently, mentioned in connection with the Kurumbars.⁴

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⁴ For an account of the Tuḷuva Vēḷāḷers, read Pate, *Tinnevelly Gaz.*, I, pp. 101, 105-7, 137-42; Hemingway. *Trichy Gaz.* I, pp. 100-01; Thurston, *Castes and Tribes of S. India* q.v. On the Tuḷuva Vēḷāḷers and the Chōḷa king Adondai Chakravarti, read, Taylor, *Cat. Rais.*, III, pp. 431-2; Ellis, *Mirasi Right*, p. 57, seq. (1852 ed.); *Uyar-tuḷuva-Vēḷāḷer Charitra-curukkam* (Madras, 1911).

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One class of the people who have now taken to agriculture but who, during Vijayanagara times, it is presumed, found employment under the Nāyakas of Madura and the various Pāḷeyagāras as peons and armed retainers,⁵ were called the Toṭṭiyans, also known as Kambalaṭṭār. These had their own communal organization. In about A.D. 1369, in a joint resolution issued by the Toṭṭiyans of Pulliyūr-nāḍu, as we have seen, it was decided that he who did not pay was declared to be an outcaste from the nāḍu, the assembly, the pañchāḷan, the parai, and the eighteen nāḍus.¹

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⁵ Nelson, *Mad. Country*, P. II, p. 81.

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¹ E. C., IX., Ht. 103 (a), p. 101. op. cit. For further remarks on the Toṭṭiyans or Toṭṭiyans, see Nelson, Mad. Country, p. 82; Rangachari, I. A., XLIII, pp. 135-6. It is not improbable that these were in some way connected with the Pañchāḷas, B. A., S.

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About the Gauḍas of the Karṇāṭaka, who must have been also instrumental in improving the agricultural condition of the country, we have some indirect evidence, especially in connection with the social activities of the people.

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A less important community which, as we related above,² rose in the royal estimation towards the middle of the sixteenth century was that of the barbers. We may be permitted to recount one or two facts already given in connection with these people. It appears that about A.D. 1547-48, some heads of the barber community made a request, the nature of which is not specified anywhere, to the Emperor Sadāśiva. This seems to have been the result of their skill having been recognized by the great Regent in A.D. 1545. At least so we are told in the inscriptions which give us these details. In that year Rāma Rāja Oḍeyar, being pleased with the barber Koṇḍōja, exempted the barbers of the country from certain taxes.³ The inscriptions of the next year (A.D. 1546) merely mention that the barbers of the whole country secured this privilege.⁴ If this were really so, why they should have made a petition to Rāma Rāja in A.D. 1555, or "propitiated the Emperor" in A.D. 1547, cannot be understood. In the former year we are told that "Timmōja-Koṇḍōja having made application to Rāma-Rājayya, and the latter having made application to Sadāśiva-Dēva-Mahārāya, the Rāya remitted to the barber Timmōja-Koṇḍōja and his family throughout the four boundaries of the kingdom he ruled," certain specified taxes.¹ An inscription of A.D. 1547-48 relates that Timmōja, Koṇḍōja and Bhadri of (the town of) Bādāvi, having propitiated the king (*rāyara mech[chhi]si bēḍikoṇḍa sammam [bam]dha*) that ruler (Sadāśiva Rāya), " in connection with a request they had made ", granted them a *mānya* land.² Whatever the nature of the application may have been, there cannot be a doubt that great concessions were shown to the barber community as a whole.

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² See Volume I, Chapter IV. Financial Administration, Section, 9. Customs and Other Minor Sources: Miscellaneous Sources of Revenue.

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³ E. C., XII, Tp. 126, p. 66; E. C., VI, Tk. 13, p. 105.

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⁴ E. C., XI, Hk. 11, p. 117, Hk. 110, p. 131.

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¹ E.C., XI. Mk. 6, p. 90, text, p. 246. *Timmōja-Koṇḍōjanu binnahāṃ māḍalāgi.*

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² Fleet, *I. A.*, X, p. 65. Here it is not the skill of one man " named Mangada Timmoju Kondoja of the town of Badavi", that is spoken of, as Heras writes (*Aravidu*, pp. 48-9), but the work of three barbers that is to be noted. The Bādāmi inscription clearly says *ivaru mūvaru rāyara* etc. Manggalla Timmōja seems to have been the barber of Rāma Rāja. See *A. S. R.* for 1908-9, p. 198, n (5). We cannot determine whether that Manggalla Timmōja was the same Timmōja-Koṇḍōja of Mk. 6 given above. See also Butterworth-Chetty, *Nellore Ins.*, II, pp. 664-6.

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It is true that the presence of the barber is necessary in the conduct of certain rituals and ceremonials of the Hindus. Thus in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* : "Thereupon they enclose a place north of the hall, and place a vessel of water in it; beside this the barber takes up his position. He (the sacrificer) then shaves his hair and beard, and cuts his nails. For impure, indeed, is that part of man where water does not reach him. Now at the hair and beard, and at the nails the water does not reach him: hence when he shaves his hair and beard, and cuts his nails he does so in order that he may be consecrated after becoming pure."³ While describing the *chūḍākarma* ceremony or tonsure of the child, the *Gṛihya Sūtra* says : "To the barber the vessels of grain. To the barber the vessels of grain" which are filled with rice, barley, sesamum, seeds and beans.⁴

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³ *Sat-Brah.*, P. II, III, Kāṇḍa, I, Adhyāya, 2 Brāhmaṇa, 2, p. 6. See *Ibid.*, 1, 7.

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⁴ *Gṛihya Sūtras*, (Sānkhāyana), P. 1 Adhyāya, 28 Kāṇḍa, 6 and 24, pp. 55, 57.

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The fact that the services of the barbers were called into requisition during certain ceremonials does not explain the marked favour which the Hindu Government showed them in the sixteenth century. Neither does the statement that the Emperor and the Regent were pleased with the skill shown by the barbers. If it were merely a question of honouring a particular section of the people, and especially the heads of a community or guild, the Vijayanagara rulers, as we shall enumerate in a subsequent place, would, according to the custom of the age, have bestowed on them the usual rewards in the shape of dress, ināms, and grants of land. As regards the view that the Government desired to commemorate the social services of a community, we may remember that there were more important sections of the people whose existence was as necessary for the well being of the country as that of the barbers themselves. We may conjecture, therefore, that there must have been a special occasion which necessitated the granting of remission to the barbers. The most important examples of remissions we have given above centre round the Tumkur, Chitaldroog (or Chitradurga) and Kalādgi districts of the Mysore State and the Bombay Presidency.

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Now, in these parts of Karṇāṭaka there lived some ancient tribes whose subjugation was a matter of necessity for the Vijayanagara rulers. Among these tribes were the ancient Kurumbars who, according to tradition, held sway over certain unspecified localities even during Vijayanagara times. In their attempts to break the power of these tribes, the monarchs may have partially utilized the services of a community like the barbers, who, because of their vocation which brought them into touch with all classes of people or because of some particular reasons to be narrated presently, were best fitted to give the Government information about the ancient tribes. In this connection we may note that Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya had laid down a definite policy as regards the tribes in the following words: "It is always advisable to entrust the government over wild tribes inhabiting hills and forests to heroes who have fallen from great positions. It would not affect the king much whoever succeeds in the struggle between them. If the people of the forest (wild tribes) multiply in any state the trouble to the king and his people would not be small. The king should make such people his own by destroying their fears. Because they are people of very little advancement, faith and want of faith, anger and friendship, bitter enmity and close friendship, result from (very little) insignificant causes...The first wild forest tribes can be brought under control by truthfulness (keeping one's engagements with them)..."1

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The great monarch does not speak, it is true, of the barbers and the Kurumbars in his maxims. Nevertheless the spirit of his broad-minded policy is significant in the light of the events that followed soon after. The most numerous concessions which the barbers received fall within the reign of Sadāśiva Rāya. It is not unreasonable to suppose that as a result of the policy of conciliation inaugurated by Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya, the State must have set itself to the task of winning over the tribes; and that in the realization of their object, which may have been only towards the end of Achyuta Rāya's reign, they may have received some aid from the barbers. Now this conjecture of ours presupposes three considerations: the marked tendency which the Government showed to the Kurumbars (or Kurubars) after the times of Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya; the hereditary enmity of the Kurumbars and the barbers; and, finally, the importance of the Kurumbars in the areas which we have associated with the barbers above.

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Tradition throws much light on the origin and power of the Kurumbars. They claimed descent from the Yādavas.² "Their occupation is chiefly to take care of a kind of goats, with the hair of which they make blankets, and sell them. But there are other Curumbars whose office is to rule the land; others who make and sell chunam or lime; and some are hunters who live by the chase ".³ One of their southern centres was called Pattipulam (Immuḍipaṭnam).⁴ But what concerns us is the following information supplied by the same source: "The ancestors of these people were engaged in the great war of the *Pāndavas*. Their descendants were afterwards dispersed in various places. These were *Jainas*. A proverb is current concerning them (from a particular incident) that their eyes are on their shoulders. From a custom common among them of having their heads shaved on the death of one of their number, they were massacred in one day, by barbers. The place is called *Narambur*. A detail of their forts, twelve in number is given.

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¹ Amuktamālyada, vv. 221-225, J. I. H. IV, pp. 66-7.

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² Taylor, Cat. Rais. III, p. 368. These Kurubars are also identified with the Mallars or Vedars. Ibid., p. 399.

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³ Ibid. p. 369.

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⁴ Ibid., p. 399. Taylor says the following: "Certain old coins have been found there. Remains of their fort appear. Roman coins have been found there.

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"A *Sannyasi* who had seen a book written by the *Curumbar*, states, that they were numerous and powerful before the time of *Adondai*, and of the *Jaina* religion. Various other matters concerning them are rather doubtfully mentioned; but it is stated that they certainly held power as late as the time of *Krishna-rayer*; when, in consequence of their pride the *Vellar-has* engaged certain barbers to massacre them; and besides, the troops of *Krishna-rayer*, also with those of the *Wiyalavar* poligars, further destroyed them".¹

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¹ Taylor, ibid., pp. 399-400.

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Another account gives some further interesting details which brought about the estrangement between the Kurumbars and the Vijayanagara Government. "Under the *Rayer's* government (i. e., obviously of *Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya*) the *Curumbar* ruled in many districts. They constructed forts in the various places. They tried to make the *Muthaliers* and *Vellar-has* render them homage, to which the others did not consent; and the *Curumbars* in consequence greatly troubled them. Still they did not submit. Accordingly in betel gardens, and in many other places they constructed very low wicket gates, so that the Hindus, coming to them, must be forced to bow on

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been found there. The people had a town on the sea shore, for the purpose of trading." *Ibid.*, p. 399. On the Kurumbars Mr. R. Gopalan's paper on "The Historical Value of the Mackenzie MSS (read at the Sixth Meeting of the Indian Historical Records Commission, Madras 1924) may also be consulted.

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entering. But the *Muthaliars* and *Vellarhas* instead of entering head foremost thrust feet in first; and thus treated the *Curumbars* with contempt. As the latter had power in their possession, they vexed the said tribes. These, at length, went to a barber, and promsing a gift of land, asked of him counsel how to destroy the *Curumbars*. The barber gave them encouragement: he then went to the houses of all his tribe; and engaged their services by promise. It was the custom of *Curumbars* that, if one of their people died, the whole family should shave the head. One of the seniors of the tribe of *Curumbars* died, and, by custom, the whole tribe at one time sat down to have their heads shaved. The aforesaid barber, on this occasion, charged all his associates each one to kill his man, which they did, by each one cutting the throat of the person shaved. The women, thus suddenly widowed, had a great pile of fire kindled, into which they leaped and died, execrating their enemies."¹

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¹ Taylor, *Cat. Rais.* III, p. 420. Here we are also told that the ruins of the Kurumbar forts "are still visible", and that some "very old walls" near Sadras, are seen. The Muthaliars and Vellarhas referred to above were the Mudaliars and the Vellāḷers. B. A. S.

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But we have not yet explained the appearance of Vijayanagara forces on the scene. We read another account of the same people in order to know what Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya, and the "Wiyalavar" Pāḷeyagāras, had to do with them. We are told the following in their tradition: "Anciently the *Curumbar* ruled in this country (Chingleput district). *Adondai Chōḷan*² came from Tanjore, and destroyed them; and having acquired the title of *Adondai chacraverti*, he established in their place the *Kondai katti vellarhar* (agriculturists who bound up their hair as women do). In those days the *Vannier* or *Patti* people, by permission of the ruler of the country, built this fort for themselves, as their own, (at "Tiruvidai churam")...The measures of that fort, as now found, are from south to north, 1,141 feet, east to west, 1,200 feet. The breadth of its outerwall was 20 feet. Around it there was a moat 30 feet broad...While ruling with considerable power, they rejected all claims of customary tribute from superior kings. They (i. e., "Candava rayen and Chettu rayen") were both illustrious but Canda rayen was the most warlike of the two...When the Rayer (i. e., obviously Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya) came to invade him, as the drums were beaten at several hill-stations, the Rayer did not know in which the chief was; and at length, the latter, watching his opportunity, fell on the Rayer's forces, and made great slaughter. The Rayer's general being greatly incensed came with a greater force; and, during four months an uncertain war was carried on, the chief's place not being known; while night and day he harassed the troops of the invader. The Rayer now desisted from open war; intending to effect his object indirectly. Candava rayen had greatly vexed the agriculturists, that Anondai chacraverti had placed in the land. The Vellarhars, in consequence arose in a body, and went to Kṛṣṇa-rayer, who sent the Wiyalayer (the people of a Poligar) against Candava. That Poligar being beaten, retreated; and sent spies to inspect the fortress, that he might discover how to overcome Candava. The spies discovered that, in intervals of rest from war, Candava was entirely enslaved by the leader of a band of dancing girls; and announced the circumstance to the chief of the Wiyalavar tribe. He came to Cupuchi and gave her the offer of four bags of gold as a bribe to cut off the head of Candava; to which, induced by avarice, she consented; and appointed a time for the Poligar, and his people to come. They came as appointed. Cupuchi gave Candava poison in a cake from her own hands, which speedily took effect. She cut off his head; and, putting it in a dish brought it to the appointed place, and gave it to the Poligar people. (But she was beheaded by the Poligar's people in turn, and Chettu rayen cut off the heads of her hundred companions in a tank which is called to this day Pinnai yeri, "the Lake of Corpses")...The Wiyalavar Poligar came with his troops, and fell on the fort. During twenty-six days, fighting was carried on with great loss on both sides; till at length, the attacking Poligar took the fort; which, after that time, became a dependency of the *Anna-gundi* (Āneguṇḍi) kings, who protected the agriculturists".¹

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² For an account of Adondai Chōḷan, read Taylor, ibid., pp. 426-7, in addition to the reference given above.

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¹ Taylor, *Cat. Rais.*, III., pp. 427-9. ² *Sāḷuva Timma*? ³ Taylor, ibid. III, p.

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We may record one more legend before we draw our own conclusions. "This fort ("at *Marutam*, near Canchi in the *Utra-melur* district") of mud, was formerly built by the *Curumbars*, covering more than forty acres of ground, with two boundary-walls, and was long ruled by them. In the time of *Krishna rayer*, his dependent the *raja* of Chingleput, fought with them; and, after some time, the *Curumba* chief was unjustly put to death. The *Curumbars* were destroyed; and *Timma raja*² took that fort. He gave it as a jagire to one of his near relatives, named *Govinda raja*. He built two temples; and established an *agrahāram* or alms-house, for the *Brahmans*."³

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Divested of fable, the probabilities in the above account may be summarized thus: The *Kurumbars* originally spread over the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil lands, were destroyed by the Tamil king Ādoṇḍai Chakravarti; consequently, the *Kurumbars* of the south disappeared as a political factor in the Tamil land; their place was taken by the Tuḷuva Veḷḷāḷers and the Vaṇṇiyars, both of whom were given to agriculture;⁴ and the Vaṇṇiyars continued the traditions of the *Kurumbars* of rejecting all claims of customary tribute from superior kings. This came into conflict with the imperialistic policy of Vijayanagara. Failing to subdue the Vaṇṇiyars by honest means, the State had recourse to deceit and achieved its end by means of a dancing girl. But it protected the agriculturists whose leaders it had subjugated.

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⁴³³ See p. 431 where an account of the forts built by the *Kurumbars* in the Tamil land is given. ⁴ The Vaṇṇiyars are called by Taylor "fire-race, a tribe of low cultivators". *Ibid.*, III, p.

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⁴²⁷ On the Vaṇṇiyars, see *ibid.*, III., pp. 90, 427. The name Vanniyar has been traced to the Sanskrit *vahni*, *agni*. Oppert, *M. J. L. S.* for 1887-8; *Org. Inhb.*, p. 118, *seq.*; S. K. Aiyangar, *I. A.*, LII., p. 368.

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Now to turn to the Kurumbars: the same policy of levelling down the authority of the tribes, which the rulers of Vijayanagara made clear in the instance of the Vanniyars, was extended to the Kurumbars as well. Their tradition tells us that Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya with the aid of the ruler of Chingleput destroyed their stronghold at "Marutam, near Canchi in the Utra-melur district". We may assume that the Kurumbars ceased to exist as a thorn on the side of the Hindu State in the eastern and southern parts of the Vijayanagara Empire. But they were still powerful in the Karṇāṭaka which seems to have been their earlier home. This is again told to us in another account of theirs, which deals with the ancient history of the Toṇḍaimaṇḍalam. "After the deluge, the country was a vast forest, inhabited by wild beasts. A race of men arose, who, destroying the wild beasts, dwelt in certain districts. There were then, according to tradition, no forts, only huts; no kings, no religion, no civilization, no books, men were naked savages; no marriage institutions. Many years after, the Curumbars arose in the Carnata country; they had a certain kind of religion; they were murderers; they derived the name of Curumbar from their cruelty. Some of them spread into the Dravida dēsam, as far as the Toṇḍamaṇḍala country. They are now found near Uttra melur; but more civilized".¹

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¹ Taylor, Cat. Rais., III, pp. 430-1.

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If the Vijayanagara monarchs planned for the wiping out of the Kurumbar chiefs in the Tamil land, they must also have done the same in the Karṇāṭaka where, as we related in an earlier connection, there were the Bēḍars and the other tribes of the Male-rājya, who gave infinite trouble to the Government. All the traditional evidence we have cited above goes to prove that the Hindu State was benevolent towards the agriculturists (the Vēḷāḷers and the Vaṇṇiyars); that these, especially the Vēḷāḷers, were the traditional enemies of the Kurumbars whom they had supplanted in the Tamil land; and that the Vijayanagara Government by siding with the Vēḷāḷers and other agricultural sections of the people, launched forth a policy of breaking the power of the Kurumbars, especially in the Karṇāṭaka, since their strongholds in the Tamil country had already been destroyed by Adoṇḍai Chakravarti and Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya himself.

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How can these considerations be made to square with the historical facts before us? To prove that the Kurumbars as a large section of the people existed only in the Karṇāṭaka in the Vijayanagara times, we may note the evidence of a contemporary traveller. Linschoten, as we have already seen elsewhere, thus writes about them:—"The Canariins and Corumbiins are the Countrimen, and such as deale with Tilling the Land, Fishing and such like labours...They are in a manner blacke, or of a darke browne colour, many of them Christians, because their chief habitation and dwelling places are on the Sea-side, in the Countries bordering upon Goa, for that the Palm-trees doe grow upon the Sea coasts, or upon the bankes by River sides."¹ Linschoten of course wrote in A.D. 1583. The fact that many of them were Christians around Goa does not invalidate our assumption : on the other hand, the evidence of Linschoten tends to prove that the Kurumbars were to be seen prominently in the districts round Goa.

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