Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s1.12

v2.c18.s1.12

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