Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s1.2

v2.c18.s1.2

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-