Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s1.47

v2.c18.s1.47

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.