Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s1.7

v2.c18.s1.7

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.