Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s3.t4.1

v2.c18.s3.t4.1

Karṇāṭaka and Tamil tradition, therefore, had sanctified the brutal custom long before Vijayanagara was founded. The instances enumerated above, which are not exhaustive, when taken in conjunction with the following relating to Vijayanagara enable us to deduce some conclusions as regards the occasion when women performed sahagamana and the communities which were addicted to this cruel rite. One of the earliest examples of sati in Vijayanagara times is that recorded in an epigraph dated A. D. 1354. In the reign of Hariyappa Oḍeyar, Mala Gauḍa went to svarga and his wife Chennakkā performed sahagamana and also went to svarga.³ In A. D. 1376 in the reign of Bukka Rāya, Āvali Chanda Gauḍa's son Bēchi Gauḍa went to svarga. His junior wife Muddi Gauṇḍi performed sahagamana and both obtained mukti.⁴ Nuṅka Gauḍa died in A.D. 1383 and his queen (arasi) Dēmāyi entered the fire⁵. In the reign Harihara II, in A.D. 1386, a mahāsati kallu, or stone commemorating a great sati, records the death of Bommakkā, wife of Malayandūr Bēḍabira who died fighting in a battle.⁶ On the death of the match-lockman Dēveya [The page is blank.]