Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s4.t2.7

v2.c18.s4.t2.7

Some more details about these Baṇajigas are supplied by an inscription dated about A. D. 1150 which, after narrating their elaborate titles, says: ". . . . visiting the Chēra, Chōḷa, Pāṇḍya, Maleya, Magadha Kauśala, Saurāshṭra, Dhanushṭra, Kurumbha, Kāmbhōja, Gaulla, Lāḷa, Barvvara, Pārasa, Nēpāḷa, Ekapāda, Lambakarnna, Strī-rājya, Ghōḷāmukha, and many other countries ; and the grāmas, nagaras, khēḍas, kharvvaḍas, maḍambas, paṭṭaṇas, drōṇāmukhas, and siṁvahanas,—the cities of the elephants at the cardinal points ; and by land routes and water routes penetrating into the regions of the six continents; with superior elephants, well bred horses, large sapphires, moonstones, pearls, rubies, diamonds, lapis lazuli, onyx, topaz, carbuncles, coral, emeralds, karkkētana, and various such articles ; cardamoms, cloves, bdellium sandal, camphor, musk saffron, malegaja, and other perfumes and drugs by selling which wholesale, or hawking about on their shoulders, preventing the loss by customs duties, they fill up the emperor's treasury of gold, his treasury of jewels, and his armoury of weapons, and from the rest they daily bestow gifts on paṇḍits and munis fully versed in the chatus-samaya-shaḍ-darśana...carriers with asses and buffaloes, adorned with red trappings; the sixteen of the eight nāḍs, gavaregas, gaṭrigas, śeṭṭis, śeṭṭiguṭṭas, aṅkakāras, biras, biravaṇigas, gaṇḍigas, gāvuṇḍas gāvuṇḍasvāmis,—thus with? spear, headed rods in their hands, with an elephant as their bhēri (kettle-drum), the Bhēri (sect) as their maḍḍale (tabor), white umbrellas as their canopy, the mighty ocean as their moat, Indra as their hand-guard, Varuṇa as the standard-bearer, Kubēra as the treasurer, the nine planets as a belt, Rāhu as a tassel, Kētu as a dagger, Kuḷika as the fight, the sun and the moon as the backers, the thirty-three gods are the spectators; they draw forth the sword kshame (patience) and with it piercing the enemy named krōdha (anger), having the ḍava-ruga and para nirghghōshaṇa of the sons of warriors who have fought and won.... In the case of a sack which bursts from the contents collected from the points of the compass, an ass which runs away (laden) with grain, a wounded and fallen body, a cart that has been robbed, a blood load that has been lifted, a bar of gold that has been seized, a tax that has been evaded, a cry of looting, an assembly connected with caste customs, a bargain that has been made,—they are not ones to fail...”.¹