Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s5.t3.13

v2.c18.s5.t3.13

We may end our remarks on slavery in Vijayanagara by noting a peculiar feature of that social institution in the Toṇḍaimaṇḍalam. "A custom prevails among the slave casts in Tondaimandalam, especially in the neighbourhood of Madras, which may be considered as a periodical assertion of independence; at the close of the Tamil month Āni, with which the revenue year ends and the cultivation of the ensuing year ought to commence, the whole of the slaves strike work, collect in bodies outside the villages, and so remain until their masters by promising to continue their privileges, by solicitations, presents of betel, and other gentle means, induce them to return. The slaves on these occasions, however well treated they may have been, complain of various grievances, real and imaginary, and threaten a general desertion; this threat, however, they never carry into execution, but after the usual time, everything having been conducted according to Māmūl, return quietly to their labors".¹ Neither the accounts of foreign travellers, many of whom have left behind them details of the agricultural conditions under Vijayanagara, nor inscriptions, which abound in references to the ancient custom (*purvada maryāde*) of the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil lands, contain any hint as regards this interesting aspect of the corporate life of the Paraiyans of the modern times.