Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.t1: A. Preliminary Remarks
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.t1
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A. Preliminary Remarks
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THE frequent occurrence of the two phrases *varṇāśrama-dharmaṅgaḷa(n)u pālisulla* and *sakala-varṇāśrama-dharmaṅgaḷa(n)upālisutta* in the inscriptions indicates that the Vijayanagara monarchs were fully aware of the great social problems which confronted them as custodians of the Hindu Dharma. Long before they had assumed the reins of government, the purely Aryan institution of the four *varṇāśramas* had already taken deep roots in the soil of southern India.¹ Both in the Karṇāṭaka and Tamil lands, the rulers considered it their duty to protect the *varṇāśrama-dharma* in its proper sphere. We are told in a copper-plate grant dated A. D. 517, that the Gaṅga king Koṅgaṇi-Vṛiddha-Rāja, also called Durvvinīta, was "like Vaiśvasvata Manu able for the protection of the castes and religious orders which prevailed in the South".² About A. D. 650 the great Jaina *āchārya* Ariṣṭha Nēmi having left the whole group (*gaṇa*) consisting of the four castes (*chātur-varṇa*) and having given up food, etc., mounting on the Kaṭavapra, attained perfection.³ The existence of the four castes among the Jainas is proved by an inscription which probably belongs to the middle of the tenth century A. D. This record commemorates the death of Chāmakabbe and A'yvaśāmi. Chāmakabbe is described as the supporter of the Jaina assembly (*Śravaṇa-saṅgha*) of the four castes. A'yvaśāmi was the son of the *Pṛittuvī-paramēśvara mahānāygara* Rēchayya, supporter of the Jaina assembly of the four castes.¹ Cāmuṇḍa Rāya, in an epigraph dated about A.D. 893, is thus described: "A sun in the shape of a jewel adorning the crest of the eastern mountain the Brahma-Kshatra race, a moon in the shape of the splendour of his fame in causing to swell the ocean the Brahma-Kshatra race, a central gem to the pearl necklace of Lakshmī procured from the Rōhaṇa mountain the Brahma-Kshatra race, a strong wind to the fire the Brahma-Kshatra race."² Two prominent castes, therefore, are clearly suggested in the praise given to Cāmuṇḍa Rāya.
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¹ Barnett, *Hinduism*, p. 53, *seq*; Srinivasa Aiyangar, *Tamil Studies*, pp. 61, 66; Ghosal, *Hind. Pol. Theor.*, pp. 44-5 (1st ed.). On the origin of caste, read Oldenberg, *Journal of the German Oriental Society*, 1897, pp. 267-290.
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² *E. C.*, IX, DB. 68, p. 73.
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³ *E. C.*, II, No. 11, p. 4; text p. 3 (2nd ed.).
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¹ My. Arch. Report for 1912-13, p. 31.
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² E. C., II, No. 281, p. 126 (2nd. ed.), No. 109, p. 169 (1st ed.).
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The four varṇāśramas and the duty of protecting them became more and more prominent in the later ages. The Hoysala Queen Śāntala Dēvī, in A.D. 1123, is said to have been the cause of the elevation of the four samayas (or creeds).³ We are told that in A. D. 1157 "the Brahmans and others of the four castes, the four religious orders, Brahma and the gods" were engaged in gifts of learning.⁴ Gāṅgeyana Māreya and his wife Bāchale, in A. D. 1232, requested the king Iruṅgōḷa Chōḷa to make a grant of land for the daily services of Pārśvanātha Jinēśa and for the distribution of food to the four castes.⁵ Jaganakere Kalle Gauḍa, the great nāḍ-prabhu under the Hoysala king Sōmēśvara Dēva, in A. D. 1242, is described to have been "the upholder of the four castes" (chatus-samaya-samuddharaṇa).⁶
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³ Ibid. No. 132, p. 60 (2nd ed.).
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⁴ Rice, My. Ins., p. 191.
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⁵ E. C., XII, Pg. 52, p. 125.
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⁶ E. C., IV, Kr. 76, p. 111, text, p. 316. Under the Pāṇḍyas some sections of the castes like the sāliyars had streets for themselves. 269 of 1913; Rangachari, Top. List., I, SA. 61, p. 131.
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Side by side with the question of protecting the four prominent castes, whose existence in southern India in early times is proved by the instances we have cited above, there arose another need in connection with what the people said to be the sakala-varṇāśrama. This term has been used with much latitude, and may have been originally intended to mean the eighteen castes which formed a sort of an extension of the four original varṇāśramas.¹ We are, it is admitted, in the dark as to the precise meaning and function of the eighteen castes. But it is not improbable that they may have had something to do with the Right Hand and Left Hand sections of the people. These shall be separately treated anon. Here, however, we may observe that the adjustment of the duties of, and the distribution of patronage to, the four varṇāśramas and the eighteen castes was indeed a problem which called forth the ingenuity of the Vijayanagara rulers. For, in addition to the need of reconciling the differences between the various communities, without lowering in any way the prestige of the Hindu monarchs as promoters of the Dharma, there was the grave question of defending the country against an ever-watchful enemy who was waiting for an opportunity of crushing the Hindu Empire. The fact that the monarchs of Vijayanagara were able to achieve both these ends for a considerable length of time, in spite of the many short-comings in their political system, is enough to prove that, so far as the social side of their history is concerned, they must have conferred on the people those advantages of person, property and religion which assured them the heartiest co-operation of the people in times of grave political crisis. The existence of the four great varṇāśramas and the eighteen subsects proved no barrier to them. On the other hand, their public avowal to promote sakala-varṇāśrama-dharmas, may have been partly responsibe for their success. Instead of championing the cause only of the four original varṇas, they took upon themselves the duty of protecting all the varṇas. This meant that, especially in regard to the various sects and subsects, on condition that these latter confined themselves to their own svadharma or duties proper to their individual caste, they could reasonably expect of their rulers the same patronage which was extended by the State to the four great *varṇāśramas*. Only in this light can we understand the co-operation between the Vijayanagara Government and their people for the realization of the most urgent need of the hour—guarding the interests of the country against a relentless enemy.¹ The history of the Hindu State viewed from this standpoint becomes interesting as the record of a people who, although divided into four main groups with their numerous subdivisions, yet lived to turn the times in which the monarchs struggled to maintain the honour of the land, into an age of intense social and intellectual activity.
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¹ The Eighteen Castes or samayas, we admit, may have been only conventional divisions. On the other hand, they may also refer to religious orders. Cf. Lākulāgama samaya mentioned in a record dated A.D. 1177. E. C. V, Ak. 62, p. 135.
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¹ Cf. S. K. Aiyangar, *Some Contributions*, p. 302.
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We go to many of the foreign travellers in vain for details about the numerous communal subdivisions in the Empire. To the foreigners, unacquainted with the customs of the people, it sometimes appeared that the land was made up only of one class; and at other times, of three great divisions. In addition to the vague notices of the Hindu subjects which we find in the writings of most of the foreign travellers, there is another consideration which depreciates the value of their accounts in this particular connection. It is that their narratives contain conflicting statements, especially as regards the character of the people. Varthema in about A.D. 1500 observed the following: "The people are of a tawny colour; they go naked and bare-footed, and wear nothing on the head."² Linschoten in A.D. 1583 is more vehement in his wholesale condemnation of the people of the Karṇāṭaka: "They are so miserable, that for a Penie they would indure to be whipped, and they eate so little, that it seemeth they live by the Aire, they are likewise most of them leane, and weake of limbes, of little strength and very Cowards, where by the Portuguals doe them great outrage and villanie, using them like Dogs and Beasts"³. A still more pronounced view of the people, this time of the eastern coast, is from the pen of John Nieuhof, who writes thus about Madura in A. D. 1662: "The Inhabitants of those places are very black and strong; they are deceitful and cunning, make little account of their Wives, but generally keep two or three Harlots, by whom they have sometimes sixteen or eighteen children".¹
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² Varthema, Jones, p. 121; Temple, p. 49; Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 118.
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³ Linschoten, *Purchas, Pilgrims*, X, p. 264.
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¹ Churchill, *Voyages*, II, p. 295; Satyanatha, *Nayaks*, p. 327.
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If these sweeping assertions had been corroborated by the evidence of other foreign travellers, one might have accepted them as valid. But the remarks of more impartial eye-witnesses make us believe that the above mentioned observations were the result of ignorance and prejudice which may be said to be characteristic of those who went to the East with the idea of learning something about the pagan people of India. Other foreigners have left behind them more favourable proof of the character and classes of the Hindu people. According to Barbosa there were three sections of the people. "In this kingdom of Narsyngua there are three classes of Heathen, each of which has a very distinct rule of its own, and also their customs differ much one from the other.
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"The principal of these is that of the King, the great Lords, the Knights and fighting men, who may marry, as I have said, as many women as they wish, and are able to maintain: their sons inherit their estates : the women are bound by very ancient custom," to commit sati.² This was not entirely true: the kings, especially of the Sangama and Tuluva dynasties, can hardly be said to be of the same class to which the great nobles like the Brahman Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar and Kampalli alias Aṇṇam, and the Brahman-generals like Mādhava Rāya, Sāḷuva Timma and Nādeṇḍla Gōpa Mantri belonged. We shall deal with them subsequently.³ Neither were the rulers and the nobles, during the time Barbosa visited Vijayanagara (A.D. 1504-14), of the same castes which composed the fighting men—the Bēḍars, the Muhammadans, and others. But the account of Barbosa is nevertheless valuable. Among the Heathens "is another class of people whom they call Bramenes ",¹ about whom we shall have to speak in detail subsequently. There was one more class of people. " There is in this kingdom also another class of folk very like unto the Bramenes, who wear round their necks certain cords of twisted silk, from which hangs a cloth bag containing a stone the size of an egg, which they say is their god. These also are much regarded and held in respect, nor will any man do them harm by reason of their reverence they have for that stone, which they call Tambarane ".² These could only be the Lingāyats or Jaṅgamas.
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² *Barbosa*, Dames, I, pp. 212-13; Stanley, p. 91.
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³ *Infra*, Chapter III, The Brahmans.
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¹ Barbosa, Dames, I. pp. 217-18; Stanley, pp. 93-4. ² Barbosa, ibid. ³ Barbosa, Dames, I., p. 205; Stanley, p. 87. ⁴ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 280. ⁵ Firishtah, Briggs, II, p. 337.
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Whether these went "naked and bare-footed", as Varthema makes us believe, will be seen in connection with the dress and habits of the people. As regards the colour of the people, Barbosa says: "The natives of this land (Vijayanagara) are Heathen like himself (the king); they are tawny men, nearly white ".³ Paes tells us the following about their industrious character : " There are working people and all other kinds of men who are employed in business, besides those who are obliged to go into the field; there are also a great number of Brahmans ".⁴
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The erroneous nature of the observations of Linschoten is seen when we read the account of the very people whom he calls " Canariins" (or people of Kanara or the Karṇāṭaka) in the history of the most uncompromising critic of the Hindus. Firishtah writes thus : " The country of Canara (Carnatic) is in length, from north to south, from the Krishna to Sata Bund Rameswur, six hundred coss, and its breadth, from west to east, one hundred and fifty, from the shores of the Indian ocean to the boundaries of Tulingana. The people speak in some parts the Canarese, and in some the Tulingy language, and are so brave that they advance to battle with songs and dances ; but their ardour does not last ".⁵ On the law-abiding nature of the people, the same historian continues: "His (i.e., the Emperor's) country was well peopled, and the subjects submissive to his authority".¹
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¹ Firishtah, Briggs., II., p. 338.
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The following given by Martin Correa (A.D. 1528) is in striking contrast to the deceitful and cunning character of the people mentioned by Nieuhof. "Two pictures may be given from one voyage of Martin Correa up the coast in 1521, of which it was said, as it was of many others, that it was an unnecessary expedition, as the people they robbed were but poor people who neither followed the sea nor did evil to any one. Landing at one place, Correa marched up country with 25 men till he came to a large country-house with court-yards and gardens, and many poor, both men and women, sitting round. Seeing the Portuguese, a man accosted them courteously, who was the almoner of a wealthy Muhammadan gentleman who lived there retired from the world and who spent his money in alms giving. Presently the owner himself came out and treated them with hospitality. When a friendly understanding had been arrived at, Correa had the curiosity and the naivety to ask him why he gave alms and what satisfaction he could get from it. A little later, among the captives Correa took, was an old man past work, who offered £ 3 for his liberty, and asked that as he had no friend he might be allowed to fetch the money himself. Correa, more in jest than earnest, gave him his liberty and made him swear on his sacred thread, for he was a Brahmin, to bring the money back. A few days latter, to the amazement of the Portuguese, the old Brahmin returned with half the money and eight fowls in lieu of the rest—all that he had been able to scrape together. To the credit of the Portuguese they refused to take anything from him".²
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² Whiteway, The Rise of the Portuguese Power in India, pp. 28-9. See also p. 28 where it is said that "when St. Thome (in A.D. 1559) was held for ransom for the intolerant acts of some Jesuits and Franciscans, the Raja of Vijayanagar kept such faith with the Portuguese that, as one of them says, such humanity and justice are not to be found among