Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.t1.12

v2.c18.t1.12

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.