Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.t1.20

v2.c18.t1.20

"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.