[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934) › v2.c19.s3.6 # Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c19.s3.6 Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c19.s3.6 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.s3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.6) In the eulogy which these Brahmans of Kellaṅgere heap upon themselves, some allowance must be made for their vanity which brings to their feet "the foreheads of the three (castes of) Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras", and which prompts them to style themselves as possessors of the usual ascetic virtues and also of golden earrings! But it is evident that Kellaṅgere was indeed a place of some repute, even in the later times, as is indicated in an inscription assigned to the year A.D. 1300. This epigraph says that the Brahmans of Kellaṅgere were poets, readers, speakers, orators and lovers of fame, devoted to the lotus feet of Keśava.² That it is not improbable that Brahmans in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were given to learning is evident by comparing the above description of the residents of Kellaṅgere with that of those who lived in the great \*agrahāra\* Sarvajñapura. An inscription dated A.D. 1234 describes them thus: "In that nāḍ (\*i.e.\*, Hoysala-nāḍ) exalted was the great \*agrahāra\* Sarvajñapura. In some streets were those reading the Vēdas, śāstras and six systems of \*tarkka\*; in some were (?) maṇṭapas for (?) new shows; in some Viṣṇu temples. Ever groups of Brahmans either reading the Vēda, or all at once listening to some higher science, or without ceasing carrying on discussion in logic, or joyously reciting purāṇas, or settling the meaning of all manner of smṛiti, drama and poetry. To study, teaching, listening to good precepts and the rules of their faith, were the Brahmans in Sarvajñapura devoted''.¹ - [Previous: v2.c19.s3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.5) - [Next: v2.c19.s3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.7) - [Up: v2.c19.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3) ## Linked texts (1) - [Epigraphia Carnatica](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.corpora.ec) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.6) · Pramāṇa