[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 # Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c19: Chapter III. The Brahmans Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c19 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [v2.c19.s1 Section I. Their Position in Hindu Society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1) — 25 parts - [v2.c19.s2 Section 2. Occupation of the Brahmans in Mediaeval Times](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2) — 2 parts - [v2.c19.s3 Section 4. The Agrahāra](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3) — 46 parts ### Chapter III. The Brahmans ### Section I. Their Position in Hindu Society ### [v2.c19.s1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.1) There seems to be hardly any justification that we should dwell at length on a section of the Hindu people, who have gained prominence as much by their intellectual attainments as by their adamantine orthodoxy. But if it is realized that the Vijayanagara age was an era of Hindu regeneration, and that the Brahmans, according to the evidence of eye-witnesses, played an important part in the affairs of the times, we may be allowed to give some details about their status and achievements under the mediaeval monarchs. ### [v2.c19.s1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.2) Like the King, the Brahman, too, suffered decline as regards the unassailable position he had taken in the classical times. The earlier writers maintained that the Brahman preceded the Kshatriya,—that is to say, they analysed the question of the relative position which the king and the priest occupied in Hindu society. While some canonists were constrained to give the priest the pre-eminent place in Hindu society, to endow him with divinity, and to bestow on him certain privileges, like those relating to the inviolability of his person and of his property, others were inclined to give him a rank equal to that of the Kshatriyas, and, in one famous instance, even to relegate him to a place of insignificance, at least so far as the elements that constituted sovereignty were concerned. The Vijayanagara monarchs showed the classical touch that marked their action by holding the Brahman in the highest esteem; but they revealed, at the same time, their essentially mediaeval nature by making him the servant of the State. ### [v2.c19.s1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.3) This conformity to, and apparent violation of, classical injunctions by the Hindu rulers of Vijayanagara is amply illustrated in their theory as enunciated by Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Rāya, and in the inscriptions which give us the history of the Brahmans in mediaeval times. Ancient precept still influenced the mediaeval mind. Nowhere has the case for the Brahmans been so powerfully advocated as in the following words of Manu: "Let the king, after rising early in the morning, worship Brāhmaṇas who are well versed in the three fold sciences and learned (in polity), and follow their advice. Let him daily worship aged Brāhmaṇas who know the Veda and are pure; for he who always worships aged men, is honoured even by the Rākṣhasas".¹ Then again: "Let him (the king) not, though fallen into the deepest distress, provoke Brāhmaṇas to anger; for they, when angered, could instantly destroy him with his army and his vehicles".² Manu further says: "A Brāhmaṇa be he ignorant or learned, is a great divinity, just as the fire, whether carried forth (for the performance of a burnt-oblation) or not carried forth, is a great divinity".³ "Thus, though Brāhmaṇas employ themselves in all (sorts of) mean occupations they must be honoured in every way; for (each of) them is a very great deity".⁴ ### [v2.c19.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.4) ¹ Manu, VII, 37-8, p. 221. ² Ibid., IX, 313, p. 397. ³ Ibid., IX, 317, p. 398; see also 314-16, ibid. ⁴ Ibid., IX, 319, p. 399. ### [v2.c19.s1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.5) Bhīshma evidently has the same idea in mind when he says thus: "Thou shouldst worship those Brāhmanas that are devoted to their duties, possessed of learning, regular in worshipping the gods, observant of high vows, and endued with other accomplishments, when they come to thy abode, and employ them in officiating in thy sacrifices".¹ Nārada also has identical ordinances. "Let a king be constantly intent on showing honour to the Brahmans. A field furnished with Brahmans is the root of the prosperity of the world. A Brahman may command respect, and a distinguished seat at the king's court. The king shall show his face in the morning before the Brahmans first of all, and shall salute them all".² ### [v2.c19.s1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.6) ¹ Śānti Parva, LXXI, p. 233. ### [v2.c19.s1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.7) ² Nārada, XVIII, 34-5, pp. 218-19. For a detailed discussion of the question of the Brahman's position in society, see Ghosal, Hind. Pol. Theor., pp. 14-15, 30, 48, 52-4, 63, 66, 108, 110-12, 189-90 (1st. ed.) ### [v2.c19.s1.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.8) Before we note the similarity that exists between Vijayanagara theory and that of the ancients in this respect, we may cite the opinion of Kauṭilya, who, in his enumeration of the elements of sovereignty, says: "The king, the minister, the country, the fort, the treasury, the army and the friend are the elements of sovereignty".³ The Brahman, therefore, in his priestly capacity, is, according to Kauṭilya, a negligible factor in the matter of sovereignty. ### [v2.c19.s1.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.9) ³ Arthaśāstra, Bk. VI, Ch. I, 258, p. 309. Supra, Volume I, Chapter V, Central Government. ### [v2.c19.s1.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.10) Nevertheless the underlying principle which has marked the relationship of the Brahman to the State, in spite of the injunction of Kauṭilya, may be expressed in the following statement of the Mahābhārata: "It is said that the preservation and growth of the kingdom rests upon the king. The preservation and growth of the king rests upon the king's priest. That kingdom enjoys true felicity where the invisible fears of the subjects are dispelled by the Brahmana and all visible fears are dispelled by the king with the might of his arms".⁴ Thus did Bhishma reconcile the apparently conflicting claims of the Kshatriyas and of the Brahmans for superiority in the Hindu state and society. ### [v2.c19.s1.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.11) ⁴ Śānti Parva, LXXIV, p. 241. ### [v2.c19.s1.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.12) The monarchs of Vijayanagara were not unacquainted with the ancient precepts which required of the rulers the highest respect for the Brahmans. As we said in connection with the Revenue Administration of the country, according to Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya that could not be called expenditure which was used for purposes of buying and feeding elephants and horses maintaining soldiers, and worshipping gods and Brahmans.¹ He has also said: "Realizing that charity is for the protection of the Dvijas and that knowledge is for your own protection, take refuge in Nārāyaṇa."² ### [v2.c19.s1.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.13) ¹ Amuktamālyada, v. 262; J. I, H., IV, p. 73, op. cit. ### [v2.c19.s1.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.14) ² Ibid. v. 278, p. 75. ### [v2.c19.s1.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.15) These theoretical assertions are not so convincing as the testimony of travellers, who could not help noticing the honour which the Vijayanagara kings paid to the Brahmans. Abdur Razzāq says thus: "The Brahmans are held by him (Dēva Rāya) in higher estimation than all other men".³ The Portuguese travellers have more details to give on the subject. Duarte Barbosa writes: "Among them is another class of people whom they call Bramenes, who are priests and rulers of their houses of worship...Among them all these men hold the greatest liberties and privileges and are not liable for death for anything whatsoever which they do. The king, the great Lords and men of rank give them much alms on which they live; also many of them have estates while others live in the houses of worship, as in monasteries, which possess good revenues".⁴ Paes relates that the king of Bisnaga "pays much honour, and he holds them in great favour".⁵ Further he says: "In all the land of the heathen there are these Brahmans; they are men who do not eat anything, that suffers death; they have little stomach for the use of arms".⁶ ### [v2.c19.s1.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.16) ³ Elliot, Hist. of India, IV, p. 105; Major, India, p. 23. ### [v2.c19.s1.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.17) ⁴ Barbosa, Dames, I, p. 217; Stanley, p. 94. ### [v2.c19.s1.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.18) ⁵ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 246. ### [v2.c19.s1.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.19) ⁶ Ibid., p. 280. ### [v2.c19.s1.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.20) This last remark, however, Paes himself will qualify in the other details he has given of the Brahmans. Nuniz, whose description of the priestly class, as we shall see, is the longest, says: "And in this kingdom of Bisnaga there is a class of men, native of the country, namely Brahmans, who the most part of them never kill or eat any live thing, and these are the best that are amongst them".¹ The same chronicler tells us in what manner the Vijayanagara king honoured the Brahman priest. ".... every day he (i.e., the Emperor) hears the preaching of a learned Brahman, who never married nor ever touched a woman. He urges in his preaching (obedience to) the commandments of God, that is to say, that one must not kill any living thing, nor take anything belonging to another, and as with these so with the rest of the commandments".² While repeating the legend of the building of the capital, Nuniz informs us that Harihara, whom he calls "King Deorāo", "...after that hermit (i.e., Vidyāraṇya) was dead the king raised a very grand temple in honour of him and gave much revenue to it".³ ### [v2.c19.s1.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.21) ¹ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 390. ### [v2.c19.s1.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.22) ² Ibid. pp. 390-1. ### [v2.c19.s1.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.23) ³ Ibid., p. 300. This temple was identified by Sewell with the celebrated temple of Virūpāksha, ibid., n. 2. The Portuguese chronicler has some thing more to say about this temple. "And ever since, in his memory, the Kings of Bisnaga, on the day when they are raised to be kings, have, in honour of the hermit, to enter this house before they enter the town....". This makes it difficult for us to identify the temple or shrine referred to by Nuniz: both the Prasanna Virūpāksha temple (Longhurst, Hampi Ruins, p. 92) and the famous Virūpāksha temple, as is well known, are in Vijayanagara proper. B. A. S. ### [v2.c19.s1.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.24) In the history of the provincial rulers, too, it is narrated that they treated the Brahmans with the greatest respect. The Tanjāvurivari Charitra contains the following about Vijaya Rāghava Nāyaka of Tanjore. This great ruler, it is said, used to feed daily 12,000 Brahmans first and partake of his meal afterwards. "In a rainy season he was advised to cease doing so, but he maintained that his own household could not be allowed to eat till the Brahmans were fed; and when an entire want of fuel was stated to exist, he ordered every wooden material about his house to be taken down, or pulled to pieces in order to supply fuel. In three days this supply was exhausted; he then directed all the vestments in the palace to be dipped in oil, and made use of for fuel. At this time", we may be permitted to continue the tale, "a most valuable jewel became missing from the nose of the female idol in the Srirangham fane, and the head Brahman was greatly molested as being suspected of the theft. A Brahman woman became possessed; and, speaking in the name of the said goddess, said that the jewel would be found in one of the pots used by Vijayarāghava for boiling rice; where, accordingly it was found, to the no small joy of the said ruler".¹ ### [v2.c19.s1.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s1.25) ¹ Taylor, Cat. Rais III, pp. 176-7. ### Section 2. Occupation of the Brahmans in Mediaeval Times ### A. Prior to the Rise of Vijayanagara ### [v2.c19.s2.t1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t1.1) The above-mentioned story is, in some measure, an index to the character of the Brahman in Vijayanagara—he was worthy of every praise but he was not free from occasional blame. This was because when the Vijayanagara age had dawned, the importance of the Brahman in Hindu society had already been determined to a large extent by the wisdom and folly of his predecessors. True, the Brahman was in no small measure responsible for the continual rejuvenation of Hindu life in the political world in early ages. The instance of the Hoysala king Viṣṇuvardhaha, whose policy was "radically affected by his conversion from Jainism to the Vaiṣṇava faith through the reformer Rāmānuja",² is a case in point. But there were also instances of Brahmans who had lowered the prestige of the priestly class. We had an occasion of citing the example of a band of Brahmans who had turned brigands in the Pāṇḍyan times. Another instance refers to the twenty-first year of Tribhuvana Chakravarti Kulōttuṅga Chōḷa Dēva, when a gift of land was made to the Śrīpādantāṅgi servants of the temple of Siddharatnēśvara at Uttattūr. This land, the same epigraph narrates, was originally the property of a Brahman who had stolen the jewels of the goddess and was compelled to give up the land as a \*dēvadāna\* to the temple.¹ ### [v2.c19.s2.t1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t1.2) ² Rice, Mysore and Coorg, p. 168; see also p. 169. ### [v2.c19.s2.t1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t1.3) ¹ 490 of 1912; Rangachari, \*Top List.\*, III, Tp. 258, p. 1543. See also 512 of 1912. ### B. Under Vijayanagara ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.1) The general status of the Brahman in Vijayanagara has been thus given by Paes: "These Brahmans are like friars with us, and they count them as holy men—I speak of the Brahman priests and the lettered men of the pagodas—because although the king has many Brahmans, they are officers of the towns and cities and belong to the government of them, others are merchants, and others live by their own property and cultivation, and the fruits which grow in their inherited grounds. Those who have charge of the temples are learned men, and eat nothing which suffers death, neither flesh nor fish, nor anything which makes broth red, for they say that it is blood. Some of the other Brahmans whom I have mentioned, who seek to serve God, and to do penance, and to live a life like that of the priests..."² ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.2) ² Sewell, \*For. Emp.\*, p. 245. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.3) The above description may appear to be a condemnation of the Brahman from the orthodox point of view, since he had taken to a life which was other than that of piety and learning. But it is precisely here that the interest of the Brahmanical question lies—in the rigour with which he clung to the old rules which made him lead a life of devotion and study, and in the laxity with which he apparently transgressed the dictates of the classical theorists, which compelled him to cast his lot with the common people. This will be made clear when we enumerate the different occupations of the Brahmans in Vijayanagara. The presence of the Brahman was indeed felt in diverse fields of activity. As minister of the king, he was responsible to some extent for the success or failure of the State policy; as governor over a large province, he exercised the functions of an administrator; as mediator in love matters, he caused commotion between rival royal families; as master of riches, he added to the increased wealth of the kingdom; and as the champion of the castes below him, he sometimes advocated the cause of social reform. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.4) But it was not so much in the fulfilment of any one of the above duties that he seemed to violate the dignity attached to his own calling as in the manner in which he assumed to himself the privilege and rank of a general. This was not, one admits, an innovation of the Vijayanagara times. So early as A.D. 1128 some Brahmans had already exchanged their hereditary vocation for that of the Kshatriyas. At least so it appears from the instance of the Brahman soldier Ravi Daṇḍanāyaka, the conqueror of the Seven Mālavas, under Tribhuvanamalla Pāṇḍya Dēva in that year.¹ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.5) ¹ 128 of 1913; Rangachari, Top. List. I, By. 183, pp. 281-282. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.6) The Vijayanagara Brahman needed no such justification. From the days of the establishment of the Vijayanagara Empire, the activities of the Brahman generals had been linked with those of others who were responsible for the rejuvenation of Hindu political life. We have seen how the victories of Goppaṇārya, or Gōpaṇa, enabled Kampaṇa Oḍeyar to consolidate the provinces of the south.² Of Mādhava, a descendant of the Brahman Chāuṇḍa, an inscription dated A. D. 1368 narrates that he won fame as a conqueror of "many countries on the shores of the Western Ocean".³ It seems to have been the custom for the rāja-gurus, or royal priests, to accompany the kings on their expeditions. Thus we find Vyāsarāya going to the south along with Sāḷuva Nṛisiṃha.⁴ Even ordinary Brahmans contributed their share to the military annals of the times. A certain Brahman named Āpatsahāya of Tirukkaḍavūr took part in the Raichur campaign conducted by Kṛishṇa Dēva Rāya.⁵ The old tradition of the king to have by his side Brahman generals was maintained under that ruler. The most famous name of a Brahman general during Kṛishṇa Dēva Rāya's times is that of Rayasam Koṇḍamarusayya.¹ In later Vijayanagara history we have Tiruchchirambala Bhaṭṭan, a native of Tiruviḍaimarudūr, who joined Viṭhṭhala's army in Travancore;² and Gōvinda Dikshita, the minister-general of Achyutappa Nāyaka, the Viceroy over the Chōḷa capital.³ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.7) ² Supra Volume I., Ch. I; A. S. R. for 1907-8, p. 240; Ep. Ind., VI, p. 322, seq. Madhurāvijayam, Intr. pp. 26-7. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.8) ³ E. C. VII, Sk. 281, p. 146. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.9) ⁴ Sōmanātha, Vyāsayōgicharitam, Intr., pp. xci-xcv, 40. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.10) ⁵ 47 of 1906; Ep. Report for 1907, p. 85; A. S. R. for 1908-9, p. 182. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.11) ¹ \*Ep. Report\* for 1912, p. 80. There were others of course equally well known—Sāḷuvu Timma, Sāḷuva Gōvindayya, Sāḷuva Vīra Narasimha, Karaṇiga Mangarasayya, and Bācharasayya. See Sarasvaty, \*J. I. H.\*, IV. P. III, p. 85. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.12) ² 140 of 1895; \*Ep. Report\* for 1900, p. 29; Heras, \*Aravidu\*, p. 142. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.13) ³ Tanjāvuri Andhra Rājulu Charitra, \*The Sources\*, pp. 323, 335; Heras, ibid., p. 288. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.14) The validity of the claims of the Brahmans to take upon themselves the duties of the Kshatriyas now deserves to be examined, especially from the standpoint of classical and Vijayanagara theory. Manu says: "Twice born men may take up arms when (they are) hindered (in the fulfilment of) their duties, when destruction (threatens) the twice-born castes (varṇa) in (evil) times, in their own defence, in a strife for the fees of officiating priests, and in order to protect women and Brāhmaṇas; he who (under such circumstances) kills in the cause of right, commits no sin".⁴ According to Nārada: "In times of distress, a Brahman is allowed to gain his substance in the mode prescribed for the caste next to him in rank; or he may gain his substance like a Vaiśya..."⁵ Nārada, however, enjoins this stipulation: "When a Brahman has lived through times of distress, with the wealth acquired by following the occupations of a Kshatriya, he must perform a penance and relinquish the occupations of a Kshatriya. When, however, a Brahman takes delight in those occupations and persists in them, he is declared a Kāṇḍapṛishṭha (professional soldier) and must be expelled from society, because he has swerved from the path of duty".⁶ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.15) ⁴ \*Manu\*, VIII, 348-9, pp. 314-15. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.16) ⁵ \*Nārada\*, I, 4, 56, p. 55. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.17) ⁶ Ibid. I, 4, 59-60, p. 56. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.18) Gautama ordains the following: "On failure of the (occupations lawful for a Brāhmaṇa) he may live by the occupations of a Kshatriya."\[1\] This is, of course, based on the injunctions of Manu. Baudhāyana, while repeating the statements of Gautama and the earlier lawgivers, introduces a detail which is interesting. "Now they quote also (the following verse): 'Out of regard for the sacred law a Brāhmaṇa and a Vaiśya may take up arms (for the protection of) cows or Brāhmaṇas, or when a confusion of the castes (threatens to take place)'".\[2\] ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.19) A knowledge of military science is one of the most essential qualifications of a royal priest, as given in the Śukranīti. In this mediaeval code a royal priest has been thus defined: "One who is versed in mantras and rituals, master of the three sciences, skilful at work, conqueror of the senses, subduer of anger, devoid of greed and passions, equipped with a knowledge of six Aṅgas (Vēdāṅgas,) and of the science of Archery with all its branches, one who knows the science of moral as well as religious interests, one fearing whose anger even the king takes to virtuous ways of life, one who is well up in Nīti Śāstra, and master of military implements and tactics is the Priest."\[3\] In fact, Śukrāchārya does not seem to have reserved the duties and privileges of warriors only to the Kshatriyas.\[4\] ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.20) The occasions when the Brahmans could exchange duties legitimate to their order for those of the Kshatriyas, may be summarized as follows: ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.21) (a) When their own lawful occupations could no longer be continued; ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.22) (b) When there was a danger of an admixture of castes; and ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.23) (c) When there was need for protecting women and cows. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.24) In other words, when the people were confronted with a danger which threatened to undermine their life,—political and social, religious and economic,—the Brahmans could legally eschew the cause of the scriptures for that of the sword. The Vijayanagara age was precisely such an epoch; and no one recognized the need of entrusting the Brahmans with the responsibilities of a warrior so much as the Emperor Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya who, in his \*Amuktamālyada\*, writes thus: "Because a Brahman would stand to his post even in times of danger and would continue in service though reduced to becoming a subordinate to a Kshatriya or a Śūdra, it is always advisable for a king to make Brahmans as his officers".¹ He further says: "Entrust your fortresses to such Brahmans (Generals) as you are best acquainted with. Do not keep them weak, but give them such strong forces that they can be devoid of fear from their enemies".² Then again: "That king can lay his hand on his breast and sleep peacefully who appoints as masters of his fortresses such Brahmans as are attached to himself, are learned in many sciences and arts, are addicted to \*Dharma\*, are heroic and have been in his service since before his time, who make arrangements for storing in those fortresses tiger's cheese (?Tel. \*Pulijunnu\*) and other articles to last for a generation, who gives to the subordinate chiefs (\*Sāmanta\*) lands and other things without lessening in the slightest degree the arrangement with them, who increases his treasures by multiplying his income and lessening expenditure, and by seeing that the people are without trouble, who keeps watch on the territory of weakened enemies by his spies and capturing them suddenly like the crane which catches fish, who sees that neither he nor his subjects suffer and who gives trouble only to his enemies."³ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.25) ¹ Gautama, VII, 6, p. 212. Cf. Vasiṣṭha, II, 22, p. 12. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.26) ² Baudhāyana, II, 18, p. 236. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.27) ³ Śukranīti, II., ll. 156-60, p. 69. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.28) ⁴ Sarkar, Pos. Back., Bk. II, P. I, pp. 94-5. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.29) ¹ \*Amuktamālyada\*, v. 217; \*J. I. H.\*, IV, p. 66. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.30) ² \*Ibid.\*, v. 207; \*ibid.\*, p. 65. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.31) ³ \*Ibid.\*, v. 261; \*ibid.\*, pp. 72-3. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.32) Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya was to a certain extent justified in bestowing praise on Brahmans who had proved their worth as governors and generals. Since the times of Harihara II, it had been the custom to entrust administrative work to qualified Brahmans. Thus Mādhava Rāya, the Brahman-general already referred to in a previous page, was temporarily entrusted with the government of the town (and district) of Jayanti. It was during this time that he conquered Gōva (mod. Goa) in Śaka 1313 (A. D. 1391-2).¹ Another famous Brahman-governor was Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar, who was the Viceroy over Āraga in A. D. 1403. He was the son of Bommaṇa, who was the son of the well known minister Saṅkapa of the Bharadvāja-gōtra. His praise is thus sung in an inscription of the same date: "And, at the time when, by that Mahārāya's order, the Brahma-Kshatri, a son of Hēmādri, an initiating priest for all gifts, a son to the lotus the line of Saṅkapa and Rāyapa, son of a chief Brahman minister, proficient in learning, a royal swan in the lotus pond of the learned, a moon to the chakōras poets, remover of the poverty of his servants, a flamingo at the lotus feet of Kriyāśakti-guru muniśvara, devoted to the worship of Triyambaka, the son of Virupāmbikā".² Then again, in another inscription of the same year, we have the following eulogy of Viṭhṭhaṇṇa, both as a learned man and as an administrator: "...the chief minister Viṭhṭhala, ever beloved, versed in the sciences and arts,...Some yōgis took him for Kṛishṇa; certain learned men, for Rāmachandra; some truthful ones, for Yudhishṭhira; the performers of rites, for Svāyambhuva; supplicants thought him the tree of plenty; enemies, a consuming sun; his subjects, as their father (tāta):—such a mine of good qualities was Viṭhṭhalādhīśvara...The hēmādri gift did Viṭhṭhala-mantri but once make, and forthwith there was a hēmādri gift from house to house of all the Brahmans....An abode of all learning and fortune, appointed by his king to the government of the Āraga-dēśa, he was protecting with unfailing greatness all merit, fame and progress".³ An epigraph dated A. D. 1405 calls him "a diksha-guru in regard to all the gifts mentioned in the Hēmādri".⁴ Annamārādhya alias Kompalli was a Brahman appointed as governor of the city-gates in A. D. 1429-1430. It is said of him that he "has studied four vēdas and understood them by the Śaiva scriptures; he is the Lord of the northern gate at Śrīśaila and is renowned on earth".¹ No account of Brahman-governors may be thought adequate without mention being made of Sāḷuva Timma, and of his nephew Nādenḍla Gōpa-mantri, both of whom were governors of Koṇḍavīḍu.² The following incident of A.D. 1614 described by Floris deals with the Brahman governor of Musulipatam. "In the meanwhile, Wencatadra (the son of the governor) remayned aboard without eating or drinking. For he being a Bramene, may neither eate nor drinke in any mans house but what he hath dressed himselfe; which made mee so to pittie him, that I offered if any two Moores of qualitie would come aboard in his place, I would let him go on shoare".³ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.33) ¹ Jacob, J. Bom. B. R. A. S, IV, pp. 107-8, 115; Weber, I. A., VI, p. 162, n; A. S. R. for 1907-8, p. 238, n. (2). ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.34) ² E. C., VI, Kp. 52, pp. 86-7, op. cit. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.35) ³ Ibid., Kp. 53, p. 87. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.36) ⁴ E. C., VIII, Tl. 12; p. 165. On Hēmādri, see Weber, I. A., VI, p. 161, n. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.37) ¹ Butterworth-Chetty, \*Nellore, Ins.\*, I, p. 16, ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.38) ² Sewell. \*For. Emp.\*, p. 131; \*Lists.\*, II, p. 188. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.39) ³ Floris, \*Purchas, Pilgrims\*, III, pp. 340-1. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.40) From the remarks of Paes it appears that Brahmans had to some extent become agriculturists. He writes thus: "The other temples aforesaid are made in the same manner, but this one is the principal one and the oldest; they all have many buildings and gardens with many trees, in which the Brahmans cultivate their vegetables and the other herbs that they eat".⁴ Obviously this refers to the cultivation of vegetables for the daily consumption in their homes, although there is nothing strange in Brahmans taking to a life of agriculture in view of the freedom given to them by the early and mediaeval canonists.⁵ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.41) ⁴ Sewell, \*For. Emp.\*, p. 262. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.42) ⁵ \*Manu\*, X, 81-3, 85, pp. 420, 421; \*Gautama\*, VII, 5, 24, X, 5-6, pp. 212-3, 228; \*Vaśiṣṭha\*, II, 24-6, p. 12, III, 1-3, pp. 16-17; \*Baudhāyana\* II, 2, 4, 19-21, p. 232; \*Śukranīti\*, IV, iii, ll. 37-9, p. 151. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.43) For what vile purposes an outwardly pious Brahman could use his learning and entangle princes in the meshes of war is related by Firishtah who gives us the description of the Mudkal beauty and the war which Dēva Rāya I waged far her sake. "It happened that in the town of Moodkul lived a goldsmith, who had a daughter named Nehal of such exquisite beauty, that nature seemed to have exerted all her art to render her perfect. Agreeably to the custom of Hindoostan, her parents wished to betroth her in childhood to a youth of her own caste; but she requested that the ceremony might be delayed, with such earnestness, that it was put off. Sometime after, an old brahmin, who had been on a pilgrimage to Benares, stopping on his return at her father's house, was struck with the beauty of his daughter, adopted her as his child, and resolved to render her skilful in music and dancing, of which he was a perfect master. The brahmin continued nearly eighteen months with her family: at the end of which period, finding her fully accomplished, he took his leave, with a promise shortly to return, with proposals calculated for the honour of his pupil, and the advantage of her family. The brahmin, who had from the first designed to exalt his adopted daughter to the station of a princess, proceeded to Beejanuggur; and being introduced to the Ray, spoke in such praise of the maid that he resolved to possess her, and entreated the brahmin to solicit her in marriage. The request had been anticipated by the brahmin, and he accordingly agreed to assist him in the attainment of his wishes; on which, the Ray despatched him with rich gifts to the parents and offered to bestow the title of Rany, or Princess, on their beautiful daughter. The brahmin lost no time in his journey; and on his arrival at the goldsmith's house delivered to him and his wife the Ray's orders that they should repair with their child to Beejanuggur. They were overjoyed at such unexpected good fortune; and calling the maid, laid before her the rich gifts of the Ray, congratulated her on being so soon to be united to a great prince, and attempted to throw upon her neck a golden necklace set with jewels as the token of betrothal, and which, if done, the engagement could not have been broken off. The daughter, to the astonishment of her parents, refused to receive the necklace; observing, that whoever entered the harem of Beejanuggur was never afterwards permitted to see even her nearest relatives, and though they might be willing to sacrifice her for the wealth of the court, yet she was too fond of her parents to submit to an eternal separation from them, even for the splendour of the palace of Beejanuggur. This affectionate declaration, accompanied with tears, reconciled her parents to their disappointed hopes, who rather than use force, dismissed the brahmin with all his gifts,—and he returned to Beejanuggur without success.”¹ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.44) ¹ Firishtah, Briggs, \*The Rise\* I, pp. 380-1. The next sentence which follows is this: “The maiden, subsequently, revealed to her parents, that she had long had an inward conviction that she should one day become the wife of a prince of the faith of Islam, and recommended them to await patiently the will of providence”. This subsequent revelation in favour of a Muhammadan Prince, makes one suspect that there is an element of improbability in the nice story told by Firishtah. B. A. S. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.45) In political matters, too, the Brahmans could turn out into deceitful diplomats. An example of a wicked Brahman-diplomat of this type is that of Rāmayya Bhāskaruḍu, a subordinate of Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya. It was he who managed to have all the seventy-two nobles, the subordinates of the Reḍḍi kings, beheaded in the temple of Gōpinātha at Koṇḍavīḍu. The local chronicles contain the following details in connection with this dastardly incident. The Brahman was furnished with money, and directed to restore the magnificent temple of Gōpinātha Svāmi at the foot of Koṇḍavīḍu. A new image was to be consecrated and set up, and for the celebration of these rites, the presiding priest invited the seventy-two chiefs to descend from their hill fortress. “They came—the three score and twelve—and were all seated in the great hall. From thence one by one the officiating priest led them to the inner shrine to view the new representation of deity, and to bow before the image that the great Krishna Dēva Rāyalu had set up. As they stepped into the \*antaralikam\* or inner hall, and bowed at the threshold, two ruffians, who were concealed in the chamber, stepped forward, and before the victim had time to raise a cry, precipitated him into a deep well whose mouth it was impossible to discover amid the surrounding gloom. One by one each Reḍḍi Chieftain approached the shrine, and all shared one common fate, one common grave, and then all was easy for Krishna Dēva Rāyalu to seize the fort”.¹ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.46) ¹ Boswell, I. A., I, p. 183; Sewell, Lists, II, p. 188; Ep. Report for 1915, p. 112. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.47) The Brahmans, however, could divert their influence in more profitable channels. They could, for example, elevate the classes which were socially on a lower scale, and thus bring about social reform. One such instance is that of the Brahmans who invested 500 oil-mongers with the sacred thread. It is poet Diṇḍima—who was one of the mahājanas of Mulluṇḍrum alias Prauḍha-dēvarāyapuram, and probably a contemporary of Prauḍha Dēva Rāya,—who gives us these details. Although more particulars are not forthcoming, yet the fact that the oil-mongers still feel grateful to the Brahman family by accepting one of its members as their guru,² indicates to us that, at least in this one instance, the Brahmans have left behind them evidence of the service they rendered to the cause of society. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.48) ² Ep. Report for 1912, p. 90. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.49) The generosity of the Vijayanagara monarchs enabled the Brahmans to amass great wealth. It was a policy of the rulers to endow them with large grants of land and money; and this seems to have culminated in the institution of a sort of a State fund called anandanidhi, for their sake, by Achyuta Rāya.³ The liberality of his illustrious predecessor was equally responsible for the wealthy position of the priestly class. Their riches may have partly caused the anti-Brahman feeling which was especially noticeable in the writings of the poets of the later ages. There is reason to believe that even the State, as typified by Rāma Rāja, was inclined to be rather unfriendly towards the members of the sacerdotal class, who had received the largest share of royal bounty in the days of Krishna Dēva Rāya and Achyuta Rāya. Even Krishna Dēva Rāya himself did not fail to observe the fallen condition of the Brahmans in his times. In his well known work, he says: “Why only kings ! even the Brahmans of this age do not possess the power of the Brahmans of those ages. A Brahman (Agastya) was able to drink away the water of the sea. Another sage (Viśvāmitra) was able to engage in creation as opposed to the creation (of Brahma). Another was able to avert the Brahmāstra by his staff (Brahmadaṇḍa). Is it proper that Brahmans of this age should give up acting up to their best ability because they do not have such powers? Have they ceased to command respect and worship from others in spite of their lessened powers?"¹ Then again he says, while dealing with persons who were qualified for government service: "Do not appoint a Brahman who swerves from the right conduct and who is bred in a Pakkaṇa (a Śabara suburb). Don't you know the story of how a Brahman once destroyed a crane which had saved his life, for a single day's meal?"² ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.50) ³ Ep. Report for 1923, p. 119. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.51) ¹ Amuktamālyada, v. 285; J. I. H., IV, p. 77. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.52) ² Ibid., v. 210; ibid., p. 65. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.53) To foreigners like Nuniz, the Brahmans sometimes appeared intolerable because of their wealth. That Portuguese chronicler narrates thus: "The King always gives large sums in charity; in the palace there are always two or three thousand Brahmans who are his priests, and to whom the King commands to give alms. These Brahman priests are very despicable men; they always have much money, and are so insolent that even by using blows the guards of the door cannot hold them in check."³ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.54) ³ Sewell, For. Emp., pp. 379-80. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.55) Rāma Rāja seems to have been thoroughly anti-Brahman as may be inferred from the following statement in the Mahisūra Narapati Vijaya: ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.56) जामाताभूनमहिपालः रामराय इति स्मृतः । स कामवशमापन्नः नित्यं द्यूते च निष्ठितः ॥ ब्राह्मणानां गुरुणां च नित्यं अप्रियमातनोत् ॥⁴ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.57) ⁴ My. Arch. Report for 1907, para. 53, cited by Venkoba Rao, Vyāsayōgicharita, Intr., p. clxvi. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.58) Perhaps it was this which Nuniz wanted to convey when he referred to Rāma Rāja in the following words: "...for he (Achyuta Rāya) has never done anything except those things that are desired by his two brothers-in-law, who are men very evilly disposed and great Jews".¹ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.59) ¹ Sewell, For. Emp., pp. 367, 369. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.60) From the ending of certain epigraphs it appears that some Brahmans forsook their rules to receive gifts, and were, therefore, not held in high esteem by the people. The inscription which gives us this information is dated A.D. 1395, and it ends thus: "The Brahman who forsakes the rules for receiving gifts becomes a monkey; and the giver becomes a foul-scented jackal in the burning ground".² If receiving gifts (\*pratigraha-vidhi-tyāgi viprō bhavatu markkataḥ\*) refers to begging, then, evidently the people were justified in condemning such a Brahman, for it was a violation of one of the rules laid down in the code of Manu: "One must not consider as a guest a Brāhmaṇ who dwells in the same village, nor one who seeks his livelihood by social intercourse, even though he has come to a house where (there is) wife, and where sacred fires are kept. Those foolish householders, who constantly seek (to live on) the food of others, become, in consequence of that (baseness) after death the cattle of those who gave them food".³ Vaśiṣṭha clearly says: "The king shall punish that village where Brāhmaṇas, unobservant of their sacred duties and ignorant of the Veda, subsist by begging; for it feeds robbers".⁴ ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.61](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.61) ² E. C., VIII, Sb. 382, p. 68, text, p. 179. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.62) ³ Manu, III, 103-4, p. 94. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.63) ⁴ Vaśiṣṭha, III, 4, p. 17. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.64) Some Brahmans, as we shall see, seem to have refused the consecrated food (\*tīrtha-prasāda\*) of gods. Such of them who were found guilty of this offence were declared Cāṇḍālas or outcastes. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.65](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.65) It is not surprising, therefore, that a strong feeling against the Brahmans should have been felt in the land, as is evident not only from the shrewd hints which even foreign travellers were compelled to make but also from the tirades which the poets, as preachers of morality, levelled against the members of the Brahman community.¹ This anti-Brahman feeling gathered strength with the decline of Vijayanagara as a potent factor in the history of the country; and poets and writers, like Vēmana and Dhūrjaṭi, voiced the sentiments of the people in the following words: "His forehead (i.e., of a Brahman with the caste-marks) is that of a worshipper; his mouth, that of a wolf; and his heart that of a roaming demon: is he so shameless as to say he has learnt of the divinity? If a man still has in his heart the principles of a pariar, and yet scorns pariars, how should he become twice-born, while devoid of every good quality? There is no sin greater than that of falsehood : this is an abomination perpetually in the mouth : what vagabonds are several who call themselves twice-born? The lords of the earth (i.e., Brahmans) say, 'we are pure; we are learned in the scriptures', they scorn all who are in their natural state. Truly the poorest palmer is better than such boasters!"² Then again : ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.66](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.66) ¹ For the anti-Brahman feeling in the south, read Barnett, \*Heart of India\*, pp. 93, seq. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.67](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.67) ² Vēmana, \*Verses\*, Bk. III., vv. 163-6, p. 135 (Brown). In the original they run thus: ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.68](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.68) పోసలు భక్తుడయ్య నోరు కోడెయ్యు, మనసు భూకాము వలె మలయగాను, 'శివుని గని యె'న్న పిట్టెటుగాకో | మాదిగ చెయువులను మనసు లో చెట్టుక, మాదిగలను దెగడు మాడ్కి నెపుడు మంచిగుణము లేక మరిద్విజాడెట్లగు? కల్లలాడు కంటె కష్టంబు మరిలేదు, కష్ట మెపుడు నోలిగలియుండు. ద్విజుడననుట చూడదిమ్మరితనమితపది. విప్రపరులు నుచు, వేదంబుజదువుము, ప్రాకృతులను జూచి పరిహసింము, ధరణి సురలకన్న దాసరి మకమెయ్యు. ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.69](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.69) "To give up food and apparel, and lie about in the porches of temples, is the fate written for \*their sins\* in the foreheads of monks: what would they be worse for familiarity with women?"¹ "After going through all his studies, and attaining consummate wisdom, after making nothing of divinity, the \*moment he sees a fair woman he forgets all his sanctity\*."² ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.70](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.70) ¹ Vēmana, \*Verses\*, Bk. III, v. 260, p. 155 (Brown). కూడుచీర బాసి గుళ్లపందలబడు నట్లువ్రాసె బ్రహ్మయరులనుదుట, తోయజాక్షిశర కోపంబు లంటునా? ### [v2.c19.s2.t2.71](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s2.t2.71) ² Ibid., v. 270, p. 157. చదువులెల్ల జదివి, సర్వజ్ఞుడైయుండి, బ్రహ్మవిద్యలెల్ల పడట గలిపి, యిరుక యోని జూచి, పరమ యోగముమాను. See also, vv. 191-2, p. 141. The date of Vēmana is a debatable point. C. P. Brown places him "about the beginning of the seventeenth century of our era". \*Verses of Vēmana\*, Preface, p. 111 (1829). Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao remark: "It is probable that he lived in the beginning of the fifteenth century." \*A History of Telugu Literature\*, p. 99. (Heritage of India Series). Vēmana's description may be compared with that given by Lakshmipati Dhūrjaṭi, \*Hamsa-vimśati Kathegalu\*, p. 18 (Trans. into Kanarese by Krishnayya, Bangalore, 1871). ### Section 4. The Agrahāra ### [v2.c19.s3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.1) We may now look at the other side of the picture which presents the life of the Brahman amidst the orthodox surroundings of the \*agrahāra\*.³ The traditions which the Brahmans of Vijayanagara received from those of the earlier times were of learning and piety. Their duties and vocation, as is well known, were already fixed for them by the early canonists.⁴ The Brahmans of Karṇāṭaka seem to have lived, on the whole, a life which was in conformity with classical precepts.⁵ An inscription dated about A.D. 1142 sings the praise of the Brahmans of the Hariharapura \*agrahāra\*, also called Kellaṅgere, thus: "Possessed of the usual ascetic virtues (\*yama-niyama svādhyāya-dhyāna-dhāraṇa-maunānuṣṭhāna-japa-samādhi-śila-guṇa-sampannarum\*), devoted to the \*ṣaṭ-karma\* (\*yajana-yājana-adhyāyana-adhyāpana-dāna-pratigraha-ṣaṭ-karma-niyatarum\*), versed in the Rig, Yajus, Sāma and Atharvaṇa and their \*ṣaḍ-aṅgas\*, suns in dispersing the darkness the poverty of the company of panegyrists, restrained by \*muñji\*, \*yajña\* and \*upavīta\*, wearing golden earrings, having at their feet the foreheads of the three (castes of) Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras, of original ability, lights of the Bali-vaṁśa, oceans (of mercy) to those who come for refuge, were the Brahmans of Kellaṅgere......"¹ ### [v2.c19.s3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.2) ³ For the corporate life of the Brahmans, see Majumdar, \*Corp. Life\*, p. 337, seq. ### [v2.c19.s3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.3) ⁴ \*Manu\*, X, 75, p. 419; \*Gautama\*, VIII, 4-11, 14-24, pp. 215-18; \*Vaśiṣṭha\*, VI, 23, p. 38. ### [v2.c19.s3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.4) ⁵ For a detailed description of the chief duties of \*mahājanas\*, see Majumdar, \*ibid\*, p. 334. ### [v2.c19.s3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.5) ¹ E.C. V, P. I., Ak. 110, p. 160, P. II, text, p. 486. ### [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 ### [v2.c19.s3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.7) ² Ibid., Ak. 114, p. 162. ### [v2.c19.s3.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.8) ¹ E.C., V, P. I, Ak. 82, p. 144. ### [v2.c19.s3.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.9) One characteristic feature of the Brahmans was their corporate life. We infer this not only from the fact that they held their offices in the agrahāras by monthly rotation but also from the grants which they jointly made for social and religious purposes. The tradition of living a corporate existence seems to have been handed down from very early times.² Thus the thousand Brahmans of Maddūr, for example, made a grant of twelve kaṇḍugas of wet land in Oragāla in A.D. 982 for the temple which Polayya had caused to be erected.³ This Maddūr is evidently the same Maddūr the Brahmans of which in A.D. 1327 made a grant, the details of which are missing, to five persons (named), during the month's headship of the Tantra-mantra-chintāmaṇi, the Śravaṇappāchārya Vijñēśvara Dikshitōpādhyāya.⁴ The term used for the "month's headship", which is missing in this inscription, of the learned Brahman of Maddūr (which was also called by the name the all-honoured great agrahāra Upēndrapura), is supplied by another inscription, relating to the same place, dated in the next year (A.D. 1328). This epigraph relates that all the Brahmans of the all-honoured great agrahāra Upēndrapura, during the month's headship (māsa-veggaḍelanadalu) of Aśama Dēva, (his descent given), made a grant to six persons (named), for the purpose of building Upēndrapaṭṭaṇa anew in the dry fields of Chiraduvu.⁵ In A.D. 1336 all the Brahmans of the same agrahāra, during the month's headship of Karaṭṭi of Udugundūr, gave a stone charter to Mambōja, son of the copper-smith Pemmōja, assigning to him certain specified lands for "having by the practice of his calling pleased the Brahmans."¹ If this was the case in A.D. 1336, we may not be far wrong in assuming that the custom of holding office by monthly rotation, at least so far as Upēndrapura \*alias\* Maddūr was concerned, must also have been in vogue in Vijayanagara times. ### [v2.c19.s3.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.10) ² Majumdar, Corp. Life, p. 339. ### [v2.c19.s3.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.11) ³ E.C., IV, Yl. 41, p. 31. ### [v2.c19.s3.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.12) ⁴ Ibid., Yl. 40, p. 31. ### [v2.c19.s3.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.13) ⁵ Ibid, 39, p. 31. ### [v2.c19.s3.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.14) ¹ E. C., IV, Yl. 38, p. 30. ### [v2.c19.s3.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.15) In this connection it is interesting to observe a special feature of the \*agrahāras\* under the Vijayanagara kings. In spite of the freedom given to the Brahmans in certain matters, it appears that the State imposed its own officials over the \*agrahāras\*. This is proved by an inscription dated A.D. 1532 which narrates that, at the time of setting up the god Yōga-Narasimha in the Durggāgrahāra, Rāmayya, son of Hāra-Mallayya, of Pidave in the Ādavāni country, the seal-bearer of Mallarasa-ayya, the head minister of Śiṅgapa Nāyaka, held the \*pārupatya\* of Durggāgrahāra, caused the sacred pond to be excavated and restored.² ### [v2.c19.s3.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.16) ² Ibid., Yl. 45, pp. 31-2. ### [v2.c19.s3.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.17) It was not only the Brahmans of Karṇāṭaka who could lay pretensions to learning and piety. The Kāśmīr Brahmans too were famous for their wisdom. Thus are these latter described in an inscription dated A.D. 1368. "......like incarnations of Vidyēśvara, pre-eminent by their virtues and the country of their birth, travellers to the farthest point of the \*charaṇanīya-aticharaṇāmnāya\*, daily observers of all the rites appointed in the pure Śivāmnāya, ever devoted to the worship of the Aṣṭhamūrti, Kāśmīr Brahmans."³ ### [v2.c19.s3.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.18) ³ E.C., VII, Sk. 281, p. 147. ### [v2.c19.s3.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.19) About the \*agrahāras\* we have some charming notices in contemporary Indian literature, while about the Brahmans themselves, a great deal can be gathered from the accounts of foreign travellers. The \*Varadāmbikā Pariṇaya\*, written by the talented poetess Tirumalāmbā, thus describes the \*agrahāras\* of Tuṇḍīra-maṇḍala: ### [v2.c19.s3.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.20) वेदवेदान्तविद्याप्रत्युद्वातशेमुषीपथैः दैत्यारिस्तुतिप्रस्तावविस्तारित- हृद्यानवद्यार्थविद्योतमानः गद्यपद्यैः विवारचित सकल अतिथिसत्कारावितथी- कृततिथिः सौजन्यसीमावधिभिः अनितरतत्त्वज्ञानोपज्ञप्रज्ञैः निगमगम- निदर्शनायितनिर्मलनिजकर्मभिः द्विजमणिभिः अलंकृतमहाप्रहारान्... तुण्डीरानतीत्य ¹ ### [v2.c19.s3.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.21) ¹ Varadāmbikā Pariṇaya, quoted by Venkoba Rao, Vyāsayōgi-charitam Intr., p. lvii. ### [v2.c19.s3.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.22) To the above we may add Sōmanātha's description of the great agrahāra of Mūḷbāgal, where lived the learned Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa Yōgi, otherwise known as Śrīpāda-rāja : ### [v2.c19.s3.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.23) तत्र सततविहिताधिवासं सनकमिव महर्षिभिः ब्रह्मवादिभिः अन्तेवासिभिः उपास्यमानं प्रतिबिवुधविटपिपाटनक्रीडनकठोरकुठारधारायमाण- वाग्गुम्भं हरिदंतरविसर्पियशःकाशवनप्रवर्तितशाश्वतशरत्समयावतारं निक्षेप- भाजनमिव मध्यमुनिरहस्यस्य... ### [v2.c19.s3.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.24) Sōmanātha tells us in the same connection why Vyāsarāya preferred to remain at Mūḷbāgal : ### [v2.c19.s3.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.25) स च प्रशस्ततया देशस्य पवित्रतया महातीर्थानां भूयिष्ठतया महत्संघस्य वत्सलतया विद्यागुरोः प्रशान्ततया मनसश्च समग्रसन्निधान- वैभवस्य भगवतो नृसिंहस्य काङ्क्षमाणः करुणां भूयसीं शरत्समय इव प्रसन्नसलिलाशयः समर इव आरब्धवीरासनो रय इव विधुताक्षमालो वनोदेश इव प्रविक्स्वरजपो धिषण इव नियमितमरुद्रणः तरुरिव दरदरीदृश्यमानेनत्रभागः निवृष्टबलाहक इव अचञ्चलस्तपस्तपन्महनीयं तत्रैव चिरमवसन् । ² ### [v2.c19.s3.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.26) ² Sōmanātha, Vyāsayōgicharitam, pp. 39-40. On page 41 he describes a bath in a tank in the woods. ### [v2.c19.s3.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.27) These details one looks for in vain in the accounts of foreigners, who were struck as much by the versatility as by the voracity of the Brahmans. There is a touch of admiration not unmixed with contempt in the remark of ‘Abdur Razzāq who couples “the wise Brahmans and the demon-like elephants” in a verse describing the great Mahānavami festival.³ ### [v2.c19.s3.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.28) ³ Elliot, Hist. of India, IV, p. 117 ### [v2.c19.s3.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.29) Barbosa has more to say about the Brahmans than the Persian Ambassador. "Among them is another class of people whom they call Bramenes, who are priests and rulers of their houses of worship. These eat nothing subject to death, they marry only one wife, and if she dies, do not marry again (and their sons inherit all their goods). As a mark of their dignity they wear over their shoulders three linen threads. Among them all these men hold the greatest liberties and privileges and are not liable to death for anything whatsoever which they do. The king, the great Lords and men of rank give them much alms on which they live; also many of them have estates while others live in the houses of worship, as in monasteries, which possess good revenues. Some are great eaters and never work except to feed well; they will start at once on a 'six days journey' \[twenty or twenty-four miles, \*Ramusio\*; eight leagues, Spanish\] only to get a good bellyfull. Their (food is?) honey and butter, rice, sugar, 'stews of' pulse and milk ".¹ ### [v2.c19.s3.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.30) ¹ \*Barbosa\*, Dames, I, p. 217. Barbosa describes in almost identical terms the Brahmans of Gujerat. \*Ibid.\*, I, pp. 114-17; Stanley, p. 94. Cf. the account of the Brahmans as given by William Metthwold who describes Golkonda and its inhabitants. "The Gentiles in the fundamentall points of their little religion doe hold the same principles which their learned clergie, the Bramenes (brāhmans), have from great antiquitie, and doe yet maintayne, but with an implicit faith, not able to give an account of it, nor any of their customes, onely that it was the custome of their ancestors". Metthwold, \*Relations of Golconda\*, p. 13. ### [v2.c19.s3.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19.s3.31) We shall see in the next chapter what Paes has to say about the Brahman women; meanwhile we may pass on to the accounts of Nuniz. "And in this kingdom of Bisnaga there is a class of men, natives of the country, namely Brahmans, who the most part of them never kill or eat any live thing, and these are the best that there are amongst them. They are honest men, given to merchandise, very acute and of much talent, very good at accounts, lean men and well-formed, but little fit for hard work. By these and by the duties they undertake the kingdom is carried on. They believe that there are Three Persons and only One God, and they call the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity \*Tricebemca\* "1. Then again he says: "These people have such devotion to cows that they kiss them everyday, some they say even on the rump—a thing I do not assert for their honour—and with the droppings of these cows they absolve themselves from their sins as if with holy water. They have for a commandment to confess their sins to the Brahman priests, but they do not do it, except only those who are very religious...They give in excuse that they feel a shame to confess themselves to another man, and say that it is sufficient to confess themselves alone after approching God, for he who does not do so does not acquire grace; thus they fulfil the command in one way or another. But they do it so seldom (in reality) that they (may be said to) neglect this command to confess".² These details given by Nuniz about confession among Brahmans are rather strange: the chronicler evidently belongs to the earlier school of Portuguese writers who shared the belief that "the Hindus were Christians of a sort".³ _First 130 of 151 passages. [Read on](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19)_ ## Linked texts (17) - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.9.313) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Vasiṣṭhadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.vasistha.2.22) — Vasiṣṭha, Sanskrit - [Gautamadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.gautama.7.6) — Gautama (dharmasūtrakāra), Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.71) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya.6.1) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Baudhāyanadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.baudhayana.2.2) — Baudhāyana, Sanskrit - [Āpastambadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.apastamba.2.7.16) — Āpastamba, Sanskrit - [Tārīkh-i Firishta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta) — Muḥammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh Firishta 1606, Persian - [Vaiṣṇava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.visnu) — Viṣṇu, Sanskrit - [Haṃsaviṃśati](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.telugu.uttaraprabandha.hamsavimsati) — Telugu - [Āmuktamālyada](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.telugu.prabandha.amuktamalyada) — Kṛṣṇadevarāya 1515, Telugu - [Nāradasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.narada) — Nārada, Sanskrit - [Harṣacarita](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.historical.harsacarita) — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit - [Epigraphia Indica](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.corpora.ei) - [Epigraphia Carnatica](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.corpora.ec) - [Prasanna Virupaksha Temple](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.monument.prasanna-virupaksha-temple) - [Madhurāvijaya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.historical.daksinatya.madhuravijaya) — Gaṅgādevī, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.saletore-1934.v2.c19) · Pramāṇa