Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c20.s3: Section 3. Women in Vijayanagara
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c20.s3
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Section 3. Women in Vijayanagara
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From the above sketch it is clear that women, especially in southern India, had practically transgressed the limits which the lawgivers had imposed on them as regards activities not pertaining to domestic life. Their traditions were maintained in Vijayanagara times. One of the functions to which women were accustomed was service in the royal palace. According to Barbosa: "... and they do all the work inside the gates, and hold all the duties of the household. They are all gathered inside the palaces, where they have in plenty all that they require, and have many good lodgings."⁴ It is these whom Paes evidently refers to in the following words : "The rest remains for him, over and above these expenses and of the expenses in the houses of his wives, of whom I have already told you that he keeps near him twelve thousand women...."¹
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⁴ Barbosa, Dames, I, p. 208; Stanley, p. 88; Sewell, For. Emp., p. 129.
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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 282.
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This number 12,000 is given by Paes on two other occasions. "Within, with these maidens, they say that there are twelve thousand women; for you must know that there are women who handle sword and shield, and others who wrestle, and others who blow trumpets, and others pipes, and other instruments which are different from ours; and in the same way they have women as bearers (boois) and washing-folk, and for other offices inside their gates, just as the king has the officers of his household."²
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² Ibid., pp. 248-9, 264.
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Paes has some more interesting details to give in connection with women. "After all this is over you will see issuing from inside twenty-five or thirty female doorkeepers, with canes in their hands and whips on their shoulders; and then close to these come many eunuchs, and after these eunuchs come many women playing trumpets and drums and pipes (but not like ours) and viols, and many other kinds of music, and behind these women will come some twenty women-porters, with canes in their hands all covered with silver, and close to them come women clothed in the following manner.... They carry in their hands vessels of gold each as large as a small cask of water; inside there are some loops made of pearls fastened with wax, and inside all this a lighted lamp. They come in regular order one before the other, in all perhaps sixty women fair and young, from sixteen to twenty years of age... These women are maids of honour to the queens, and so are the others that go with them..."³
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³ Ibid., pp. 273-4.
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Nuniz confirms Paes as regards many details but about the number of women entertained in the palace neither of these travellers agree, nor is Nuniz consistent with his own statements. Nuniz relates the following: "In his palace within the gates he is served by women and eunuchs and servants numbering fully five or six hundred; and these wives of the King all have their own officials for their service, each for herself, just as the King has within the gates, but these are all women. .... these porters do not go further inside than through four or five doors, because inside of these are none but eunuchs and women".¹ As regards women serving the king, Nuniz says : "Thus they deliver it (i.e. the water enclosed and sealed in vessels for the king's use) to the women who wait on him, and they take it inside to the other women, the King's wives".² The description of the maids of honour given by Paes is confirmed by Nuniz who writes thus: "...and with these women (i.e., the queens) come all the female servants and the other wives of the King, with canes in their hands tipped with gold and with torches burning; and these then retire inside with the King".³
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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 371.
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² *Ibid.*, pp. 375-6.
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³ *Ibid.*, p. 378.
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The number which Nuniz has given above does not agree with that which he has given on another occasion where he describes in detail the various positions held by women. "This King has also within his gates more than four thousand women, all of whom live in the palace; some are dancing-girls, and others are bearers who carry the King's wives on their shoulders, and the King also in the interior of the palace, for the king's houses are large and there are great intervals between one house and another. He has also women who wrestle, and others are astrologers and soothsayers; and he has women who write all the accounts of expenses that are incurred inside the gates, and others whose duty it is to write all the affairs of the kingdom and compare their books with those of the writers outside; he has women also for music, who play instruments and sing. Even the wives of the King are well versed in music.
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"The King has other women besides. He has ten cooks for his personal service, and has others kept for times when he gives banquets; and these ten prepare the food for no one save for the King alone. He has a eunuch for guard at the gate of the kitchen, who never allows any one to enter for fear of poison. When the King wishes to eat, every person withdraws, and then come some of the women whose duty it is and they prepare the table for him; they place for him a three-footed stool, round, made of gold, and on it put the messes. These are brought in large vessels of gold, and the smaller messes in basins of gold, some of which are adorned with precious stones. There is no cloth on the table, but one is brought when the King has finished eating, and he washes his hands and mouth. Women and eunuchs serve him at table. The wives of the King remain each in her own chamber and are waited on by maid-servants. It is said that he has judges as well as bailiffs and watchmen who every night guard the palace, and all these are women".¹
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¹ Sewell, For. Emp., pp. 382-3.
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We shall presently have an occasion of referring to the public women who accompanied the army. But it was not only women of this kind who went with the army. We have evidence of queens who accompanied the king during his campaigns. Chinnādēviammā and Tirumalādēviammā were with Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya when in A.D. 1515 he conducted the siege of Koṇḍavīḍu. It was in the company of these two that the Emperor visited the temple of Amarēśvara near Dharaṇikōṭa where he bestowed the munificent gifts known as tulāpurusha, sapta-sāgara, and presented some villages to it.² Women seem to have carried on fights in which they had lost their husbands. In A.D. 1386 or thereabouts, Bommambe, wife Mahāvīra Mādarakāḷa, continued the fight in which her husband died and lost her life too.³
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² A. S. R. for 1908-9, p. 178.
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³ My. Arch. Report for 1923, pp.90-1. The courage of the women of mediaeval times is described in the account of the siege of Tanjore by the forces of Trichinopoly. Achyuta Vijaya Rāghava Nāyaka had placed all the females in the Mahal. The forces of Trichinopoly entered the main fortress. "Meanwhile the whole of the royal females held in their hands drawn swords, and were constantly waiting, anxious to know if the king's mandate of death would come or not". And when they saw two messengers approaching them, "the royal females began immediately to cut each other
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There is an instance of a woman who personally interviewed Dēva Rāya II on behalf of a temple and secured from him a copper-plate grant embodying a *sarvamānya* gift of a village. This was Aramavaḷatta Nāchchiyār, the elder sister of a Kaikkōḷa, attached to the temple of Agnēśvara at Maḍam. The lady interviewed the king in Śaka 1355 (A. D. 1433-4), and in return for her services the *rudra-māhēśvaras* of the temple granted her one *padakku* of grain every day and two *paṇam* of money per month.¹
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¹ 229 of 1919; *Ep. Report* for 1919, p. 103.
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Women occupied a prominent place in literature in Vijayanagara times. We have had some occasions of mentioning the learned Gaṅgādēvī, wife of Kampaṇa, who wrote *Madhurāvijayam* or *Virakamparāya Charitam*. The Queen of Bukka I seems also to have been an accomplished lady. An inscription dated A. D. 1378 says the following about her: "The king Bukka's wife was Honnāyi, in accomplishments like the science of love, in wisdom like the Vēdas, and though the king possessed many wifes, she was the chief, and the fulfiller of his desires".² Instances are not wanting of learned women in later Vijayanagara history. Achyuta Rāya's gift of *suvarṇamēru* was commemorated in a Sanskrit verse composed by Vōḍuva Tirumalammā (A.D. 1533), and inscribed in the Viṭhṭhala temple at Hampe.³ It is suggested that this learned lady may be identified with Tirumalāmbā, the author of the *kāvya* called *Varadāmbikāpariṇayam* which describes the marriage of Achyuta Rāya with Varadāmbā.⁴ Another poetess was Mōhanāṅgī, who wrote a love poem called *Mārīchipariṇayam*. About this lady also it is conjectured that her name may have been the surname of Tirumalāmbā, the wife of Rāma Rāja and the daughter of the great Kṛishṇa Dēva Rāya.⁵
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² *E. C.*, V, P, I. Cn. 256, p. 232.
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³ 708 of 1922 which is a duplicate of 9 of 1904; *Ep. Report* for 1923, pp. 119-200; *My. Arch. Report* for 1920, p. 38.
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⁴ *Ep. Report* for 1923, ibid: *The Sources*, p. 170, n.
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⁵ *Ep. Report* for 1923, ibid.; Viresalingam Pantulu, *Andhra Kavula*
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in pieces with swords and axes; and some receiving deadly wounds, forthwith attained heavenly bliss". Taylor O. H. MSS., II, p. 196.
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In the galaxy of learned ladies mention must be made of Rāmabhadrāmbā, who wrote the *Raghunāthābhyudayam*. While describing the activities of Raghunātha Nāyaka of Tanjore, after his return to his capital, she tells us that he convened an assembly of learned persons to examine the accomplished ladies of his court. They are said to have been proficient in composing four kinds of poetry—*chitra*, *bandha*, *garbha* and *āśu*, and in explaining the works written in various languages. They were skilful in the art of *śatalēkhini* and filling up literary verse-puzzles (*padyapurāṇam*). They were able to compose verses at the rate of one hundred in an hour (*ghaṭikāśata*), and to compose poetry in eight *bhāshas* (Sanskrit, Telugu, and the six Prākṛits). They knew how to interpret and explain the poems and dramas (*kāvyas* and *nāṭakas*) composed by the famous poets, and to explain the secrets of the music of the two sorts (*Karṇāṭa* and *Dēśa*). They were able to sing very sweetly and to play on the *vīṇā* and other musical instruments like the *rāvaṇahasta*. Raghunātha examined the proficiency of all of them and presented them with *kanakābhiṣēka*.
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Rāmabhadrāmbā also tells us that Raghunātha Nāyaka heard the songs sung before him and witnessed the dances of the accomplished ladies of his court. Some of the *rāgas*, etc., that were sung before him were designed by Raghunātha himself, who was a master of the art of music. The chief *rāgas* that were sung were *jayamaṅgala*, *simhalalila*, *jayanissāru* (?) and *kachachcharitra* (?) Some of the *tāḷas* to which they were played were *ratilila*, *turaṅgalila*, *raṅgābharaṇa* and *anaṅgaparikramaṇa*, *abhinandana*, *nandanandana* and *abhimālā*. Among the dances that were exhibited before him there was one called *raghunāthavilāsa* named after himself.¹
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¹ Raghunāthābhyudayam, The Sources, Sargas, XI-XII, pp. 291, 301.
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An inscription dated only in the cyclic year Krōdhana, Māgha, Śu. 15, Monday but assigned to about A. D. 1446, confirms the evidence of Nuniz that women knew wrestling. It relates that "at the time when Māḍi Gauḍa, son of Nāga
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Charitramu, p. 197: Kavali Venkataramasamy, The Biographical Sketches of the Deccan Poets, pp. 77-8.
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Gauḍa, fighting with wrestlers (*palivānavara*) [pailavānavara] (*kūḍe*) went to *svarga*, laying in ambush for those who fought with her father, Hariyakka...went to the world of gods". This incomplete vīragal, which her junior uncle Chenna set up, evidently wants to commemorate the measures which Hariyakka took to avenge the death of her father by fighting with wrestlers.¹
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¹ E. C., VII, Sk. 2, p. 39, and Sk. 1, which speaks of the death of Mādi Gauḍa, p. ibid.
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There is evidence of Jaina women who seem to have died in the orthodox Jaina manner. An inscription dated A.D. 1395 tells us that in the reign of Harihara Rāya, Kāna Ramaṇa's wife Kāmi Gauṇḍi by means of *sannyāsana* expired and went to *svarga*. The same epigraph relates that she was the disciple of the *rāja-guru* Siddhānti-yatīśa, and that she was the niece of Bēcha Gauṇḍa, the master of Avale in Jiḍḍuḷige-nāḍ.²
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² E. C., VIII, Sb. 103, p. 15.
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No description of Vijayanagara women may be deemed adequate without mention being made of the courtezans. The public woman, according to Kauṭilya, was in charge of a great number of duties relating to the person of the king. We have the following in the *Arthaśāstra*: "Prostitutes shall do the duty of bathroom servants, shampoors, bedding room servants, washermen, and flower garland-makers, while presenting to the king water, scents, fragrant powders, dress and garlands; servants along with the above prostitutes shall first touch things by their eyes, arms and breast".³ Further Kauṭilya enjoins: "The superintendent of prostitutes shall employ (at the king's court) on a salary of 1,000 paṇas (per annum) a prostitute, whether born or not born of a prostitute's family, and noted for her beauty, youth and accomplishments".⁴ That such prostitutes were under the direct control of the Central Government is clear from the following regulations in the *Arthaśāstra*: "When a prostitute does not yield her person to any one under the orders of the king, she shall receive 1,000 lashes with a whip or pay a fine of 5,000 paṇas".¹ "Every prostitute shall pay every month twice the amount of a day's earning to the government. Those who teach prostitutes, female slaves, and actresses, arts such as singing, playing on musical instruments, reading, dancing, acting, writing, painting, playing on the instruments like vīṇā, pipe and drum, reading the thoughts of others, manufacture of scents and garlands, shampooing, and the art of attracting and captivating the minds of others shall be endowed with maintenance from the State".² Kauṭilya tells us for what purpose the prostitutes are to be maintained by the State: "The wives of actors and others of similar profession who have been taught various languages and the use of signals shall, along with their relatives, be made use of in detecting the wicked and murdering or deluding foreign spies".³
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³ Arthaśāstra, Bk. I, Ch. XX, p. 46.
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⁴ Ibid., Bk. II, Ch. XXVII, pp. 148-9.
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¹ Arthaśāstra, Bk. II., Ch. xxvii., p. 150.
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² Ibid., p. 151. Cf. Wassāf's description of Ma'bar cited above.
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³ Ibid., p. 151.
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Kauṭilya's injunctions help us to understand the state of affairs in Vijayanagara. But before we cite the evidence of foreign travellers about this question, we may note that the institution of public women had already become permanent in southern India long before the times of the Vijayanagara kings. Mahādēva, the general of the Western Chāḷukya king Vikramāditya VI, in A.D. 1112, raised a sanctuary to the god Chandaḷēśvara in memory of his mother Chandrikādēvi, to which he added to residence of public women.⁴ Turning to Vijayanagara we find that the capital was a great centre of courtezans. Abdur Razzāq describes their quarters in detail. "Opposite the mint is the Office of the Prefect of the City, to which it is said 12,000 policemen are attached; and their pay, which equals each day 12,000 fanams, is derived from the proceeds of the brothels. The splendour of those houses, the beauty of the heart-ravishers, their blandishments and ogles, are beyond all description. It is best to be brief on the matter.
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⁴ Barnett, Ep. Ind., XIII, pp. 37, 47, v. 69.
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"One thing worth mentioning is this, behind the mint there is a sort of bazar which is more than 300 yards long and 20 broad. On two sides of it there are houses (*khānahā*) and fore-courts (*safhahā*), and in front of the houses, instead of benches (*kursī*), lofty seats are built of excellent stone, and on each side of the avenue formed by the houses there are figures of lions, panthers, tigers, and other animals, so well painted as to seem alive. After the time of mid-day prayers, they place at the doors of these houses, which are beautifully decorated, chairs and settees, on which the courtezans seat themselves. Everyone is covered with pearls, precious stones and costly garments. They are all exceedingly young and beautiful. Each one has one or two slave girls standing before her, who invite and allure to indulgence and pleasure. Any man who passes through this place makes choice of whom he will. The servants of these brothels take care of whatever is taken into them, and if anything is lost they are dismissed. There are several brothels within these seven fortresses, and the revenues of them, which, as stated before, amount to 12,000 *fanams*, go to pay the wages of the policemen".¹
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¹ Elliot, *Hist. of India*, IV, pp. 111-12; Major, *India*, p. 29.
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The above description of the courtezans may be compared with that given by the Hindu poets. Poet Bhāskara, who wrote his *Jiwandhara Charite* in A.D. 1424, thus describes the public women:
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ಮರುಲ ಸರಸಯ ಹೊಸವ ಕೊರಡಿನೊ |
ಅಳಿಯ ಕೋಪ ಮರೀಚಿಕಂಗಳ |
ತಳಿವ ಧರೆ ಗಗನವನು ತಾಳವಮಾಡಿ ಬಾಜಿಸುವ ||
ಶಿಲೆಯೊಳಗೆ ಮರುಗುನ ತುಷಾರವ |
ನಳಿವ ನೀರೊಳು ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ ಗಳಿವ |
ಗ್ಲ ಲದ ವೇಶ್ಯಾಮಾತೆಯರನವನಿಕೇಕ್ಷಿಸದ ||²
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² *Kavicharite*, II, p. 48.
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As regards the street where they lived, we have the following from poet Adṛśya (about A.D. 1580), who wrote *Prauḍharā-yana Kāvya*:
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ಸಿಂಗರದ ತಾಣ ಸೊಬಗಿನ ಸಂತೆಯುತಿಕುಟಿಲ | ದಂಗಡಿ ದಶಾವಸ್ಥೆ ಗಳ ಸಂಜಿನಗರವು | ಕಂಗಳತಿಹಬ್ಬ ಕಾವನ ಸುಗ್ಗಿ ಯಾವೂಲಂ ಭಂಗಿಭಾವದೊಳೆ ಬೆಳೆವಾ || ಇಂಗಿತದ ಬೀಡು ಚೇಟಿದ ತೋಟ ಮೋಹದ ತ | ರಂಗ ತವಕದ ಗೊತ್ತು ಬಿಡಿಸುದ್ಧವ ಭೂಮಿ | ಯಂಗಜಸ ಅವಸರ ಸರಂಗಳಂತಿತಹ ಸೂಳೆವೆಂಗಳಾ ಕೇರಿಯಸೆಗು || ¹ ||
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¹ Kavicharite, p. 307.
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Poet Padmarasa (A.D. 1559) bluntly says: ಪಾಪದ ಗದಿ ದುಃಖದ ಸೀಮೆ ಬಹುವಿಧ | ದಾಸತ್ತಿನ ಪುರತೇಜ | ಪೋಪ ಮಹಾಲಯವೆಂಬಕೀರ್ತಿಯ ತಾ | ಪೋತ್ತು ಮೆರೆವೃದ್ರಾ ಕೇರಿ || ಗದಕಿನಾಲಯ ಶಕ್ಕಿನಚೇಡನ್ಯತದ | ಸದನ ವೈಸಿಕದ ಭವನವು | ಚದುರಿನ ಪೇಟೆ ವ್ಯಾಧಿಯ ತವಮನೆಯೊಂ | ದೆಡೆಗೊಂಡುಡಾ ಸೂಳೆಗೇರಿ || ² ||
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² Ibid., p. 316 Cf. Poet Sōmanātha's description (circa 1650). Ibid., p. 413; Poet Adiyappa's description (circa 1650). Ibid., p. 415.
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This evidence about the existence of prostitutes in the capital from ‘Abdur Razzāq and the Hindu poets may be compared with that given by other travellers. Paes, for example, visited the very quarters which ‘Abdur Razzāq has described but it is very interesting to observe that the Portuguese traveller has nothing to say about the character of the inmates of the houses. His opinion seems, in this particular instance, to run counter to that of ‘Abdur Razzāq. Paes writes thus: "Then going forward you have another gate with another line of wall, and it also encircles the city inside the first, and from here to the king's palace is all streets and rows of houses, very beautiful, and houses of captains and other rich and honourable men; you will see rows of houses with many figures and decorations pleasing to look at".³ If this description of the beautiful figures and decorations given by Paes refers to the same beautifully decorated houses about which the Persian ambassador has spoken, then, while the latter makes them houses of prostitutes, the former styles them as houses of rich and honourable men. That Paes is more intimately acquainted with the streets and parts of the city is clear from what he says in his chronicle, and especially from the manner in which he dwells on the question of streets. "That I may not forget to tell of the streets that are in the palace I here mention them. You must know that inside the palace that I have spoken of is the dwelling of the king and of his wives and of the other women who serve them, as I have clearly said, who are twelve thousand in number; and they have an entrance to these rows of houses so that they can go inside. Between this palace and the House of Victory is a gate which serves as passage to it. Inside there are thirty-four streets".¹
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³ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 254.
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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, pp. 264-5, op. cit.
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But it is not to be imagined that Paes failed to notice the presence of the public women and the dancing-girls in the capital. He mentions the courtezans on specific occasions. While describing the great Mahānavami festival, which we shall see in detail in connection with other festivals in a subsequent chapter, he writes: "And the king withdraws to the interior of his palace by that gate which I have already mentioned—that which stands between the two buildings that are in the arena (terreyro); the courtezans and bayaderes (i.e., "the dancing-girls of the temple and palace") remain dancing in front of the temple and idol for a long time."²
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² Ibid., p. 267, and n. (1).
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The dancing-women were summoned during the feasts. We gather this from Paes: "For these feasts are summoned all the dancing-women of the kingdom, in order that they should be present; and also the captains and kings and great lords with all their retinues..."³
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³ Ibid., p. 262.
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It was during these feasts and festivals that dancing-girls enjoyed the rare privilege of eating betel in the presence of the king. Paes, while describing the wrestlers, says: "...for these (i.e., the wrestlers) are allowed to remain seated, but no other, howsoever great a lord he be, except the king so commands; and these also eat betel, though none else may eat it in his presence except the dancing-women, who may always eat it before him".¹
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¹ Sewell, For. Emp., p. 269.
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Nuniz also has got something to say about the dancing-girls. He describes the same famous festival called Mahānavami. While speaking about the decorations got ready for the Mahānavami festival, he says: "They are very lofty and are hung with rich cloths, and in them are many dancing-girls and also many kinds of contrivances".²
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² Ibid., p. 376.
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According to foreign travellers, therefore, the public woman was entitled to be present on certain occasions—at the time of feasts, when festivals were held, and during a campaign.³ Since foreign travellers are careful enough to differentiate between courtezans and the women who performed duties in the royal house-hold or under the State as judges, bailiffs, and the like, and since none of the contemporary witnesses tells us that prostitutes held the various posts mentioned by Nuniz in detail, one may accept with great reser-
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³ To these we have to add the presence of the *dēvadāsis* in the temples, about which we shall speak later on. In this connection I may add that the public women of Vijayanagara have also figured in the book entitled *Jehān Nümā* (or *The World of Mirror*) written by the Turkish geographer Katib Chelebi Mustafa Khalifah. From the Latin version of *Jehān Nümā* the following is taken—for the translation of which I am indebted to Dr. L. D. Barnett:
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"What is remarkable is that in this city there are not lacking courtezans so wealthy that single one of them from her own wealth pays for several thousands of soldiers and despatches them for war. And because, as Lorenzo relates, they themselves take part in the battle, they stimulate by love of themselves the spirit of the fighting men to fortitude." Katib Chelebi, *Jehan Numa, Geographia Orientalis ex Turcico in Latinum versa Math. Norberg, Londini, Gothorum (1818), t.i, p. 126. Katib Chelebi began his work of translating the Atlas Minor of Hondius in A. H. 1064, he died in A. H. 1068. The oriental part of Jehān Nümā was printed with additions by Ibrāhim Muteferrikah in A. H. 1145. The British Museum Catalogue of Turkish Mss. p. 111. (1888). In the above account of Katib Chelebi there is a mixture of details given by 'Abdur Razzāq and by the Portuguese travellers. B.A.S.
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vation the statement of Dr. Vincent Smith that the presence of the public women was essential in the court ceremonials of Vijayanagara. This does not invalidate the assertion we have made that the existence of a large number of prostitutes in the capital reflects sadly on the morality of the people, and, to a slight extent, on the nature of the Government itself. The fact that the State maintained a large police force on the earnings of the public-women suggests that the Vijayanagara rulers may have had the injunctions of Kauṭilya before them. But we cannot maintain that they consciously followed the regulations of the *Arthaśāstra* as regards patronizing public women only for the sake of political purposes.
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We may not end our remarks on this aspect of Vijayanagara life without noting the comments of foreign travellers on the immense wealth of the public women of Vijayanagara. Paes writes thus: "Who can fitly describe to you the great riches these women carry on their persons?—collars of gold with so many diamonds and rubies and pearls, bracelets also on their arms and on their upper arms, girdles below, and of necessity anklets on the feet. The marvel should be otherwise, namely that women of such a profession should obtain such wealth; but there are women among them who have lands that have been given to them, and litters, and so many maid-servants that one cannot number all their things. There is a woman in this city who is said to have a hundred thousand *pardaos*, and I believe this from what I have seen of them".¹ Duarte Barbosa also speaks about the extraordinary wealth of these women. "Some of them are so rich that a short time ago one of them, dying without son or daughter, made the King heir to all her property, who, when he sent to collect what she had left, found that a sum of seventy thousand *pardaos* remained as well as another twelve thousand, which during her life she had set apart and left to one of her handmaids whom she had brought up from childhood; wherein there is no great marvel, for this kind of merchandise is the greatest and richest found in this world !"¹
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¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 270. Sewell has an interesting note on the *pardaos*. *Ibid.*, p. 270, n. (2).
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¹ *Barbosa*, Dames, I., p. 226. Dames calculates the amount at £32,000 in modern money. *Ibid.*, p. 226, n (1); Stanley, pp. 95-8, where the version is slightly different.
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How far these accounts of the wealth of the public women of Vijayanagara were based on extravagant reports it is difficult to say; but admitting the possibility of their having been rich, it is doubtful whether they could have failed to enliven their quarters by their bickerings and broils which formed a feature of their lives. We have to read the following description of a quarrel between public women as given by the poet Kumudendu to form an adequate idea of the scene. Although this poet lived in about A.D. 1275, yet his words are as applicable to the times of the Vijayanagara monarchs as they are to those of the Hoysala rulers :
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ಎಲೆಗುಂಡಿ ನೀಗುಂಡಿ ಬೀಟಿಯಾಯೆ ನೀ ನಾಯೆ |
ಅಲಿಯದಿರು ನೀಸಲಿಯದಿರು ಸಾಯ ನೀಸಾಯ |
ಉಲುಕದಿರು ನೀಸಲುಕದಿರು ಚಂಡಿ ನೀಚಂಡಿ ಸಿಂಚೆ ನೀ ಸಿಂಚೆಯೆಂದು ||
ತಲೆಯೆತ್ತಿಯೆತ್ತಿವೋರ್ವೋರ್ವರು ಕಚ್ಚಿ ತಾವು ಮುಂ |
ದಲೆವಿದಿದು ಹೊಡೆದ ಸೀರೆಗಳೊಯ್ದುದೇ ಬಿದ್ದು |
ರುಳುವ ಚೌವಟ ಬೇಟಿಗಾತಿಯರ ಜಗಳವಂ ಕಂಡು ನಗುತಿದರ್ಸಣುವ || ² ||
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² *Kavicharite*, I., pp. 319-20.
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Provision was sometimes made in inscriptions against the vociferous nature of women, as can be made out from the following curse in an epigraph dated A.D. 1482-3: "The women of those who abuse the ruler of the village or the king of the simā or endeavour to obtain the sovereignty will be given to Dommara villagers".³
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³ *Butterworth—Chetty*, *Nellore Ins.*, II. p. 951.
Linked texts (6)
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
- Kṣatracūḍāmaṇi — Vādībhasiṃha, Sanskrit
- Epigraphia Carnatica
- Amaresvara Temple
- Madhurāvijaya — Gaṅgādevī, Sanskrit
- Marīcipariṇayamu — Mōhanāṅgi, Telugu