Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c21.s1.t2.4

v2.c21.s1.t2.4

We have evidence of the settlement of equally complicated questions in the reign of Tribhuvana Chakravartin Kulōttuṅga Chōḷa Dēva (who has been identified with Kulōttuṅga Chōḷa Dēva I), as is related in an inscription dated in the forty-eighth year of his reign. This epigraph deals with the decision arrived at as regards the question of caste, and lays down the profession to be followed by a certain *anulōma* class called *Rathakāras* who are described as the sons of *Māhishyas* by *Karaṇi* women. On the strength of previous authorities such as Yājñavalkya, Gautama, Kauṭilya, Baudhāyana, and others, the *bhaṭṭas* (i.e., the learned Brahmans) of Rājāśraya-chaturvēdimaṅgalam defined (1) a *Māhishya* as one born of a Kshatriya father by a Vaiśya mother; (2) a *Karaṇi* as the daughter of a Vaiśya father by a Śūdra mother; and (3) a *Rathakāra* as the son of a *Māhishya* father by a *Karaṇi* mother.