Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c21.s1.t2.8

v2.c21.s1.t2.8

In the decision of the Chōḷa kings of the early times we have the echoes of those same intricate communal problems which compelled the Vijayanagara rulers to step into the wrangling circles of the cultivators and the Pañchāḷas, the barbers and the potters, and the weavers and the Seṭṭis. The cases which the mediaeval monarchs had to solve may roughly be divided into two broad classes—those relating to marriage and the consequent rise in social estimation, and those concerning honours, birudus, and rights during festivals and religious occasions. An instance of a lower class claiming equality with a higher class as regards marriage may be mentioned. The following account of the fate which befell the Bēḍars, who, as we saw, belonged to the Left Hand division, illustrates this as well as other phases of Vijayanagara history. The Bēḍars, who were ruling around the places called Piriyapaṭṭaṇa and Tuṅga, where Maṅgarasa and Caṅgarāya, two Jaina Kshatriyas, had settled, claimed their daughters in marriage. The Kshatriyas could not openly refuse the demand as the Bēḍars were all powerful. They had recourse to diplomacy: they built a great house with six large halls ostensibly for marriages, and dug a well at the back of the last hall. One day they mustered all their forces and invited the Bēḍars for the marriage. Elated with the prospect of a marriage alliance with Kshatriyas, the Bēḍars repaired to the place with their famlilies. But the Jaina Kshatriyas told them that it was a custom of theirs that only a single pair of married couple should enter the house at a time. The Bēḍars went inside two by two. As each pair went to the innermost hall the Kshatriyas arranged to have their heads cut off and bodies thrown into the well.¹ Thus all the Bēḍars were killed and Maṅgarasa conquered all the country round and became a powerful chief with Piriyapaṭṭaṇa as his capital, Changalarāya becoming king of Raṅgapaṭṭaṇa. These two, we may note, were feudatories of the Vijayanagara kings.