Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c21.s2.t4: D. Placing the Vajra-bayasaṇige

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c21.s2.t4

Language: English

D. Placing the Vajra-bayasaṇige

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Etiquette governed the actions of the people in public and private life. When foreign *pṛthvī-śeṭṭis* came to a particular locality, they were treated with marked courtesy. According to a copper-plate grant dated only in the cyclic Siddhārtin, Bhādrapada, Śu. 5, Monday, but assignable to A. D. 1379, "if the prithvi-seṭṭis of any countries within the four seas came to another country, first presenting to them betel leaf, dress and allowance of food, the authorities of that country will give... to those seṭṭis". The same record narrates that, in addition to those honours the prithvi-seṭṭis were granted the customs duties "on the roads both ways".¹

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¹ E. C., XII, Ck, 76, p. 100, op. cit., text, pp. 288-9. The date corresponds, but for the week-day, to A. D. 1379, August 18th, Thursday. Swamikannu, Ind. Eph., IV, p. 361.

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The names of the Sālu-mūles, the elders, and the other prominent classes are also associated with an interesting public ceremony in connection with what was known as placing the vajra-bayasaṇige. This was an ancient custom of conducting public work, and was very common during Hoysala times. The Mamdāpur inscription of the Yādava king Kanhara, dated Śaka 1172 (A.D. 1250), informs us that "the five hundred Svāmis of the blest Ayyāvaḷe" and the Vīra Baṇañjas of the immemorial Kuṛumbeṭṭa in the Kūṇḍi Three-Thousand, granted certain tolls for the benefit of the three-turreted temple called the Trikūṭa-prasāda of the same town. On this occasion Kalidēva Seṭṭi, "the emperor of the community," was seated in the vajra-bayasaṇige in......of the immemorial Baṇañju town in Kuṛumbeṭṭa.² An inscription dated only in the cyclic year Parābhava, but assignable to the year A.D. 1306, tell us that the possessor of all titles, the mahā-gaṇas including Nandinātha and Virabhadra and the chief men of Hoyisaṇa-nāḍu, Kongu-nāḍu and other eighteen districts, having placed the diamond (?) bayisaṇige on the ground, assembled below the banian tree at the northern gate of Hosahoḷalu, and that in their presence all mahājanas of Hosahoḷalu, which was a portion of the immemorial agrahāra Rāyasamudra, the great Minister Mādigedēva Daṇṇāyaka's sēnabōva Paduvaṇṇa's balumanusa (? agent)³ Paṇḍāri Dēva, who was the officer of Hosahoḷalu, the Superintendent Kāvaṇa, Kētayya's son Huligeredēva, the mahājanas of Hoysana-nāḍu, and others (named), made a grant of land to Sōmayya to provide for the offerings of the god Sōmanatha of the mūlasthāna in the north-east set up with the consent of the mahājanas.¹

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² Barnett, Ep. Ind., XIX, p. 30. and n. (1).

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³ "Strong man ? Right-hand Man?" B. A. S.

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¹ My. Arch. Report for 1914-15, pp. 56-7. Mr. Narasimhachar's comments on this custom may also be read. Ibid., p. 57.

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The ceremony of setting up the bayasanige is also seen in early Vijayanagara history. A stone inscription dated A.D. 1378 of the times of Harihara Oḍeyar (i.e., Harihara Raya II) informs us that "the champion over Khaṇṭikāra-Rāya Nāraṇṇa Voḍeyar's son Dēpaṇṇa Voḍeyar was ruling the kingdom of the world"; and that in connection with a fair which was established in the Rāmēśvara village of Sādaḷi-nāḍ, the Sādaḷi Gauḍas (named), the five Seṭṭis of Sere, and all the elders of the Sālu-mūle, having set up the bayasanige, made certain regulations, according to the custom of the Sādaḷi, (Sādaḷiya maryādeyalu) and granted specified dues to Dēpaṇṇa Voḍeyar.² We had an occasion of relating how the dignitaries, who belonged to the Sālu-Mūle Baṇaju sect with their numerous followers, conferred the Mayoralty of the Earth on the great Minister Muddaya Daṇṇāyaka in the year A.D. 1382. This high honour was bestowed on that famous general by them after they had "placed the diamond vaisanige in the presence of the holy lotus feet of the god Virūpāksha", and had taken their seat "having agreed among themselves with supreme affection" about the important question in hand.³