Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c21.s3.t5: E. Witnesses
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c21.s3.t5
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E. Witnesses
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The names of the witnesses, whose signatures were appended to the grants, also bespeak the orthodox nature of the people. In most of the records we have divine as well as human witnesses. Thus an epigraph dated A.D. 1583 contains the following:
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*āditya-chandrāv anilo' nalaś cha dyaur bhūmir āpō hṛidayaṁ Yamaś cha|*
*ahaś cha rātriś cha ubhē cha sandhyē dharmasya jānāti narasya vṛittam||*
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Then we have human witnesses who are called in the epigraph *nara-sākshigaḷu*. These are thus described: *Tirthahaḷ (!)* iya *Amarēndra-puri Śrī-Pādaṅgaḷu Bukkarāya-purada Mahā-janaṅgaḷu karttugaḷa oppita Hariyappana sva-hastada oppila*
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ploughs." E. C., V., P. I. Hn. 13, p. 4. The *hiraṇya-garbha* and *tulā-purusha* are also mentioned among other great gifts, in connection with the Hoysala kings Vishnuvardhana in A. D. 1117 (Rice, *My. Ins.*, p. 215,) and Sōmēśvara Dēva in A.D. 1255. E. C., V., P. I, Ak. 108, p. 157. On the *tulāpurushadāna*, see *A. S. R.* for 1912-13, pp. 142-5; *The Sources*, p. 117; Acharya, *Dicty. of Hindu Arch.* p. 246; *Ep. Ind.*, XIII., p. 295, and n. (1); *My. Arch. Report*, 1920, p. 37. Here we have Vīra Nārasimha weighing himself against gold.
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tad-binnaha-sākshigaḷa oppita.¹ Superstition was to some extent responsible for the inclusion of the following witnesses by Tippe Setti of the Vijayanagara treasury, when, as related above, in A. D. 1423, he dedicated to the god Tirumala (of the Chikka-Honnuru-grāma, Huṇsūr tāluka ?) the tank which he had constructed, in order that merit might accrue to his parents, on the east side of Chikka-Honnūru. The record contains "the witness of the Fish, Tortoise and Boar, and the eight regents of the points of the compass, of the chief holy meritorious Brahmans, of the priests, nambis, and body servants of that god Tirumale, of Viraṇa-ayya of Kariyamaranahaḷḷi, the ? snake-charmers (hāvvarum), the ? tellers of omens by lizards (balli-munnibarum), of all these sacred persons..."²
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¹ E. C., VIII., Tl. 172, p. 199, text, p. 656. These witnesses are the following: "Sun and moon, wind and fire, sky, earth and water, conscience and Yama, day and night, morning and evening,—these know the acts of a righteous man." Cf. E. C., V, P. I., Hn. 36, p. 11.
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² E. C., IV, Hs. 27, p. 86, text, p. 236.