Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c24.s2: Section 2. Social Activities under Vijayanagara
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c24.s2
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Section 2. Social Activities under Vijayanagara
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The detailed description of the public charities in the pre-Vijayanagara ages, especially in the Karṇāṭaka, given above are essential if we are to estimate adequately the traditions which were handed down to the rulers of Vijayanagara, and the corporate activities of the various bodies in mediaeval times. There is something more than mere religious fervour in the numerous examples we have just cited: the sense of solidarity, especially as given in the inscriptions recording the joint-action of the people, not only among themselves, but with the officers of Government, was seen more in the Karṇāṭaka than in the Tamil land, in the latter half of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries. This explains the rejuvenation of Hindu life in the Hoysala Empire, and the failure of the people of the Pāṇḍya kingdom to achieve the same end. It is a significant fact that even in the very last days of the Hoysala rulers, the popular sentiment to work in harmony with the State, which was characteristic of the early Tamil people, should have manifested itself more in the epigraphs relating to farmers and cultivators rather than in those pertaining to Brahmans. The richest heritage which the Hoysalas gave to the new generation was this remarkable spirit of working for the common good without which the resuscitation of the Hindu Dharma would have been an impossible task.
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We shall now learn about the coporate activities of the people of Vijayanagara in matters related partly to the political, partly to the legal but mostly to the religious and social spheres of life. Here, again, it may be worth while to remember the evidence we have already cited about the endeavours of the people to knit themselves in issues which were purely political.¹ According to a record dated A. D. 1379 the Mahāsāmantādhipati Śoṇṇaiyar Nāyakkar's son Aṅkaya Nāyakkar the superintendent of Noṇḍaṅguḷi-nāḍu, Achcha Gauḍa, and Nārāyaṇa and Veṅgaḍam Uḍaiyan, the pūjāris of the temple of Śelva-Nārāyaṇa-pperumaḷ at Noṇḍaṅguḷi agreed to exempt from taxes, for the first two years, the lands brought under wet cultivation below the tank...in Noṇḍaṅguḷi, built by Pammi Seṭṭiyar's son Periya-perumāḷ Seṭṭiyar, one of the Vaiśya-vāṇiya-Nagarattār...; and that, thenceforward, the remaining wet lands after taking away the kuḍaṅgai, shall become the property of the god.²
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¹ Supra, Volume I, Chapter VI, Administration—(continued).
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² E. C., IX. Ht. 50, p. 93.
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Patriotic and religious motives prompted the people sometimes to make joint endowments to temples. Lakkarasa of Sādali, together with the nāḍ-prabhus (named) of Kōḷāla in Nikarili-Chōḷa-maṇḍala, in A. D. 1384, made a grant of the lands belonging to Chikka-Hayūr in Kōḷāla-nāḍ, for the offerings and decorations of the god of the Mūlsthāna, which is Kailāsa, in order that increase of life, health, and wealth, and universal empire might be to the champion over the Kaṇṭikāra Rāya, Nāgaṇṇa Oḍeyar's son Dēpaṇṇa Oḍeyar.¹ In the same year and with the same object, but this time referring to Nāgaṇṇa Oḍeyar himself and to his son, the nāḍ-mahāprabhus of Kōḷāla, called in this record the southern Dvārāvati-paṭṭaṇa, together with the same Adhikāri Lakkarasappa, Mukaṇṇa-Jiya, Sōvaṇṇa-Jiya, Yiri Seṭṭi, and all the farmers and subjects being agreed, made a grant of all the lands (specified) belonging to the Haḷeya-Kottanūr village in Kōḷāla-nāḍ.² In about A. D. 1489, the Kālesāle people gave the Tāḷekere village to Kambāḷa Siddere Voḍeyar, in order that dharma might to be to the ruler Narasinga Rāya Mahārāja.³ Kontamarasa and Dēvarasa with the Gauḍas and subjects, made petition to some one, whose name is effaced in the record, and (the result seems to have been that?) Rāvi Seṭṭi made a grant of Areḍāsahaḷḷi to an unspecified person, in A. D. 1535, in order that merit ought to be to the Emperor Achyuta Rāya's son-in-law Raghupati Rāja Mahā-arasu.⁴ Another incomplete record dated A. D. 1553 informs us that the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Ayaṇa Viraliṅga Dēva,... the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara... the Gauḍas of the village belonging to... and others, granted a śāsana to Gōsikeṛe Liṅga Viraya's son Ayaṇa Madakare Liṅga Virayya with the right of collecting certain specified dues in the villages belonging to the Guḍḍa-sime.⁵
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¹ E. C., X. Kl. 80. p. 22.
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² Ibid, Kl. 67, p. 18.
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³ E. C., IX., Nl. 47, p. 37.
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⁴ E. C., XII., Tp. 29, p. 47.
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⁵ E. C., XI., Hr. 34, p. 108,
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The change that was coming over the country is seen in the record dated A. D. 1556. This inscription tells us that by order of the Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Rāma Rāja Tirumala Rājayya Dēva Mahā-arasu, the Mahānāyakāchārya Niḍugal Timmaṇṇa Nāyaka, and subjects of the Niḍugul-sime (a great number named), these and other Gauḍas and subjects, with the Seṭṭi-paṭṭaṇa-svāmi, having purchased the Tūmukuṇṭe village in the Niḍugal kingdom, placing Gutti Tirumala Rājayya's seal bearers (mudremanuṣyaru) in front of Keñchappa Nāyaka, granted the village for the services and festivals (specified) of the god, in order that merit might be to Gutti Tirumala Rājayya Dēva Mahā-arasu.¹
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¹ E. C., XII., Si. 31, p. 93.
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The following epigraph dated A.D. 1588 suggests that corporate bodies might not always have been forced to make endowments by the officials of the Government. Appāji Sēnabōva of Koppa (descent stated), having set up the god Gōpāla Kṛiṣhṇa on the bank of the Tuṅgabhadrā in Nāri in Koḍa-nāḍ, bought certain specified lands and presented them for the offerings of the god. The epigraph contains the following interesting information: "Witnesses, who will see to the carrying out of this work of merit:—All the nāḍ officers of Koppa-Koḍa-nāḍ Four Thousand; all the cultivators of the two Aṅgaḍi of Koppa; the Brahmans of Bommaṇāpura, Nāgalāpura, Narasimhapura, Belguḷa new agrahāra, Maṅgaḷāpura and Sōmalāpura". The agreement was written with the approval of both parties by Saṅkappa Sēnabōva of Koḍa-nāḍ, with the signatures of the donor and of the witnesses affixed to it.²
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² E. C., VI. Kp. 57, p. 89.
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The nature of the corporate life of the people is better illustrated in the numerous examples referring to what may be called the legal aspect of their social life. In this connection too we may recount the remarks we have already made in connection with the judicial administration of Vijayanagara. Whether dealing with arbitrators or Gauḍas, with the questions of buying land or selling it, with issues pertaining to mortgages or boundary disputes,—the epigraphs prove beyond doubt that behind the immense material wealth of the rulers, there lay deeper and more valuable resources of social solidarity which enabled them to protect and preserve Hindu Dharma for two and a half centuries of peace and warfare.
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In A. D. 1388 all the (?) merchants (bāṇigaru) made a division of lands at Aruṇahaḷḷi to Kampaṇa and others of the same place, and the agreement was written by the village accountant Chauḍōja, with the approval of both parties.¹ The sale-deed of the Kauḍavaḷḷi village and other lands by Achapa's son Viṭhṭhapa, as mentioned in a record of A. D. 1404 already cited, was concluded after the price had been fixed by the arbitrators at 500 *hon*. This agreement was written by the Maduvaṅka-nāḍ Sēnabova Siṅgarasa with the approval of both parties.² In A. D. 1421 all the Brahmans (named) of Hiriya-Hoḷalūr in Sāntalige-nāḍ, sold certain specified land in Hangarabayal belonging to the same place, to the *Parama-haṃsa-parivrājakāchārya* Tīrthamuttūr Śaṅkara Bhārati Śrīpada in Keḷabhāgi of Sāntalige, for forty-eight *hon*, the price fixed by arbitrators.³ Certain Heggaḍes (named) of Mēguravaḷi in Maduvaḷige-nāḍ, in A. D. 1417, sold to Dēvappayya (descent stated), lands under the tank built in Mumbeḷe for 42½ *hon*, the price fixed by arbitrators.⁴ A record dated A. D. 1424 informs us that Kōdūr Tirika Heggaḍe, in A. D. 1396, had sold the Kūṭahaḷḷi village to some one for eighty *hon*, the price fixed by arbitrators.⁵
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¹ E. C., III., Ml. 20, p. 57.
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² E. C., VIII., Tl. 134, p. 190.
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³ *Ibid.*, Tl. 144, pp. 192-3.
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⁴ *Ibid.*, Tl. 148, pp. 192-3.
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⁵ *Ibid.*, Tl. 170, p. 198. The interpretation given here may be questioned.
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When a sale-deed was effected, the presence of influential citizens was necessary. We cannot determine, however, whether this was done at the instance of the State. In A. D. 1368 a deed of sale (*kraya-patra*) was drawn up by a number of representatives of the Eighteen Kaṃpaṇas of the Gutti kingdom, pertaining to Muchchuṇḍi, Paḷāśapaḷḷi and Tevaṭṭa; and the price of the land sold was 200 *varāha*, five times the value of the annual rent. The epigraph relates why all the people (*samasta-gauḍa-prajegaḷu*) made the grant. It was because of *Mādarasa Oḍeyaru māḍuva dharma-nimittavāgi*.⁶
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⁶ E. C., VII., Sk. 282, p. 147, text, p. 335. This Mādarasa Oḍeyar is evidently the same Mādhava referred to in the preceding epigraph. Sk. 281, p. 146.
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How a sale-deed was effected is told in a record dated Śaka 1296 (A. D. 1374-5), of the times of "the illustrious Ommaṇa-uḍaiyar, the son of the illustrious Kambaṇa-uḍaiyar". "Whereas the great people of Śambukula-Perumāḷ-agaram, alias Rājagambhīra-chaturvēdimaṅgaḷam, (situation in the Tamil land, described) gave to the illustrious Viṣṇu-Kambaḷi Nāyaka ...of Alasu-nāḍu, within Tuḷu-nāḍu, a document (pramāṇa) about the cost of land (described in detail)—We, the great people, (hereby, declare, that we) having thus agreed, gave a document about the costs of land to the illustrious Viṣṇu-Kambaḷi-Nāyaka. At the pleasure of these great people. I, Aṅkārai Śrīdhara-Bhaṭṭa of Śambukula-Perumāḷ-agaram wrote this document about the cost of land; this is (my) signature".¹
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¹ S. I. I., I, No. 72, pp. 102-4.
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We may give some examples of joint-sale by the citizens of Vijayanagara. The Heggaḍes (named) of Neṇaṅgi-nāḍ gave to Satyatīrtha Śrīpāda of the Muniyūr Maṭha and his disciple of Vaikuṇṭha Tīrtha a deed of sale of the Maṇṇaraya land in their nāḍ for sixty-two honnu in A.D. 1388.² The Heggaḍes of the same nāḍ sold the Arangodigi land to Lakṣhmi Nārāyaṇa Dēva of the same maṭha for seventy gadyāṇa in A. D. 1393.³ Mādhava Bhaṭṭa (descent stated), Nāchchiyappa and others (named), the sthānikas of the temple of Śrī-Mūlasthānam Uḍaiyar at Tendaṭṭumaḍai-vilāgam, "having agreed among ourselves", sold their kṣhētra to Śiruchchōmaṇa (descent stated), a sthānika of the temple of Śomīśuram-uḍaiyār at Śūrūr, in A. D. 1394, "having received full payment", with all details of the tract of land which formed a part of their dēvadāna possession.⁴ The Brahmans of...paṭṭana, in Āraga, bought the Hālamuttūr village in the Sāntalige-nāḍ, through agents, at the price of the day, for 300 varāha, and divided the rent to be paid among themselves. The deed of sale on stone (dāna-śilā-śāsana) seems to have been drawn on behalf of the Ananta Bhaṭṭa (descent stated). The same epigraph relates that "the people of the Eighteen Kaṃpaṇa divided the rent among themselves, and agreed to pay whatever dues might arise."¹
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² E. C., VI., Kp. 28, p. 80.
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³ Ibid., Kp. 29.
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⁴ E. C., X., Kl. 81, p. 22.
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¹ E. C., VI, Kp. 35, p. 82.
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The Heggade of Meṇasūr in Madavadi-nāḍ and a number of Heggades (named) together with all the people of Dānamūla granted a stone śāsana of a deed of sale (kraya-dāna-dhārā-pūrvvakāvagi koṭṭa śilā-śāsanada kramav) embodying the transfer of Dānamula-Meṇasūr and other villages (eleven in all) to these people of the three cities of all the nāḍs of the Eighteen Kaṃpaṇas. The epigraph also contains the information that the people of Dānamūla and their aḷiya-santāna (or heirs in the female line) with one consent sold the land, having received from those of the three cities of the nāḍs of the Eighteen Kaṃpaṇa the price, 500 varāha, saying that those lands and measurements belonged no more to Dānamula. The epigraph ends by saying that the whole was made over to Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar, free of imports.² Another inscription of the same date tells us that the viceroy received as a gift from the cultivators of the three cities of the Eighteen Kaṃpaṇa a deed of sale of land valued at 150 honnu in the lot of Masiga-Gauḍa of Meṇasūr; and that Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar, who had acquired it "with the consent of the women, men, son-in-law's descendants (or descendants in the female line), and all other claimants," formed an agrahāra, named Bommaṇāpura consisting of fifty-four shares (specified).³ The specific mention of the consent of the claimants and the rights of the cultivators is significant from the point of view of the care which the rulers bestowed on questions involving legal intricacies and constitutional usage.
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² Ibid., Kp. 51, p. 86.
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³ Ibid., Kp. 53, p. 88.
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During the viceroyalty of the same well known governor, in A.D. 1404, all the nāḍ people of the Āraga Eighteen Kaṃpaṇa and all the people of the three cities (not named), uniting and agreeing together, sold the Kaudavaḷḷi village, also called Virūpāmbikāpura, for ninety-five *hon*, to Achappa’s son Viṭhṭhappa.¹
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¹ E. C., VIII., Tl. 133, p. 190.
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The name of Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar again appears in a deed of sale dated A. D. 1404 but this time given by various Brahmans (named). The land sold is called the *āgāmi* land (?), which seems to have been purchased by the Brahmans. The concluding lines of the epigraph are to be noted—“...with the consent of the wives of the Brahmans, their sons, relations, and heirs, we have granted by deed of sale with a stone *śāsana*.”²
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² E. C., VI, Kp. 54, p. 88.
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The object of the sale-deed affected in about A. D. 1405, by the *nāḍ* people of the Eighteen Kaṃpaṇa and all those of the three cities and the owners of the villages, also in the name of the same viceroy, was the formation of an *agrahāra* called Mādhava-Virūpāmbikāpura.³
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³ E. C., VIII., Tl 105, p. 184. See also Tl. 126, pp. 187-8 of the same date mentioning the sale of the Kesare village for 160 *ga* and land in Idegare for fifteen *ga* by all the *gauḍas* and subjects (many named) of the two Mandu-nāḍ, to Malli-Bhaṭṭa, (descent stated).
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In A. D. 1407, as already remarked, when Viṭhṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar still continued to govern over Āraga, Tipaṇṇa-ayya, with the consent of all the *nāḍ* people of the Āraga Eighteen Kaṃpaṇa and all the cultivators of the three cities, sold certain specified land rated at sixty *hon*, in Mayise village to Bommaṇṇa-ayya to form an *agrahāra*.⁴
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⁴ Ibid., Tl. 190, p. 203, op. cit.
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Māyaṇṇa purchased after worship of the feet of the god (Gummaṭanātha) two *khaṇḍugas* of wet land of the *dāna-sāle* (alm-house) under the Gaṅgāsamudra tank of Belgoḷa in the presence of the jewel-merchants and *gauḍagaḷ* (two named) of Belgoḷa, and granted the same for the midday worship of Gummaṭanātha”.⁵
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⁵ E. C., II., No. 255, p. 115 (2nd ed.) ; No. 106, pp. 165-6. (1st ed.).
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In A.D. 1417, when Linganna Oḍeyar was protecting the Āraga kingdom, a number of Heggaḍes (named) of Sātalige in Āraga, sold to Dēvarasa's son (Gōvaṇṇa) certain specified land for thirty-four *hon*, in order to provide for a marriage.¹ The sale of land in A. D. 1417, by certain Heggaḍes of Mēguravaḷi in Maduvaḷige-nāḍ has been narrated above.² Those of the *nāḍs* and three cities of the Āraga Eighteen Kaṃpaṇa, agreeing together, gave to Baṅkarasa's son Viṭṭhaṇṇa, a stone *śāsana* of a sale of land in Beḷali and Kiṭṭadūr in A.D. 1415.³ According to a defaced inscription of about A. D. 1420, certain persons bought land (in Niḍuvaḷa-nāḍ and Kōḍūra?) for thirty-five *hon*, and formed it into a *agrahāra*. And Boppa Heggaḍe gave the land to Lakkarasa Oḍeyar, freed from the rent of sixty *hon* (*ā Lakkarasa Oḍeyarige hiraṇyōdaka kraya dāna dhārā-pūrvakavāgi...koṭṭa...sōtra guṭṭiyega śāsana pramāṇa-paṭṭe*).⁴ In A. D. 1427, certain Heggaḍes (named) of Sātalige in the Āraga-vēṇṭhe and all the people of the *nāḍ* gave to Hariyaka Nāyakitti of Hebbaraḍi, a deed of sale (*kraya dānā-patrada karamav*) for thirty salege of land in Aramvaḷḷi for eighty-five *varāha*. This generous lady on the same date, gave an *ōle* of the grant and presented the land to Amarēśvara Tirtha Śrīpāda, for a *chchatra* in connection with his *maṭha*.⁵
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¹ E. C., VIII, Tl. 142, p. 191.
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² Ibid., Tl. 141, p. 192, op. cit.
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³ Ibid., Tl, 217, p. 210.
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⁴ Ibid., Tl., 168, p. 197, P. II, p. 651. On *stotriya* and *sūtra*, supra, Volume I., Chapter IV, The Revenue Administration.
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⁵ E. C., VI, Kp. 27, p. 80.
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The Kuruḍimale temple priests (*sthānikaru*) granted to Siddapa's son Timaṇṇa a *dharma śāsana* or a deed of sale, in A. D. 1442, in connection with construction of a virgin tank named Siddasamudra in the Kuruḍumale-sīme, the rice fields to be formed in the land under the embankment being in Tūdaghaṭṭa-sīme. The price at which the land was sold was fifty *honnu*.⁶ In A.D. 1515, the three Hebbārs of the Kaḷasa Thousand village, and outside that village, seventeen persons (named), and all the elders (*mūligār*) of Nūju, agreeing among themselves, sold the village of Nūju to Sūrappa Sēnabōva excepting certain specified dues to the god Vira-Nārāyaṇa and Kaḷaśanātha.¹
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⁶ E., C., X. Ml. 259, pp. 131-2. For the sale-deed by a *sthānika* in A.D. 1535, see E. C., IV, Gu. 4, p. 36.
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¹ E. C., VI, Mg. 88, pp. 74-5.
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According to a stone record dated A. D. 1569, a grant was given to the god's treasury of Komāra Chenna Basavaṇṇa Oḍeyar of the Bāḷehaḷḷi throne, by Chenna Viraṇṇa Nāyaka and other Nāyakas (named) of Dānivāsa-sīme, and all the farmers and subjects of the Dānivāsa-sīme. The details of the grant were as follows: "Whereas simple bonds (*i.e.*, bonds without security—*aḍavu mai-sālada patragaḷu*), in the name of our predecessors Virūpāksha Oḍeyar, Chennarāya Oḍeyar and Arasappa Oḍeyar, and bonds in the name of the *nāḍ* people of our Dānivāsa (*namma Dānivāsada sīmeya nāḍavara hesara patrgaḷu*) have been found in the possession of Basavappa of Koppa,—and whereas those bonds (*ā-patragaḷu*) belong to the throne (*simhāsanakke sērida sammaṅdhakkāgi*); in order to discharge the debt of 12,000 *varāha* due thereon, with (?) interest at one per cent.—we have made over to the throne the three villages (named) belonging to our shares in the Dānivāsa-sīme (*namma Dānivāsada sīmeya baḷiya pāloḷagaṇa...simhāsanakke biṭṭu-koṭṭu*), and paid it off. In future neither the *svāmis* that may be on the throne, nor any one on the part of either Basavappayya or on the part of the throne can rise a claim for this or any other debt. The kings and *nāḍ* people who may be in the Dānivāsa lands will not interfere with these three villages." The deed, which was written by the Sēnabōva of the place, Aṇṇarasa, contains the signature of witnesses.²
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² Ibid., Kp. 5, p. 76, text p. 296.
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A stone record dated about A. D. 1602 informs us that the Pāgoṇḍe blacksmith Vinnōja's (son) Kannōja, in the presence of the Pāgoṇḍe *gauḍa*, *sēnabōva*, *taḷavāra*,...potter and *āyagāra*, sold the *kāṇachi* belonging to him in Pāgoṇḍe to the blacksmith Kāmōja's son Kempa, having received from him three ga.¹
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¹ E. C., XII, Pg. 2, p. 117.
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We may ascertain a few facts in connection with the method by which mortgages on land were released. In A. D. 1539 Chavuḍi Seṭṭi of Gērasoppe released the mortgage on the land of Karṇbhayya, son of Agaṇi Bommayyaṇṇa (Gērasoppeya Chavuḍi-saṭiru Agaṇi-Bommayyaṇṇa maga Kambhayyanu tanna kshētra aḍahāg irlāgi Chavuḍi-saṭiru adanu biḍisi koṭṭudakke); and the latter commemorated it by promising to carry on certain specified charities in front of the god Tyāgada-Brahma.² Chavuḍi Seṭṭi, we may incidentally note, made many other people equally happy in the same year by releasing them from the mortgage on their lands. These in return gave charity-deeds (dharma-sādhana) to him.³
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² E. C., II, No. 224, p. 96, text, p. 95 (2nd ed.); No. 99, p. 016 (1st ed.).
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³ Ibid., Nos. 225-7, p. 96.
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An interesting case of settling the question of false claims put forward to a gauḍike is given in a stone record dated A.D. 1612. During the reign of Veṅkaṭapati Dēva Mahārāya, the Mahānāyakāchārya (with other epithets) Harati Immaḍi Raṅgapa Nāyaka-ayya's (son) Huṅgahati Nāyaka's family relatives and others (named) granted to the nāḍ Gauḍas a stone śāsana as follows : "Whereas according to the copper śāsana formerly given by Vīra Ballāḷa Rāya the nāḍ gauḍike was being carried on,—and Muḍi-Gauḍa...of the two tanks says that the nāḍ-gauḍike is his, and having sent those on his side to Tumukur, and they and Muḍi Gauḍa having had a false vōle written, came saying that they had gained the (case)—And whereas that the channel overseer's vōle was a false vōle having been proved by the men sent from our palace, they returned the vōle, saying that we will not submit to Muḍi Gauḍa and that the gauḍike did not belong to him,—Thereupon to Anegonḍa Kariṇigappa they deposed that as long as sun and moon endure there should be no joint gauḍike or substitute, and in the presence of the chief priest of the god Mēlikuṇṭe Bālakṛiṣhṇa's temple, set up this stone *śāsana*.¹
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¹ E. C., XII, Si. 84, p. 100. *Gauḍikes* were sold like any other commodity. In A. D. 1581 Siddanna Gauḍa of Sid(dh)āpura, son of Dēvapa Gauḍa of Kerre sold the *gauḍike* which belonged to him of Roṭṭehaḷḷi for 200 *varāha*, to Medakeri Nāyaka, grandson of the *Mahāṇḍyakāchārya* Kāmegēti Segale Hanume Nāyaka. E. C., XI, Cd. 48, p. 13.
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The socio-economic activities of the people centre mostly round questions relating to the establishing of fairs and building tanks. We have already seen how in A. D. 1352 by order of *Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara* Kampaṇa Oḍeyar, Rāchaya Dēva Mahārāja, Bālumanne Rājulu of his (? Kampaṇa Oḍeyar's) city, with all the farmers and subjects of Kayivāra-nāḍu, (adorned with all titles) all of both (sects of) Nānā-Dēśis in Pekkuṇḍra and of the eighteen castes established a fair at Kayivāra. Periya Nāyaṇa, younger brother of Mārappa Seṭṭi, was appointed *paṭṭaṇa-svāmi* of the fair, with a rent free estate as his emolument.²
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² E. C., X, Ct. 95, p. 262, op. cit.
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The other side of this question is connected with the *koḍage* grants which we have detailed at some length while dealing with etiquette and honours in Vijayanagara. We may nevertheless add a few more instances of the corporate activities of the people in this direction. All the Brahmans of Hariharapura, which is Kellaṅgere, in A. D. 1367, unanimously agreed to make specified payments for the livelihood of the buffalo-man of the tank cart, for oil for wheel grease, crowbar, pickaxe and other necessaries.³ A more interesting instance of the corporate work of the Brahmans is given in an inscription dated A. D. 1410. This epigraph tells us that Dēva Rāya II made a settled agreement (*vyavahāra-nirṇaya*) for the god Harihara and for the Brahmans living in the Harihara-kṣhētra. "On the Brahmans at their own expense building a dam to the river Haridrā within the boundaries of the god Harihara, and leading a channel through the god's land to Harihara; of all the lands irrigated by the so-led channel, as far as it may go, two parts (thirds) shall be for the god Harihara, and one part (third) to the Brahmans who at their own expense constructed the channel. That enjoyment (of the land) may be held in peace" permanently, and free of all imposts. The epigraphs also tell us that "in order that there may be known with certainty what Brahmans have a right to the shares under the agreement, their names, sūtras and gōtras are here written. It was also decided that "also that the water of the channel should be distributed in the same proportions, and the expense of the wells and tanks formed under the channel, or expense connected with the river, should be borne in the same way."¹
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³ E. C., V, P. I, Ak. 115, p. 162.
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¹ E. C., XI, Dg. 23, pp. 31-2. See Dg. 29 dated A. D. 1424 for an account of the great dam, pp. 38-9.
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The Gauḍas and other people were more concerned in the agricultural welfare of the country than the Brahmans. In A. D. 1429 Ujeni Rāma Gauḍa's son Rayicharasa, Masana Gauḍa's son Muttu Gauḍa, and the elder Gauḍas and subjects of the Ujeni village, granted by a śāsana a koḍage to Ujeni Bayicharasa's son Chēmarasa. The inscription relates that Chēmarasa and the temple priests (sthānikaru) having provided the funds and entered into an agreement, constructed a tank to the east of the town.² In about A. D. 1521 all the Brahmans of the agrahāra Bhaṭṭa-ratnākara, which was Nāgamaṅgala, granted a vōle to Viṭhṭhaṇṇa, son of Jannikūchiga of the same town. On Viṭhṭhaṇṇa having constructed a tank (situation described) they gave him many paddy fields under the waste weir of the same Māyi-Dēvi tank, as kere-goḍaṅge.³ The Mahānāyakāchārya Harti...Vithaṇa Nāyaka, the farmers and Sēnabōva of Taluku and the farmers and sēnabōvas of the fourteen places in the Doḍēri-sime, granted, in A.D. 1560, some unspecified land to the Mahānāyakāchārya Yallappa Nāyaka, evidently as a tank mānya.⁴ In about A. D. 1591 the Sirya-sthaḷa Gauḍa Dāsapa's son Sandikāmi Gauḍa and others (named) constructed a tank and a well, in addition to certain other works of charity, "in order that the Gauḍas of Dāsanahaḷḷi of the Yaleyūr-sthaḷa may enjoy it under our charge from generation to generation", the gauḍike of the place having been given to the donors. The charities refer to a new village built by them.¹
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² E. C., XII, Kg. 18, p. 35.
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³ E. C., IV, Ng. 82, p. 133.
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⁴ E. C., XI, Cl. 3, p. 98.
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¹ E. C., XII, Si. 92, pp. 100-1.
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The harmony that existed between the different religious sections of the people is specially seen in the epigraphs relating to the activities of the Brahmans, the Sthānikas and the Jainas. In A. D. 1368 certain Gauḍas (named) of Uyyanapaḷḷi together with all the Brahmans of Kēśavapura or Nagara and other Gauḍas (named) of various villages, granted from each family the petty taxes, the tank and lands of Mātruhaḷḷi, to provide for the service of the god Anilēśvara of Haradanahaḷḷi. The concluding lines of the epigraph tell us that "agreeing among themselves, and of their own accord, in the presence of the officer Siriyaṇṇa, they granted them, with presentation of a coin and water, to the god Anilēśvara".² According to an effaced inscription dated about A. D. 1372, all the Brahmans of a certain agrahāra agreeing among themselves made (an agreement) regarding a loan of 150 gadyāṇa to be given to their ryots from the treasury of the god Rāmanātha.³ In A. D. 1377 all the Brahmans of the two Kannūr agrahāras in Hārahaḷi-nāḍ and of Eḍihaḷḷi and Gāvaḷūr, and of the seventy villages, and all the Gauḍas and chiefs of the nāḍ, made a grant of rice land (specified) belonging to the Gautama village for the god Narasiṁha of the hill of the same locality. The same record informs us that Kaṇḍamani Rāmaya Nāyaka's son Taḷa Nāyaka and the Brahmans of Hārahaḷi-nāḍ, having made application to all the nāḍ chiefs, transferred it with pouring of water.⁴
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² E. C., IV, Ch. 113, p. 15.
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³ Ibid., Gu. 33, pp. 41-2.
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⁴ E. C., VII, Sk. 35, p. 46.
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The Pañchāḷas and the Seṭṭis too could express their devotion to the local gods by giving jointly gifts of land. All the Pañchāḷas of the Yeṇṇe-nāḍ, in A. D. 1398, in order to provide for the necessaries of worship and decoration for the god Anilēśvara, presented an offering at the rate of one haṇa in the several villages.¹ The Rāya Seṭṭis of the customs dues by both roads granted eleven varāha eighteen haṇa realized from the old goḍage, included in the customs dues paid by the oil mongers as oil mill tax, to provide for the perpetual lamp of the god Chennakēśava of Aneganakere. The epigraph, however, contains the information that it was granted by "order of Lakkaṇṇa Oḍeyar" in A. D. 1399.² In A. D. 1475 certain Gauḍas (named) brought land (specified for forty-five gadyāṇa from Kāñchi Śambhu Dēva's son Gōvinda Dēva, for the god Kēśava of Kāsaraguppe in Eḍe-nāḍ in Chandragutti.³
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¹ E. C., IV, Ch. 119, p. 16.
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² E. C., V, P. I. Cn. 175, p. 201.
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³ E. C., VIII, Sb. 527, p. 87.
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The great minister Gaureya Daṇṇāyaka with all the Gauḍas, Seṭṭis and others (not named), granted specified lands for the offerings of the god Varadarāja, to the Brahmans of Vāgaṭa, which is Bhāgīrathapura.⁴ Certain Seṭṭis (named) together with "the existing Brahmans" (many named) of the agrahāra Viṣṇusamudra, also called Kereyasaṅthe, caused a bhōga-maṇṭapa to be erected in front of the temple of the god Janārdhana, and granted it to all the wet land under the Chāmanahaḷḷi pond, "except what had previously been granted,—and of the land under the water course from the eastern sluice, one half to the temple and one-fourth to the Brahmans."⁵
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⁴ E. C., IX, Ht. 128, p. 104.
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⁵ E. C., VI, Kd. 91, p. 16.
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In A. D. 1522 Mācha Gauḍa and other Gauḍas with the principal Nānā-Dēśi Seṭṭis of the ninety-six Thousand, granted certain specified lands for the Hoḷalakeṛe-vṛtti, together with a number of specified dues on articles at the fair. For the god Mahēśvara they also granted specified dues from the fair.⁶ According to an epigraph dated in Śaka 1445 (A. D. 1523-4) it was covenanted by the inhabitants of Valla-nāḍu that the Vēḷḷāḷa tenants of the three villages Pālaikkuḍi, Kālaṅguḍi and Kiḷinallūr should pay their obligations and services to the temple of Aruṅgaḷanāthār.¹
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⁶ E. C., XI, Hk. 34, p. 120.
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¹ 271 of 1914.
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On a certain person, whose name is effaced in the inscription dated A. D. 1533, having built the temple of the god Chandramaulīśvara on the bank of the tank formed in the Ārkkavati river, and "having brought a Kāśi liṅga (or liṅga from Benares), set up the god Chandramaulīśvara, with Naṇḍi-kēśvara and Vighnēśvara", and "on making petition to the Brahmans, many learned Brahmans of various gōtras, sūtras, and names, at the auspicious time of consecration," granted specified land for the offerings of the god, together with land for an enclosure to the temple, house for the priest, and a street with the land adjoining it.² Two years later "in the year Manmatha, they made certain additional grants, the ground for the god's precincts being insufficient." In A. D. 1536 in the year Durmukhi they granted the temple koḍage to Dāsi for cultivation.³
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² E. C., IX., Nl, 31, p. 34.
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³ Ibid. 31, p. 34. This inscription is given by Rice under No. 31.
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In A. D. 1534 the temple of the god Tirumala of Chakkere in the Kūḍalūr-sthaḷa, also called Rājarāja-chōḷa-chaturvēdi-maṅgaḷam in Keḷaḷe-nāḍ, "by order of the royal treasurer (rāya-bhaṇḍārada) Timmappayya, was given to the Establisher of the path of the Vēdas, the Chakrakōlu Vijaya Chūḍāmani Nallūru Timmarāya-chakravarti-ayya's beloved disciple, the son of Rāmayya and Rāmānujammā, Nārāyaṇayya. And all the Hebbāruva Brahmans of Kūḍalūr and Maḷalūr, with the consent of all the farmers and subjects of these villages, gave to the temple priest (sthānika) Nārāyaṇayya land (specified) for the service of the god Tirumala, together with certain taxes (named). It was further declared that the temple was free from paying samaya-varlane and birāḍa.⁴
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⁴ Ibid., Cp. 155, p. 165.
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The spontaneous outburst of charity by corporate bodies of the earlier times is not seen in a record dated A. D. 1544 which informs us that, during the reign of Sadāśiva Rāya, " Sāmanta Cheṇṇa and other Nāyakas (named), having received an order from their lord (whose name is not given in the epigraph) to maintain the *agrahāra*, temple...in order that he might obtain perpetual wealth, made a grant from their...Bāgūr ".¹ It is hardly necessary to say that this is one of these instances of charity which does not speak highly of some of the nobles of Vijayanagara.
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¹ E. C., IV, Ng. 2, p. 113.
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But voluntary contributions by the people did not altogether disappear in later Vijayanagara history. In about A. D. 1600 the Bennāyakanahaḷḷi Gauḍa and subjects agreeing, gave the worship of Vo...śelamma to Lakai-bōya. The inscription does not contain any further information.²
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² E. C., XII, Tp. 99, p. 61.
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Before we proceed to mention the charitable endowments by the people, we may speak of one or two features of the social history of the times—the particular favour by which the rulers and the subjects looked on the Jainas, and the amicable relations between the Sthānikas and the Brahmans. Although these two features refer to the religious life of the people, yet it is not irrelevant that we should dwell on them from the point of view of the corporate activities of the people. Lest the instances we have cited above should be interpreted to mean that the Brahmans of Vijayanagara were extremely fortunate in securing the largest share of the bounty of the people, we may give an instance dealing with the public charities of all the merchants and citizens of a province. This epigraph, which does not exhaust all the records on the subject, is dated A. D. 1383. All the Sālu-mūle of Eḍa-nāḍ in Gutti and of twenty-one other centres we have already mentioned in connection with the guilds in Vijayanagara, " having agreed among themselves, gave to the Sankala basti of Haḷigere a *śāsana* " confirming the *umbaḷi* gift of seventy *varāha* for a palanquin and spears, given by the *Mahā-prauḍha* Mude Daṇṇāyaka.³ One has only to remember the former religious settlement between the Jainas and the Śrīvaiṣṇavas in A. D. 1368 at the hands of Bukka Oḍeyar, to realize that the people could not but have shown the same generosity and consideration to the Jainas, which their ruler had made public on the occasion of that great controversy.
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³ E. C., VIII, Sb. 428, p. 75, op. cit.
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Holi Festival.
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The good feelings that existed between the Sthānikas or temple priests on the one hand and the Brahmans on the other, are clearly proved by the following two records. One of them is dated A. D. 1416. In that year "in the great minister Nāgaṇṇa Daṇṇāyaka's Muḷuvāgil kingdom, Annadāni Oḍeyar was maintaining the proper *dharmas*". Kēsava Perumāḷe's sons Balepa, Maṇiya and Mārapa, and his younger brother Āvāmbaḷa, the temple priests (*sthānikaru*), "by order of the original chief goddess of Muḷuvāgil, Muḷuvāyi Nāchi, Dēvi," agreeing among themselves, gave to Śivarātri-Viṭhannai Mallaṇṇa and other Brahmans a *śāsana* as follows: "The, Araḷi dam in the Pālāru river in the Katariyahalli-sime belonging to our Muḷuvāyi Nāchi Dēvi having been breached from time immemorial and ruined down to the level of the ground, in order that you may expend much money and restore the dam so as to form a tank, and build there a village named Muḷuvāyi-Nāchipura, we grant to you the tract of land bounded as follows,—(here come the boundaires)—in which you may cut down the jungle and form fields. And the rice lands under and in the area of the tank which you construct, dividing them into four parts, one part will belong to the treasury of our Muḷuvāyi Nāchi Dēvi, and in consideration of your having expended much money of your own and constructed the tank, the remaining three parts we grant, with the land (before-mentioned), to your Brahmans as an *agrahāra*, free of all imposts, from our Muḷuvāyi Nāchi Dēvi. All the usual rights of the village named Muḷuvāyi Nāchipura which you build we also grant. If any damage arise to your tank, it belongs to your Brahmans to repair". The agreement on tablets (*patra-śāsana*) was inscribed in a stone sasana (*śilā-śāsana*) in front of the goddess Muḷuvāyi Nāchi Dēvi, and was granted by the donors of their own freewill "with the consent of our wives sons, relatives, dependants and claimants, and also with the consent of the king."¹ This important epigraph enables us to assert that the Sthānikas or temple priests were owners of temple lands, that they contracted deeds in the name of the deity, and that an agreement of the nature given above was declared valid only when it had received the consent of all relatives, dependants and claimants concerned, and also of the State. The concord between the Sthānikas and the Brahmans, as indicated clearly in the Muḷuvāyi epigraph, is also proved by another inscription dated A. D. 1520. This relates that the Brahmans of Vōlu-Narasimhapura and the Sthānikaru gave to Dyāpa-Kedurappa specified land and a house, the object of the grant being not stated in the inscription.²
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¹ E. C., X, Mb. 7, p. 73.
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² Ibid., Kl. 151, p. 53.
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We have given instances to prove that in the last years of the Hoysalas the people clearly indicated that they could unite for a common purpose by giving endowments in company with the officials of the Government. This was specially noticeable in the year A. D. 1342. That the earliest traditions continued to influence the minds of the people under Vijayanagara is proved by an inscription dated A. D. 1347. This informs us that the inhabitants of Ambaḍakki-dāḍu including Pāppiśiyyar and others (named), and the Mahāsāvantādhipati Mañjeya Nāyaka's son Aṅkaya Nāyaka, granted to Kēttiśiyar, son of Vayiriśiyar, as a kuḍaṅgai, all the dry and wet lands belonging to Dāśayanpaḷḷi of their nāḍu. The concluding lines of the same epigraph prove that there was unanimity of opinion about the grant. "This is the signature of the nāḍu Seṭṭiśvara-dēvar. This is the signature of Nāyakkar-Śrī Allāḷanātha. This is the signature of Āneyappan Ādimūlam. This is the signature of Nilappan, the accountant of the nāḍu."³ Another record dated A. D. 1348 deals with the grant of the Koḍigehaḷḷi to Bairi Seṭṭi's son Kariya Nāyaka by the Mahāsāmantādhipati Mayileya Nāyaka, the great Eḷahaṅka-nāḍ prabhu Bairi Dēva and others (named) together with all the farmers, as a permanent endowment.¹ In A. D. 1351 the Kaluvali-nāḍ prabhu Tāḷavāḍi Bammaṇṇa, Gaṅgavāḍi Mādaṇṇa and many others (named), together with all the subjects and farmers, granted to the Mahāsāmantādhipati (with other titles) Mayileya Nāyaka's younger brother Chennaya Nāyaka, as a koḍage, Vayijūr in their own nāḍu.²
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³ Ibid., Sd. 71, p. 188. There are three inscriptions relating to Pāppiśiyyar, which have been cited in this treatise. (E. C., X, Sd. 67, pp. 187-8; Sd. 26, p. 182, Si. 71, 188.) This person together with the Mahāsāmantādhipati Mañjeya Nāyaka's son Aṅkaya Nāyaka figures in records ranging from A. D. 1341 to A. D. 1347. According to our computation the Vijayanagara Empire was founded in A. D. 1346. And the instance of
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¹ E. B., IX, Dv. 50, p. 80.
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² Ibid., Cp. 16, p. 138.
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The Mahāsāmantādhipati Śipati Nāyaka's son Soṇṇeya Nāyaka, according to a Tamil record dated A. D. 1360, together with the inhabitants of Amḍadakki-nāḍu, including the superintendents of the nāḍu, Pāpaśiyar and Śokkiśiyar and three others (named), granted certain specified lands, as a kuḍaṅgai, to Śānāṇḍai. The epigraph contains the signature of the nāḍu, Seṭṭēsuram-uḍaiyar, and that of Nāyakkar, Allāḷanātha, and of the accountant Nilappar.³ In A. D. 1369 the Mahāsāmantādhipati Soṇṇeya Nāyaka and the inhabitants of the nāḍu, including Noṇappa...made a grant of a village, the name of which is effaced in the record, but which was near Vēmamaṅgaḷa, as a kuḍaṅgai. The grant contains "the signature of the inhabitants of the nāḍu—Śrī-Bhairavanātha."⁴ Another effaced inscription dated A. D. 1397 tells us that a number of Heggaḍes (named) made a grant of the Kallakoḍagi land (specified) of Hollavāni to some one whose name is lost in the record.⁵ In A. D. 1407 all the people of the two Maṇḍu-nāḍ
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³ E. C., X, Ct. 75, p. 257. See also Ct. 76 of the same date. Th same people made another grant.
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⁴ Ibid., Kl. 12, p. 3.
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⁵ E. C., VIII, Tl. 160, p. 195.
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Pāppi Śiyar and Aṅkaya Nāyaka only confirms our assumption, made in this treatise and elsewhere, that the rulers of Vijayanagara being the legitimate heirs to the Hoysala traditions, allowed the offices and governors who served under the latter, to continue under the new regime. B.A.S.
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Thirty of Hombuchcha-nāḍ gave to Bomōga's son Kāmōja the land (specified) in Halavanahaḷḷi as a koḍage.¹
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¹ E.C., VIII., Tl. 122, p. 187. See also E.C., X, Kl. 240 of the same date in which we are informed that the inhabitants of Soṇṇeyanāyan-chaturvēdi-nāḍu, including Paṭṭiyūr Pemmi Seṭṭi and others (named) gave the village of Sirramarāḍi to (?) Seravāran-nāḍu as a kuḍangai, p. 67. The exact meaning of the last clause is not apparent. B. A. S.
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About the Brahmans we are told that in A. D. 1452 all the mahājanas of Gavuḍagere granted certain lands (specified) as a tax free koḍage to Kāḷa Nāyaka for having made Sāveyahaḷḷi a pura.² All the Brahmans of the sarvamānya-agrahāra Kundalagurige otherwise called Rāmasamudra, granted specified lands as koḍage to Bagturahaḷḷi Tamma Gauḍa in about A. D. 1500.³
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² My. Arch. Report for 1920, p. 42.
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³ E. C., X, Sd. 75, p. 189.
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Brahmans as well as artisan classes joined together to make provision for the dancing-girls attached to temples. In A. D. 1366 Kāḷappa, the Gauḍa of Honganūr, the mahājanas of the village and the gavuḍugaḷ of the nāḍu, having met together, granted some lands and taxes to provide for dancing-girls in the temple of god Ankanātha. All the eighteen castes attended the meeting at which it was decided that for making the above provision every house should pay one ? tāra every year and on occasions of regular marriage of a girl one bāgilu-vaṇa (door-haṇa) and one dēvara-haṇa (God's-haṇa) and of kūḍike marriage of a woman half the amount.⁴ In A.D. 1369 all the Brahmans of the agrahāra Madhusūdanapura also called Taḷirūr, agreeing among themselves, made a grant in Imma-Uyaguṇḍiyahaḷḷi for the support of the dancing-girls in the temple of the god Madhusūdana.⁵ All the Brahmans of the agrahāra Prasanna-Vijayapura, agreeing among themselves in A. D. 1372, made a grant (specified in detail) for the support of the dancing-girls of the original god of the village (grāmadhidaivavāgiha), the god Rāmanātha. The amount set apart for this purpose was thirty gadyāṇa. As we have already seen, the epigraph concludes thus: "Whatever Brahmans oppose this, are out of the Brahman community, and banished from the village."¹ In the same year all the Pañchāḷas of Terakaṇāmbi and various other places (named), we may likewise be permitted to repeat, with the smiths of the four places (named) agreeing together made a grant also with the same object, of providing for the dancing-girls of the same temple. Their generosity extended also to the dancing-girl Kētavve, presented to the temple by Rāmaṇṇa, son Nāgavve. We have already seen that, like the Brahmans of Prasanna-Vijayapura, the Pañchāḷas also imposed a penalty on all those who destroyed their grant.² In A. D. 1403 all the Nāyakavāḍis of Ālūr, the southern Ayyāvaḷiyūr, who were altogether seven, made a grant for the support of the dancing-girls of the god Dēśinātha of the same place Ayyāvaḷiyūr.³
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⁴ My. Arch. Report for 1917, p. 47.
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⁵ E. C., V, P. I, Ak. 134, p. 173.
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¹ E. C., IV, Gu. 32, p. 41, op. cit.
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² Ibid., Gu. 34, p. 42, op. cit.
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³ Ibid., Ch. 45, p. 6.
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We may also note that when viragals were set up, all the people joined together to commemorate the event. An effaced inscription dated A. D. 1371, informs us that various Gauḍas whose names are mostly gone, set up a viragal at Hoḷalkere.⁴
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⁴ E. C., XI, Hk. 31, p. 119. The inscription on the viragal was written by the Aḍanūr Sēnabōva Kasapa.
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Agreements relating to marriage may next be considered. A record which is unfortunately much defaced, but dated about A. D. 1449, tells us that a number of Seṭṭis (named) of Bāgūr made some regulations regarding women who lapsed from marriage.⁵ In Śakā 1377 (A.D. 1455-6) certain merchants of Kāvērippākam drew up a private agreement to the effect that a specified sum of money was to be set apart, on marriage occasions, for the repairs of the temple of Kēśava Parumāḷ at Kāvērippākkam alias Vikrama-Śōḷa-Chatuvēdimangalam.⁶ All the subjects and Seṭṭis (of a place not mentioned in the epigraph), we are told in a record dated A. D. 1534, by the order of the Emperor Achyuta Rāya, remitted for all castes the tax on marriage and on marriage pandals. The inscription also contains the names of Seṭṭis who joined in this.¹
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⁵ E. C., XII, Tp. 86, p. 59, text, p. 165.
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⁶ 383 of 1905; Rangachari, Top List., I, NA. 4, p. 32.
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¹ E. C., XI, Hk. 17, p. 118. This is an unusual case of remission of taxes on marriage by the subjects, since we have already seen that it was the State which remitted the marriage tax. B. A. S.
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The corporate activities of the people in connection with charity are of particular interest in determining their social solidarity. A Tamil record of A. D. 1346 deals with the public charities of the paṭṭa-viyapāri Muttiyaraśaṉ Iḷamaṉ Suvāśā-Nāyakkar, and the inhabitants of Teṉṟaṟṟu-Tuṟavaḷi-nāḍu in Śaṇai-nāḍu of Rājēndra-Śōḷa-vaḷa-nāḍu in Nigarili-Śōḷa-maṇḍalam. They granted certain lands (specified) together with the right to sell or mortgage, to Gaṅgādhara (descent stated), a resident of Śeñji-agaram in Toṇḍa-maṇḍalam.² In about the same year the mahājanas of Irumbiliyūr and the inhabitants of Veyūr-nāḍu (a few named) together with Vallappa Daṇṇāyaka, granted the wet and dry lands in Udaiyanapaḷḷi to Śēviḍapergaḍaiyār, as a sarvamānya.³ Another incomplete record dated A. D. 1359 relates that the Mahāsāvantādhipati Mayileya Nāyaka's younger brother Yōjaya Nāyaka and Santeya Nāyaka with all the subjects and farmers of the great Pa...nāḍ made some grant.⁴ All the people and farmers of Attihaḷḷi together with the Brahmans of Rāmapura which is Bannūr, and Chokka Gauḍa seem to have made a grant in A. D. 1366.⁵ In the same year " the mahājanas, the heads of the maṭhas and sthānas, the reciters of the Vēdas, the temple manager (dharmakartḷār), Śembāṇḍai, the pūjāris Vaitti-baṭṭar, Mādēva-baṭṭar and their sons, the Kaikkōḷar (? weavers) of the fine temple at (?) Kavarippiṇā, the (?) mūlachchēdi Śri-Virabhattira and the servants performing various duties, from the pūjāri at the top to the scavenger at the bottom,—having assembled on the seat of justice", agreed among themselves to measure out "a certain quantity (specified) of paddy and pay certain taxes (named) to Śrī-Rudra-Śrī-Māhēśvara of Chitramēḷi Peruk-kāḷan-Dirukkāvaṇam residing in the temple of Sōma-īsvaram-uḍaiyar of Tāmaraikkirai in Rājēndra-Chōḷa-vaḷa-nāḍu.¹
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² E. C., IX, Bn. 59, pp. 12-3.
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³ Ibid., Bn. 47, p. 11.
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⁴ Ibid., Nl. 23, p. 33.
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⁵ E. C., III, TN. 110, p. 90.
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¹ E. C., IX, Bn. 66, p. 14.
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The people of Maṇḍu-nāḍu have given us some more evidence of their solidarity. In A. D. 1367 all the Gauḍas and subjects of that nāḍu granted specified land to Śakaṇṇa's son Dēvappa.² In A. D. 1371 all the nāḍ people of the four Maṇḍu-nāḍ Thirty, which is here stated to be in Maduvaṅka-nāḍ, granted the lands of Maṅgaḷa village, excluding those belonging to the god, to Sūrya Bhaṭṭa's son Maharasa, in order that he might attain the four objects of human desire (*dharma-artha-kāma-mōksha-chatur-vidha-purushārtha-sidhyarthavāgi*). And also the land in Badagareyakere (specified), from affection for Umā-Mahēśvara.³
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² E. C., VIII, Tl. 120, p. 186.
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³ Ibid., Tl. 119, p. 186, P. II, p. 580.
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The goodwill existing between the Brahmans and other sections of the people, which is proved in the numerous epigraphs we have cited, is also seen in a record dated A. D. 1374. This relates that all the Brahmans of Honnavaḷi gave to Bomma Gauḍa and other Gauḍas (named) and all the farmers and subjects of Halukūr a śāsana for an exchange (*parivartana-śāsana*) of 470 poles of land in Bhagavati-ghaṭṭa, a hamlet of Honnavaḷi, for the same extent of land in Būdana-hāḷu, attached to Tulikeyahaḷḷi, a hamlet of Halukūr.⁴ In A. D. 1377 all the Gauḍas together with some others, whose names are effaced in the inscription, "agreeing among themselves, from affection for Īśvara, granted Huttadahaḷḷi to the house-minister (*maneya-pradhāna*) of Virūpaṇṇa Oḍeyar, Rāmarāsa. He however "at the time of the eclipse of the sun, from love to his *iṣṭa-dēvatā*" formed it into an agrahāra called Hariharapura, and bestowed it on Brahmans.⁵
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⁴ E. C., V, P. I., Ak. 63, p. 135.
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⁵ E. C., VIII, Tl. 125, p. 187.
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During the viceroyalty of the same governor, Virūpaṇṇa Oḍeyar, in A. D. 1377, all the nāḍ-prabhus in the Nāsavandu-nāḍ-sīme of Maduvaṅka-nāḍ gave to Bēcharasa's son Gōyindēva (Gōvinda Dēva ?) lands in the Aṭṭigāra village as a free gift.¹
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¹ E. C. VIII., Tl. 28, p. 169.
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The Brahmans of fifteen shares out of the forty-five of Tirthahaḷḷi agreeing among themselves, in A. D. 1378, granted by śāsana certain lands (specified) to the Brahmans of the thirty shares of Virūpākshapura which is Kōṇandūr.² Forty-five Brahmans of a village, the name of which is effaced in a record dated about A. D. 1378, also unanimously released the svāmya to certain persons (named) granting them the dues (named) in Eḍehaḷḷi, Beṭuḷa and Beḷugūru.³
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² Ibid., Tl. 108, p. 185.
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³ Ibid., Tl. 21, p. 167.
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The Gauḍas and subjects of the two Maṇḍu-nāḍ Thirty of the Hombuchcha-nāḍ (many named), and five original landowners of Niṭṭūr in Hombuchcha-nāḍ (named), granted to Mallappa of the Treasury, in A. D. 1379, lands of the Niṭṭūr village, rated (as specified) at fourteen hon.⁴ An inscription dated A. D. 1390 relates that Hibbari Lukumaiya Nāyaka granted for dharma Lakshmināthapura in Kōlāḷa-nāḍ, to some one not mentioned in the grant. The nāḍ-prabhus of Kōlāḷa (several named) and other men disposed in dharma granted all the lands belonging to that Lakshmināthapura.⁵
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⁴ Ibid., Tl. 114, p, 185.
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⁵ E. C., X, Kl. 105, p. 32.
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The Brahmans of Elase and Kuppugaḍḍe in the Gutti Eighteen Kampaṇa, together with all the Gauḍas, in A. D. 1395, granted of their own accord Elambaḷḷi in the Nāgarakaṇḍa-nāḍ to Nara Nārā(ya)ṇa Dēva, son of the Treasurer Dharaṇi Dēva, in the presence of the god Saptanātha of Gōve.⁶ All the Brahmans and subjects of a place, which is effaced in an inscription dated A. D. 1396 but which was in the Āraga kingdom, together with all the nāḍ people of Maduvankanāḍ, agreeing among themselves, granted to Mayyaṇṇa's son Virūpaṇṇa a gift of land (specified)¹ All the cultivators of the three cities of all the nāḍs of the Eighteen Kaṃpaṇa of the Āraga-veṇṭhe, "agreeing among themselves, with one accord", made a grant of lands to the learned governor Viṭṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar in six villages in the Maḍavaḍi-nāḍ, having purchased them "at the price of the day", 500 varāha, and having obtained "the consent of the people of Meṇasūr and Dānamūla. We may incidentally note that the donee is described thus: "the recipient of the ascetic virtues (yajaña-yājana-adhyayana-adhyāpana-dāna-pratigraha-shaṭ - karma-niyatar aha), restrained by the six rites, follower of the Rik-śākhā, Viṭṭhaṇṇa Oḍeyar of the Bharadvāja-gōtra".²
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