Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c25.s1.158

v2.c25.s1.158

Among prominent festivals were two celebrations one of which, as we shall presently relate, was, as it is today, of great consequence in the Tamil land. These are the *Mahaśaṅkramaṇa* and *Makaraśaṅkrānti* festivals. A record dated only in the cyclic year Vikrita, but of the times of Achyuta Rāya, deals with the gift of the village Attipiravaḍai *alias* Namasśivāyanallūr, made on the occasion of the *Mahaśaṅkramaṇa* under orders from Namasśivāya Nāyakkar.⁵ In A. D. 1529 the Daḷavāyi Raṅga Nāyaka, son of Garige Nāyaka, granted certain specified land from his fief in the Ummattūr country for the offerings of the god Śrīraṅganātha of Ummattūr at the festival of *Makaraśaṅkrānti*.⁶