Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c25.s1.99

v2.c25.s1.99

The *dhvaja-sēve* or flag service is another feature of the car festivals which deserves to be noted. An inscription dated A. D. 1541 relates that by order of the Emperor Achyuta Rāya, the minister Rāma Bhaṭṭa's younger brother Yellappayya granted the tank Kēṭagauḍanakere and the village Gōpagoṇḍanahalli, surnamed Veṅkaṭasamudra, to Dhvaja Timmaṇa Dāsa, son of Vāsudeva Nāgayya, for conducting every year the flag service (*dhvaja-sēve*) and the *jātrā* of the god Tiruveṅgaḷanātha. The epigraph which was found at the Raṅganātha temple of Raṅgapura, Pāvugaḍa tālukā, further relates that the agent for the charities of Yallappayya, Hebbā-ruva Upādhyāya of Rodḍa, who was the superintendent (*pārupatyakarta*) of the *sime*, was ordered to see that the charity was carried on properly.¹ This proves that charities given at the instance of the Government were placed under an official of the State.