A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c18.15

c18.15

Some curious instances of mixed castes and their trades occur in the inscriptions. Towards the close of the reign of Kulottunga I, for instance, the bhaṭṭas of a village consulted the codes and laid down the professions to be followed by the anuloma caste of Rathakāras as architecture, coach and chariot-building, the erection of gōpuras with icons on them, the manufacture of sacrificial instruments and so on—a decision in conformity with the nearly contemporary manual of law, the Mitāksharā of Vijñāneśvara. Sometimes the privileges of particular castes became, for specific reasons, the subject of royal regulation. For instance, the stone-masons (kanmāḷar) of South Kongu and some other areas were granted the following privileges by a Chola monarch: the blowing of two conches, the beating of drums and so on at domestic occurrences, good or bad, the use of sandals when they went out of their homes; and the plastering of the walls of their residences with lime plaster. A barber Kondōja pleased Sadāśiva and Rāma Rāya so much that he was able to secure exemption for his entire community from taxes and dues like forced labour, land-rent, Mahānavami torches and so on; and a number of inscriptions recording this fact contain engravings of razors, strops, mirrors, scissors and others of the barbers' tools of trade.