Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c11.78

c11.78

Go-rakṣakas (cowherds), Kirātas (hunters), Rajakas (washermen) and Kṣaurakas (barbers). These seem to have formed a recognised part of the local assemblies.⁵⁴ They appear to be the eighteen castes, Padineṇ bhūmi śamayattār, of the Kuṇṇāṇḍār kōyil inscription above referred to. Saletore doubts if these were not merely “conventional divisions”.⁵⁵ But the division of society according to profession need not be conventional.