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Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c13: Chapter VIII

Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c13

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English

Contents

Chapter VIII

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Castes and Communities in the Empire

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The vast empire of Vijayanagar was composed of a large number of communities and social groups. The traditional four castes had each multiplied into various sub-castes and communities, many of them quarrelling among themselves for particular rights and privileges often customary in nature.

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The establishment of a strong central government at the capital and the rigid control it exercised even over the outlying parts of the empire resulted in the appointment of special officers or agents over those areas. The Vijayanagar sovereigns appointed Karṇāṭaka and Telugu generals as the viceroys of provinces and rulers of districts; and they took with them a large retinue even to the distant parts of the empire. As observed earlier such colonisation of the provinces by a particular community made for important changes in the community itself and in the localities concerned. Linguistic differences also played a prominent part in this development.

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The caste of a particular individual came to be generally determined by his calling, though the calling might with equal truth be said to depend on the community to which he belonged. Thus there were in the Vijayanagar empire as many castes as there were professions. Even so, certain communities were divided into minor sects. For example the artisans were divided into five classes each pursuing a particular profession.

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As orthodox Hindus themselves and as followers of an orthodox Hindu tradition, the Vijayanagar kings felt it their duty to protect the institution of caste or varṇāśramadharma especially in view of the Muhammadan invasions. The sovereigns and their subjects felt that a tightening of the bond of union among themselves was quite essential for preserving their religion, for, according to them, the caste system was inextricably interwoven with religion. The anxiety of the rulers of Vijayanagar to maintain the social solidarity of the Hindus is clearly seen in the titles they assumed, such as :

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The supporter of the four castes and orders,¹ protector of the Varṇāśramadharma,² upholder of the duties of all castes,³ etc. Since the four castes had become divided into a large number of sub-castes and communities, and since all of them were protected by the State, some of the Vijayanagar kings took the title of ‘the protector of all the castes in the empire.’⁴ The interest of the kings in maintaining the social solidarity of the four castes is seen in the concluding verses of the Jāmbavatī-kalyāṇam of Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya where the royal poet says:

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¹ E. I., III, p. 125.

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² E.C., VIII, Tl. 11.

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³ E.C., VI, Kp. 32.

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⁴ E.C., VIII, Tl. 14.

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Dharmam pādacatuṣṭayena kṛtavat sthairyam samālam batām
Cāturvarṇyam upaitu karma satatam svasvādhi-kāro-citam |
Śeṣakṣmādharanāyakasya kṛpayā saptārṇavīmadhyagām
Rakṣan gāmiha Kṛṣṇarāyaṇṛpatir jīyāt sahasram samāḥ ||⁵

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⁵ S. K. Aiyangar, Sources, p. 143.

Brahmans

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As in ancient India, so in the Vijayanagar days, the most respected member in society was the Brahman. Almost every foreign traveller who visited the Vijayanagar court was struck by the respect the Brahman commanded and the simple life he led. Abdur Razāk remarks: “The Brahmans are held by him (Dēva Rāya II) in higher estimation than all other men.”⁶ Paes says that Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya paid much honour and held the Brahmans in great favour.⁷ Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya too says: “Charity is for the protection of the Dvijas.”⁸ The Brahmans enjoyed certain special privileges; and they were not liable to be put to death whatever crime they committed.⁹ Hence it is, according to the story of Nuniz, Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya did not put to death Sāḷuva Timma for his alleged murder of Tirumala.¹⁰

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⁶ Elliot, op. cit., IV, p. 105.

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⁷ Sewell, op. cit., p. 246; for the observation of Nuniz see ibid., p. 390.

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⁸ Amukta., canto IV, v. 276.

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⁹ Barbosa, I, p. 217.

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¹⁰ Sewell, op. cit., p. 361.

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Though members of the sacerdotal class, the Brahmans were found in almost every walk of life. A few of them were priests and were attached to temples. Speaking about them Paes says: "Those who have charge of the temples are learned men, and eat nothing which suffers death."¹¹ Some were owners of estates and lived upon the fruits which they got from their lands.¹² A few others took to trade and settled down as merchants, while still others remained as the inmates of monasteries which possessed good revenues.¹³ The latter spent a large part of their time in serious study and contemplation.

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¹¹ Ibid., p. 245; see also Barbosa, I, p. 217.

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¹² Sewell, op. cit., p. 245.

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¹³ Ibid.

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Though many of them led such peaceful lives, some were active politicians, administrators and generals. The history of the empire is full of instances to show that there was a line of efficient Brahman ministers who largely guided the destinies of the vast empire. Mādhava and Sāyaṇa were Brahmans who were able ministers under Bukka I and Harihara II. Vira Vasanta Mādhava who extended the empire in the West up to Goa was a Brahman. During the days of Dēva Rāya I and Dēva Rāya II the Brahmans retained their unique place in society; among them mention may be made of Viṭṭhaṇṇa Uḍaiyār and Annamārādhya. And during the days of Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya we see a large number of able Brahmans occupying positions of importance in the state. A few of them that deserve mention here are Sāḷuva Timma, Nādeṇḍla Gōpa Mantri, Sāḷuva Gōvinda Rāja, Rāyasam Koṇḍamarasu, Timmarasu, Ayyapparasu, Karaṇika Maṅgarasayya, Bācarasayya, Karaṇika Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa, and Sāḷuva Narasiṅgarāya Daṇṇāyaka alias Śellappa.

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This is well borne out by the testimony of Van Linschoten who writes about the Brahmans thus: "The Brahmans are the honestest and most esteemed Nation among the Indian Heathens; for they doe alwaies serve in the chiefest places about the King as Receivers, Stewards, Ambassadors and such like Offices. They are of great authority among the Indian people, for that the King doth nothing without their counsel and consent."¹⁴ These Brahmans were called the Niyōgis in the Telugu districts.

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¹⁴ Purchas, His Pilgrims, X, pp. 255-6.

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Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya has certain interesting observations to make on why a Brahman should be appointed to such places of importance in the state. He says: "Because a Brahman would stand to his post even in times of danger and would continue in service though reduced to becoming a subordinate to a Kṣatriya or a Śūdra, it is always advisable for a king to take Brahmans as his officers."¹⁵ In another place he says: "That king can lay his hand on his breast and sleep peacefully who appoints as masters of his fortresses such Brahmans as are attached to himself, are learned in many sciences and arts, are followers of Dharma, are heroic and have been in his service since before his time, who make arrangements for storing in those fortresses tigers' cheese (pulijunnu ?) and other (rare) articles to last for a generation......who increase his treasures by multiplying his income and lessening expenditure, and by seeing that the people are without trouble......who see that neither he nor his subjects suffer and who give trouble only to his enemies."¹⁶ Thus Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya insists upon the Brahmans being appointed to important governmental positions. Sometimes the Rājagurus followed the kings on their expeditions. Thus Vyāsa Rāya went to the south along with Sāḷuva Narasiṃha.¹⁷ The evidence of epigraphy also shows how the Brahmans led contingents of the army to the battlefield. Thus one Āpatsahāyaṇ of Tirukkaḍiyūr took part in the Raicūr campaign of Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya.¹⁸ The Brahmans maintained their high position and status in the social polity in the later period of Vijayanagar history also. A large number of grants were made to them and the ruling sovereigns paid them great respect.

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¹⁵ Āmukta., canto IV, v. 217.

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¹⁶ Ibid., canto IV, v. 261.

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¹⁷ Vyāsayogicaritram, Intro., xci-xcv, 40, of Sōmanātha referred to by Saletore, op. cit., II. p. 126.
18. 47 of 1906; Rep., 1907, para 59.

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The Mahīśūra Narapati Vijaya, a manuscript work of the seventeenth century, however, describes Rāma Rāja as having had anti-Brahmanical tendencies. The work states:

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Jāmātābhūn mahipālaḥ Rāma Rāya iti smṛtaḥ |
Sa kāmavaśamāpannaḥ nityam dyūteca niṣṭhitaḥ ||
Brāhmaṇānām gurūṇāmca nityam apriyam ātanot ||¹⁹

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But such an estimate of Rāma Rāja seems to be exaggerated, for neither the contemporary inscriptions nor the literature and the chronicles of the period say anything about his anti-Brahmanical tendencies. The work is of a later date and hence not very reliable for a picture of Rāma Rāja. Further the author of the work appears to have been a Madhva disappointed in his expectations, and at the fact that Gōvinda Dēśika was replaced by Tātācārya in the exalted position of being the guru of the king. Obviously the author of the work was a partisan and wanted to paint Rāma Rāja in black colours on account of his preference to Tātācārya.

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Vēmana, a poet of the seventeenth century,²⁰ says: "If a man still has in his heart the principles of a paraiar and yet scorns paraiars how should he become twice-born while devoid of every good quality? There is no greater sin than that of falsehood: this is an abomination perpetually in the mouth: what vagabonds are several who call themselves twice-born? The lords of the earth (i.e., Brahmans) say 'We are pure; we are learned in the scriptures;' they scorn all who are in their natural state. Truly the poorest palmer is better than such boasters."²¹ But it must be noted that Vēmana being a moralist and reformer had scant regard for the institution of caste and the position the Brahmans held in the society. Hence it is doubtful if his testimony can be taken to reflect the general view of his time.

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²⁰ See The Verses of Vemana, translated by Brown, Preface, p. iii.

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²¹ Ibid., Bk. III, vv. 164-166, pp. 170-171. In another place he says: "After going through all his studies and attaining consummate wisdom, after making nothing of divinity, the moment he (the Brahman) sees a fair woman he forgets all his sanctity." (Ibid., v. 270, p. 200).

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The Brahmans generally led very simple and pious lives in their villages, studying the Vedas and Śāstras, discussing abstruse philosophical subjects, and performing the daily rites the Brahmans were expected to do. About their dress, Linschoten says: "They goe naked, saving only that they have a cloth bound about their middles to hide their privie members. They weare sometimes when they go abroad, a thinne cotton linnen Gowne called cabaia lightly cast over their shoulders, and hanging down the grounds like some other Indians.....Upon their heads they wear a white cloth, wound twice or thrice about, therewith to hide their haire, which they never cut off, but weare it long and turned up as the women do."²² The foreign travellers were also struck by the sacred thread worn by the Brahmans and the ashes of “kowes excrements” with which they used “to dawbe their forehead and nose.”²³ They wore also ear ornaments.

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²² Purchas, His Pilgrims, X, pp. 255-256.

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²³ Gasparo Balbi, Purchas, His Pilgrims, p. 148.

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But certain traits in the character of some Brahmans evoked the resentment of the foreign travellers. Barbosa for instance says that they were great eaters and never worked except to eat well. He observes: “They will start at once on a six days’ journey”²⁴ only to get a good meal.²⁵ Nuniz too remarks as follows: “The king always gives large sums in charity; in the palace there are always two or three thousand Brahmans who are his priests, and to whom the King commands to give alms. These Brahman priests are very despicable men; they always have much money and are so insolent that even by using blows the guards of the door cannot hold them in check.”²⁶ Though instances are not wanting to show that the Brahmans served the state as administrators and generals, a large majority of them led peaceful and contented lives and hence Paes remarks that “they have little stomach for the use of arms.”²⁷

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²⁴ Twenty or twenty-four miles, Ramusio; eight leagues, Spanish.

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²⁵ Barbosa, I, p. 217.

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²⁶ Sewell, op. cit., pp. 379-80.

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²⁷ Ibid., p. 280.

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*The Vipravinōdins :*

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A marked feature of the social history of the later Vijayanagar period is the rise of a social consciousness among the different communities of the empire. It was a period when attempts were made by them for the evolution of social solidarity among themselves. Each community clamoured for certain special privileges and honours which were to mark it off from the others.

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One such attempt was made by a class who were known as the Vipravinōdins. Brown thinks that they were a class of Brahman jugglers. But H. Krishna Śāstri points out that they were in the Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts no longer Brahmans but Śūdras, a phenomenon which he attributes to the demoralising effect of their occupation.²⁸ They were so widespread in the empire that an epigraph mentions them as living in Vidyānagara, Bedakōṭa, Kaṭaka and Draviḍa dēśa.²⁹ A few of the inscriptions relating to them belong to the sixteenth century. In A.D. 1554-5 certain Vipravinōdins undertook to perform the Kārtikapūja of the God Hanumanta in the village of Raṅganahāḷu.30 Two years later a few of them made a grant of their income from the village of Cinahōtūru for the Dhanurmāsa worship of the God Cennakēśava in the same village. 31 In 1556-57 a few of them belonging to various śākhas and sūtras made a gift of taxes to the Mahājanas of Cauḷuru.32 It is curious that all these inscriptions should belong to the second half of the sixteenth century. But it is reasonable to assume that there was then some sort of a social upheaval for the betterment of a few classes in the social scale and among them the Vipravinōdins were one.

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²⁸ M.E.R., 1913, para 60. See N. Venkataramanayya, Studies in the History of the Third Dynasty of Vijayanagara, for yet another view of their origin and spread in the Vijayanagar empire.

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²⁹ 694 of 1917.
30. 402 of 1920.
31. 403 of 1920.
32. 586 of 1912; for a grant to a temple for the merit of the Vipravinodins see 97 of 1912 and 395 of 1920.
33. 804 of 1917; the record is dated Ś. 100303. Hēviḷambi. The date is obviously undependable.

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Artisans:

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The next community that attracts our notice is that of the Pāñcālas or the artisans. It comprised the black-smiths, gold-smiths, brass-smiths, carpenters and idol makers. An inscription of the time of Dēva Rāya I states that there were seventy-four divisions among the Pāñcālas.33 Its members were often fighting for certain rights and privileges. In A.D. 1525-26 one of the disputes between the gold-smiths and the black-smiths was decided at Āttūr in the Rāmnāḍ district and lands were assigned to them.34 Similarly when in A.D. 1555 a quarrel arose between the cultivators and the Pāñcālas, it was decided by the Vēdānti Rāma Rājayapa, the 88 Śrī Vaiṣṇava Brahmans, Banadarasayya, the agent of Rāma Rāja Tirumala Rājayya, and Śenaba Śeṭṭi, the agent for the affairs of Rāmappayya. According to the decision the southern street of Bēlūr was fixed for the Pāñcālas, stones were put up at the four boundaries (specified) within which they were allowed to erect rows of houses, carry on their caste observances and make jewellery, enjoying in the temple of Cennigarāya the same privileges and positions as were granted to the Pāñcālas at the car festival in Vidyānagara. This decision was based on a previous one made by Rāma Rājayya Tirumala Rājayya.³⁵

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³⁵ E.C., V, Bl. 5.

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At a particular time the quarrels between them assumed such serious magnitude, that they separated from each other with the help of a piece of social legislation. The two inscriptions which refer to such a quarrel and its settlement at Kallaḍaikuricci in the Tinnevelly district in the first quarter of the seventeenth century "register a royal writ granted by Virappa Nāyaka of Madura to the five sub-sects of the artisan community facilitating their separation from each other and the consequent dismemberment of the community. The reasons for this separation are not stated . . . . The order does not seem to have proceeded from the king himself, but to have been the result of the initiative taken by the sub-sects themselves......The writ was a privilege granted in the presence of Uḍankūṭṭam anaiñjān or Uḍankūṭṭam Pāḍaganāiñjān Kulaśēkharan Āśāri who was evidently the leader of the Kaṇmāḷa community."36 The temple authorities at Brahmadēśam also declared the same for the benefit of their subordinates.

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An interesting aspect of the social history of the Vijayanagar period lies in the fact that the various social groups in the empire vied with one another for getting certain social privileges and honours in public festivals and in temples. The artisans were no exception to this. In A.D. 1573 Veṅkaṭappa Nāyuḍu, the Secretary (mudrakarta), of Velugōṭi Timmappa Nāyaniṅgāru, the agent of Śrī Raṅga Rāya, made certain arrangements for showing respect during the festival days of Paḷḷikoṇḍanātha of Nellore to the Pāñcāhaṇas (the five classes of artisans) who came in the car as at Tirupati; and to the observance of this etiquette the sthalakaraṇams, kāpus, śeṭṭis, and Pāka Reḍḍis (Reḍḍis of Pākanāḍu) were made to agree.³⁷ According to a record in the Udayagiri taluk Timma Rāju, son of Rāma Rāju Kōnēṭayya dēva, built a gōpura and maṇṭapa to God Raghunāyakalu. The inscription also records that when the car was passing along the streets, with the naṭṭuvas and servants inside the car, a member of the Pāñcāhaṇas wearing a cloth round the head and another loosely round the waist and having only a sandal mark between the eye-brows and not chewing betel, should go round in front of the car with a chisel a mallet, a nail and a sickle in his hands, and it also states that that formality was to be observed without failure.³⁸

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³⁶ 309 and 378 of 1916; Rep., 1917, para 55.

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³⁷ Nel. Ins., II, Nl. 54.

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³⁸ Ibid., III, Ud. 20 ; M.E.R., 204 of 1892; V.R., I.M.P., Nl. 771.
39. 65 of 1922 : Rep., 1922, para 54. 39a. 293 of 1928-29 ; Rep., para 66.

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In the cyclic year Āṅgirasa, during the time of Śrī Raṅgadēva Mahārāya (1632-33 ?), the nāṭṭār of the village of Tiruvāmāttūr in the South Arcot district gave an undertaking to the rājakārya-bhaṇḍāra that the artisan communities (Kaṇmāḷar) carpenters, black-smiths and gold-smiths of the several villages in the northern parru (ward) would no more be treated ill, or deprived of their privileges, that the rights and privileges similar to those enjoyed by their classes in Paḍaivīḍu, Śeñji, Tiruvaṇṇāmalai and Kāñcīpuram would be accorded to them, and that, if they should violate the promise, they would pay a fine of twelve pon and suffer the twelve ‘disgraces’ (kurrams) in consequence.39 There were, however, a few other places where the artisans enjoyed certain privileges over and above what their brethren enjoyed elsewhere. Hence the nāṭṭavar of Iḍaiyārruparru, Sirriṅgūr parru and Iḍaiyāru, who were represented by their respective chiefs Koṅgarāyar, Nayiṉār Kacciya Rāyar and Koṇḍamanāyakkar, gave an undertaking to the king through Kṛṣṇama Nāyakkar and Rāyasam Tirumalaiyan that they would withdraw from the Kaṇmāḷas certain social privileges such as the use of Pāvāḍai and Parivaṭṭam hitherto enjoyed by them, and thus place them on the same status as their brethren at Paḍaivīḍu, Śeñji and Tiruvaṇṇāmalai.39a

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Kaikkōḷas :

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The Kaikkōḷas were another influential community in the Vijayanagar empire. They lived generally round the temple precincts, and it appears that they had separate streets. An inscription for instance at Māḍambākkam mentions the street of the Kaikkōḷas.40 We have seen how the Kaikkōḷas had some voice in the temple administration and in the levy of the local taxes. As weavers they carried on their industry on a small scale. As the artisans, the Kaikkōḷas also clamoured for certain social privileges. The Kaikkōḷas of Kāñcīpuram and Viriñcipuram enjoyed the privilege of using daṇḍu (palanquin) and śaṅgu (conch). In A.D. 1485-86 the same privileges were extended to the Kaikkōḷas of Vaḷudilambaṭṭu rājya by Aramalaṭṭa Nāyinār in consultation with Koṅgarāyar, Kaṅgarāyar and Kaccirāyar.⁴¹ It seems that a little before these privileges were granted to the Kaikkōḷas of Vaḷudilambaṭṭu rājya, the Kaikkōḷas of Kāñci were granted similar privileges in response to their representation to Aramalaṭṭa Nāyinār.⁴² In 1503-04 the privileges of having daṇḍu and śaṅgu ‘on all good and bad occasions’⁴³ were extended to the Kaikkōḷas of the three villages of Tribhuvanamahādēviparru, Naḍuvu-karai parru and Neṇmaliparru as the weavers of the country situated on the bank of the Peṇṇai river were privileged to have. The inscription which records this further specifies that those who objected to this right were to undergo the punishment fixed for it in an inscription engraved at Śeliṅganallūr.⁴⁴ Similarly during the time of Śūrappa Nāyaka, the agent of Sadāśiva in the Tiruvadi rājya, the Ilaivāṇiyar agreed to accord the same privileges and rights to the Kaikkōḷas of the place as were in vogue according to a previous stone inscription which had been effaced by some person.⁴⁵

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⁴¹ 162 of 1918 ; 473 of 1921 ; 291 of 1928-29 ; Rep., 1929, para 62.

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⁴² 422 of 1925 ; the date given here is evidently wrong. The epigraph is dated Ś. 1409 Viśvāvasu, Simha. The other two inscriptions already referred to state Viśvāvasu was current in Ś. 1407. Further according to 473 of 1921 and 291 of 1928-29 the Kaikkōḷas of Vaḷudilambaṭṭu rājya were given the privileges which had been granted to those of Kāñcīpuram and Viriñcipuram. This would show that the grant of privileges to the Kaikkōḷas of Kāñcī must have been earlier. Hence the date of the inscription is misleading.

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⁴³ The phrase ‘on good and bad occasions’ indicates that the communities had the right of exercising these privileges only on ceremonial occasions, auspicious or otherwise.

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⁴⁴ 368 of 1917 ; Rep., 1918, para 70.

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⁴⁵ 41 of 1922. The Ilaivāṇiyars are a caste whose sole occupation is the cultivation of the betel creeper and selling of its leaves.

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Barbers :

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In the latter half of the sixteenth century the community of barbers received certain special privileges at the hands of the State. The exact reasons why the barbers were the objects of special favour from Sadāśiva and his minister are not known. An epigraph of 1545 states that Rāma Rāja Oḍeyār being pleased with the barber Koṇḍōja exempted the barbers of the country (Tumkūr district) from certain taxes.⁴⁶ Another epigraph of 1547-48 states that Timmōja Koṇḍōja and Bhadri of (the town of) Baḍāvi having propitiated the king, that ruler (Sadāśiva)

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⁴⁶ E.C., XII, Tp. 126.

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“ in connection with a request they had made ”, granted them a tax as a *mānya*.⁴⁷ But another inscription of A.D. 1555 says that Timmoja Koṇḍōja made application to Rāma Rājayya who in turn applied to Sadāśiva, and he remitted to him and his family certain taxes within the four boundaries of his kingdom.⁴⁸ The Telugu poet Rudrayya says in his *Niraṅkuśopākhyānam* that he secured an interview with Sadāśiva through the influence of Koṇḍōju, a favourite barber of the king, who was instrumental in obtaining remission of the taxes imposed on them.⁴⁹ In such a remission were included, forced labour, fixed rent, land rent, *mahānavami* torches, *birada*, etc.⁵⁰

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⁴⁷ I.A., X, p. 65.

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⁴⁸ E.C., XI, Mk. 6.

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⁴⁹ M.E.R., 1926., Rep., para 43.

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⁵⁰ E.C. XI, Mk. 6. A large number of epigraphs refer to these remissions; E.C., VI, Tk. 13 ; *Nel. Ins.*, II, Kn. 20 ; *E.C.*, XI, Hk. 110 ; 318 of 1905 ; 472 and 514 of 1906 ; 218 of 1913 ; 475 of 1915 ; 354 of 1920 ; 352 of 1926, etc. As remarked earlier the cause for such remissions is hard to find. It is generally said that Rāma Rāja was very much pleased with the barber Koṇḍōja for his skill in shaving the chin. (H. Krishna Śāstri, A.S.R., 1908-09, p. 198, fn. 5). Saletore, however, tries to give an explanation for the special predilection the king and the minister had for the barbers. He suggests that they might have helped in putting down the power and influence of the Kurumbars in the Karṇāṭaka districts, and to support his contention he remarks that “ the inscriptions dealing with the remissions centre round Bādāmi, and extend over a region which cover the Kalāḍgi, Chitaldroog and Tumkūr districts.” But as we have seen taxes were remitted in favour of the barbers of many Tamil and Telugu districts as well. Such liberal remissions might have been made in their case also on the ground of their belonging to the same community. Saletore takes care to add: “ future research may enable us to know the exact circumstances and the occasion which ushered in the barbers in the story of the Kurumbars.” (*Soc. and Pol. Life*, Vol. II, pp. 47 and 48, fn. 1.)

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*Dombaras* :

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The Dombaras were a community of people who were generally acrobats. Foreign travellers like Abdur Razāk and Linschoten have left some account of them. They largely used tame snakes for earning money. They knew witchcraft and soothsaying. The Persian traveller describes how these acrobats played on bars and used domesticated elephants in their work. They gave great entertainment to the common people and nobles gathered at the capital for the Mahānavami festival.⁵¹ Their houses were very small and low covered with straw, and were without windows. They contained mats of straw, fig leaves and earthen pots for cooking purposes. These acrobats sometimes agreed together and made certain grants to temples. According to an inscription of Ś. 1451, two members of the Dombara caste granted to the temple of Tiruveṅgaḷanātha the money which they had been getting every year as donation (tyāgam) from the villages. The members of the caste also made an agreement that they would not exhibit their performances in the villages.⁵²

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⁵¹ For a detailed account of their feats see Elliot, *Hist of Ind.*, IV, pp. 118-19; and Purchas, *His Pilgrims*, X, pp. 247-48.

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⁵² 309 of 1926; Rep., 1926, para 41.

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*Right Hand and Left Hand Castes :*

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Many of the communities in the empire were divided into two groups known as the Valaṅgai and the Iḍangai groups or Right hand and Left hand classes. A few inscriptions state that each group consisted of ninety-eight such sub-sects. Though we get the number of sects of each group, we do not know exactly what the ninety-eight sects were. But side by side with these, there is reference to groups of eighteen professional castes. Perhaps the ninety-eight sects were the sub-divisions of these eighteen castes. Buchanan, who visited Mysore towards the close of the eighteenth century, found the following castes to have constituted the Left hand and Right hand classes.

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*Left hand classes :*

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1. Pāñcāla.
2. Bēriceṭṭy merchants.
3. Devāṅga—a class of weavers.
4. Heganigaru—those who use two oxen in the mill.
5. Paliwānlu—two tribes of cultivators who are not of Karṇāṭaka origin.
6. Bayidaru—hunters.
7. Mādigaru—tanners or shoe makers.

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The Pāñcālas commanded the whole party; and the Mādigaru were the most active combatants in all disputes among the two divisions.

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Right hand classes :

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1. Banajigaru of many trades.
2. Wodigaru—cultivators of the Śūdra caste and of Karṇāṭaka extraction.
3. Jōtiphana—oilmakers who use one bull in mill.
4. Rangaru—Calico printers and tailors.
5. Ladaru.
6. Gujarati.

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The question of the origin of these two groups has engaged the attention of many scholars, but no definite answer has been given to this interesting question. The difficulty of the problem is due to the fact that in each group there are found members of different castes, occupations, professions and trades, and curiously enough the Brahmans and a few other communities who can be brought under the Kṣatriya and Vaiśya castes kept themselves away from the pale of these two groups. To add to these there are different traditions with regard to their origin.

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T. W. Ellis thinks that the intercourse with foreign nations had brought certain changes in the habits of a section of the people of South India on account of which the landed proprietors who were generally conservative, had a dislike for them. Such social dissensions brought about the Valaṅgai and Iḍaṅgai classes, "the former including the whole of the agricultural tribes, who endeavour under a different order of things, to maintain their ancient pre-eminence, the latter including chiefly the trading and manufacturing tribes, who endeavour, and in modern days generally with success, to evade it."⁵³ Dr. Gustav Oppert is of opinion that it was the grouping of the industrialists versus the agriculturists, the former under the Jains, the latter under the Brahmans,⁵⁴ though the latter themselves kept aloof from these classes.

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⁵³ T. W. Ellis, *Kural*, p. 44, quoted in the *Madras Journal of Lit. and Sci.*, 1887-88; Org. *Inhabitants of Bharatavarsha*, pp. 85 ff.

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⁵⁴ *Ibid.*, p. 90.

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M. Srinivasa Ayyangar gives a few more theories. He thinks that the division of the society into these two groups was due either to the desire of the lower orders to rise in the social scale or the antipathy between the Jains and the Brahmans.⁵⁵ But though these considerations would have contributed a little to the division of the people into two groups, it was the question of certain privileges enjoyed on certain socio-religious occasions which were largely responsible for their quarrels. Speaking about the occasions when they quarrelled among themselves Abbe Dubois remarks: "Perhaps the sole cause of the contest is the right to wear slippers or to ride through the streets in a palanquin, or on horseback during marriage festivals. Sometimes, it is the privilege of being escorted on certain occasions by armed retainers, sometimes that of having a trumpet sounded in front of a procession, or of being accompanied by native musicians, at public ceremonies. Perhaps it is simply the particular kind of musical instrument suitable for such occasions that is in dispute; or it may be the right of carrying flags of certain colours or of certain devices during these ceremonies."56

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⁵⁵ *Tamil Studies*, pp. 73, 92, 108; for the views of Dr. L. D. Barnett see E.I., XV, p. 81.

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The Valangai and Idangai classes living near Pondicherry quarrelled among themselves for certain privileges like the use of savalakkali, white umbrella, white horse and the five sembus.⁵⁷ Similarly the Idangai and Valangai Kaifiyat gives an interesting legend of the quarrels between them for certain social privileges like the right of the usage of a garuda banner, and how they were settled.⁵⁸

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⁵⁶ Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, I, p. 26.

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⁵⁷ Wilson, Mac. Coll., p.

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⁴²⁸ Account of the Idangai and Valangai Caste people, Taylor, Tamil Local Tracts.

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⁵⁸ Taylor, Cat. Rais., III, p.

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⁷ "This relates to the great dispute between the Vaisnava Brahmans with their followers who have the epithet right-hand, and Saiva Brahmans, with their followers termed left-hand. The dispute is stated to have arisen from the usage of a Garuda banner, or flag bearing the eagle or kite of Visnu as a device. The right of bearing this banner and the question to which of the two classes it belonged created so hot a dispute that the matter was referred in arbitration to Vickrama-Cola deva Perumal . . . . That prince caused the old copper plate records at Conjeevaram to be disinterred and examined and legal authorities to be consulted. As a consequence the claim of the Saiva to the garuda banner was admitted; but another result was the more accurate distinction and definition of what rights and privileges were proper to the two classes; and what were not so. The book further contains an enumeration of the classes or castes into which the two lines of Vaisnavas and Saivas became divided; and of the Paraiars and others who range under the right-hand classes. These castes, on both sides, are stated to be ninety-eight. The subdivisions are those of persons having castes; that is, not Paraiars."

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In the Vijayanagar days, also, these groups quarrelled among themselves very often, and according to an inscription of 1383-84 one of such quarrels lasted for four years.⁵⁹ An incomplete record at Malayampaṭṭu in the North Arcot district records the settlement of a quarrel between the Iḍangai and Valangai sects in which there was loss of life on both sides.60 In A.D. 1438-39 the people of a certain locality made an agreement among themselves that if the members of either the Valangai or Iḍangai class caused any disturbance or fought with each other during public festivals, "the said persons must be killed on the spot, with spears, without ceremony".⁶¹ Feelings between the two classes were so bitter that in A.D. 1440-41 an agreement was made as regards the social conduct among the Valangai and Iḍangai classes of two of the eighteen subdivisions residing around Iruṅgōḷapāṇḍivaḷanāḍu on the northern bank of the Kāvērī.62

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⁵⁹ 422 of 1905.
60. 185 of 1921.

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⁶¹ Taylor, Cat. Rais., III, p. 305.
62. 253 of 1926.
63. 4 of 1906; 215 of 1910.
64. 92 of 1918; see also 59 of 1914, etc. For further particulars about the two classes see an article by C. S. Srinivasachari in the Q.J.A.H.R.S., IV, pp. 77-85; Richards, Salem Gazetteer, Pt. I, p. 125, fn. 2; Oppert, Or. Inh. of Bharatavarsha, p. 90, fn. 59.

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They appear to have been liable to the payment of a communal tax. Thus we get reference to the Iḍangaivari.63 The corporate activity of these groups led them to form constitutional associations among themselves and deal with the government as an organised body. They fixed the amount of taxes they would pay to the government, and at one time even went to the extent of deciding to inflict corporal punishment on the Brahmans and tax-collectors who demanded more than what they had decided to pay.64

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As said above the occupation by the Telugu and the Kanarese people of the Tamil country led to the rise of certain social problems. Their colonisation of Tamil India told hard on the social status of the original inhabitants; for since they followed their masters and settled down there with them they commanded a higher social status as conquerors over the Tamil people. M. Srinivasa Ayyangar suggests that this contributed to the old inhabitants giving up their original occupation and taking up menial work, and cites the instance of the Senmans who on the advent of the newcomers appear to have given up their profession of leather working and taken to menial service.⁶⁵

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⁶⁵ *Tamil Studies*, p. 85.

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*Toṭṭiyans*:

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The first among such colonists that deserves some examination are the Toṭṭiyans or Kambalaṭṭārs. Originally shepherds they became petty poligars in the south.⁶⁶ Polyandry and post-puberty marriages prevailed among them; and very often the bridegroom was younger than the bride. Female morality was very loose among them, and in fact a woman was allowed to have marital relations with the father or other male relations of her husband. Divorce and remarriage of widows and in certain cases *satī* were also allowed. The Toṭṭiyans were generally Vaiṣṇavas but their patron deities were Jakkaṇṇa and Bommakka who committed *satī*.⁶⁷

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⁶⁶ Nelson calls the immigrants Vaḍugas and divides them into Kavarers, Gollas, Redḍis, Kammavars, and Toṭṭiyans or Kambalars of whom the last three were agricultural—*Madura Manual*, Pt. II, p. 80.

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⁶⁷ See *Ind. Ant.*, 1915, pp. 135-7 for an account of them by V. Rangachary; see also Thurston, *Castes and Tribes*, VII, pp. 183-197.

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The Toṭṭiyans had their own communal organisation. In about A.D. 1369 the Toṭṭiyans of Pulliyūr nāḍ decided that he who did not pay a particular contribution was to be an outcaste from the nāḍu, the assembly, pañcāḷam, the paśai and the eighteen nāḍus.⁶⁸

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⁶⁸ E.C., IX, Ht. 103(a).

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*Sourāṣṭras*.

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Another group of people who colonised the south were the Sourāṣṭras. Their original habitat was probably Gujarat. They seem to have migrated to the south during the Vijayanagar times. They were the suppliers of cloth in the Peninsula. They lived at Vijayanagar for a fairly long time, and when that empire expanded to the south, they also moved down and settled round Madura. Largely dependent on royal patronage and being able to supply fine clothing for the nobility, they soon became a flourishing community in South India pursuing their industrial activity. They, like the members of many other communities, tried to rise in the social scale. They assumed Brahman caste names, and spread certain legends to show how having been originally Brahmans they had degenerated. They had quarrels with the Brahmans with regard to certain social rights, and at times the state was forced to interfere in them. For instance, in the regency of Maṅgammāḷ “eighteen of the members of the Sourāṣṭra community were arrested by the Governor of Madura for performing the Brahmanical ceremony of Upākarma or renewal of the sacred thread. The queen convened a meeting of those learned in the Śāstras to investigate the Paṭṭunūlkārans’ rights to perform such ceremonies. This declared in favour of the defendants and the queen gave them a palm leaf award accordingly which is still preserved in Madura.”⁶⁹ Since then the Sourāṣṭras followed “many of the customs of the Southern Brahmans regarding food, dress, forms of worship and names, and have recently taken to the adoption of Brahmanical titles such as Aiyar, Ācārya, and Bhāgavatar.”⁷⁰

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⁶⁹ Mad. Gaz., p. 111.

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⁷⁰ Ibid.

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Reḍḍis :

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The Reḍḍis of the Telugu country who were generally agriculturists settled in South India in the Vijayanagar days. They were divided into two classes, Poṅgala Reḍḍis and the Paṇṭa Reḍḍis.

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There were many such waves of immigrants of the various castes and communities from the north into Tamil India, and among them may be mentioned the Telugu Brahmans, Uppilians (salt manufacturers), Telugu spinners and dyers, Śeṇians (Telugu weavers), barbers, leather workers, washermen, Oḍḍans, Dombans, etc.

Section II. Social Institutions

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1. Marriage :

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Among the social institutions in any country, that of marriage is the most important. Though marriage is a religious sacrament among the Hindus, great social importance has come to be attached to it.

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Though ancient Sanskrit literature speaks of eight kinds of marriages, there is no evidence to show that all of them existed in the Vijayanagar days. Kanyādāna was the only form of marriage that was widespread and popular.

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In this connection certain incidental features of matrimony, like the dowry system and child marriage, may be examined here. The system of giving dowry was prevalent in the Vijayanagar days though there appears to have been much resentment against the practice. A large number of inscriptions testify to the existence of the system. A record of A.D. 1379 registers the grant as dowry of the village of Paṅgaipaḷḷi in the one-third share of Puḷḷiyūrṇāḍu belonging to one Nambi Iravi Śeṭṭiyār to his daughter's sons Iraviyaṇṇan, Kēśava Śeṭṭiyār and others.⁷¹ Sometimes money for expenses at a marriage was then, as now, raised by the sale of property. Thus in A.D. 1404 one Acapa's son, Viṭṭappa, sold the village of Kaṇḍavaḷḷi together with other lands "on account of marriage."72 In about 1424 the Āḷva Prabhu Bommiyakka Heggaḍiti's son sold some land to the sthānika (temple priest) Dēvappaṇṇa Ayya's son, Bōvaṇṇa Ayya, on account of marriage.⁷³

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⁷¹ E.C., IX, Ht. 108 and 109.

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⁷³ E.C., VIII, Tl. 175.

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Villages often made rules against lands in them being alienated to outsiders as dowry; thus the residents of the village of Māṅgāḍu (Chingleput district) made an agreement among themselves that lands must not be given as strīdhana to any outsider.74

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The evil of a bride price was felt to be so great by the Brahmans in the Paḍaivīḍu kingdom during the time of Dēva Rāya II, that the Brahmans of the locality belonging to various sub-communities made an agreement among themselves which has the character of a piece of social legislation. The inscription recording this piece of legislation runs as follows: "The great men of all branches of sacred studies of the kingdom (rājyam) of Paḍaivīḍu drew up, in the presence of (the God) Gōpinātha (of) Arkapuṣkaraṇi, a document (which contains) an agreement fixing the sacred law. According to (this document) if the Brahmans of this kingdom (rājyam) of Paḍaivīḍu (viz.) Kaṇṇaḍigas, Tamiras, Teḷuṅgas, Ilāṭas, etc., of all gōtras, sūtras and śākhas conclude a marriage, they shall from this day forwards do it by kanyādāna. Those who do not adopt kanyādāna (i.e.), both those who give a girl away after receiving gold, and those who conclude a marriage after having given gold, shall be liable to punishment by the king, and shall be excluded from the community of Brahmans. These are the contents of the document which was drawn up.”⁷⁵ One interesting point to be noted here is the fact that it was an agreement for reform made by the Brahman community of the Paḍaiviḍu rājyam on its own initiative. The state did not interfere in it, except to enforce the voluntary agreement arrived at by the Brahmans.⁷⁶

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⁷² E.C., VIII, Tl. 134.

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⁷⁵ 47 of 1887; S.I.I., I, No. 56, pp. 82-84.

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⁷⁶ See contra, Dr. S. K. Aiyangar, Q.J.M.S., VI, p. 49.
77. 337 of 1892; Mac. Mss., Bk. XVI, (15-3-4), p. 12. ōli is the same as bride price. The term is generally used with reference to the lower classes. The meaning is clearly brought out in the following proverb:— ఓలి కొంచమని గ్రుడ్డిదాని పెండ్లాడితే దొంతికుండలంతా పగులకొట్టినది.

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As in respect of the bride price, so in respect of some maryāda, the people made an agreement among themselves in A.D. 1553. In that year the people of all lands from Koṇḍapaḷḷi to Rājamahēndrapuram decided that the ōli maryāda in a first marriage should be 21 cinnam of gold, that the bridegroom’s party should give 12½ of silver and the bride’s party 20½ of gold.77

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It is clear that “the evil practice of bargaining for marriage by one, at least, of the parties was as rampant in Ś. 1347 (A.D. 1425) as it is today.”⁷⁸ We do not know, however, whether the marriage reform in the Paḍaiviḍu rājya was copied by the Brahmans in the other parts of the empire.

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⁷⁸ A.S.R., 1907-08, p. 230.

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Agreeably to the injunctions of the ancient Hindu scriptures the Brahmans in the Vijayanagar empire married their girls at a comparatively early age. Linschoten who observed this custom during the time of his visit says: “When the woman is seven yeeres old and the man nine yeeres they doe marrie; but they come not together before the woman be strong enough to beare children.”⁷⁹ This practice of the Brahmans was in a large measure followed by a few other classes. Thus according to Ferishta, Nehal, a farmer girl, had been betrothed to a youth of her own caste in childhood “agreeably to the custom of Hindoostan.”80

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⁷⁹ Purchas, His Pilgrims, X, p. 256.

2. Satī

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Another equally important social institution in the Vijayanagar days was that of *sahagamana* or *satī*. There are a large number of *satikals* or *māstikals* in the Kanarese districts where are found the sculptured representation of the women committing *satī*, and under a few of them are inscribed a few words, recording under what circumstances the *sahagamana* was performed. Almost every foreign traveller who visited Vijayanagar noticed the prevalence of the practice of *satī* and has left an account of it. Barbosa (1514), Nuniz (1535-6), Caesar Frederick (1567), Linschoten (1583), Barradas (1614), Pietro della Valle (1623)—all these travellers give very vivid and realistic pictures of how *satī* was performed. But they differ in certain details with regard to the manner in which it was committed for which three explanations are possible. (i) The method followed by one class of people must have differed from that pursued by another owing to their customary differences, for every community in the empire could have had a particular custom in all such matters. (ii) Some change might have crept into the customs with the passage of time. (iii) The custom might have differed from place to place, and the travellers, since they did not all visit one and the same place, nor were they contemporaries, could have left divergent accounts of the custom as they saw it.

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Barbosa says that if the woman was poor and of ‘low birth’ she threw herself along with the burning carcase of her husband and perished in the flames, but if she was a woman of high rank, she did not burn herself immediately, but performed certain ceremonies before she fell into the flames. She would spend some time in festive music, singing, dancing and banquets after which she would dress richly and distribute the remaining property to her sons, relatives and friends. After this she was mounted on a light grey or white horse and led through the streets till she reached the burning ghat, where a fire was lit for her; she removed all her clothes except a small piece which covered her waist, made a short speech telling the people gathered together there that she was immolating herself for the love she bore for her husband though she was not bound to do so. Then she poured on her head oil after which she fell into the flames and perished.⁸¹ Nuniz also gives almost the same details; however he adds that after the corpse of the husband had been set fire to, a Brahman performed over her certain ceremonies according to their law, after which she distributed all her jewels among her relatives and wore a yellow robe. Soon she went with great enthusiasm to the fire pit which she came round thrice, mounted a few steps which had been erected for the purpose, and stood on the top of them holding a mat in her hand which prevented her from seeing the fire. The people assembled threw into the fire a cloth containing rice, and another containing betel leaves besides her comb and mirror. Finally, she took leave of them, poured a pot of oil on her head and fell headlong into the flames.⁸² "The rice and betel were for his dinner; it is possible too, that the oil she poured on her head was intended for his toilet though it served the immediate purpose of shortening her own suffering."⁸³

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⁸¹ Barbosa, I, pp. 213-16.

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⁸² Sewell, op. cit., pp. 391-93. P. V. Jagadisa Ayyar says that the Brahmans of the by-gone age knew of a plant the juice of which when mixed with sandal paste and rubbed freely over the body of the would-be *satī* made her insensible to heat. He thinks that the people would have used the juice of such a plant. See his South Indian Customs, p. 93.

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⁸³ Edward Thompson, Suttee, p. 43.

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Caesar Frederick says that the wives committed self-immolation two or three months after the death of their husbands. On the particular day on which she was to burn herself, she dressed herself like a bride and was carried round the city either on horse-back or on an elephant or else was borne by eight men on a small stage to the place where the dead bodies were burnt. She held feasts after which she bathed in the river to wash away her sins; later she wore a yellow robe and got upon a pinnacle erected for the purpose. She then poured oil over her head and threw herself into the flames that had been lit.⁸⁴

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⁸⁴ Purchas, His Pilgrims, X, pp. 94-96; for other descriptions, see Linschoten, Purchas, ibid., pp. 256-7; Barradas, Sewell, op. cit., p. 224; Pietro della Valle, Travels, II, pp. 266-67.

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Though women of a few classes of people performed *satī* by burning themselves either along with their husbands or in fire lit a few days later for the purpose, some others specially the Lingāyats performed it by being buried alive with their dead husbands. Nuniz describing this method says: "These go with much pleasure to the pit inside of which are made two seats of earth, one for him and one for her, and they place each one on his own seat and cover them in little by little till they are covered up; and so the wife dies with the husband.”⁸⁵ Barbosa says that it was the people who wore the Tambarane round their necks that buried the wives along with their dead husbands. His description is as follows: “They dig a great hole deep enough to come up to her neck, and place her in it alive, standing on her feet and begin to shovel in the earth around her trampling it down with their feet until she is covered up to the neck with well trodden earth. Then they place a great stone over her and there she stays dying alive and walled up in clay and they carry out other ceremonies for her.....”⁸⁶ Caesar Frederick observes that it was the custom among the ‘base sort of people’ to bury the wives along with their dead husbands, and strangle them by the neck before closing them with mud.⁸⁷ Gaspero Balbi who saw this custom in A.D. 1582 says that it obtained among the goldsmiths.⁸⁸ This kind of satī is also mentioned in the inscriptions of the period.⁸⁹

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⁸⁵ Sewell, op. cit., pp. 392-93.

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⁸⁶ Barbosa, I, pp. 218-9.

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⁸⁷ Purchas, His Pilgrims, X, p. 96.

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⁸⁸ Ibid., p. 148.

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⁸⁹ E.C., VIII, Sb. 496, 165, etc.

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The classes of people who performed sahagamana were generally the nobility in the empire who were made up of the king, the great lords, the knights and fighting men. According to the inscriptions, which are many, the classes of people who were called the gaudas and the nāyakas also performed sahagamana or satī.⁹⁰ Lastly, Brahman widows also appear to have performed satī. In fact the description of its performance given by Linschoten refers to the practice of the Brahman community.⁹¹

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⁹⁰ E.C., XI, Dg. 116; E.C., VII, Sk. 302; E.C., VIII, Sa. 8; etc. It is interesting to note that satī seems to have largely prevailed in the Shimoga district in particular.

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⁹¹ See Purchas, His Pilgrims, X, pp. 256-57.

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The performance of self-immolation, though very popular and wide-spread in the Vijayanagar days, does not appear to have been enjoined upon the widows. It seems that it was dictated by considerations of marital affection and done voluntarily. Barbosa definitely says that many of the women, even just before their immolation wore a cheerful countenance and asked the people assembled there to consider what they owed to their wives who being free to act yet burnt themselves alive for the love of them.⁹²

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⁹² Barbosa, I, p.

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²¹⁵ The italics are ours.

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According to an epigraph in the Sorab taluk in the Shimoga district, the wife of one Bomma Gauḍa performed sahagamana ‘with great desire’.⁹³ Again according to an epigraph of A.D. 1376 when one Bāci Gauḍa of Āvali expired, his junior wife Muḍḍi Gaurī performed sahagamana.⁹⁴ This inscription however does not say anything with regard to the senior wife. This indicates that the performance of sahagamana was left to individual choice.

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