Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c5.17

c5.17

The spread of the power of Vijayanagar over the whole of South India caused the migration of the people from one part of the peninsula to the other. The patronage which the Rāyas extended to learned men and religious teachers, especially the Vaiṣṇavas, attracted a large number of Brahmans from the south, who settled down permanently in the Telugu and Kanarese districts. Thither also came a good number of Śūdras who entered the civil service of the government, besides merchants, particularly the Beris, who flocked to villages and towns for purposes of trade. Similarly, there was an influx of the Telugu and the Kanarese people into the Tamil districts. The Rāyas bestowed estates on their dependents, who settled down all over the Tamil country with their followers. The natural consequence of this intermigration was the transfer of certain castes into a new environment. Thus, the Balijas, Kammas, Reḍḍis and the various sects of the Telugu speaking Brahmans who were alien elements in the social structure of the Tamil country found their way into it, and got themselves acclimatised to their new environment in course of time. In the same manner, the Piḷḷais, the Mudaliārs, the Arava Vēlamas, and the different sects of the Tamil-speaking Brahmans left their native land and made the northern districts of the empire their permanent abode.