Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c8.14

c8.14

We get some idea of certain specific laws like the law of treason, the law of limitation and the law governing the enjoyment of service *ināms* in the Vijayanagar days. Firstly treason against the state or the king was considered a heinous offence,⁸ and more than that treason against associations (*sangha*) and the community as a whole (*samudāya*) was very much detested. This was accepted even by the ruling sovereigns. Bukka I, who brought about a compromise between the Jainas and the Vaiṣṇavas in A.D. 1368, declared: "He who transgresses this rule shall be a traitor to the king, a traitor to the *sangha* and the *samudāya*."⁹ The punishment for such treason was immediate execution. Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya insists upon men of a treasonous nature being immediately executed.¹⁰ This was the original idea of the law of treason.