Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c8.59

c8.59

Constituted on the same lines as the court of law at the capital where the kings dispensed justice personally, there were inferior courts of various grades in the empire, where justice was administered. The provincial courts were presided over by the king's agents or governors, who in the name and on behalf of the king decided cases that appeared before them. For instance according to a record from Āragaḷūr in the Salem District, one Tirumalai Nāyaka, who was the governor of the province in which the village was situated, made a decision regarding the right of worship in the temple of Tirukkāmīśvaram Uḍaiya Nāyanār.³⁵ Likewise when a dispute arose between the Agrahārikas and the Karṇams of the village of Avuḍūru in respect of the distribution of certain service inām lands, one Anuguṇḍa Veṅgaḷappa, most probably an officer of the imperial government, settled the question by redistributing the lands under dispute among the two parties, after classifying the lands into gocd, bad and medium.³⁶