This volume is a continuation of my previous book, South Indian History and Society (1984), in the sense that I have pursued here problems of socio-economic development in South India for the period from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The previous book focused mainly on the period from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, though it included some studies of the later period also. Eight of the twelve chapters here were published or prepared after the publication of the previous book: six of them are the outcome of a two-year project on 'Socio-economic development in South India from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries' I organized in association with Professor Y. Subbarayalu of Tamil University, Dr P. Shanmugam of Madras University and others in 1984. The project was funded by the Mitsubishi Foundation, Tokyo, and the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi. Two chapters are the result of a research project on 'Urbanization of South Asia under Muslim and British rule' organized by Professor H. Yanagisawa of Tokyo University in 1988 and aided by a grant from the Ministry of Education, Japan. I am deeply grateful to the above institutions and Professor Yanagisawa.
The four remaining chapters were either published or written before the publication of the previous book, but three of them have been greatly revised and expanded for this publication. Two of the papers have been produced in collaboration with Professor Subbarayalu and Dr Shanmugam, who have been associated with me for more than fifteen years in the study of South Indian history. They helped me in reading inscriptions and also in preparing the maps included in this volume. It is my pleasant duty, therefore, to acknowledge their co-operation and help and also thank them for permitting me to include the result of our joint work in this volume.
In the course of my study of Vijayanagar inscriptions I was granted access to the unpublished inscriptions preserved in the office of the Chief Epigraphist, Archaeological Survey of India, Mysore, by Dr K. V. Ramesh, Director of Epigraphy, and Dr M. N. Katti, Chief Epigraphist, both of the Archaeological Survey of India. But for their generosity, I could not have completed or even attempted the studies contained in this volume. Computers were used for printing this book which is full of terms with diacriticals, and Professors K. Machida and J. Takashima of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies composed all the necessary programmes for the printing. The final maps were drawn by Professor K. Sugiura of Fukui University. I would like to express here my deepest thanks to all of them. Many of my friends gave me useful suggestions at various stages of my work and I would like to thank them all, particularly Professor Romila Thapar, Professor M. G. S. Narayanan, Dr Parvathi Menon and Dr Cynthia Talbot, who read some of my papers in manuscript form.
The system of transliteration followed here is the one traditionally used by historians and epigraphists of South Indian studies. The diacritical marks follow those of the Tamil Lexicon: for example erchoru, palavari, nattuviniyogam, alamanji. As the soft n and hard nare interchangeably used in Tamil inscriptions, I have mostly employed n for n also.
Since my graduation thesis on Chola history was submitted to the University of Tokyo in 1958, more than thirty years ago I have been working on South Indian history, with Tamil inscriptions from the ninth to the seventeenth centuries as my basic source-material. The main objective of my study has been to clarify the historical development of South Indian society. My concern with the development of Indian society stems from my doubts about the theory of stagnancy of Asian society put forward by some western scholars.
In my South Indian History and Society, a collection of thirteen papers, I discussed the socio-economic changes that could be identified during the Chola period. I argued that private landholdings were common at the last stage of Chola rule in contrast with the apparent prevalence of communal landholdings in the earlier stages. The emergence of big landholders towards the end of Chola rule was also pointed out. Though the main focus was on Chola society, one chapter related to a problem of the Vijayanagar period and in the introduction I suggested the emergence of a new social formation in the Tamil country during the Vijayanagar period.
Since then many Vijayanagar inscriptions have been studied for their evidence on the structure of the Vijayanagar empire and the socio-economic conditions of Tamilnadu under Vijayanagar rule. This has enabled me to see more clearly the emergence of a new political and economic setup during the Vijayanagar period, which is quite different from that prevailing during the Chola period.
This volume contains the revised version of twelve papers originally published or to be published elsewhere: Chapter 7 is the enlarged version of a chapter in my South Indian History and Society. Chapters 8 and 11 were produced in collaboration with Indian scholars. The essays fall into three sections: Part one, entitled "The Emergence of a New Political Structure' contains five studies which discuss the structure of administration. The emergence of nayaka rule towards the end of the fifteenth century is the focal point of the study, since past studies overlook the fact that nayaka rule was established only in the latter half of the Vijayanagar period. Consequently, they failed to recognize the real significance of nayaka rule as a new state ruling.
system different from the one prevailing previously in the first half. Chapter 1 discusses nayaka rule during the sixteenth century in North and South Arcot Districts, analysing the activities of nayakas who were stationed in Padaividu and Gingee. The analysis clarifies that territories called nayakkattanam were bestowed on the nayakas by the king to administer themselves. Sub-infeudation was also practised by the nayakas. In their territories, the nayakas tried to control production by encouraging artisans and merchants. For the same purpose they associated themselves with temples, which had grown into important economic institutions owning large tracts of land. The new groups of landholders composed of non-Brahmanas were also incorporated into their regimes.
The next two chapters, Chapters 2 and 3, study the changes in Vijayanagar rule in the Tamil country, which occurred towards the end of the fifteenth century. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Tamil country was governed by important Vijayanagar officials such as ministers (pradhani), governors (mahamandalesvara) and generals (dandanayaka), who governed vast regions for rather short periods as the state administrators. Maladministration by the adikaris who worked under the officials as tax collectors contrasts with the nayakas' efforts to increase production in their territory by encouraging the people under them during the sixteenth century. Chapter 2 takes up the problem of nattavar in the context of this change in Vijayanagar rule. The institution of nattavar, as a corporate body of landholders, seems to have lost its vigour during the sixteenth century under nayaka rule. Chapter 3, which examines inscriptions of the Srirangam temple, clarifies the changing character of Vijayanagar governors in the lower Kaveri valley. While the governors who ruled the region in the fifteenth century had the characteristics of senior state administrators, those in the sixteenth century showed some resemblance to the feudal lords of medieval western Europe or Japan.
Chapter 4 examines the rules of two mahamandalesvaras of Cholamandalam who governed the region in the latter half of the fifteenth century. They seem to have tried to become independent of the Vijayanagar king, an attitude differing from that of earlier governors who were subservient to the king, and also from that of nayakas of the sixteenth century who showed their fidelity to the king, seeking his favour.
Chapter 5 examines the number of individual nayakas appearing in Chingleput District inscriptions. Of 124 nayakas, 118 belonged to the post-1475 period, which reinforces the conclusion mentioned above, that the nayaka system was established only towards the end of the fifteenth century. One-fourth of the 124 nayakas either served the king directly in the capital or held important positions in the central government. rnment. Others seem to have controlled local production in their own territory as the king's agents or in the territory of their overlords as their agents.
This section demonstrates that nayaka rule was established at the end of the fifteenth century and that the system which greatly resembled the feudal regime of medieval western Europe and Japan, functioned for about 150 years.
Part Two, entitled 'Socio-economic Development under Vijayanagar Rule', contains five chapters which examine the socio-economic conditions in northern and central Tamilnadu during the Vijayanagar period. They focus on the conditions of the producers who rose in open revolt in 1429 against the Vijayanagar government and the landholders; and the encouragement given to artisans and merchants by nayakas during the sixteenth century. Chapter 6 discusses the loss of land and power by Brahmanas who had flourished during the Chola period and the emergence during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of non-Brahmanas as local magnates holding such titles as arayan, udaiyan, etc. It also discusses the condition of agriculture: local magnates seem to have employed adimais (slaves) for cultivation of their estates, but slavery does not seem to have been a basic relation of production, and kudis as occupant cultivators seem to have been the mainstay of cultivation during the Vijayanagar period.
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