Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 43
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

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Page 116
________________ 112 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY [JUNE, 1914. were, from this time onward, the real rulers of the land, and reduced the indigenous monarchs to the position of mere figureheads. The pride and perhaps the prejudice-for the new viceroys belonged to other castes, spoke different tongues and came from another part of the country of the Pân yans might have disliked the presence of these, their allies or rather masters; but they could not but submit, for their own sake, with tame and willing resignation, to their dominance. The history of Madura, thus, in the Vijayanagar period is the history of a dual power, of two dynasties, one locally royal and the other extraneously viceregal. The people of the kingdom of Madura (which included Tinnevelly and, in later days, Trichinopoly algo), in other words, had two masters, the immediate one being their own king, and the more remote one the Vijayanagar agent. As has been already mentioned, the relations between the two authorities were, probably, cordial rather than strained. Self-interest and weakness necessitated a spirit of ready compliance on the part of the Pandyan rulers, while self-confidence and the possession of superior strength unconsciously led to the easy assertion of mastery on the part of the viceroys. At the same time, the viceroys do not seem to have availed themselves of their position to interfere too much in the internal affairs of the kingdom. Prosperity did not kill their prudence, nor did the allurements of power banish from them the virtue of moderation. They evidently confined themselves to the collection of tribute, the upkeep of the imperial army, and the remittance of the surplus tribute to the emperor. They, as was natural in their position, controlled the foreign policy of the king, and kept a watchful eye on his political acts and movements, his alliances and his enmities. They also helped him in the subjugation of local risings, in the encouragement of learning by means of endowments to Brahmins, and in the furtherance of all the arts of peace. But they hardly, it may be believed with Dr. Caldwell,46 interfered much in the internal affairs of the kingdom. Social Effects. Immigration of the Badugas. The influence of Vijayanagar was stronger on South Indian society than on South Indian government. It in fact created a revolution in the social history of the land. For it led to a considerable immigration of men and women from the Telugu and Canarese lands to the land of the Tamils. Centuries back, the political skill and imperial statesmanship of the Chola emperors had caused and promoted a large influx of Tamil soldiers,ti servants, officers and men into the Telugu land; and now, by an act of Providence, the reverse process happened. Already, the territory covered by the Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Madura and Tinnevelly districts, i. e., the two kingdoms of the Chôļas and the Pandyas, had received an influx of a few Canarese people during the short life of the Hoysala supremacy; but this immigration of the 13th century was 18 on a comparatively small scale, owing the ephemeral nature of the Canarese dominion, as well as to the vehement opposition to it of the local kings and peoples. The Vijayanagar conquest was followed by such a large immigration from the north that the historian can hardly be deemed inaccurate if he describes that conquest as the conquest of the Tamilians by the 46 See his History of Tinnevelly. 47 In the days of the Chola Empire, See the Madr. Ep. Reports for numerous examples. 49 Bishop Caldwell ascribes the construction of the Canadian Aniout and the town of Palamkottah to the Canareso immigrants of this period. Soe his Hist, of Tinnevelly; also Stuart's Tinnevelly Manual

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