Towards a new formation

by Noboru Karashima

The focus of this path-breaking study is the social and economic changes that took place in South India, under the rule of the Vijayanagar kings, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. A significant feature of the work is the close examination of contemporary inscriptional data, both published and unpublished, relating to social and economic issues as well as to the restructuring of state administration. Earlier studies have relied heavily on the limited and arbitrary evidence offered by the brief English versions of inscriptions published in epigraphical reports; in this study the careful scrutiny of primary sources has both revealed important new evidence on social and economic issues, and led to fresh interpretations of known facts. The first major topic is the changes in administrative structure that took place towards the close of the fifteenth century in the Tamil country under Vijayanagar rule. The oppressive and exploitative regime of state officials (which had led to