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$ari1ipati ~uJra~~a <3~owJari Gl1dowment iecture-4

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Women In Me die v a , _Andhra

(A.D. 'II th to '16th Century)

by

Dr. (Smt.) K. Jayasree

Andhra University

WOMEN IN MEDIEVAL ANDHRA

I am extremely thankful to the trustees of Dr. 6arigi_pati Rudrayya Chowdari Endowment Trust for giving me this opportunity to deliver this endowment lecture. I feel it a privilege to express some of my views to this august gathering. when I was asked t o deliver a lecture on a historical topic of my choice, I thought it shoul d be a topic of public interest which would be en lightening and could be well received by one and all rather than confining to a purely research paper tbat could be of interest to a limited audience like studen ts aud scholars of history. It is witb this view that I chose to speak today on women in medieval Andbra, i.e., on the po lit ical, social, economic and religious life of women in Andhra during the medieval period.

Writing histor y "at one time was viewed as reconstructon of poI'ticaI history-the kingdoms and kings that ruled the areas, their chronology and genealogy, their conquests, and rise and fall of dynasties and kingdoms. Study of society and economy was given ve~y little importance and socio-economic conditions or religion and culture are dismissed in a chapter or two at the end in a book of political history funning into hundreds of pages. Now that the political history is well-established, historians' attention is diverted towards filling this skeletal structure of political history with the flesh and blood of socio-economicjhistory , To reconstruct this edifice of socio-economic history one has, to probe into the people and the factors that went into its making. In such a study, women, who constituted one half of the popular strength of the soeiety, and their contribution for the development of society cannot be ignored, No doubt, the patriarchal system of Indian society has undermined the role of women in various Politico-~ocjal developments of the count ry. But still women's contripution for the overall development of society as it was, in all aspects, whether political, soc ial, economic or cultural is undeniable.

The studies made tiJj now on the role and statu') of women in society from ancient tim es have shown a gradual deterioration in the status of women. Women, who enjoyed a much 'higherstatus in the vedic. age, b egan to lose thei r position gradually. Several reasons havebeen put forward to account for this deterioration in women's position in society, such as the impact of brahmanical austerities on the entire society, foreign invasions of India, discontinuance of Upanayana for girls leading to lack of education and the role of caste system, joint famiry system, feudalism and other social institutions. Thus though a generaIised picture of the status of women is drawn for the' whole of India. the position, of women cannot be .taken to be the seme at all places in any given period, There is a need to take into account the regional and cultural variations while drawing such a pic-

ture. Hance, in the present I ecture, I wish to give a overall view of the position of' women in Andhra during the medieval period l. e , between 11 th and 16th centuries.

Inseriptions and literature from the major sources for the present study. Butthe necessary information .. that jhey provide is very scanty as the purpose for which they were written was altogether different. The inscriptions recording the gran ts of donations by the people :,to the temples aad brahmins or the literary works have only stray references to women and their activities. Though the accounts. of foreign travellers throw some welcome light on the issue, they were' the generalised pictures of the con d· . - . It~ons of the sub-continent, as such the problem of regional var;

IAbons sets in. Further, much of the information that bas a

bearing 011 th b i . h

. e su ject In l e works of the contemporary writers,

depicts only the sunny side of the life of it he nobility. They do

u.ot provide the historian with any inf ormation about the condi~lOD of the humble and the poor. Making most of the scant lIlformation available an attempt is made to draw an outline of the status of women in Andhra.

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WOMEN AND POLITICS

In the political arena of medieval Andhra, it is heartening to note that women rose to the position of rulers and leaders. Here Jet me give a bird's eye view of the political condition of Andhra during the medieval period. Andhra was not under a single unified rule at that time It was divided among petty rulers and mandaiika chiefs. During 11 th-12th centuries, the eastern Chalukyas and the Chalukya-Cholas were the successive dominant ruling dynasties in Coastal Andhra.In Telangana region the Kakatiyas rose to power and gradually were able to gain control over the whole of Andhra under the able rule of Kakatiya Ganapatideva in 13th century. After the fall of Kakat.iyas, it was the turn of Reddi kings to rise in power who dominated the Coastal Andhra in 14th-15 th centuries. The Vijayanagar rulers who established the kingdom almost simulataneously wit h the Reddis extended their empire over the three States of Andhra Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They controlled the Coastal Andhra and Rayalasima regions between 14th and 16th centuries. Kalinga region, .i.e., Coastal Andhra region to the north of river Godavari, all through the period was under the control of Eastern Gangas and later the Gajapatis of Orissa. It is in this changing political scenario that we see instances of women participating actively in politics and administration.

The earliest that could be mentioned among women who rose in the political scene was Nagarnma, who acted as the minister of Nalagarnaraja, the Haihaya chief of Palnad. She was considered to be a lady of great statesmanship and her leaderly qualities were highlighted in the literary wort 'Palnati Vira Ch, aritra", Under the Kakatiyas we find ladies taking active partie, ipation in politics. At the beginning of 1 J th century, one Kamavasani, wife of Viriyala Chief Erra and paternal aunt of Kakatiya chief Beta I secured the Hanumakonda principahty for the young prince Beta after the death of his father Gundyana. But for her help, the Kakatiya family itself wouJd have become extinct, deprived of political recognition. 1hen we see the famous Rudramadevi becoming the queen of the Kakattye empire. Rudrarnadevi succeeded her father. Ganapatideva to the throne and ruled successfully for nearly three decades. She e tablished her control Over the empire through her conquests. S11e took

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active part in governing the kingdom .. Attired in male garments, she used to daily adorn the royal seat, give interviews to foreigners, listen to the reports of secret service, hold consultations with her ministers, generals and other dignitories of State and advise them on state's matters. In times of need she did not hesitate to take to the battlefield and lead the troops.

During the same period, we come to know of another lady acting as the queen. She is none other than Ganapamadevi or Ganapamba, another daughter of K akatiya 6anapatideva and sister of'Rudramadevi. Ganapamadevi was married to Beta Raja, son of R udradeva: the chief of Kota region. After the death of her ~usban~ Ganapamadevi ruled the Kota kingdom, probably as a subordinate of Kakatiyas. 'She ruled for almost half of a century from A.D.] 21 6 to 1264 with yeuamadala as her capital and manY of the copper-plate and stone .records issued by her came to light. She proved herself to be an.able ruler by ruling the Kingdom unopposed, maintaing peace and. order in the rcountry and having friendly relations with the contemporary neighbouring powers. During the same period, we can see certain ladies holding the post of mahamandalesvara and ruling the regions which wen>: govered by their husbands. A queen of Chagi family named Muppaladev] was noticed in the Tripurantakam inscription dated A.D. 1246 to be ruling probably her-deceased husband's fief. Another lady of the Vir iyala family is noticed i~ an inscription at pammi holding the designation of.Mahasamanta.

During the reign period of Reddi kings again we come across a lady in the seat of power, i. e.,. Anitalli, daughter of Katayavema, the R.eddi ruler of Rajamahendra rajya, When Komaragiri II, son and, successor of Katayavema died, AHada Reddi, right hand man of Kata,avema and the father-in-law of Anitalli, made AnitaJIi the ruler of Rajamahendra, rajya. We come across a few of the grants issued by Anitalli, However, it must be noted here that Anitalli did not rule the country independently like Kakatiya queens, but it was Allada Reddi who ruled the Kiri~ gdom as her rege t .. Later 011 her husband Virabhadra wa made the ruler in her p ace. We can thus see the lady members of the ruling families comiag to throne during this period. But it has to be noted that the female members became the choice to the throne only in the absence of a direct male descendant.

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SOCIETY AND SOCIAL CUSTO:MS

Basing on the available evidence, the ladies of the medieval society can be categorised into three different groups namely the royal ladies (including no biJity), the courtesans and sanis and thirdly the family Iadi es. Royal ladies or aristoeracy being the ruling class enjoyed privileged position in society. Education was the privilege of this section of women. Kings took special intererst to educate t.he royal ladies and special teachers were appointed to give them training in fine arts also. We find some ladies who were poetesses and composed literary works like" Madura Vijaya" by Ganga Devi and "Varadambika Parinayam" by TirumaJamba. In choosing the bridegroom, these ladies might not have been given freedom, because marriages were arranged most of the time for political conveniences. Further polygamy was i he or'der of the day among the aristocratic classes. Kings apart from having a number of wives, used to maintain concubines as well. Ladies of nobility expressed their religious zeal by constructing temples, installing-deities and endowing them liberally with villages, lands

etc. Naming the deities after the ladies is aremarkable feature of the period. These ladies took interest in works of public uti, lity such' as construction of villages and tanks and such works were also named after them.

Courtesans were a section of society who were eernf'ortably well placed, both socially and economically. Concubinage was very common and these ladies openly declared themselves as the :concubines of such and such a king. The courtesans were well-versed in dance and music and many of them were rich. The courtesans of Vijayanagar were described as those who lived in the best houses of the most fashionable streets in the cities. They had free access to the zenana the emperor and were given the privilege of chewing betel in fron of the queen and the king as well. During the war the presence of the courtesans was considered indispensable. Thousands of them fo1iowed the king and the ~obles to the war camps. In the city qf Vijayanagar, a tax was imposed on these courtesans and tr e f or eign travellers who visited the city observed that the revenue collected from these courtesans was enough to pay the salaries of the police in the city. It is possible that the kings encouraged this profession as i t formed a good source of income to the State.

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Sanis or girls in the service of temple were found very commonly in all the major temples of medieval Andhra. A large number of inscriptions from 11 th century onwards refer to these temple girls. The temple girls cal Jed as gudi sanis were taken into temple service for conducting various services to god like amga ramga bhoga. Along with the temple priests, t bey took part ill several ritual duties like bathing the deity with sacred waters, Ianning the deity with chauries, carrying silver lampsteads during rathayatras etc. Singing and dancing in front of deity on various occasions and dancing in front of the temple car during processions was an important duty of the sauis. A number of sanis wer e seen attached to the Saiva temples especially. They were weli-versed in singing and dancing and these skills were made use of by the temples to explain religious ideologies. During the medieval period, the puranic ideology became more popular through the temple centred brahman settlements. To popularise the puranic sects of Hinduism like Saivism, Vaishnavism and Saktism among common people. the recitation of temple myths and legends as well as their portrayal in the temple sculptures are used as the common means of communication. Besides, the performance of dance and music by the temple ladies could have been thought of as the most effective means of impressing upon the minds of devotees. Due to these reasons temples employed and encouraged the ladies in performing these arts.

The sanis in the Temple service appeal to have organised themselves in guilds. In the inscriptions of the temple at Draksharama the sani guilds of Deddamunnuru and Kondikamunnuru were mentioned. Such mention of sanimunnurvuru is seen in the inscriptions of Juttiga, Velpuru, Kommuru and Cheb·rolu. They were so well organised that people used to keep their grants to temples in their trust. To cite an exa Ie, Velanati Gonka made a donation to the temple at Palako or setting up a lamp which waa kept in trust of the sanimuanurvuru of the temple. The sanis also received liberal patrOD8le from the peole who made endowments to the temples A shate ill the donation was stipulated for the beIlefit of the saDis, alolll With the other temple attendants. Thus a inscirprion from Amaravati mentions that out of the produce of the temple lauds. one-fourth share should be givon to tho sanis of t e temple.

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The sallis who dedicated their lives to the serviee of gods .... ~.Iled a respectable place in the social order and their pr-

were a_ . bati . h' Th d '

f 'OD did not carry any disappro atton WIt It. e wor sani

~ :~~ seen as a suffix to the names of many family ladies. Further, it is interesting to note that some of the sanis were married leading famiJy lives. In the temple at Simhachalam there were two different classes of sanis, namely sampradayamvaru and sanulu. The former appear to be the Iadies who remained unmarried 'and attached to the temple permanently. Thus they were mentioned as tanya sampradayamu in ODe of the records. The other class, though in the temple service, were married ladies leading family lives. Inscriptions clearly state the shares given to each of these two clas-

scs separately.

Family ladles in general were given due respect in the soc .. iety. As wif.e and mother she enjoyed a r especable' positron in the family. Men tioniug the mother's names in the grants and rna. king the gr4nts for the merit of one's mother indies te the respect aiven to them. }Wwcver, the prevailing social customs like child marriages formed a hindering block in their overall development. Gids hom of all families were strictly under the control ,of their .,.rents. i4ueatioll for girls became the privilege of only the aristocratic classes. Girls were married off at a very early age and there used to be a tor of. difference of age between the bride and the groom. The practice of child marriages was followed to facilitate the adjustment of the girl in her husband's family and this practic.~ aw that the femaJes were always under the control of the ale members, that is the father before marriage ·and husb-" aDd after mallriage. In arranging marriages, arane or dowry beiDl aPeo to the bridegroom by the bride's family appears to be tu pmctice for the upper classes. But it 'Was the practice of

kaayasuJka Ot' bJideprice~ eo ot\1y kttCWD as voJi Which was

.ractised itt th.e marriages ef co on people, TIt ugh this pract-

i" of hf'ide,.ri£e was denoa eed bey t:he IImririkarfas equating it ~G t.M sa1te. of the dan.hter. it developed a!l- the- common practice J ~ 0.. 00'" y._ Th&t:sreeciyue8I.'of t"~bdd'a's t.ti-.es in demanding !.9h _. ht hawe resn ted m. etting unworthy matches also. Thera

r. sol .. '~a tia ·ajvi1.1ftl1eir- daughters in marriage fd'

~_·t reofpttibtg ara~ df~frbm th~m.

:a._lDdiial lea ya ... s,.Uu' become so contlboU

apr period- the ~t'flbm.. (oulld it a h v

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burden which they wanted to do away with, hence, the brahm, ails of Padaividu rajya belonging to various subcummunities like the Tamil, the Kannadiga, the Telugu and the Lata brahmans made an agreement among themselvesi that henceforth the marriages among them should be concluded only by kanya-dana, not by kanya-sulka, failing which they will be excommunicated from the caste and also would be fined by the king.

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Another social evil of the medieval Indian society namely sati or sahagamana gets referred to in the works of medieval Andhra. Sati or following one's husband to the other world by immolatfng oneself on his funeral pyre was popularised as pious act which attained punyalokas not only to her, but to the whole family. TeJugu works like Itukmangada Charitra , Kasikhandam and Palnati Vira Charitra refer to this practice' Foreign travellers, who visited the country during this time. give a vivid description of the practice of sati. During the Vijayanagar period, king Achyutaraya's wives are said to have committed sati, However, this cannot be considered as a common Practice because the few instances thet were referred to were the acts of noble ladies only. Sati as a custom was not popularised among commoners. Widow remarriage was prohibited and widows were made to lead a mis-

erable life. '.

F.CONOMIC STATUS

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Economic rights and control over financial resources are the two issues that decide the economic status of women. The large Dumber of donations made to the temples by ladies during the medieval times can be taken as an indication of their economic status. Donations of royal ladies to the temples for various services to the deity included lands. villages. cattle, ornaments and such other precious articles. Iakatiya royal ladiel, Kundambe and Mailamba, Sisters of king 8anapatideva were great philanthropists who got several temple, CODS ClOd. deities installed and endowed them heaviJy They also made agrahara grants to learned brahmans and reJiaious preachers COl1lt1'K~ion of public utility works Ii ttab wore also uudertaklD by them. Similarly we see the roy 1 ladies of Vijayuap doDatiaa p eeious jewels and vessel to t

"of irupa' from t I i and tbe·)

_ .. , ....... y 0 ulated tll e al 0 "the

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family ladies making grants of cash and cattle. This type of valuable donation. by ladies indicate their access to f'rnai.cial resources.

At this juncture. it is but necessary to probe into the issue of the property rights of ladies during the period under review. Smr itikartas express different views on the property for women. but we get very little iaf'ormation regarding this from the contemporary sources However, it is an accepted age old practice since the days of Manu that women were given absolute right over stridhana. We also know that there is the practice of arana or off'er iug gifts to ladies at the time of their rnarrrage in the royal and noble families. Those gifts included viragos, jewels, hones, elephants. palanquins and even servan t maids. These formed a part of her stridhana, out of which they might have donated liberally to the temples,

We have references to women involved. in different prof essions which formed a source of income for·· them. Courtesans aDd temple girls became very rich through royal and public patrolHlge aed they wth-e seen making valuable gifts to the temples .

. In the palace precincts of Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya, thare were women who were wrestlers, astrologers, - soothsayers, accountants and musicians. They also acted as guards and attendants in the royal palace. These ladies, we can assume, were economicaJJy independent.

RELIGION AND CULTURE

Medieval period to Andhra was a _time ;of popularity of Virasaivism and later Srrvaishnavisrn. between l l th and 14th

ceaturies, Vi rasaivism became the most popular religion, well patronised by rulers. The grandeur.of Siva temple was at its height and we find a number of grants beinl made by ladies for the maintenance of perpetual lamps. Th0U~h Kakatiyas and Reddis were patrons of Virasaivism, we find their royal ladies constructing temples and ma.kiM donatj?,-'lS to both Salva and Vaishnava deities.

ucb religiou toterauce was adopt~~ y the VJjayatl~gar rulers as welt who \fere patrons of'Vaishnavism, -Women believed in the erficaty of d40as alld vrat s, Tirum~adevj and Chinnadevi, qu - 001 r Krishnade arp'8 performed e ratnadhcnu and sapt

~ra mahad.oas. ir sa:va rClc{Jt:e 0 sel -torture like boo - 1- Illia, for p a~1 00 wa also to lowed by worn 1\. iff r Dt

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religious practices tike vratas and nomus both Saiv ite and Vaishnavite'were f'o llowed with great fervour by th e ladies, In reliaious matters, though the domination in society as temple priests was that of men. it was women who nurtured the religious traditions at home and caused their continuation through such practices as nomus and vratas. -

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Thus we can see that women enjoyed a comparatively better position in the medieval Andhra society. In a period when sati was becoming more and more popular ia north India and women were being burnt alive in the name of sati, it is heartening to find widows ruling over the kingdoms in Andhra. Sati was never popular in Andhra though we get a few instances of upper class ladies performing it. But the development of the institutions of courtesans and temple girls indicates the attitude of men towards women. )Vomen were seen as objects of enjoyment and for the sake of their own pleasure, men encouraged those professions. However, one sunny side of these institutions was that they became promoters and preservers of classical arts like dance and music. Women of all classes showed great zeal in religion and

by ardently following the ritual practices they played a notable role in the cultural continuity.

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REFERENCES

South Indian Inscriptions - Vols. IV, VI, X, XVI. Bhojarajiyam by Anantamalya.

Palnati Vira Charitra by Srinatha,

Itukmangada Charitra by Praudhatavi MalJana. Vij1lattesvariyamu by JC.etana.

Altekar, A S., The position of women in Hindu Civilisation, Benaras, 1938.

Frederique Apfftl Marglin, Wives of god-king, The rituals of th Devadasis of Puri, Delhi, 198'.

a ama1ltha Rao, D.S.L., elilion in Alldhra, Guntur, 1913.

Xane, P.V., Hi tory of Dharmaaa tras. Poona, 1962.

, ,

Xrishnakumari, M., Studies on Medieval Andhra History and Culture I Delhi. 1994.

-do- ,The rule of Chalukya - Cholas in Andhradesa.

Delhi, 1985,

MabaJingam. T.V., Administration and Social life under Vijayal1agara, Madras, 1940.

Neefa Desai & Maithreyi Krishnaraj (ed.), Women and society in India, Delhi, 1987.

NiJakantha Sastry, K.A., A History of South India, New Delhi, 1955.

Nilakantha Sastry, K.A. & N. Venkataramanayya (ed.), Further Sources of Vijayanagara History, Madras, 1946.

Parabrahma Sastri, P V., The Kakatiyas, Hyderabad, 1978. ltamachandra Rao, C.V .. , Administration and Society in Medieval Andhra under the Later Estern Gangas and

Suryavamsa Gajapatis. Nellore, 1976.

Saletore, B.A., Social and Political Life in Vijayanagar Bmpire.

Madras, 1933.

Satyanarayana, K .• A study of the history and culture or the Andhras, 2 vols., New Delhi, 1983

SeweIJ, R., A Forgotten Empire: (Vijayanagara), Delhi, 1901. Somasekhara Sarma, M., History of the Reddi Kingdom, Waltair, 1948. .

Saroj Gulati, Women and Society; Northernfndia in 11th-12th centuries, Delhi, 1985.

Srilakshmi, K .• Women in Vijayanagara, Hyderabad, \996. Srmivas, M.N., The Changing position of Indian Women, Bombay, 1979.

Suudaram, K., Studies in Economic and Social conditions of Medieval Andhsa, Machilipatnam, 1968.

kia C. Kersenboom Story, Nityasumangali - Devadasi Tradition in South India, Delhi, 1'87.

Veakataramallayya. N., The Bastern Chalukyas of Vengi, Madr as, 1950.

-do- , Studies in the history of third Dynasty of

Vijayallasara, Madras, 1935.

· Dr. Kambbampati Jayasree obtained her M. Phil Degree rom Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1980 and her Ph. D. from Andhra University in 1990. Her field' of inter erst is the socio-economic history of medieval Andhra. Her Book "Agrarian Economy in Andhra under Vijayanagar " was published in 1992. More than fifteen of her research papers were published in various historical journals. She was awarded Research Associateship by the University Grants Commission in the year 1992. At present she is working on The Post-doct-

oral project on "Society and Women in Medieval Andhra" in Andhra University.