The Family of Mallappa Nayaka: Transferability of vijayanagar Nayakas in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

During the period of the Vijayanagar empire, mainly in the sixteenth century,1 many nayakas were sent by the kings to Tamil Nadu from Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh as military leaders as well as administrators. Though it is vaguely understood by scholars that they were transferred from one place to another by the kings, so far no proof has been presented to substantiate this understanding.2 This transferability of nayakas is a crucial point for understanding the role these nayakas played in the state rule, and therefore, the Vijayanagar state structure. According to Burton Stein, who put forward the so-called 'segmentary state theory', nayakas in Tamil Nadu, except such big ones as the Senji, Thanjavur and Madurai nayakas, were local powers, like the zamindars of the Mughal period, having their power base in the locality where they were supported by communal relations.3 To Stein, therefore, the idea of the transfer of nayakas must have been quite unpleasant, being antagonistic to his own idea. Though I have discussed this point to a certain extent elsewhere,4 the following examination is an effort to resolve this crucial issue.