2023-02-17 20:22:00 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
46
MADHURAVIJAYAM
activities ceased; temple properties were confiscated.
Large scale migrations became the order of the day;¹8
handicrafts suffered; there was a large number of un-
employed workmen suffering from want.¹9 Cultivation
was not regular and many fields were lying empty. 20 In
the field of art the product of many years' labour all
perished.
3. THE MADHURAVIJAYAM ACCOUNT
The Madhurāvijayam gives a graphic account of
the condition in which the Vijayanagar conqueror of
the Tamil country found the various holy cities. In
Srirangam the Lord of Serpents was warding off the
heaps of bricks with the hood lest their fall should
disturb the sleep of Yoga in which Hari was worship-
ped. When one looked at the state of the temples of
the other gods also, one's distress knew no bounds.
worms.
were
The foldings of their doors were eaten up by wood-
The arches over the inner sanctuaries were
rent with wild growths of grass. Those temples which
once resonant with the sounds of Mridanga
drums were now echoing the fearful howls of jackals.
The river Kaveri became deflected very much from
her time honoured course and was flowing in all sorts
of wrong directions imitating the ruthless invaders.
The Brahmin streets where once the sacrificial smoke
was seen rising and the chanting of the Vēdas always
18. A.R.E., 276.
19. Ibid.
20. A.R.E., 64 of 1916. "The times were Tulukkan times: The
dēvadāna lands of the gods were taxed with kadamai; the temple wor-
ship, however, had to be conducted without any reduction! the ulavu
or cultivation had to be done by turns (for want of sufficient number
of men)".
MADHURAVIJAYAM
activities ceased; temple properties were confiscated.
Large scale migrations became the order of the day;¹8
handicrafts suffered; there was a large number of un-
employed workmen suffering from want.¹9 Cultivation
was not regular and many fields were lying empty. 20 In
the field of art the product of many years' labour all
perished.
3. THE MADHURAVIJAYAM ACCOUNT
The Madhurāvijayam gives a graphic account of
the condition in which the Vijayanagar conqueror of
the Tamil country found the various holy cities. In
Srirangam the Lord of Serpents was warding off the
heaps of bricks with the hood lest their fall should
disturb the sleep of Yoga in which Hari was worship-
ped. When one looked at the state of the temples of
the other gods also, one's distress knew no bounds.
worms.
were
The foldings of their doors were eaten up by wood-
The arches over the inner sanctuaries were
rent with wild growths of grass. Those temples which
once resonant with the sounds of Mridanga
drums were now echoing the fearful howls of jackals.
The river Kaveri became deflected very much from
her time honoured course and was flowing in all sorts
of wrong directions imitating the ruthless invaders.
The Brahmin streets where once the sacrificial smoke
was seen rising and the chanting of the Vēdas always
18. A.R.E., 276.
19. Ibid.
20. A.R.E., 64 of 1916. "The times were Tulukkan times: The
dēvadāna lands of the gods were taxed with kadamai; the temple wor-
ship, however, had to be conducted without any reduction! the ulavu
or cultivation had to be done by turns (for want of sufficient number
of men)".