Balija dynasties

During the Vijayanagar period, the Balijas were appointed as tax-collectors. The Vijayanagar empire was based on an expanding, cash-oriented economy, with the collection of taxes from both agriculture and trade regularized and enhanced by Balija tax-farming.[1][2]

Many of the Poligars, or local military chieftains of South India, belonged to the Balija caste.[3] The Vijayanagar rulers had a policy of consolidating power by granting the Palegars / Poligars, Palaiyakkarar local Administrative rights. They in turn relied on the bands of soldiers that these Paleggallu / Palegars put at the disposal of the Vijayanagar rulers in times of war.

Some of the Balijas Naidus eventually controlled some kingdoms and principalities after the breakdown of the Vijayanagar empire. These included:

References

  1. ↑ Symbols of substance: court and state in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu, by Vēlcēru Nārāyaṇarāvu, David Dean Shulman, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, p. 10, p. 218
  2. ↑ The Sacred centre as the focus of political interest: Volume 6 of Groningen Oriental studies, By Hans Bakker
  3. ↑ Some south Indian villages, by Gilbert Slater
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Politics and Social Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahmin Movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916 to 1929. Author: Irschick, Eugene F. Page 8
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Improvising empire: Portuguese trade and settlement in the Bay of Bengal, 1500-1700, page 206
  6. ↑ Delhi School of Economics. The Indian economic and social history review, page 411
  7. ↑ Sanjay Subrahmanyam. The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500-1650, page 304

Further reading