Part 12 - Society in the Līlāvatī-Vīthī

The Līlāvatīvīthī was composed during the eighteenth century. Rāmapāṇivāda, the author of the Līlāvatīvīthī, has mentioned very little about the society of that time.

However, the Kerala History (A. Sreedhara Menon, 1967, A Survey of Kerala History) states that in this period there were two kings in Venad (Travancore), i.e.

1. Mārtaṇḍavarmā (1729-1758) and
2. Kārtika Tirunal Rāmavarmā (17581798), also called Dharmarāja.

Mārtaṇḍavarmā ascended the throne of Venād after the death of Rāmavarmā in C1729 A.D. Mārtaṇḍvarmā was very strict as a ruler. After coming to the throne, he changed the administration system. He was very kind to the public at large, but at the same time, he improved the economy of the state. To protect the borders of the state, he equipped military with better arms. He was very strict to the rebels. If they went against him, he confiscated their property and put them to death. The women and children of rebels were sold as slaves to the anglers on the coast. Their houses were razed to the ground. Pravarthikar and Karyakara, were in charge of the administration of the village and the group of villages respectively.

Mārtaṇḍavarmā did not discriminate against the people in the society. The people were living in harmony and the way of living was peaceful. Kuravas were living in the hillside. Their duties included hunting, honey gathering, cultivating of fruits etc. Itayas were practicing cattle rearing. Uzhavas and Valayas were anglers. The Brahmins were held in high esteem in the society. They were very rigid. Kshatriyas were ruling and protecting the state.

The Revenue Department was collecting taxes for the lands, both dry and wet. The landlord used to give information regarding the land-holding, specifying the tax levied on each item of the land. The government reserved for itself the monopoly of trade in such articles as pepper, tobacco, cassia and arecaand built barns at different places to store these articles. Chowkies or custom-houses were set up to prevent smuggling. Salt manufacture was made a state monopoly.

The king used to look personally after the welfare of the state, building of new places and construction of new roads, dams and improvement in infrastructure. The king was devoted to the tutelary deity of Sri Padmanābha and ruled the kingdom as a sacred trust in his name.

The reign of Mārtaṇḍavarma and Dharmarāja saw not only the expansion of the kingdom of Travancore and the establishment of a centralized administration, but also the spectacular progress in the matters of religion, literature and arts. The poets like Rāmapurathu warrier and Kunjan Namibiar (Rāmāpāṇivāda) came to adorn the court. The temple arts like Kuthu, Patakam, Kathakali and Tullal received all out encouragement. The art of Mural painting reached the hight of excellence as it is evidenced by the Murals in the Padmanābha-puram palace. It should be noted that Kerala has produced scholars like Śaṅkarācārya, Bhavadāsa, Prabhākara, Kumārila, Rāghavānanda, Vināyaka, Dāmodara, Bhāskara, Citraśānu, Vijñāneśvara, Ruyaka, Maṅkhuka, Ravivarmā Kulaśekhara, Śrīkaṇṭha, Dāśarathī, Rāmavarmā, Sukumāra, Śaktibhadra and Govindamitra in the field of Indian philosophy, Astrology and Literature.

The Līlāvatīvīthī describes the fact that the people very much believed in the black magic to protect them from devils, enemies and wild animals.

Further, it reports that people used to take the help of female ascetics such as Yoginī type of characters for achieving their objective,

“katham indrajālavidyāyāmapi kuśalinī siddhimatī”
  –(Līlāvatīvīthī, Trivandrum Univ. Pub., p.8).

The people believed in even astrology,

“kālena devī te anukulā bhaviṣyati” and
“sarvam daivavilasitam”
  –(Līlāvatīvīthī, Trivandrum Univ. Pub., pp.12 and 21).