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Nayaka Land Enfeoffment System
The nayaka (nayankara) system was Vijayanagara's local administrative-military framework granting military chiefs revenue rights in exchange for garr…
Timeline
- c. 1400–1540Vijayanagara Empire · Deccan PlateauThe empire divided conquered areas into nayankara blocks, granting military chiefs tax-collection and local judicial rights in exchange for regular tribute to the center, cavalry, and war elephants, forming a 'military-feudal' style governance network.
- c. 1541–1550Provinces of South India and the Deccan · KarnatakaIn the 1540s the center relied on local nayakas to maintain contests over forts such as Raichur and frontier garrisons; enfeoffment contracts and redistribution became the regent Rama Raya's core means of controlling local elites, while some nayaka powers gradually grew too strong.
Sources
- Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India — Burton Stein (1980)
- The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara — Burton Stein (1989)