The Cholas dating from the time of the ancient Karikala were remarkable for their works of irrigation. The Hindus of South India are credited with the discovery of the device of controlling the water of a river at the head of the delta and taking off irrigation channels to regions which could not be irrigated under gravitation ordinarily. The delta of the Kaveri is a supreme instance of the achievements of the Cholas in this particular. The very last irrigation channel known, branching off from the south main arm of the river Kaveri within 25 miles of the sea, and the artificial canal taking off from the Coleroon, were alike made in the days of the great Cholas. The great Gangaikonda Chola was responsible for what must have been an enormous irrigation tank near his capital, the feeder channel for it coming from the Coleroon river, higher up.

The waste water of this tank must have gone to fill the now famous Vattanam tank. This is now known as one of the best irrigation tanks of the South Arcot district. Another great tank in a more arid tract of the Tanjore District was made by another Chola, whether he was a ruler or prince we do not know. This is the great irrigation tank in the village Vadu-vur about 10 miles from Mannargudi. This is fed by a canal branching from Vennar and passing close under the fortress walls of Tanjore to this particular tank. This canal was known Virasola-Vadavaru.

They were builders of temples as well. The Tanjore temple itself is one instance. There are numbers of other instances which could be cited; for example, the temples at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Tirbhuvanam and Darasuram near Kumbhakonam. Some of these are typical in regard both to magnitude and majesty. It was already pointed out that the age of the Cholas was an age of great literary output chiefly in Tamil literature although they extended their patronage to a certain extent to Sanskrit also. In point of religion, it was a period of organisation as in other fields of human activity; the religious organisation in this age took on the form of the organisation of the sects as was already pointed out. In these matters, the succeeding dynasties carried on the tradition of the Cholas undiminished and in some respects improved upon in art, architecture, literature and administration, in fact in everything that constitutes a successful human organisation of society. The Empire of Vijayanagar is but a development and extension of what this organisation was under the Cholas. Some of the magnificent buildings that stand in South India, temples in particular, some few civil buildings also, show the development to which they are indebted to Vijayanagar; the magnificent colonnaded halls, each composite column or portion of which is covered with sculptural representations, form the work of the age of Vijayanagar.

We have instances of their irrigation activity in Vijayanagar, in some of the tanks in the peculiarly arid locality of the ceded districts, as for instance those at Anantapur, Anantasagara, Kambam, etc. "We have reference to an ani-cut work on the Tungabadra above Vijayanagar itself.

Learning flourished under Vijayanagar and the rulers extended their patronage according to locality to the various languages and to Sanskrit. Several of the great governors and officers of Vijayanagar were scholars themselves and patronised scholars. Vidyaranya, Vedanta Desika and Appayya Diksita, to mention only the preeminent, born in any age or country would have shone as luminaries of the first magnitude in literature. The usurper Saluva Narasimha is recorded as a Sanskrit scholar and one Sanskrit work is ascribed to him. The great Krishna-devaraya was a Sanskrit and Telugu scholar, and two works of his have come down to us. Jambavati Kalyanam is a Sanskrit work and Amuktamalyada, a high class Telugu work, are ascribed to him. Tirumalaraya, the king who occupied the throne after the battle of Talikotta is considered as a scholar, and one learned commentary at any rate, is ascribed to him. The example of royalty was imitated by provincial governors, who several of them set up as scholars and have more systematically encouraged scholars. The full efflorescence of the spirit of encouraging literature is seen in the Tanjore ruler Raghunatha Nayaka. He was ruler, scholar, musician, patron and warrior, all rolled into one. He could himself compose both in Sanskrit and Telugu, and a version of the Rama-yana that he wrote in Telugu was considered so excellent that a lady of his court rendered it into Sanskrit and earned the title Madhuravani (lady of sweet speech) for the service. Another lady of his court wrote an epic in Sanskrit, Raghunathabhyudayam, and was such a great expert in the various kinds of composition in eight languages including Sanskrit, that she was elevated to the dignity of Suhitya Samrajya, and other instances could be quoted.1

This is enough to indicate the patronage extended to literature by the rulers of Vijayanagar.

Before closing, it would be well to draw attention to a certain number of political maxims, for which King Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagar is given credit. He scatters through the fourth canto of his Telugu work Amuktamalyada,2a number of these, which in substance agree more or less with what we find laid down in professed works on the Nltisastra and could be traced in the Dharma Sastras as well as in the Tamil work Kural. The peculiar importance of these maxims coming from Krishnadeva Raya is this. We have the means of proving that this monarch did make successful efforts at putting his precept into practice.

This monarch apparently found Brahman officials of great service to him, and he speaks in glowing terms of Brahmans "as administrative officers both civil and military." He would entrust fortresses, well-equipped, to Brahmans. He would have his Brahman officers, mature men between 50 and 70, who "are scholars, who are afraid of adharma and who are well-versed in raja niti, and offer to rule according to raja niti." He gives his reasons also, "because a Brahman would stand to his post even in times of danger and would continue in service though reduced to becoming a subordinate to a Kshatrya or Sudra. It is always advisable for a king to make Brahmans as officers." This high opinion that he had for the Brahman, he carried into practice. His chief minister and adviser was the Brahman Saluva Timma whose brother Saluva Govinda was the first Governor of the recently conquered province of Ummattur in Mysore and was subsequently promoted to be killedar of (governor of) Vijayanagar itself.