The King’s Balance at Hampi is such a modest structure that visitors to the place may surely see it from a distance, but might not stand around the same for a while as many do, say, at the Stone Chariot in the nearby Sri Vijaya Vittala temple (c. 1513 CE). This weighing frame, except for a few motifs like lions sitting on their haunches, contains no carvings that call for any special attention of the visitor. The Balance also contains no inscription, and hence it is not possible to ascribe its construction to a king of the Vijayanagara empire. Nevertheless, the edifice stands to represent an age-old custom of giving auspicious gifts during various ceremonies. The structure is known in Sanskrit as the Tulaa-bhaaram (measuring the weight), and is associated with a ritual called the Tulaa-purusha-daanam or weighing of a man against precious goods like gold, silver and the like, which are then gifted to others.
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Daana is considered as one of the chief principles of the Dharma in religious theology and also in state polity. In ancient times, daanas were given by kings and other wealthy nobles for various reasons such as to expiate sins, to avoid divine punishment, while anticipating the birth of a son, to gain success in undertakings, to ward off ills that may befall an individual, community, country, etc. The concept of daana figures in the Rig Veda, the earliest known Indian text, and an ancillary text by name Brihadvata contains hymns of Daana-stuti (in praise of giving). Mahaveera of Jainism and Gautama Buddha of Buddhism also stress upon the aspect of giving endowments.
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Ancient texts refer to Shodasa Maha Daana (16 great gifts) in which Tulaa-purusha-daana tops the list. It was mentioned first in the Satapata Brahmana, and the Baudhayana Dharma Sutra refers to the same as a vrata (vow), undertaken by a person to expiate his sins. The Matsya Purana and Hemadri’s Chaturvarga Chintamani (13th century) give minute details of prayers and rituals relating to the tulaa-purusha ritual. The Mahabharata says that Sibi Chakravarti had weighed himself to protect a bird (dove). In numerous depictions of the Sibi Jataka of Buddhism, in India and also Afghanistan and China, the Balance is generally shown as a hand-held mini scale. Many inscriptions suggest that tulaa-purusha was more popular among the South Indian kings of various dynasties, including the Pandyas, Cholas, Vengi Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Kalingas, etc. Even a few Buddhist kings of Sri Lanka, and the Mughal kings, from Akbar onwards, performed the weighing ceremony on more than one occasion. A few Mughal paintings show the event, and an etching print shows King Martanda Varma of Kerala weighing himself in the Balance.
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With regard to the Vijayanagara rulers, Deva Raya I (r. 1406-22) of the Sangama dynasty had performed the weighing ceremony in the capital itself. In 1515, Sri Krishna Deva Raya (r. 1509-29) of the Tuluva dynasty had weighed himself in Sri Amareswara temple at Amaravati, the present-day capital of Andhra Pradesh, and the proceeds were donated to Brahmins by his two chief queens, Tirumala Devi and Chinna Devi. His half-brother, Achyuta Deva Raya (r. 1529-42), performed the same ceremony with pearls in Sri Varadaraja temple at Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu.
The Amukatamalyada, a long poem written in Telugu by Krishna Deva Raya, hints that the tulaa-purusha gifts were not taken by all, but only by utterly poor Brahmins. The emperor’s court poet Nandi Timmana had written in Telugu the Paarijaata Apaharanamu, in which Satyabhama and Rukmini quarrel with each other and finally weigh their husband, Krishna, in the Balance. Many Telugu scholars had suggested that the poet had used anyokti (allegory) to reflect upon the personal life of the emperor and his two wives. Incidentally, the right-side basement of the King’s Balance at Hampi contains portrait figures of a king and his two queens. Though there exists no evidence, in my opinion, the figures seem to represent Krishna Deva Raya and his chief queens, Chinna Devi and Tirumala Devi. Their statues in Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala were inscribed with their names in Kannada script on their respective shoulders. Whereas, the three figures on the King’s Balance still remain half-buried in the ground. Apparently, the figures were not even partly exposed till a few years ago. For the same reason, I guess, not many scholars had written about the portraits earlier.
Srinivas Sistla
Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam
(sistlasrini@gmail.com)