Sādhana Documents and the New Documentary Regime of Mysore Kingdom in Early Modern South India

In Mysore Kingdom, one of the most powerful regional states in South India during the early modern period, the government sought to implement a novel system for the management of documentary records. It introduced a few types of official paper documents, which were to be written in the local language Kannada, one of which was sādhanas. This study introduces and analyses official sādhana documents which have received limited attention in extant studies. The official sādhanas were to be prepared by both kings and high-ranking government officials for documenting the grant of rights conducted under the instructions or with the permission of the monarch and notifying the grantee directly. The rights typically granted in official sādhanas related to the collection of taxes from villages/lands, which constituted part of the king’s prerogative power. Regarding narrative format and composition, sādhanas bear a general resemblance to a specific type of inscription that proliferated during the Vijayanagara period. Moreover, they display certain similarities with copperplate documents, as well as contain elements that are not found in either stone inscriptions or copperplate documents. Although there appear to have been limitations on the expansion of preparation and circulation of official sādhanas, they were incorporated into the new documentary regime along with śāsanas (copperplate documents and stone inscriptions) as auxiliary documents, thus enabling the regime to survive and function effectively.