Epigraphia Indica Vol 33

SR No.: 032587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 514
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 29 MB

Page 28

No. 1]
TWO GRANTS OF RAGHUDEVA met with in the present epigraph. Verse 19, which is not found in the Dorapalem grant, discloses the fact that the name of Raghudēva's mother was Mallikā. Verse 20 says that, owing to his prowess and his conquests Raghudēva was putrikrita by his uncle Kapilēsvara. The expression putrikrita may suggest that Raghudēva was adopted by his uncle as a son ; but the idea may also be that Kapilēsvara treated Raghudēva as one of his own sons. The second alternative seems to be supported by Raghudēva's Warangal inscription of a later date (1460 A.D.) representing him as the son of Parasurama and not of Kapilēšvara. It is difficult to say whether the claim had anything to do with the title Kumāra enjoyed by Raghudēva.
Verse 33 represents Raghudēva as a Narēndra, i.e. a ruler, although he is generally called a Kumāra, Nrip-ātmaja, Rāja-tanaya, Narēndrarāja-putra (or "sūnu) and Narēndra-dharanipālātmaja, i.e. prince, and verses 26-27 state that he owed his position to the grace of Kapilēsvara whoro viceroy apparently he was. That he was a servant of Kapilēśvara is also clearly indicated by the word sētā used in verses 25 and 29 with reference to his service to his uncle. Verse 27 may suggest that the title or position of Kumāra was assigned to him by Kapilēśvara. But the reference to his dig-vijaya (verses 20, 25 and 26) and to his rule over the earth '(verses 22, 24), his comparison with the ancient imperial ruler Kārtavirya (verse 22) and the vague reference to the prowess of his arms in many of the stanzas show how the official prasastikära was trying to endow a provincial governor with the glory of an emperor.
Verse 27 states that Raghudēva had his headquarters at the city of Rajamahēndra (i.e. Rajahmundry) and that the province over which he ruled extended from Simhachala to Giripraja which may be a mistake for Girivraja. Simhachala is no doubt the place of that name in the Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh ; but the other limit of the province under Raghudēva is difficult to identify. We know, however, that the kingdom of the Reddis of Kondavidu, which also was conquered by Kapilēsvara and made a province of the Gajapati empire, lay on the other side of the territory ruled by Raghudēva. It is thus not impossible that Girivraja (literally 'the cowherd settlement on the hill ') was the Sanskrit form of the Telugu name Kondavidu (literally,
the city on the hill '). The rendering may of course have been influenced by the names of the celebrated cities called Girivraja, which were the capitals of the ancient Magadha and Kēkaya countries. It may be noted that, when Raghudēva was ruling over the district around Rajahmundry, Kondavidu was the headquarters of Gāņadēva, another of Kapilēsvara's viceroys. Gānadēva's inscriptions bear dates in 1454 and 1455 A.D.' It seems that the province under Raghudēva lay between two other provinces of Kapilēśvara's empire, which had their headquarters at Simhachalam and Kondavidu.
1 This case reminds us of a Simhachalam inscription (8I1, Vol. VI, No. 1088, pp. 437-38) of Saka 1381 (1459 A.D.) recording the gift of Hambira-kumăra-mahāpātra of the Sürya-vamba. In the Chiruvroli grant and Warangal record, the donor Hambira is represented as the son of Kapiléávara. The date of the record, the title Kumāra. mahapatra and the descent from the solar lineage no doubt suggest that Hambers of the Simhachalam inscription was the same as the homonymous son of Kapilēsvara, although the title may mean & Mahapatra of the status of & Kumara'. But Hambira-kumāra-mahapatra is described in the Simhachalam epigraph as the son of Sandudēva-mahăpătra. Since it is impossible to believe that the omperor Kapilēsvars has been mentioned as Mahapatra Sandudēva in a record of 1459 A.D., the only possibilities are that Hamabira of the Simhachalam inscription, even though he must have been a close relation of Kapilēsvara, was different from the emperor's son of the same name, or that Sandudēva's son Haxhira was adpoted by Kapilēdvara as his own son sometime after 1459 A.D. as a reward for Hambira's success in the southern campaigns. Cf. IHQ, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 286-87.
Son N. L. Dey. Geographical Dictionary, s.v. Girivrajapura. Cf. the Palampet insoription in Hyd. A.8., No 3.
• The Chinta palli inscription (A.R. Ep., 1917, No. 70) of Gápadeva is datod Saks 1378, Bhava, Vajdashasudi 15, Thursday. The date may be the 11th April 1454 A.D.. His Kondavida plates (Ind. Ant., Vol. XX. pp. 390 ff.) were ingued in Saka 1977=Yuvan corresponding to 1458 A.D. Chintapalli is in the Sattenapalle Taluk and Kondavida in the Narasaraopet Taluk, both in the Guntur Distriot of Andhra. The forts of Addanki and Vinukonda lay within Gañadova's province.