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 316

No. 43]
225
PENTAPADU GRANT OF CHODA BHAKTIRAJA, SAKA 1265
Venga, the latter lost his life. It seems as though Võnga died without any issue, for, on his death, his overlord Prōlaya-nayaka installed Venga's nephew Bhaktiraja to his estate (verse 35). We do not know whether Bhaktiraja held his ancestral principality of Eruva in addition to this newly acquired territory round about Vengi, although that seems to have been the case, nor are we told what became of Venga's brother Tamma who must have, in the natural course, succeeded to his late brother's estate had he survived him. On the death of Prōlaya-nayaka, his son Pōchi(or Vōchi)-nayaka1 ascended the throne with the help of his uncle Kapaya-nayaka. Bhaktirāja now owed allegiance to Pōchi-nayaka and obtained the latter's permission to make a gift of certain villages.
It will be seen that the donees who numbered 75 held 63 shares altogether. The postscript adds the name of Bharati as a holder of two shares given to him by the donees at the instance of the donor. This brings the total number of shares distributed among the donees to 651. But the post-script specifies the number of shares contained in the gift land as 66 and says further that Bhaktiraja added Uttanampuņi to the gift land. This Uttanampūņi was thus a piece of land which constituted the remaining share out of the total of 66 that the gift land comprised.
The post-script referred to above calls for some remarks. It is dated Ananda, Pausha, Krishnadvādaśī, when the sun was in Makara. The Cyclic year Ananda after the date of the main grant, viz., Šaka 1265 (1342 A.D.), corresponds to Saka 1296 (1374 A.D.) and thus the interval between the two dates comes to about 32 years. Bhaktiraja's reign probably continued beyond Saka 1296, Šaka 1310 (1388 A.D.) being the earliest available date for his son and successor Annadeva. The present grant gives the earliest date so far known for Bhaktiraja, earlier nearly by a decade and a half than his Madras Museum plates, the interval between this and the earliest date cited above for Annadeva being 45 years. Bhaktiraja's success against the Yavana forces referred to in verses 36-37 shows that he associated himself with his uncle or uncles (Venga and Tamma) against the Muhammadans. The events that followed, viz., the death of Venga and perhaps also of Tamma in these battles, made Prōlaya-nayaka confer on the young Bhaktiraja the chieftaincy of his uncle's estate. The defeat of Boggara, Dabaru-Khānu and other Muhammadan warriors in the neighbourhood of Gulapundi and Pedakonda by Bhaktiraja while he was yet a youth, as referred to in the Rajahmundry Museum plates of Annadeva, evidently refers to the same achievement. Bhaktiraja's success was at the latest contemporaneous with the date of our charter, viz., Saka 1265 (1342 A.D.).
As regards the localities mentioned in the record, Chintapēta, Chintalapūņi, Vēmgi and Gomtūru, over which Bhaktiraja is stated to have ruled and which perhaps formed the central part of Venga's territory to which his nephew succeeded, may be identical with Chinnampēța, Chintalapudi, Peddavegi and Guntūru respectively. Of the places clubbed with Pentapāḍu, viz., Enarlagodḍu, Mulkala and Jalepalle, the first is possibly the same as Yanaralapalle, about a mile and a half due south-west of Penpadu, the other two bring insignificant hamlets of the same village. Of the villages of Darsaparru, Padmara-Vipparru and Kommara, the first is about a mile due east of Pentapadu (or Pentapadu-agraharam as it is now called) in the Tadepalligudem Taluk of the West Godavari District, the second about 4 miles south-west and the third also about 4 miles due south-south-west of the same. The stream called Veyyera runs from west to east about a mile and a half due south of Pentapadu. Mudunuru, another village mentioned among the
1 The name of this chief was wrongly read in A. R. Ep., 1946-47, App. A, No. 3, as Võbi-nāyaka.
A. R. Ep., No. 254 of 1905. This date is expressed by the chronogram dasa-visva-bhaji Vibhavě Märgge Sasanka-grahe. The chronogram yields the Saka year 1310 corresponding to the cyclic year Vibhava and the occasion indicated is a lunar eclipse in Marga. The above details regularly corespond to the 14th November, 1388 A.D.
* Journal of Oriental Research, Vol. V, pp. 128 ff.