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Mysore state; at Makaravalli in the Hangal taluke of the Dharwar district ; at Conjeeveram and at Tiruppasur near Tiruvallur in the Chinglepnt district; and at Srirangam in the Trichinopoly district. These localities furnish a fair indication of the extent of the dominions of Harihara II. If we except the inscriptions of the Uddiyar chiefs, whose names and birudas resemble those of the kings of Vijayanagara, but about whose exact place in South-Indian history nothing can at present be said with certainty, the earliest Vijayanagara inscriptions in the south belong to the reign of Harihara II. From this fact it may be concluded that he was the first Vijayanagara king who had any possessions in the southern portion of the Madras Presidency. As his earliest inscriptions in the south are dated in Saka-Samvat 1315 ( = A.D 1393), we may further conclude that his expedition to the south cannot have taken place long before that date. The unpublished inscriptions at Conjeeveram and Tiruppåsûr in the Chinglepat district are dated in that very year. The former records that the king made a copper door for the central shrine (vimana) of the temple of the goddess Kåmåkshi. The statement contained in one of his inscriptions, published by Dr. Fleet, that he made gifts at Kanakasabha, Kalahasti, Venkatádri, Káñchi, Srisaila, Sônaśaila, Ahobala, Sriranga and Kumbhakona, need not be mere empty boast, - as in the case of the exploits claimed by some other Vijayanagara kings in their inscriptions, - because there is no reason to doubt that these places were included in his dominions. The two verses which refer to these gifts, were probably composed during the reign of Harihara II. and were copied by later kings.8 Nor is it improbable that Harihara II. actually performed the "sixteen great gifts," as special reference is made to them in the subjoined inscription (verse 17), in the copper-plate grant published by Colebrooke, and in the Satyamangalam plates of Devaraya II.10 The spirit of toleration which characterised the religious feelings of several ancient kings of Southern India, seems to have continued during the time of Harihara II.; for we learn from inscriptions that he patronised the Saivas, Vaishṇavas and Jainas alike.l! The tutelar deity of the kings of the first Vijayanagara dynasty was Virûpêksha, the name of the large Siva temple at Vijayanagara.
* Jour, Bo. Br. R. A. 8. Vol. XII. p. 340 f. • Dr. Hultzsch's Progress Report for February to April 1890, p. 4, No. 29 of 1890.
The date of this unpublisbed Tamil inscription is as follows:- Srimannahómandaldívaran fr. ViraHarihararáyanukku felldwinra Sak-abdam dyirattu margirru orubattu anjing mel belláninra Srimukha. samvatsarattu; "in the Srimukha year, which was current after the Saks year one thousand three hundred and fifteen (had expired), (during the reign) of the illustrious Mahamandaldsvara, the glorious Vira-Harihararaya."
• Dr. Hultzsch's Annual Report for 1891-92, p. 16, No.58 of 1892.
. On the history of these chiefs see South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I. pp. 117 ff. and Madras Christian College Magazine, Vol. IX. pp. 670 ff.
. See notes 2 and 3 above. * Jour. Bo. Br. B. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 355, 11.75 to 82 of the text.
8 In two inscriptions (Jout. Bo. Br. R. A. 8. Vol. XII. p. 382, lines 21 to 26 of the text, and Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 364, verses 26 and 27), these two verses occur in connection with Vira-Narasimba, the elder brother of Krishnaraya.
• Miscellaneous Essays, Madras edition, Vol. II. p. 269, verse 19. 10 ante, p. 37, verse 8.
n That the king made gifts at Kalahasti and sonaśaila, which are places sacred to Siva, as well as at Venkatari and Srirangam, which are mered to Vishņu, shows that be made no distinction between Suivis and Vaishnavas. His toleration for Jainism is abown by the fact that he could allow his general Irugs to build Jaina temple at the capital, Vijayanagars; see p. 117, note 4.
1 This is borne out by the fact that the colopbons of the inscriptions of this dynasty consist of the name of the god Virupaksha. In an inscription of Haribara II. published by Dr. Fleet, Jour. Bo. Br. R. 4. 8. Vol. XII. p. 375, it is said that the guardian of the city of Vijayanagara was the god Sri-Virupakshadova; compare Mr. Rice's Mysore Inscriptions, p. 55.
