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112
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. VI.
historical value are verses 21, 27, 28 and 85. V. 21 states that Nadindla-Appa obtained from king Krishna and the minister S&ļva-Timma the right to use a palanquin, two chauris, and & parasol, and the posts of commander-in-chief of an army, of superintendent of Vinikonda, Gutti and Amaravati, and of sole governor (ékadhuramdhara) of that kingdom. Vinikonda is apparently the modern Vinukonda, a hill-fort and town in the Kistna district, about 37 miles west-south-west of Kondavida. Gatti (Gooty) is the well-known hill-fort in the Anantapur district, and Amarávati is the equally well-known Buddhist site in the Kistna district. Vv. 27 and 28 state in very similar words that Salva-Timma gave to Nadindla-Gôps the right to use a palanquin and two chauris, and the posts of general of an army and sole governor (ikadhurandhara, dhauréya) of the town and country of Kondaviti. Bat in v. 35 we are told that in the year Yuvan, marked as Salivahana-Saka (Salivahana-Sak-dska), Nadiņdla-Appa obtained the regentship of Kondaviti from Salva-Timma.
The apparent discrepancy between these statements may be solved, I think, with the help of the data furnished by the Portuguese chronicle. We have only to assume that NadiņdlaAppa was temporarily appointed after the capture of Koņdaviļu, when Såļva-Timma left the country in order to accompany the king on his expedition against Orissa, and that afterwards, when Så!va-Timma had settled the administration of the country and intended to return to Vijayanagara, he installed Appa's younger brother Gops as governor of Kondavidu, while Appa himself received the governorship of Vinikonda, Gutti and Amaravati. That Appa was appointed immediately after the capture of the fort, is shown by the date. There can be no doubt that it was Saka-Samvat 1437 expired, which corresponds to Yuvan, although the chronogram does not work out quite correctly. The first three letters present no difficulty, o(a) being 7,16) 3, and v(d) 4, but, according to Burnell, h(a) has the value of 8, whereas here it would have to be taken as 1.9 Secondly, the above assumption agrees with the fact that five years afterwards, in Saka-Samvat 1442, Gôpa was ruling as governor of Kondavidu. And from v. 45, where Appa, 'the lord of Vinikonda etc.,' is said to have made a grant in Saka-Samvat 1439, we may perhaps even conclude that the new arrangement was made in or before that year. The chronicle, it is true, does not mention the second appointment of a substitute, and the first substitute is called there the brother of Salva-Timma, which certainly is a mistake. On the other hand, the statement that the real governor of Kondavidu was Saļva-Timma, and that he, on his hand, appointed a regent, is fully borne out by the terms used in v. 35, and the fact that he granted a village situated in the territory of Kondavidu.
The list of Nadiņdle-Gôpa's gifts comprises only three items.
1. (V. 29.) In the Saka year counted by Raghavaya (i.e. Saka-Samvat 1442) he erected some new buildings (harmya) adorned with a wall (vapra) and a gate-tower (gópura) in honour of the god Raghava in Achalapuri. This is the Sanskrit equivalent of Kondavidu, as we learn from the following verses that the temple of Raghava or Raghunkyaka was situated in that town.
2. (Vv. 30-32.) In the Saka year to be counted by the towns (3), the Vedas (4), the oceans (4), and the moon (1), in the year Vpisha, on an auspicious day, on Monday, the day of full-moon in the month PhAlguna, he set up an image of Raghunayaka in the town of Kondaviti. This image was surrounded by statues of Rama's followers.. For Saka-Samvat 1443 expired, the date corresponds to Monday, the 10th February A.D. 1522, when the fullmoon tithi of PhAlguna ended 18 h. 20 m. after mean sunrise.
1 The older form of the name seems to have been Vishnulunda, see above, Vol. IV. p. 195, note L
• The chronogram is altogether a very poor one; it has three letters, or, if anka is to be considered part of it min Sdfupfika in v. 14, even four letters too many.
See tbe Konduvidu inscription which will be pabliebed at an early date in this volume. • For details I refer to the translation.
