Epigraphia Indica Vol 07

Author(s): E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 27

18
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. VII.
found in kha and tha. As first letter of a group, r is represented by the full sign in ryô in l. 15 and rud in . 46. In all other cases the secondary sign has been used. The language is Sanskrit, and, with the exception of the introductory phrase subhamrastu in l. 1 and the concluding words fri frí frí in l. 53, the whole text is in verse. As regards orthography, it may be noticed that a consonant is doubled after, in dévair=mmathyamánán (1. 7), kuruvan (1. 22), sårththd (1. 24), -audaryyas (1. 43), arththi-sárththa (1. 48), kirtti-dharmmau (1. 50), after anusvára in tuingga (1. 1), Vinikom dda (1. 32), Bella konddan (1. 32), -áittad (1. 48), and as first letter of a group in jdta-ppratishthan (1. 28) and Amaréca-pprasádatah (1. 52). The groups tth and ddh are written thth and dhdh ; compare, in addition to the cases dited above, tadh-dháma (1. 4) and samimdhdhd (1. 49).
The inscription is one of king Kộishnaraya of Vijayanagara. The greater portion of it consists of verses already known to us from other records. New are only the verses 7, 9, 10 and 12. Verge 7 states that "from him (i.e. king Narasa) was born by Nagamamba king Krishnaraya, who causes pleasure to the world, as the moon, who causes the fragrancy of the water-lilies, was born from the milk-ocean." Krishnariya's mother is generally called Nagala. However, the variant Någåmbikå is found also in the prose portion of the Hampe and Sankalapura inscriptions.
Of greater interest is verse 9, which praises Kșishộarầya as him "who, having taken by a forcible attack Sivanasamudra, Udayadri, Vinikonda and Bellako da, and having captured alive on the battle-field Virabhadra, the son of the Gajapati king, took Kondavidu.” This account, although rather meagre, is of considerable importance as being the first epigraphical record of Kộishnaraya's warlike exploits up to the conquest of Kondavidu. The enumeration of the events seems to follow the chronological order. The taking of Sivanasamudra, at any rate, appears to have been the first military success in Krishnaraya's career. The ancient city of Sivanasamudra is situated on an island between the two great falls of the Kåvêri, 9 miles north-east of the modern Kollégål in the Coimbatore district. It belonged at that time to the Ummatûr chiefs, who regarded Somêsvarasvåmin, whose magnificent temple may still be seen at Sivanasamudra, as their family god. The Ummatúr chiefs were subject to the kings of Vijayanagara. The then lord of Ummatûr must have revolted against his sovereign; for, quite in accordance with the inscription, a native chronicle relates that, after having first settled the Drâvida country about Conjeeveram, Kộishộaraya crushed a refractory Raja in the Maisur country, the Ganga Raja of Ummatur. In the war against the latter Krishparaya captured the strong fort of Sivanasamudra and the city of Srirangapattana, after which all Maisûr submitted to him. We can even determine, with great probability, the cause which led to this war, by combining the facts ascertained hitherto with the statements of a Portuguese author. In his Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerques the son of the great conqueror gives us an abstract of a letter written by a certain Luiz, a Franciscan friar, who, after the disaster at Calicut in January 1510, was sent by Albuquerque to the court of Vijayanagara with the view of securing Krishộariya's assistance against the Zamorin. The letter was delivered by the
See e.g. Kuppeldr plates of Krishnariya, J. Bo. Br. 8.4.8. Vol. XI. p. 381 ff.; Hampe inscription of the same, Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 361 ff. ; Unamasjeri plates of Achyutaraya, ibid. Vol. III. p. 147 ff., ete. Verge 6 of the present inscription is formed by combining the first balves of two flokas of those inscriptions (vv. 6 and 9 of the Hampe inscription, vv.7 and 8 of the Unamåfijeri plates).
9 Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 365, and Vol. IV. p. 267.
• Ep. Carn. Vol. IV. p. 60 of the text ; compare for the Ummatur chiefs Mr. Rice's account, ibid. Introduc. tion, p. 27.
* R. Sewell, Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India, p. 109. Mr. Sewell quotes as his authorities Mr. Foulkes in the Salem District Manual, p. 45, and the summary of a manuscript in the Madras Journal, Vol. XIV. (I.), p. 39. I regret that these two books are not accessible to me at present,
Translated by Walter de Gray Birch (Hakluyt edit.), Vol. III. p. 35.