Epigraphia Indica Vol 07

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

Page 28

No. 3.)
AMARAVATI INSCRIPTION OF KRISHNARAYA.
19
ambassadors whom Kfishnaraya sent to Goa immediately after having received the news of the recapture of that place by the Portuguese in November 1510. In this letter Fr. Luiz informed Albuquerque "that the king of Narsinga was getting himself ready with five thousand men on foot and two thousand on horse, for an expedition against one of his vassals who had risen up in rebellion and seized the city of Pergunda, (the rebel) declaring that to himself belonged the kingdom itself by right; and that directly he had taken the rebel the king would proceed with all this force of men to his places situated on the edge of the sea." There can be little doubt, I think, that the rebel spoken of in the letter is the Raja of Ummatûr. Pergunda has already been correctly identified by Mr. Sewell with Penako da in the Anantapur district, situated about half-way between Vijayanagara and Sivanasamudra, and the war would thus appear to have arisen from a dispute about this hill-fort. This view is further strengthened by an inscription at Hôpakanahalli in the Gundlupête tåluka, where Chikkarája-Odegar, the lord of Ummatûr, is given the biruda Penugonda-chakrésvara. As this inscription is dated in Saka-Samvat 1426, the Krodhana samvatsara, during the reign of Narasa, it would seem that the Rajas of Ummatur had taken possession of Penakonda already under Kfishọaraya's predecessor, and that it was not until Krishnaraya's accession to the throne that their claims were seriously disputed.
The taking of the forts of Udayadri, Vinikonda, Bellakoņda and Kondaviļu formed part of Krishnaraya's campaign on the eastern coast against the Gajapati of Orissa Fernão Nunes tells us that Krishnaraya had & special desire of acquiring Udayagiri, because king Narsymga (Narasimha) in his testament had enjoined on his successors the necessity of taking the fortresses of Rracholl (Raichûr), Medegulla (Mudkal), and Odigair (Udayagiri). He therefore collected 34,000 foot-soldiers and 800 elephants and arrived with this army at Digary (Udayagiri), which, although its garrison numbered only 10,000 foot-soldiers and 400 horse, was nevertheless a very strong place on account of its natural position. The king laid siege to it for a year and a half, cutting roads through the surrounding hills in order to gain access to the towers of the fortress, and finally took it by force of arms. On this occasion an aunt of the king of Orissa fell into his hands.
The capture of Vinikonda, the modern Vidukonda, and of Bellakonda, generally called Bellamkonda, is not mentioned by Nunes, probably because these places were only of secondary importance. He proceeds at once to the account of the siege of Kondavidu, which I have discussed above, Vol. VI. p. 109 ff. According to inscriptions at Mangalagiri, Kaza and Kondavidu the fortress surrendered on Saturday, the Harivasara of the bright half of the month Åshâdha in Šaka-Samvat 1437, which, for Saka-Samvat 1437 expired, corresponds to Saturday, the 23rd June A.D. 1515.
There remains the statement that the king took alive on the battle-field Virabhadra, the son of the Gajapati. This fact is mentioned by Nunes as well as by Domingos Paes. The latter has only the short notice that, in the war against the king of Orissa, Krishnaraya took captive his enemy's son and kept him for a long time in the city of Bisnaga (Vijayanagara), where he died. Nunes' account is more detailed. He tells us that, after the capture of Kondavidu, Krishṇaraya continued his march northward until he arrived at Comdepallyr (Kopdapalle). After a siege of three months he took it; among the prisoners be made was a wife of the king of Orissa, and one of his sons who was a prince, and seven principal captains of the kingdom, all of whom he sent to Bisnaga (Vijayanagara). When Krishparåya himself had returned to Bisnaga, he summoned
14 Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar), p. 126. Mr. Sewell was also the first to draw attention to the importance of this letter for the history of the first years of Krishnardya's reign.
Ep. Carn. Vol. IV. p. 77 of the text.
Chronica dos Reis de Bisnaga, p. 19 f.; Sewell, 4 Forgotten Empire, p. 316 f. • Ibid. p. 13; by Sewell, loc. oit. p. 808, their names are given as Rachol, Odegany, and Conadolgi, Ibid. p. 89; Sewell, loc. cit. p. 247.
• Ibid. p. 21 f.; Sewell, loc. cit. p. 318 ff.
D 2