Epigraphia Indica Vol 15

Author(s): Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 28

No. 2.1 SRISAILAM PLATES OF VIRUPAKSHA SAKA-SAMVAT 1383
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councillor of the king was Timmanna Dandanayaka. Early in his reigo, S. 1371, Mallikarjuna made a mahädänal About this time the Sāļuvas were getting to be powerful. We hear of Sāļuva Siramallaya-dēva Mahārāya, son of Mallagangaya-dēva Mahārāya, making grants to the god Venkatesa at Tirumala (Tirupati) in $. 1371. Again, in the south Saļuva Tirumalayyadéva Mahårāya is found remitting a number of taxes on & group of villages in favour of temples. He is son of Salava Ganduraja Udaiyar and brother of Saļuva Narasimha, the usurper. There was already in S. 1381 trouble in connection with Säļuva Narasimha-deva, which necessitated the stay of the king with his trusted minister Timomanna Dandanayaka, in Penugonda, the head-quarters of the province administered by Narasimha..
In the beginning of the reign of Mallikārjuna, according to the Sanskrit drams Garigadāsa. pratāpa-vilāsa, the city of Vijayanagara was besieged by the allied forces of the Gajapati and the Sultan of the South, who had been defeated on a previous occasion. It is stated that Mallikarjuna routed the enemy so thoroughly that the two allied kings just escaped with their lives. Mr. Venkayya surmises that the Gajapati must be king Kapilēsvara of Orissa, who reigned from A.D. 1434-1470.5
In the year s. 1386 a son was born to Mallikărjuna; the inscription in which this fact is mentioned states that a grant was made on the day of giving a name to the child (näma-kara. nam); however, it does not mention what name was given to the child.
Mallikarjuna appears to have died in the year $. 1387, Vyaya-samvatsara, leaving behind an infant sou not more than twelve months old. Virūpāksha, according to the doonment under consideration, ascended the throne by the prowess of his arms, in the year s. 1388. He was the son of Devaraya II by his queen Siddhala-dēvi. Evidently there must have been, regarding the accession to the throne, some dissension in the kingdom between the party representing the infant son of Mallikarjuna and Virāpāksha, and in it Virupaksha may have slain a number of persons, including perhaps the child of Mallikārjuna; this songuinary act is perbaps glorified by him as "the prowess of his arms" in acquiring the throne.
In the reign of Virupaksha Saļuva Narasimha was practically independent, and his subordinates offered donations to temples for his merit. It is mentioned in the Safwabhyudaya that Sāļuva Narasimha is said to have stationed his reserve army (mūlabala) at Chandragiri, and with a select few to have conquered Kalinga ; then he turned towards the south and subjugated all the princes of the Chola-dēša; the Pāņdya king is said to have sued for peace, and the kings of Ceylon and other islands were anxious to secure his friendship. He also defeated two Sabara chiefs, the dependents of a Bhindurāya. He then proceeded to Benares ; the kings of the several countries on his way became his tributaries. Accompanied by these kings, Narasimha visited Vētipura and Benares. At Benares all the kings assembled and anointed Narasimha as "Emperor of the World." This ceremony was conducted in the temple of the god Visvanātha. Then he returned homewards, visiting Venkatādri and presenting tbo god Venkatesa with very costly ornaments.
From the above it becomes clear that Narasimba was enlisting the sympathies of all the kings in and out of the Empire of Vijayanagara, which must have alarmed the adherents of the ruling sovereign of the Empire and made them protest against his insubordination to the -king. Sāļuva Narasimha may have gone on a pilgrimage to Benares as a diplomatic move, and his admirers may have crowned him there as “Emperor of the World." Virāpāksba may have enjoyed some amount of peace in his kingdom during the absence of Saļuva Narasimha. But in S. 1407 Sāļuva Narasimha was in real possession of the throne of Vijayanagara; No. 54 of Tamkur taluk distinctly states that Rajadhiraja-raja paramēšvara-praudha.
1 Ep. Carn., No. 11, Sr., My. ► No. 23, pp. 117-119 of 8. II., Vol. II. . Ej. An. Rep. for 1906, p. 82, para: 47.
2 No. 252 of 1904 of the Modrne Epigraphist's collection. • Ep. Car., No. 12 Md., My., and No. 59, Ma., My. . Ep. Cars., Nc, 206, T., Sb.