Epigraphia Indica Vol 15

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

Page 29

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XV.
prutāpa-Narafiriga-rayaru was reigning in $. 1408 at Vidyanagari, seated on the diamond throne. Thus ended the first Vijayanagara dynasty.
A good deal of theorising regarding & number of so-called successors of Mallikarjana and Vird päksha is seen in the Annual Reports of the Madras Epigraphist. It is said therein that Mallikārjum may have had a son named Immadi Praudha-dėva-Rāya, another named Virupaksha and so on. There is absolutely no place for any of these, since the whole period is properly covered by the reigns of the kings enumerated above. It is to be feared that there may be mislections in the inscriptions relied upon by the Epigraphist, which would appear to have misled him into antenable theorisings.
The immediate objeot of the grant is the gift of the village of Sirumanatukaru to the god Mallikarjuna of Srigiri, that is, Srisailam, with which it was intended that the various items of the expenses of the temple (such as the ariga, rarga, etc.), of the fortnightly and monthly festivals (utsavas) and the feeding of mendicants should be met. The year, month and other astronomical details given fix the moment of the coronation of Virūpāksha. The beneficiary in this grant appears to be one Srilinga-chakrēšvara, an ascetic who is said in the document to have been then living in Benares with the divine ganas of Kailāsa and the ganas on earth beginning with Mahan (?) and who was feeding the mendicants who visited śrisailam. For a long time past the Janigamas, or Lingāyat priests, would seem to have been connected with the temple of Srisailam. The earliest inscriptions in the Srisailam temple belong to the reign of the Kakatiya Prataparudra Mahārāja, and are dated s. 1234 and 1235,8 The earlier of the two mentions the country in which Srisailam is situated as the Kam nādu, the same as the Kannnādot of our insoription; the other states that "Isvarācharya of Arasa matha and Arādhya Preggada gave a deed of declaration in the presence of all the great Māhēśvaras of Srikailag (1.6. Srisailam), who had met together in the mukha-mandapa of the Virabhadra temple attached to the Gana matha for the purpose of managing the affairs of the temple of Mallikarjuna-deva"; and feeding of lay devotees and ascetics was even in those daye very much cared for. In S. 1379 a certain Dēmnarasavve, & servant of the palace of Vira-pratāpa Praudhrdova-Rāya, made arrangement for the feeding of five Jarigamas daily. There are some other inscriptions which also mention donations made by people for feeding Jarigamas.6 No. 44 of 1915 of the Madras Epigraphist's collection refers to five Jarigama mathas in Srisailam, the names of which are gathered to be Sāranga matha, Gana matha, Arasa matha, Kala matha and Basava matha. Another inscription of the Srisailam temple, dated $. 1440, "registers that a certain Parvatayya' (he belongs to the Saluva lineage) and his wife, were 'adherents of Siddhabhikshāvritti Ayyangāru. From the predominance of the Jarigama element in the insoriptions we may assert, as has already been done above, that Jarigamas played a very impurtant part in the temple of Srisailam. The Siddhabhikshavfitti Ayyangaru mentioned above would in all likelihood be the Srilinga-chakrēšvara alias Siddhabhikshāvsitti Ayya referred to in our record. Perhaps he was granted the privilege of supervising the objects of the gift and also utilizing a portion of the income for feeding, under his auspices, a number of ascetics. The Kurnool District Manual states that even to-day the pūjās are done to the god Mallikarjuna by the Jargamas. The author of the Manual writes, " In 1840, when the Government ceased their connection with the temples, the pagoda was handed over to Sri Sankarachārya as its warder. This priest now leases the revenues and does not keep the temple buildings in good order. The pujarts are Janganas." He also states that there is at present a Jarigama high priest of Srisailam, who is said to keep some inscriptions (copper-plates P).
1 Ep. Carn., No. 54, Tm., Tr.
" See Rp. Ind., Vol. III, p. 36, and footnote 8 thereon; Ep. An. Rep. for 1910, p. 113, para. 53: Rp. An Rep. for 1891-92, p. 9; Ep. 41. Rep. for 1911, p. 84, pira. 52. . Nou 27 and 86 of 1915 of the Madras Epigraphist's collection.
• No. 28 of 1915, ibid. Nos. 38, 36, etc. of 1915, ibid.
• No. 12 of 1915, ibid. Kurnool District Manual by Narhari Gopalakristnamali Chetty, pp. 144-145. Ibid, p. 183.