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No. 12.]
JAMBUKESVARAM GRANT OF SAKA 1630
In 1725 he entered into a war with Tanjore over the question of succession to the throne of Ramnad, in which the Raja of Tanjore obtained a decisive victory. He died in 1731, and was succeeded by an adopted son. Minakshi, his queen, acted as regent. It was daring her time that a quarrel broke out between her and Vangara Tirumala, the father of the adopted son. It was at this time that the Nawab of Arcot sent two of his generals to collect tribute from Madura. The kingdom divided in itself, fell an easy prey to the invader, and from 1736 the Nayaka kingdom of Madura ceased to exist as such.
We are told in the inscription that Vijayaranga Chokkanatha Nayaka was ruling in the south when a certain Venkata-deva Maharaya, his overlord, was the raja of Vijayanagara, raling from his capital Ghanagiri. He is styled Rajadhiraja and Viraprata pa and is said to have his seat at Ghanagiri, which has been identified with Penukonda.
The genealogy of the third Vijayanagara dynasty, as made out from inscriptions, runs a follows1 :
Raghunatha
Tirumala I (1565-1575)
Aliya Ramaraya (II) d. (1565)
I Ranga IV alias Ranga II Rama III Venkata I Venkata (1575-86) (1586-1614) (1623) m. 5 wives
Tirumala II
Ranga I m. Tirumalāmbikä
Venkata II (1636)
Ranga III (1619)
Rama IV (1629)
Venkatadri d. (1565)
Ranga V Gopala; adopted Raiga VI
Venkata III
Kanga VI (1044)
Venkata IV 1678, 1680
Ranga VII 1692
91
Venkata V 1706-1716
According to the above table Venkata alias Venkata V has been assigned by Mr. Sewell the dates 1706-1716. He is fourth in the line from Raiga VI (1644 A.D.). The date of the present grant is 1630 Saka=1708 A.D., which falls within the dates of Venkata V. Thus the Venkata-deva Maharaya of our inscription, who is mentioned as the overlord of Vijayaranga
1 Bee Epigraphia Indica, Vol. III, p. 238, and Sewell's 4 Forgotten Empire, Ch. XVII, pp. 222 f.
2 [Mr. T. A. Gopinatha Rao, who has published the plate in his volume of Copper-plate Inscriptions of the Kamakoti-pitha, has given an incorrect reading of the date, which the Editor has adopted but which he could have easily detected from the citation of the cyclic year Vikriti. It is inexplicable how Mr. L. D. Swamikannu Pillai also should have overlooked the error, in calculating the date for Mr. Gopinatha Kao, on p. 101, ibid. Pandit K. Yenkatasubbayya of the Municipal High School, Ootacamund, has kindly calculated the date according to the Arya-Siddhanta and finds that the date, correctly read as S. 1632 Vikriti, Kärttiks sa. 15, Monday, Rohini, corresponds to A.D. 1710, Nov. 14. The fall-moon tithi of Kärttika fell on Monday and lasted for 45 gh. 51 vigh, or 18 hours and 20 minutes from sunrise, and the nakshatra Rohini was also current at sunrise and lasted till 10 gh. 28 vigh.-H. K. S.]
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