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No. 23.]
VELLANGUDI PLATES OF VENKATA I: SAKA-SAMVAT 1520.
303
In the Krishṇāpuram Plates, Nāgama-Nayaka is said to have been a devotee of the god Visvanatha and to have borne the birudas, kāñchi-pura-var-adhisvara, Mökalipaffa-vardhana, Samaya-drohara-ganda, Samaya-kolāhala, Ailāvali-pura-var-adhisvara, Pandya-kula-sthapanachārya and Dakshina-samudr-adhisvara and to have taken the kingdom of Tiruvadi. An old Tamil work called Tiruppani-malai, quuted by me already in my article on the Dalavay-Agrahåram inscriptioa, also describes Viśvanātha and Virappa as Kachchi-nāyakan Visuvanāthan and Kachchi-vă! Krishna-Viruppam. Evidently the Nayakas of Madurs will have been originally residents of Kanchipura and hence must have borne the title Kanchi-pura-var-adhifvara.
The reading of the Vellaogudi inscription, where it deals with Visvanātha-Nayaka, is defective and therefore anintelligible. The Padmanēri grant of Venkata 1,9 dated also s. 1520 gives the correct reading, which runs as follows:
(Line 120)
आसीत्काश्यपसंततौ घनतपस्संतुष्टविश्वेश्वरस्वैरानुग्रहभाजनात्गुणनिधे[:"] श्रीनाग पृथ्वीपतेः । क्षोराब्धेरिव चंद्रमाः कुवलयानंदानुसंहायक: सौम्य[:*] श्रीवरविश्वनाथनृपतिस्मवैज्ञचूडामणिः । प्रख्यातथीस्तिरुवडिमहापाण्यवाणादरायप्राण्यानन्यानपि रणमुखे पार्थिवानाश जित्वा । तत्तत्मीमां निजभुजबलादाहरन् विश्वनाथक्षोणोपालोभजत मधुराराज्यसाम्राज्यलक्ष्मी ।
From this passage we learn that Visvanātha, after having conquerod in battles the Tiruvadi, the Mahā- Pandya, the Vánada-Rāya and other kings, and having taken possession of their kingdoms by the true prowess of his arms, became the lord of the Madhurā rājya and wag ruling. What were the circumstances under which Visvanatha conquered the kings named above and who the Vāņáda-Rāyas were and how they happened to be in the south are questions which require a clear answer. Let us now try to explain briefly the points raised above. Tiruvadi is the name applied in inscriptions, as well as in literature, to the king of Travancore. The Tiruvadi of the time of Achyuta-deva-Räys needed chastisement, since he had harboured the enemies of the Vijayanagara emperor and had refused to acknowledge his suzerainty. Achyuta-deva-Rāya himself led the expedition as far as Srirangam, but at his own reqnest Salaka-'l'iramala-Raya, the king's brother-in-law, was put in command of the army to subdue the Tiruvadi. Salaka-Tirumala-Rāya defeated the Tiruvadi and his confederates on the bank of the Tamraparņi and made him surrender all the territories usurped by him from the Pandya. Nägama-Nayaka evidently held then the military command over the Tondai mandalam and lived in Conjeevaram, and would therefore, on account of his familiarity with the people and their languages, have been taken by the king with bim as one of the Vijayanagara generals in his expedition against the Tiruvadi. The Pandya king Srivallabha, who applied to the emperor for help, must have been put in possession of his lost kingdom after the defeat of the Tiruvadi; and in remembrance of this event Achyuta-deva-Raya, Srivallabha Pandya and Nagama-Nayaka Beverally called themselves Pandya-rajya-sthapan-acharyas. The Tiruvadi king then roling must, according to the inscriptions in my collection, have been Bhatalavira Udayamärttånda. yarman of the Tiruppappar branch.
It is doubtful whether Visvanatha also formed one of the party which proceeded against the Tiruvadi at the time of Achyuta-dēva-Rāya. It looks more than certain that Visvanatha distin guished himself in the southern regions on a subsequent occasion and not during the reign of Achyuta-dēva-Rāya. No. 140 of the Madras Epigraphist's Collection for 1395 states that the
Above, Vol. IX, p. 330. He is called Chinna-Nagendra in No. 9, C. P., of the Madras Epigraphist's Collection for 1906. Above, pp. 287 f.
• See pp. 54-56, Travancore Argeological Series, Vol. I.
