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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XIX.
Wednesday, and is, therefore, nearly three months earlier than the British Museum plates of the same king. After the usual invocatory verses, the inscription begins with the genealogy of the king which agrees with that given in all the other grants of the dynasty up to Tirumala L Like the Dalavay-Agraharam plates and the Vilapakkam grant, this record also mentions the two sons of Tirumala by Vengalamba, viz., Srirangaraya and Venkatapatideva.
In the course of the narration of his ancestry and its panegyric, the document mentions Bukka as having firmly established Saluva-Nrisithha on the throne, and his son Ramaraya as having put to flight Kasappodaya and captured the hill-fortress Adavani' protected by Sapada's army of 70,000 Sindh horse' as well as Kandanavõlu. Kasappodaya has been surmised to be identical with Kachapa-Nayaka of Adavani' who figures as a subordinate of Saluva Narasingaraya in Saka 1420. Possibly Kachapa, for selfish ends, made common cause with the Mussalmans who invaded the Vijayanagara dominions in Saka 1425, and Ramaraya continued his allegiance to the political successors of the Saluvas under king Krishnaraya. Sapada has been identified with Yusuf Adil Shahi of Bijapur who is said to have borne the name Savaee. The next important member of the line was Tirumala, the brother of Aliya Ramaraya, who was the first to adopt the title 'Samrat.' His successor was Sriranga and after him came Venkata, the donor of the grant and the last powerful king of the family. He was born about Saka 1471 (A.D. 1549-50) if we can rely on the testimony of Barradas who says that he was 67 years at the time of his death which, according to Floris, took place in A.D. 1614.10 He figures as a subordinate of king Sadasiva in A.D. 1567-68.11 We learn from the Vasucharitramu and the Chikkadevaraya-vaméāvali that during his father's time he was the Viceroy of the Chandragiri-rajya comprising the Tundira, Chola and Pandya countries, and had his capital at Chandragiri while his brother Sriranga governed the Telugu districts from Penukonda. When the latter came to the throne, Venkatapati continued to be the Viceroy and held the charge of the Telugu country also. This is gathered from No. 541 of 1909 which states 13 that in Saka 1502 (A.D. 1580) the Golkonda Sultan Hazrat Ibrahim Padishäh acquired Uddagiri (i.e., Udayagiri) by driving out Venkataraju and captured the regions around Vinikonda, etc., and Kondavidu. In the same year Sriranga was taken captive by the Sultan who, with the help of the Hande chiefs, gained effective possession of the territory lying to the north of Penukonda. This event is mentioned in No. 70 of 1915 dated Saka 1506 (A.D. 1584) which states that Ahobalam had been in the occupation of the Muhammadan chief Vibhurāmu and his Hande allies for about 7 years. Probably it is these reverses that account for a grant of land in A.D. 1579 to a temple at Mahabalipuram by Göbüri Tirumalai-Nayakkar for the merit
1 Ibid., Vol. XIII, p. 231 f. Ibid., Vol. XII, pp. 159.
Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 200 ff.
Mad. Ep. Report for 1920-21, Part II, paragraph 12.
No. 719 of the Mad. Ep. Collection for 1917.
Brigg's Ferishta, Vol. III, p. 348.
The Krishnaraya-vijayam mentions Araviti-Bukkaraju as one of the chiefs who attended the coronation
of the king. (Sources of Vij. Hist., p. 129).
Ep. Ind., Vol. XVI, p. 243, footnote 6.
Sewell's Forgotten Empire, p. 224.
10 Sewell's List of Antiquities, Vol. II, p. 251.
11 Nos, 240 of 1897 and 163 of 1905 of the Mad. Ep. Collection.
13 In No. 383 of 1919 dated Saka 1496 in Sriranga's reign he confirms certain appointments made by Tată
charya.
18 Mad. Ep. Report for 1910, Part II, paragraph 64.
14 These, according to the copper-plate grant No. 23 of 1910-11, had been conquered by Sriranga in Saka 1498. Ibid. for 1911, Part II, paragraph 57.
