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174
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXVII
This extract furnishes us with an account of Rawoot Row who may be identical with the Mahāpātra Sotrāvu of our inscription. The dates of the several events narrated above, which would have helped us to confirm the identity are not given. Nevertheless it is possible to work out these dates.
Quli Kootb Shah determined to remove his seat of government to a newly built town in A. D. 1589. Many years elapsed without any war taking place. The king thereafter extended his conquests south of the Krishņā. His war with an impostor who claimed to be the eldest son of Ibrahim Kootb Shah, and the wars with the younger Mukunda Bhay-bulundar as well as with the king of Beejanagar! must have occupied him some eight years, i.e., up to 1597 A. D.
An inscription at Srikūrmam records the subjugation of Bhay-bulundar and other Hindu rajas. It says:
" Commanded by Hazarat Mahomad Quli Padshah, Motab Daulat, etc., Ameen-ool-mulk defeated Mukunda Bahubalēndra and Vidyadhara, as they refused to pay tribute to the king, and killed Sarvarāja and other great men in the battle fought near Chintapalli gbät. Mukunda Bahubalēndra and Vidyadhara ran away leaving their territories and he pursued them as far as Bānapuram (Bänpūr). While returning he halted at Srikürmam in the Saka year 1521, Vikari, Chaitra ba. 10, Tuesday." The details of the date correspond to A. D. 1599, April 10, Tuesday.
Allowing about a year for the Mahomedan leader to pursue the fugitives as far as Bānpūr and return to Srikūrmam, we may consider that the battle of Chintapalli, which is not mentioned by Briggs, was fought in about A. D. 1598. Our Uddanda-Rāya Mahāpātra may have been one of those that fell in the battle or after it.
The record under review says that a piece of land, eight garises in extent, in the village of Bonangi located in the Tālru-mandala of the mokhāsa-samatu Dēvupalli' was given away.
The village Bönangi is about 6 miles from Sringavarapukota, the headquarters of a Revenue Taluk in the Vizagapatam District. Tālru that gave its name to the mandala, is not found in the map. It may be a contraction of Tandrangi, a village which is mentioned in a few inscriptions of Sirithachalam and which is 6 miles S. E. of Bönangi. Dēvupalli is 18°15' N. Lat. and 82°50' E. Long. and is about 5 miles S. W. of Gajapatinagaram. The mokhäsa of this chief extended from Dēvupalli in the north along the foot of the ghāts to the upper course of the river Säradā. In this region lie Dēvupalli, Gopālapalli, Sringavarapukota, Lakkavarapukota and other places, all of which were fastnesses indicative of the military strength of the country.
This hilly region is full of siva temples and waterfalls. Near Singavarapukota is Punyagiri, # place of pilgrimage especially on the Sivaratri day. A perennial stream of water falls from a rock about 20 ft. high on a thousand lingas below. Four miles to the South-East of Sțingavarapuköta is Dharmavaram where a Jaina images in Kāyotsarga posture is worshipped as Sanyāsi-ayya. Up to the loins the whole of the lower part of the image is buried under ground. The portion above ground is about 3 ft. high. The whole image, when taken out stands about 6 feet. Women desirous of progeny make offerings to this Sanyasayya and if they are blessed with offspring, the child is named Sanyasi or Sanyasi-amma according to its sex.
Briggs : History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Vol. III, pp. 461-469. There was a Bahubalēndra family to the south of the Krishna.
8.1. ., Vol. 7, No. 1312. This Makunda Bāhubalendra was quite different from the one mentioned above. He was the Chief of Casimkota.
* Chintapaili is (82° 22' E. long. 19° 50' N. Lat.) in the Golakonda agency, Vizagapatam District.
The same event appears to have been referred to in another record dated Saka 1526, also from Srikūrmam, (No. 1260 of 8.1.1., Vol. V.)
Digumbara. It is not possible to identify the Tirthankara as the rest on the pedestal is underground. The bead is bald us is the case with all Jaina images in this poutaro.
