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No. 20.-HOSUR INSCRIPTION OF VIRA-BALLALA, (SAKA) 1129
B. R. GOPAL AND SHRINIVAS RITTI, OOTACAMUND This inscription, edited here with the kind permission of the Government Epigraphist for India, is engraved on a pillar in the Trikūtēsvara temple at Hosur in the Gadag Taluk of the Dharwar District, Mysore State. It was copied in 1926-27 and noticed in the Annual Report on South Indian Epigraphy for the year. The record covers a space of about 1' 2.5" x 1'2' and is in a fair state of preservation, though a few letters in the middle are worn out. It contains 19 lines of writing.
The record is in Kannada and is written in prose throughout.
The palaeography of the record is regular for the period to which it belongs, i.e. early half of the 13th century A.D. However, the following points deserve notice. Anusvāra is used in place of anunāsika as in Chikka-[Nara]eimgayyangalu, line 7. The use of the prosthetio y in Yēļunurv-vara, (line 9), may be noted. The cursive forms of vand m are used, e.g. gāvunda, (line 8) and mukhyavo (line 9). The following may be noted in orthography : the doubling of letters preceded by r as in sarvvädhikari and Chakravartti (line 6, etc.), the use of $ for sh as in äsādha, (line 4) and varusa, (line 3), and the wrong use of! for !, e.g. [Nara]singayyamgalu and Mulugunda in line 7, Tuppadahalli in line 14, etc. The long må in samkramana in line 5 is a scribal orror for ma.
The purpose of the record is to register a gift of land to the god Morakēsvaradēva by ChikkaNarasimgayya who is described as Mahāprahāna and Sarvesādhikari and as the second son of the sovereign. He is stated to be governing Muļugunda Twelve. The gift land was obtained by the donor from the Seven-Hundred of Hosavūr, headed by Mahābala-gāvunda. Mahābalagāvunda along with others figures in another record of this place, dated in 1192 A.D.,' as the recipient of the income derived from taxes as a compensation for the damage caused to the town of Hogavūru, when king Vira-Ballala had camped there. It is likely that the gift was made in the course of the king's campaign against Yadava Bhillama which took place between 1191 and 1192 A.D.
The record under review is dated in 1129, apparently of the Saka era, Prabhava, Asbadha bu. 11, Sunday, Karkkataka-samkramana. The details of the date are irregular. The sankramana occurred on Wednesday, the 27th June in the year 1207 A.D., when the tithi was bu. 1, the month being Nija Ashādha. The given tithi, however, corresponds to July 7 of the same year when the week-day was Saturday and not Sunday as stated in the record. The details do not work out correctly in the Adhika Ashad hs either.
The record is important inasmuch as it furnishes certain details pertaining to the Hoysala family which were hitherto not properly assessed. Chikka-Narasimgayya is introduced as the second son (dvitiya kumāra) of Vira-Ballāļa. It is well known that Vira-Ballāļa was succeeded by his son Narasimba II in 1220 A.D. If Chikka-Narasimgayya, apparently Narasinha II, was the second son of the king, who was his first son and what became of him? In his account of the Hoyesla, Fleet ans referred to a record from Sravana Belgoļa which mentions Sömēsvara as *
1 Appendix F, No. 116. This has also lieen noticed in the ARASI for 1926-27, p. 192. .. 14. R. Rp. 1926-27, App. F, No. 113.
* The details of the date, viz. Saka 1114, Paridhavi, Karttık, Punwari, Monday, correspond to 1192 3.D., October 22. The week-day, however, was Thursday. Ep. Carn. Vol. VII, Ci. 72; ibid., Vol. V, BI. 85.
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