Indian Antiquary Vol 40

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 47

FEBRUABY, 1911.)
THE CHALUKYA GENEALOGY
THE CHALUKYA GENEALOGY ACCORDING TO THE KANNADA POET RANNA.
BY R. NARASIMHACHAR, M.A., BANGALORE, NE of the greatest poets in Kannada wag Ranns or Kavi Ranna. He was the author of
several works, though only two of them, the Gada-yuddha or Sāhasa-Bhima-tijaya and the Ajita-purana, hava come down to us. The former be wrote in A.D. 982 and the latter in A.D. 993. He was a renowned poet at the court of the Chālukya kinz Taila II. It is satisfactory that, unlike other poets, Ranna gives in his works several interesting particulars regarding himself. He was born in A.D. 949 at Muduvolal in the Jambokhandi 70 of the Belugali 500 in the Belugare-nādu; and the Belugali-dēsa was situated, he tells us, to the north of Toragale and to the south of Taddavādi, with the Gattage ( ? Gatprabha) and the Perdore, the great river," i.e. the Krishna, flowing through it. He was & Jaina, of the Vaisya caste, the family profession being that of the bangle-sellers. His mother was Abbalabbe, father Jinavallabhöndra, brothers Rēchana and Märamayya, wives Jakki and Sänti, son Raya, and danghter Attimabbe. He was also patronized by Châvuņda-riya, the celebrated Ganga general, who set up the colossal state of Gommata at Sravaņa-Belgola. His guru was Ajitasā nācharya, who was likewise the guru of Chávunda-rāya. At first honoured by smantas, then by mandalikas, he rose to great eminence at the court of the emperor Taila II, who bestowed upon him the title Kavi-chakravarti and presented him with a (1) madanāvatāra, a parasol, a chowri, an elephant, and a (?) bhattagave. As among kings the Nijabbuja-chakravarti Taila, the "emperor by the strength of) bis own arm," required no assistance for victory in battle, so among poets the Kavi-chakravarti Ranna, "the emperor among poets," required no assistance for composing poems. He was well versed in both the grammare, the Jainēndra and the Sabdānušāsana. Among the poets that preceded him, he mentions Pampa, anthor of the Adi-puräna, and Ponna, author of the Sānti-purāna, and says that his own work, the Ajita-purāna, which he styles Purana-tilaka, can be compared only with theirs, Pampa, as we know, also wrote the Vikramärjuna-vijaya and was patronized by the Chāļakya prince Arikēsari. Ponna, as we learn from his Santi-purāņa, received the title Kavi-chakravarti from the Risbtrakūta king Kannara, Krishņa III. Randa tells us that Pampa, Ponna and himself formed three jewels that illuminated the Jaina religion ; that by composing the Adi-purāņu and the Ajita-purana Pampa and himself became pre-eminent among the Jains Brāhmaṇas and the Jaina Vaisyas respectirely; and that, as Pampa and Ponná acquired fame in the Ratta kingdom, so he himself acquired fame in the Chalukya kingdom. From the last statement, that Pampa, the protégé of Arikēsari. acquired fame in the Ratta kingdom, we may perhaps infer that Arikösari's lt lakh courtry (capāda-laksha-kshili) was also included in the Rafta dominions.
The circumstances in which Ranna wrote his two works may now be considered. There was Jains Brahmara, named Nagamayya, in Punganūr of the Kamme-dēía in the Veugimandala. He had two sons : Mallapa and Ponnamayya. Mallapa was not only a great warrior, but also a liberal patron of literary merit. On the death of their guru Jinachandra-muni, the two brothers caused the Purāņa chudamani, i.e., the Sinti-purāna, to be written by Ponna. Mallapa's brother Ponnamayya fought on behalf of king Taila with Govindara, who had marched against him allied with traitors, and fell on the bank of the Kávēri. Mallapa had five sons and thrce dangh
[ Regarding these places neo Dr. Fieet, above, vol. XXX, (1901), p. 8E0 f. Two of them are Mudhol and Jam. khandi, within the limits of the Belgaam District. Toragalo is Torgal, about twenty-six miles towards the south from Mudho. Taddavādi is Taddewati, in Bijapur, about eighty miles towards the north-north-east from Mudbo.-ED.)
The "Jola country" mentioned by some nobolara in connection with Arikonaribas no existenco in fact, TO was brought into existence by misapprehousion of the meaning of the orprossion j&ada pāł in the original, which simply means 'obligation or indebtednes.'