Indian Antiquary Vol 43

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

Page 18

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JANUARY, 1914
himself the chief man in the counsels of the Empire. His names occurs in the epigraphical records during a generation of 30 years, from 1456 to 1486. Like the other civil officers of the day, he was also a general, and distinguished himself, with success, in the numerous wars of Vijayanagar with the Musalman powers. A very able and domineering personality, he soon obtained the chief place in the imperial court, and became the de facto ruler of the empire, and we can hardly believe that he could have looked on the offensive campaign of the Pandyan at the expense of his own relations with equanimity. It, therefore, seems more or less certain that, in the name of the emperor, he curbed the Pandyan's ambition, drove him back to the confines of his kingdom, and revived the Saluva power in the South by the appointment of a relation Sangama Deva, as the viceroy of the Kaveri region.
The Saluva usurpation of Narasingha, 1486. It is not surprising that, under these circumstances, the emperor soon found himself a monentity and his minister his master. By the year 148659 the usurpation of the Sâļuvas was complete. The Sangama line which had been on the throne for 150 years was deposed, and the Sâļuva was the master of S. India. The usurper justified the foul means he employed by the remarkable capacity with which he guided the imperial affairs. So well-known did he become that, from his day onward, the Karnata Kingdom came to be known to the foreigners as the kingdom of Narasingha. This is not the place to describe the various activities of Narasingha in the heart of his empire. Our purpose is confined to the history of Madura and the extreme South. It will be sufficient, therefore, if we briefly glance at its condition at his time. It seems that Narasingha owed his elevation to the throne to certain officers who had distinguished themselves chiefly in the South.
Saluva's Lieutenants : (1) Nagama Naik. First of these was a certain Nagama Naik,co a personality around whom an almost impenetrable mist of obscurity has gathered. It is not known whether this chieftain, "the foremost of the servants of Narasingha Raya," was the celebrated Kottiyam Nâgama Naik of the Madura chronicles, the father of the great Visvanátha Naik the founder of the Naik dynasty of Madura. It is impossible to say, in the present stage of our knowledge, definitely, whether they were identical. As will be pointed out later on, historians have not been at one in regard to Nagama's date. According to some, he was a contemporary and general of Krishnadeva Raya (1509-1530), and according to others, of Achyuta (1530-1542) and Sadasiva (1542-1567). The chronicles are hopelessly wrong in
58 For some of his inscriptions, see Madr. Ep. Rep. 1904, Nos. 249, 253 and 264.
59 Tho Thirukachar insc, for instance, says that a private individual built & village for the merit of Sâļuva Narasimha and his first servant, Nagama Naik, and not of the king. (318 of 1909) Insc. No. 188 of 1902(1472 A. D.) says that Virupaksha gave lands for the merit of Såļuva Narasimha at Villiyanür. The position of the Saluvas in the Vijayanagar history was first properly ascertained by Mr. Ramaiyah Pantulu. (See Ep. Ind. VII, Devapalli platea of Immudi Narasimha pp. 74-85). For a pedigree of all the SAļuvas, see ibid: for a fuller one, Arch, Sury. 1908-9, p. 168. According to Koyilolugu Vira Narasingha defeated Frauda Deva and ascended the throne in S. 1409. A typical inaccuracy and ignorance of the older authorities on the relation between the Saluvas and Tuluvas can be seen in Madr. Manu, which says that Narasimha overthrew the first dynasty in 1479, and was succeeded in 1509 by Krishna Raya. See Madr. Man., I, 150. Later on, however, the same authority says : Narasimha "was succeeded in 1490 by Veera Narasimha Rajah, who at his death left three sons, Atohoota, Sadasiva and Tirimal. These being minors, the country was managed by Krishna Raya, their father's brother who had previously held the office of prime minister." Ibid, p. 153. Examples like these can be multiplied; but the reproduction of exploded accounts is scarcely profitable.
* Inso, 318 of 1909. It is perhaps this same Någama Nayaka, "who is mentioned in a Virinchi puram inscription of 1482." (8. Ind. Insc, I, p. 132).