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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[NOVEMBER, 1914.
are informed, for instanceii, that in 1546 he gave a piece of land to the Sthânêśvara Temple at 'Euchirdiam for the merit of Vitthalesvara Maha Raya on his birth-day,-a thing which he would hardly do if he was independent. From this time onward to the year 1557, i. e., for a space of eleven years, Rama Raya Vitthala was the imperial viceroy of the south7s. The indigenous chronicles of Madura are reticent about him; but the inscriptions are unanimous in describing him as a stateeman enjoying the most honourable rank and the most affluent fortune in his day.
The Rise of a new trouble in the South: Chôļa Aggressions against the Pandya.
Such is the history of Madura ard the southern end of the peninsula till the year 1557, when certain important events happered, which directly led to the establishment of the Naik dynasty. Unfortunately a most mystericus obscurity prevails in connection with the immediate circumstances which brought it about. According to the Pard. Chron. there were three Naik chieftains, Dimmappa, Sevappa ard Paukottai Ravappa, during the three years which followed the end of Vitthala's administration. Then in Raudri Margali (1559), it continues, in consequence of the Râyer's orders, Kottiyam Nagama Naik came to Madura, and ruled till Dundumi, for a pericd of two years and four months. In other words, according to the Pârd. Chron. there was an interval of three years between Vitthala and Visvanatha; and Visvanatha ruled for the space of two years. It is curious that it does not give the circumstances under which Visvanatha assumed the crown of Madura. This defect is supplied by the other chronicles. They indeed are hopelessly wrong in regard to the dates of the events which they describe (for they attribute Visvanatha to the third decade of the 15th century), but the facts they give are evidently true. They say that there ruled in Madura a very feeble and irresolute ruler, Chandra-Sekhara Pandya, the last of the Sôma-Sekhara line, that he was deprived of his crown and kingdom by an aggressive Chôļa ruler of the day, Vira-Sekhara by name. Nothing substantial is known about these kings and rivals. Chandra-Eekhara was, as I have already pointed out, probably a chief distantly related to either the old Pandyan or the Vânadaraya line. Vîra-Sekhara is described as the Chola king of Tanjore, but the Chôļas had ceased to rule at Tanjore by the beginning of the 15th century. Even supposing that some ecions of the old Chola dynasty continued to live in Tanjore, we are practically certain that they could not have exercised any power; for the dynasty of Sevappaio Naik was by the year 1550 firmly seated there, and the exercise of authority by a prince of the indigenous dynasty would have been impossible. But if Vira-Sekbara did not rule at Tanjore, he might have lived and reigned at Trichinopoly, which wag as much a Chôļa capital as Tanjore. Indeed, one of the Polygar memoirs 80 distinctly says that his seat of government was Trichinopoly. It is not improbable that he was a relation ard successor of the Cholas, Channayya and Bôgayya, who, as we have already seen, ruled about 1530 at Turaiyûr, and who acknowledged Krishna Deva Raya as their suzerain.
(To be continued.) IT Inscription 64 of 1806. This king is also called Venru-man-Konda-Bhitalavira-Iramayanmar of Jētungandu.
& His headquarters seem to be Trichinopoly. (See Inso. 273 of 1901). Inso. 567, 658 and 659 of 1911 record grants to Kadal Alagar temple at Madura by Timmappa Naik, son of Basavana Naik, for the merit of Vitthals, whose subordinate officer he was. It is plain from all these that about 1661 A. D. there was a Governor at Madurs named Timmapa Naik who was subordinate to Vitthala.
19 The exact date of Eevappa's accession to the Tanjore throne is unknown. In 1544 Tanjore was under Vitthala. By 1549 it was under Bovappa, for an inso. of Shumser Ali's tomb mentions him. though not a king. According to one account Bevappa took Tanjore" by his valour. According to another, he got it as a dowry of his wife Morti AmmAls sister of Achyuta Raya's queen (Tirumalamba). The question is an interesting one for investigation, but is not possible here. Here it is enough that it be understood that by 1550 the Tanjore Naik dynasty was firmly established. See T. 8. Kuppusami Santri's Short History of the Tanjore Ndik Princes; Tanj. Garr., 38-40, and the MS. history Tanyjarur Varicharitra, the summary of which is in Tanj. Manual and Rais Catal. III, 176 ff.
B0 Genealogy of Kadirmalai Muttu Madax, Naik of Dammapatti Palayam. Appendix VII.
