________________
OCTOBER, 1915)
THE RELIGION OF THE VIJAYANAGARA HOUSE
219
THE RELIGION OF THE VIJAYANAGARA HOUSE.
BY C. R. KRISHNAMACHARLU. It is an interesting oocupation to study the religious ereeds of this Royal House at the several periods of its rule. In the case of the Western monarchs, for example, those of England, France, Germany, etc., for a knowledge of their religious life we depend upon diaries, notes, court papers, etc. The writers of these were invariably influenced by their leaning towards or away from the monarchs to which they related. But in the case of the South-Indian monarchs, for building up a tolerably correct idea of their individual faiths we have very definite evidences in records writton on stone and copper. The courtpapers of the Wost, more often than not, caught a diplomatic strain, 80 much so that the vagueness of political records which is natural to such, throws a veil over the realities contained in them. But in the case of almost all Hindu-rather Indian-kings, the inscriptions left by them in the several temples of their empires give us a vivid picture of the material sought for. These inscriptions, dating so far back as the 3rd century B. o. live even to-day as the religious momoirs of these kings. The contents of such records, being facts as hard as the stone and metal on which they are written, are probably the most trustworthy evidence available for our purpose. The inscriptions are, as it were, the declarations of these kings to their contemporaries and messages and remembrancers to posterity and time.
What is it that an inscription has to say regarding the religion of the past? The mere symbolio introduotion, in the shape of a linga and a seated or standing bull in front of it, to a inscription suggest to us the fact that the worship of Riva was in great favour with those oonnected with the record. So too, a figure of the garuda bird, with the lankham and chakram and the Vaishnava caste-mark (ürdhva pundrum), suggest to us that the worship of Vishņu was held strongly by those to whom this class of records relate. In some cases we have figures of Jináchârya seated in the yogasan posture similarly out in the tops of insoribed slabs, in the spirit of invocation, and historically serving as a symbolio introduction to the records set up by the ancients. Addüd to these, the mention of certain gods and goddesses, the gifts made to whom are recorded in the inscriptions are further steps for helping us to solid information in these respects. In determining, however, the religion of the kings of old through inscriptions we must take care to avoid conclusions based merely on such symbolic and verbal evidence for they are, in private records, evidence not of the monarch's religion, but of the donor's only.
We shall now proceed to show what were the creeds of this Royal House from the earliest known times, though the attempt made in this note will only give an indication of the religious attitude of the several sovereigns of this dynasty, and not a thorough and exhaustive account of their religious life.
Tradition, as well as worked-out history, chows us that the Vijayanagara, or Anegondi (as it is popularly known), House was from its very birth connected with the shrine of Virapaksha on the banks of the Tunge.bhadra. Vicaranya used to perform his penanoo and lead his very austere life in the hiis in this part of the country, traditionally known, from Valmiki's time, as the Pamp&thata, i. e., the banks of the Pampa and historically known as Hampe, One day he came upon a stone oylindrical in shüpe which approximated to a linga in form, the most sacred object of worship for Mahê varae (bhaktas of Siva); and his intensely devotional insight saw nothing but a manifestation ni the Mahêla in it. This stone became thenceforth the most prized possession and the holiest object for Vidyâraṇya. He could not rest in peace till he had the linga fittingly ensurined.
