Indian Antiquary Vol 46

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

Page 40

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(FEBRUARY, 1917
he employed his hours in the gratification of the senses, in the exclusive pursuit of pleasure, which told fatally on his constitution. The son of Tirumal Naik died, according to this view, an inglorious, unhonoured, and unlamented death, after a short but eventful rule of three months. The chronicles, however, do not give this dark picture of the Jesuits.
SECTION II.
Chokkanatha Naik 1659-1682.
On the death of Muttu Alakadri, his son Chokkanátha, a youth of sixteen, came to the throne. The young ruler promised to achieve greatnoss both in the field and in the darbár. A keen soldier and enterprising adventurer, he had, for the first object of his ambition, the restoration of the independence of Madura.
The character of Chokkanatha. His arms were at first attended with success, but in the latter part of his reign, tho degeneracy of his own character, the treason of his ministers, and the interference of the Marathâs and Mysoreans in the State, resulted in the collapse of his policy and the practical extinction of his kingdom. Beginning then under auspicious circumstances, his reign ended, contrary to the sanguine expectations of his people, in misery and gloominees. The impartiality of the historian must declare that the period of his government, in fact, is & more horrible record of domestic plots and foreign invasions, of popular misery and hard. ships, than any other period of equal duration in Naik history. More active than wise,
& According to the Pand. Chron., the year of his accession was 1660 A. D. (Vikari Ani). He ruled, it says, for 24 years till 1684 (Dundumi Ani). But the Supp. MS. and Carna. Dynas. say that he reigned from 1672 (ParitApi) to 1688 (Prabhava). Wheeler gives him the date 1662-1685. Epigraphical references to ChokkanAtha are somewhat meagre, and they do not illustrate very clearly the period of his rule. They, however, shew that he ruled till at least 1678, the year when the usurpation or elevation of his brother Muttu AakAdri took place. That Chokkanatha came to the throne in 1659 is clear from an inscription in the Jayantisvara Temple at Trichinopoly. (Parabhava, Ani 27, Saturday, Trayodasi) wherein Chokkanátha is said to havo settled a dispute between five castes in regard to their para. phernalia. Sewell mentions six of his inscriptions from 1661 to 1667, and one of his brother dated 1678. The first of these is at Nonmeni, five milos cast of gåttur (Ramnad Dt.) on a stone in front of the Ananta-Raja Templo, and records the gift of a tank for Chokkalinga's merit in S. 1583. A similar record, dated 8. 1887, is on & stone north of the Perumal temple in the same place. (Sowell's Antiquities. I, 305). A copper plate grant of 1662 (which is in Telugu and which is, Sewell says, in the Trichin, Dt. Court) records a gift of land by Chokkanatha to a Srirangam priest. This plato is also interesting for the fact that it records that Brl Ranga Raya was then reigning at "Ghanagiri." (Id. II, 7). An inson. of 1663 found at Tiruchchengde (Salom Dt.) says that " Vijaya Ranga Chokkalinga Naiken of Madura built the gopura." It is doubtful whether this refers to Chokkanaths or any other prince of the royal family. (Id. I, 203). A Telugu copper plate of 1665, written in Tamil grantha characters, records a gift of land to some Brahmins at Kaniyur, 10 miles S. W. of Udumalpet. (1d. II, 27). This grant also mentions éri Ranga Deva Maha Raya, of Chandragiri. A similar copper-plate grant of 1667 mentions & similar grant at Kumaralingam, 10 miles S. E. of Udumalpet. This also mentions Chokkanátha's acknowledging the allegiance of Sri Ranga Reye. In regard to this, Mr. Sewell remarks: “This is the first grant that I have seen where the Telugu language is rendered in grantha characters." (Antiquities, II, 28). The record of Muttu Lingappa is a copper-plate (Dt. Court, Madura) in Telugu, dated 1678 A. D. (Kalayukti). It bestows the village of Krishn puram on a Brahman. The grantor is desctibed as "Muddu Alugari Nayudu, grandson of Vi vanatha Nayani Tirumala Nayudu, And son Muddu Virappa Nayudu," He also recognizes the suzerainty of Sri Virapratapa Sri Ranga Rava Mahadeva Raya (who ou to the throne, as Sewell says, in 1665). See Antiquities, II, 4.