Indian Antiquary Vol 47

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

Page 99

APRIL, 1918 ]
VIVEKAPATRAMALA
95
and Dêvarâma... of the family of Mallikarjunabhatta of the Sarkritigôtra; thus the original eight families consisted, in the time of Svayambhu, of twenty-one households.
Svayambhu had & son named Sabhâpati, and Gurusvâmi had a daughter named Abhirâmâmbika and a son called Sômanátha, who were born twins. Abhirâmâmbikâ was married to Rajanatha of the Gôtamagotra; she attained her age in her 13th year, and in the Kali year 4400 expired (A.D. ....) gave birth to a son named Sonadhara (or Arunagiri).
Of the twenty-one householders mentioned above seven left their native village Mettaippadi and began to reside in the village of Attiyâr granted by Bukkaraya as an agrahara to Brâhmaņas. The king Bukka is described in the manuscript as one who had received the grace of the sage Vidyâranya, who was the giver of all desired objects and who was the establisher of several temples for Vishņu and Siva. These seven people employed a Karnataka brâhmara and his brother as the Pakichangi and accountant respectively on a fixed pay and another brahmana for doing půja in the local templo These ten families lived in Attiyûr cultivating their knowledge of Vedanta and other sástras. They had friends in the adjacent village of Puttûr founded by the Chola kings.
Sônâdrinatha (Arunagirinatha) was sent to a teacher to learn all sd stras. While studying, uis father who was anxious to have his son married, died. The boy was taken under his charge by his uncle Sômanåtha, for, his mother Abhirâmâmbik& committed sati with her deceased husband. After some time had passed, Arunagirinatha found the wife of his uncle not at all kind to him; her ill-treatment made him run away from his uncle's house. All along Sômanatha was ignorant of the fact that his nephew was not accorded proper treatment by his wife and when he found the boy missing he set about searching for him. Three days after he found him on the river bank, his lips tinged red with betel. When questioned about the matter, he explained that feeling tired he slept away the previous night in the Saiva temple in Puttûr (Navagrahara), meditating upon Vidyâpati, the god of that temple. He then dreamt that a person whose head was ornamented with the crescent moon, whose arms were adorned with bracelets of snakes, and who was accompanied by a number of children and four disciples approached him and spat in his mouth the betel he was chewing. Seeing that his lips were coloured red he got up to wash them in the river and therefore he happened to be then by the side of the river. Forthwith he burst into poetic effusion and ever since became a famous versifier and by his divine gift he attracted the attention of the then newlycrowned king Praudhadêvarêya Mahârâya and became a very intimate friend and companion of the king. He married Yajñâmbika, a girl belonging to the Såvarnyagötra.
There was a pretty garden belonging to the crown, situated on the south of the village of Mettaippadi (Talpagrâma), on the east of Attiyûr (Audumbarapura) and on the northwest of Puttûr (Navagrama); the officer who was in charge of this garden was named Nilagiri. Once when Rukmiņi, the queen of Praudhadevaraya saw this garden she liked it so well that she desired to possess it and the king immediately made over this property to her.
The cows of the Brahmana villages near by used to enter the garden and destroy the valuable plants. Nilagiri protested against the straying cattle, but the brahmanas paid no heed to his protestations. Then he detained the cattle and declined to liberate them : among those thus penned there were some cows belonging to Soņâdri (Aruagộiri). Incensed at the insolence of Nilagiri, Soņadri appealed to the king not simply to order Nilagiri to liberate the cows, but to grant him the garden so that he might build an agrahara on its site. The king, however, declined to interfere with the estate of his queen. Sôņadri then left the kingdom of Praudhadêvarêya, it is stated, and proceeded to that of the Stratrana (Sultan) where by the cleverness of his composition he got access to his presence and pleased him very much. The court poet by name Anapaya, surnamed Kavimalla, came out with his characteristic drum, dindima, beating, to meet Aruñagiri in an intellectual wrangle: it was resolved that if Kavimalla was defeated by Soņ&dri he should deliver all his distinctions to