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OOTOBER, 1926)
A NOTE ON QUEEN MINAKSHI OF MADURA
195
A NOTE ON QUEEN MINAKSHI OF MADURA.
BY A. S. RAMANATHA AYYAR, B. A. A COPPER-PLATE record of Queen Minâkshỉ, the last of the Nayaka rulers of Madura, came up recently for my examination. It is composed in Telugu, the court-language of the Nayakas, and is engraved also in Telugu characters. The sign-manual of the Queen- Mindkshamma-vrdlu' is incised in the fourth line on the second side of the plate.
The record is dated on the 12th day of the month of Mågha, in the cyclic year Kalayukti corresponding to Saka 1660, which was a Friday with Punarvagu-nakshatra and whose English equivalent was February 9, A.D. 1739. It registers that the Queen was pleased to make a gift to a Muhammadan priest named Imâm-Sahibu of a piece of land having the sowing capacity of one kottai of seed, in Sivalapperi alias Muddu-Ven katalakshmipatiBhüpâlasamudram in the Nâigunêri taluk of the Tinnevelly district. This district has been described in this document as having belonged to the Tiruvadi-rajya (Travancore) forming part of the Trichinopoly-Madhura-samsthanam, which had been bestowed on the Nåyaka rulers by their overlords, the Vijayanagara emperors.
The genealogy furnished in this document covers only three generations, namely, Chok! kanàtha-Nayaka of the Kasyapa-gôtra,-a descendant of Visvanatha-Nayaka, the origina founder of the Madura Nayaka dynasty-his son Rauga-Muttuvirappa, and his son VijayarangeChokkanatha. Minakshi was the queen of this last-mentioned ruler, and she occupied the Madura throne on the death of her husband early in A.D. 1732, with headquarters at Trichinopoly.
The importance of this record lies in the fact that it mentions Queen Minakshi to be alive in February 1739, whereas either 17361 or 1737' has hitherto been accepted to have been the year of her death, or rather suicide. The Maduraittala-varaldru 8 fixes her demise three months later than the date of this Telugu record, and as there are no reasons for suspecting the genuineness of this latter, the Varaldru's account appears to receive fresh confir. mation. A few other Nâyaka rulers and Setupati chiefs are also known to have made simi. lar donations to Muhammadan mosques; but this gift of the Nayaka queen may have the additional significance, that it was due to her subservience to her captor Chanda.Såhib. 5
The prefatory portion of this copper-plate record is subjoined:
Svasti Sri Vijayabhyudaya Salivahana Sakâbdambbulu 1660 Prabhavadi samvvatsarambbulu mîdatan-agunéti Kalayukti-nama samvvatsaram makha su. 12 Sukra vâramrnnu punarvasü-nakshatramunnu subhayôga subhakaranamunnu kādina subha-dinamanddu srimat Kasyapa-gôtra-jâtulaina Madhura-samsthånadhipati Visvanatha-Nayanayyavári vamsamandu jatulaina Chokkanatha-Nayanayyavári pautrulaina Ranggaksishņa Muddu-Virappa Nayanayyavári putrulaina Vijayarangga-Chokkanátha-Nayanayyavari pattamahishi-aina SriMindshammagaru pakiri - guruvulu Imân-Sâyibuku ichchinatâmra-sisana kramam etlannanu Sriman mahamandalesvara mahârâja-råja-makutôpaláļita akhanddita-sâmmrajya-lakshmi. nivåsa bhùtadêva mahârâjulaina Sri-Rayaladêvunivaru må ku pâlimchchi ichchina Tiruchanapalle-Madhura-samsthânamamddu Tiruvadirajyana Tinne vellilochêrina Sivalappêriki pratinamamaina Muddu-Venkatalakshmipatibhûpâla-samudramulo Pedda-cheruvu kindda ... vittanam, kota inni etc.
1 History of the Nayaks of Madura (R. Satyanatha, 1924), p. 234. 3 Indian Antiquary, 1917, p. 213. 3 Mudaraittala-varala ru, (Sangam edition), p. 6. Also Nayaka History, op. cit., p. 378. 4 Sewell's List of Antiquities, vol. II.
6 It may be noted that six years later in Saka 1666 (A.D. 1745) Sheik Ahmad Kabir, son of this Im AmAhib was the recipient of some gifts from Mafūz-Khan. The Tinnovelly District came to be con sidered at this time as the southern governorship of the Arkadu-Trichinopoly vioeroyalty, which was subordinate to the Hyderabad Dominions.
