Annual Reports

INTRODUCTION

   From Vēmulavāḍa, a village in the Karīmnagar District of the Hyderabad States, were secured six inscriptions. Of these the earliest and the most important, No. 157, is engraved on a pillar in the Rājarājēśvara temple. It refers itself to the reign of Arikēsarin (II), a scion of the branch of the Chāḷukya family which ruled at Vēmulavāḍa, referred to in inscriptions as Lēmbuḷapāṭaka, the capital (rājadhāni). It records a gift of land by the king for the upkeep of a feeding house (sattra) in the temple of Āditya in the village. Arikēsarin II is doubtless indentical with the patron of the famous Kannaḍa poet Pampa who, in his work Vikramārjuna-Vijaya or Pampa-Bhārata, gives almost an identical account of the achievements of the chief and those of his ancestors with that given in this inscription.

   To the same family belongs Baddega whose inscription (No. 158) is engraved on the pedestal of a Jaina image in the same (Rājarājēśvara) temple. He is described in the record as the fifth in descent from Yuddhamalla, the ruler of the Sapādalaksha country. He may be identical with Bhadradēva mentioned as the son of Arikēsarin II in the Parabhaṇī plates issued in Śaka 888 by Arikē- sarin III, the son and successor of Bhadradēva. The present in that it only stone record of Baddega discovered so far, is particular interest in that it refers to the Jaina teacher Sōmadēva Sūri of the Gauḍa-saṅgha at whose instance the chief is stated to have constructed a Jaina temple. Sōmadēva Sūri mentioned in the inscription is the author of the Sanskrit work Yaśastilaka-Champū which, in its colophon, states that he completed the work in Śaka 881 at Gaṅgadhārā, the residence of Vaddega, son of Arikēsarin, who was the sāmanta of the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Kṛishṇa III. Sōmadēva Sūrī must have continued to live during the time of Baddega’s son and successor Arikēsarin III, who, according to the Parabhaṇī plates, granted him a village for the upkeep and repairs of a jīnālaya constructed by the chief’s father. There are, however, no traces of this temple at present at Vēmulavāḍa though a few broken pillars and statues which once belonged to a Jaina temple are now kept in the Rājarājēśvara temple.

   Of the inscriptions secured from the Baṅkāpur taluk of the Bombay Province, as many as 14 come from the village Beḷvatti referred to in the inscriptions as Beḷvanti. Among these is one (plate II) of the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Gōvinda IV (No. 212) which records certain gifts made to Paṇḍitayya, a Brāhmaṇa of the Viśvāmitra gōtra and Sāvastya-kūla.

   In two other records from the same village (Nos. 204 and 210) Lachchaladēvī, the wife of the Kadamba chief Harikēsaridēva, a feudatory of the Western Chāḷukya king Trailōkyamalla, is said to be governing the village (ūr) while her husband was governing Banavāsī-12000 and Pānuṅgal-500. One of these mentions her as the daughter of Bhīmadēva.

   Among the late epigraphs an inscription from Byāḍagi in the Ranebennur taluk (No. 248) records an interesting dispute about the Gauḍike (office of village headman) of Bēḍage, the modern Byāḍagi, between two parties of Hommaruḍi, each claiming the Gauḍike for itself. A committee representing prominent persons from several neīghbouring villages assembled in the temple of Hanumān at Bēḍage and decided to install one of the contestants in the office and took an undertaking from the other party that it would abide by this decision.

   Another inscription (No. 30) dated Śaka 1774 during the regime of the Kutubshāhis of Gōlkoṇḍa is of considerable social interest. It is engraved on a huge boulder in the stream at Nagari (Chittoor District) and records elaborate details of an agreement reached between the residents of the two villages Nagari and Māṅgāḍu in respect of utilising the water flowing in the stream.