South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

AKKALKOT INSCRIPTION OF SILAHARA INDARASA

at Eḷamēla, identical with modern Ālmēl in the Sindagi taluk. They worshipped the god Uttarēśvara of Eḷamēla^[1] and cherished reverence for their tutelary deity Kātyāyanī.^[2] In the beginning their status was only that of the Mahāsāmantas, which was later on elevated to that of the Mahāmaṇḍaḷēśvaras.

More conspicuous among the Śilāhāras of the Bijapur area is a section that bears the distinctive epithet Kopaṇapuravarādhīśvara. They figure prominently in the records ranging from the early part of the 11th to the end of the 13th century A. D. It is curious to observe that, while a large number of records containing references to them has been discovered in parts of the Bijapur District and the adjacent areas, not a single record mentioning them has been so far traced at or in the vicinity of Kopaṇa^[3] or modern Kopbal in the Nizam’s Dominions, which, according to the implication of the title, must have been in their possession at one time.^[4] Like the members of the Ālmēl branch, this family also claimed the goddess Kātyāyanī as their tutelary deity. The earliest member o the Kopaṇapura branch so far known is from and epigraph at Sālōṭgi in the Bijapur District. His name was Kañchiga and it is sated that he hailed from Kopaṇapura.^[5] In the absence of date the record may be assigned to the first half of the 11th century on palaeogrphical grounds.^[6] This Kañchiga was most probably a descendant of Kañcha, an early ancestor of the Akkalkōṭ family.^[7] The kinship of the Kopaṇapura family with the Akkalkōṭ branch is vouched not only by the frequent occurrence of the peculiar names, such as Dhanasaṅgraha, Ḍākarasa, Indarasa, etc., originally found among the latter, but also by the characteristic epithet Kālañjarapariyanta-dēśādhīśvaram (supreme lord of the country as far as Kālañjara) occurring in a record of the former.^[8]

Traces of one other family of the Śilāhāra chiefs that had settled in the Bijapur region are available from the records of the 11-12th century discovered in the Iṇḍi taluk. Kavilāsa and his son Dhanasaṅgraha figuring in an inscription from Tadavalga,^[9] Mahāsāmanta Dhanasaṅgrahayyarasa of the Rūgi epigraph,^[10] Piriya Gōvanarasa,^[11] Bandarasa and his father Chāvuṇḍarasa mentioned in the Sālōṭgi record^[12] appear to have been a few members of this family. Their names further suggest their possible connection with Akkalkōṭ Branch.

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^[1] B. K. No. 43 of 1937-38.
^[2] The phrase Kātyāyinīdēvī-labdha-vara-prasāda occurs in the praśasti of this family.
^[3] In the course of my private epigraphical survey I have carefully explored the town of Kopbal and its adjoining villages.
^[4] The antiquity and renown of Kopaṇa may be judged from the existence of Aśōkan Edicts and other early Jain vestiges there. (Vide Hyderabad Archaeological Series, Nos. 10 and 12.) It may incidentally be noted that the title Kopaṇapuravarādhīśvara was not exclusively used by the members of the Śilāhāra branch. There are instances of other chiefs who apparently bore no connection with the Śilāhāras using this title. For Example, Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Vīra-Rāmadēvarasa figuring in an inscription from Harasur bore this title, but belonged to the lineage of Nābhirāja (Nāchirāja is a mistake ; Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I. pt. II, p. 486). An epigraph of the 12th century from Hoḍal in the Gulbarga District states that chiefs born in the lineage of Nābhirāja ruled at Kopaṇapura. (My private collection.) A chief named Hemmāḍidēvarasa, who held this title is introduced as a subordinate of Yuvarāja Mallikārjuna in a record from Umarāṇi, Jath State. (B. K. No. 128 of 1940-41).
^[5] Above, Vol. IV, p. 59.
^[6] It has been assigned to the middle of the 10th century by Fleet ; ibid.
^[7] Vide the genealogical statement in the beginning of this article.
^[8] This record is from Chinmaḷḷi in the Gulbarga District. Its date regularly corresponds to A.D. 1288, March 8, Monday. The Śilāhāra chief who bore this epithet was again Dhanasaṅgraha. He was ruling over the Attinūr tract of eighty villages included in the provinceof Alande Thousand. His capital was Attinūr (modern Hattanur, Gulbarga District). He is stated to have hailed from Tardavāḍi. Ḍākarasa and Āhavamalla were the father and grandfather of Dhanasaṅgraha, who appear to have held hereditary authority over the tract. (My private collection )
^[9] B. K. No. 74 of 1937-38.
^[10] Ibid. No. 58.
^[11] Ibid. No. 35.
^[12] Ibid, No. 66.