South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

SRIRANGAM INSCRITPION OF KAKATIYA PRATAPARUDRA ; SAKA 1239

The reason why the Kākatīya king Pratāparudra dispatched an expedition to the south is easily guessed from the present inscription.^[1] I have shown elsewhere^[2] that about A.D. 1249 Kākatīya sway in the south extended as far as Conjeeveram during the time of Gaṇapati. The presence of the Kākatīya army near Conjeeveram was evidently resented by the Tamil people, as an inscription from Vēppaṅguḷam3 near Conjeeveram mentions the wrongs done by this force. The Kākatīyas soon lost their foothold in the south, as the Pāṇḍyas under Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I (accn. A.D. 1251) gained in power and extended their conquest in the north as far as Nellore, where the Pāṇḍya king claims to have anointed himself.^[4] This Sundara- Pāṇḍya further signalised his victory over the Kākatīyas by issuing a new type of coin^[5] depicting a boar on the obverse and the legend “ Sundara-Pāṇḍya ” in Tamil on the reverse. When sometime later, another Pāṇḍya king viz., Sundara-Pāṇḍya (accn. 1303) sought help, Pratāparudra^[6] did not let slip the opportunity to re-establish Kākatīya power in the south. In the expedition sent by Pratāparudra, two generals Muppiḍi-Nāyaka^[7] and Dēvari-Nāyaka took prominent part in the Tamil country, but it was left to the latter to reinstate Sundara-Pāṇḍya after defeating Vīra-Pāṇḍya and Malaiyāḷa Tiruvaḍi Kulaśēkhara.

This Malaiyāḷa Tiruvaḍi^[8] Kulaśēkhara is identical with Ravivarman Saṅgrāmadhīra alias Kulaśēkhara, the king of the country round the present town of Quilon known as Vēṇāḍ.^[9] He ascended the throne in A.D. 1299 in his 33rd year and was crowned on the banks of the Vēgavatī at the age of 46, corresponding to A.D. 1312-1313, after subduing the Pāṇḍya and the Chōḷa countries.^[10] His exploits are detailed in an inscription from the Aruḷāḷa-Perumāḷ temple at Little Con-

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^[1] See also J. O. R., Vol. XII, pp. 202 ff.
^[2] Above, Vol. XXVII, p. 195. Gaṇapati’s inscription is found at Conjeeveram (S. I. I., Vol. IV, No. 814) and his ministers Sāmanta Bhōja (Ind. Ant., Vol. XXI. pp. 197 ff.), Kōn Kāṭṭaiyan (No. 608 of 1919), and Brahma Śetti (S. I. I., Vol. IV. No. 860) figure in the inscriptions at Conjeeveram.
^[3] S. I. I., Vol. VIII, No. 2.
^[4] Vide his introduction beginning with the words “ Samasta Jagadādhāra ”, etc., S. I. I., Vol. V, No. 483.
^[5] See Sir T. Desikachariyar, South Indian Coins ; Plata III, Nos. 58 and 59. On the obverse of this coin is found a boar facing the proper right on a pedestal with the sun and the crescent moon above, while the reverse depicts two carps separated by a scepter with the legend “ Sundara- Pāṇḍiyan ” in Tamil ; see also Prof. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri : Proceedings, Indian History Congress, 1938 (Allahabad), pp. 42-43.
^[6] In this connection it may be mentioned that there is a stray verse in the Tamil Nāvalar Charitai attributed to Kamban praising Rudra of Warangal. There is a persistent tradition in the Tamil country stating that Kamban the poet of the Chōḷa court, went over to the Kākatīya king who accorded him all the honours due to a great poet. The colophon appended by the redactor of this verse explains that this verse was sung by Kamban when he went over to the court of Pratāparudra and when he was following this king as valet (J. A. H. R. S., Vol. VII, p. 103).
^[7] Above, Vol. VII, pp. 128 ff. Muppiḍi-Nāyaka’s return from Kāñchī is recorded in a fragmentary inscription from Mallām in the Nellore District (No. 524 of 1908). This inscription registers a gift of land as Yātrādāna to the temple by Muppiḍi-Nāyaka, on his way back to Oraṅgal. He is said to have conquered the Pāṇḍya king, to have received elephants (from him) as tribute and to have entered Nellore on his way. The Velugōṭuāri-Vaṁśāraḷi gives a detailed account of the expedition sent to the south. Besides Muppiḍi-Nāyaka and Dēvari-Nāyaka, Pedda-Rudra (son of Muppiḍi), Erra-Dācha and Nalla-Dācha of the Rēcherla family, Prōlaya Vēma, founder of the Reḍḍi kingdom of Koṇḍavīḍu, Rudra of the Indulūri family and Bōlnēniṅgāru alias Gōpālavardhana who claims to have routed the Pāṇḍya king (No. 325 of 1915), also joined the expedition.
^[8] Tiruvaḍi is a term applied to samayāsins, gods and kings (T. A. S., Vol. III, p. 31).
^[9] Dr. Venkataramanayya is inclined to identify Malaiyāḷa Tiruvaḍi with Udaiya Mārttāṇḍavarman (J. O. R.., Vol. XII. p. 206), but this is not correct since the latter is not known with the name Kulaśēkhara explicity given in our inscription and also because he is not known for any exploit outside his country. A sandēśa, kārya in Malayālam called ‘Unnuni1a sandēśam’ describes Ravi as Vēṇāḍār-kōn (New Ind. Ant., Vol. VI. p. 36). The Travancore State Manual, part 11, p. 294, states that “ Vēṇāḍ extended at least as far as Quilon in the north, over the whole area between the mountains and the sea”.
^[10] Above, Vol. IV. p. 146.