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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA SRIRANGAM INSCRIPTION OF KAKATIYA PRATAPARUDRA ; SAKA 1239 jeeveram[1] and more can be gleaned from records found at Shermādēvi,[2] Kīl-Āmbūr,[3] Śuttamalli,[4] Śrīraṅgam,[5] Tiruppaṅgilli,[6]. Tiruvadi,[7] Chidambaram,[8] Valuvūr[9] and Poonamalle[10] all lying outside his original territory. He is also known as the author of a drama called Pradyumnābhyudaya which is said to be enacted during the Yātrōtsava of Lord Padmanābha at Trivandram.[11] His greatness as a scholar and as a liberal patron of learning is emphasised by the title ‘Dakshiṇa-Bhōja,’[12] given to him in inscriptions. Two points arising out of the Aruḷāḷa-Perumāḷ temple inscription of Ravivarman mentioned above require clarification, viz. (a) his coronation on the banks of the Vēgavatī in A.D. 1312-13 and (b) his stay at Kāñchī in his 4th year. Dr. Kielhorn has identified Vēgavatī with the river of the name that flows into the Pālār river near Conjeeveram, and the 4th year as corresponding to A.D. 1315-16.[13] On the lead given by this scholar subsequent writers on the subject have taken that Ravivarman was at Kāñchī from A.D. 1312-13, the date of his coronation, till A.D. 1315-16, the supposed date of the Aruḷāḷa-Perumāḷ temple inscription. The difficulty that confronts us here is that we find Vīra Champa at Kāñchī and Tiruvallam in A. D. 1314.[14] This Vīra Champa may be identified with the chief of the name with the surname Ediriliśōla-Śambuvarāya figuring as a subordinate of Jaṭāvarman Sundara-Pāṇḍya (accn. A.D. 1303) who was restored to power according to our inscription, at Viriñchīpuram,[15] not far from Conjeeveram and Tiruvallam. If Ravivarman was the lord of the region round Conjeeveram about A.D. 1313, Vīra Champa could not have been there immediately thereafter without mentioning his overlord. The coronation in A.D. 1313 was not celebrated at Kāñchī, but on the banks of the river Vēgavatī in the Madura District.[16] The Sultanate at Madura had not by this time been established and between A.D. 1310 and 1326, the first and the second Muhammadan invasions[17] of the south, Ravivarman was free in the Tamil land. As suggested above, Ravivarman probably coveted the Pāṇḍya sovereignty which he evidently signalised by crowning himself in the heart of the Pāṇḍya country.[18] This coronation was celebrated in his 4th regnal year which must correspond to A.D. 1313, according to an inscription from Tiruvadi[19] which equates his 4th regnal year with Śaka 1235 and Kali 4414. When therefore Muppiḍi Nāyaka came to Kāñchī, his opponent in A.D. 1316 was not Ravivarman.
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[1] Above, Vol. IV, p. 146. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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