North Indian Inscriptions

NALLUR GRANT OF HARIHARA II.

Hariyappa-Voḍeya, and which is dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1261, the Vikrama saṁvatsara ( = A.D. 1340).¹ Of him the Biṭraguṇṭa grant of Saṁgama II. says that he defeated “the Sulṭân.”² In his Lists of Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 161, Mr. Sewell refers to a Hindû confederation, of which the Râya of Vijayanagara formed a party, and which “with an immense force drove the Muḥammadans out of Orangal” in A.D. 1344. Though we have no inscription of Harihara I. as late as A.D. 1344,6 it is not impossible that he was the Râya of Vijayanagara who joined the confederation, because the earliest inscription of his younger brother Bukka I. is dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1276³ ( = A.D. 1353). Bukka I. is represented in two inscriptions as a Mahâmaṇḍalêśvara ruling in the Hoysaṇa country.⁴ Perhaps this statement furnishes a clue to the origin of the Vijayanagara kings. It may be that they were originally feudatories of the Hoysaḷa kings. After the utter defeat of the Hoysaḷa king Ballâḷa III. and the demolition of his capital Dvârasamudra by the Muḥammadans in the year 1327 A.D.⁵ he evidently continued the semblance of a kingdom ; for there are inscriptions dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1262 ( = A.D. 1340), which refer themselves to his reign, at Erode in the Coimbatore district⁶ and at Tiruvaṇṇâmalai in the South Arcot district,⁷ and one dated as late as Śaka-Saṁvat 1265 ( = A.D. 1342) at Whitefield in the Bangalore district.⁸ It would therefore appear that Ballâḷa III. left Harihara I. in the north as a check to the Muḥammadan invaders, who had ousted him in A.D. 1327. His subordinate evidently took advantage of the opportunity to create a principality for himself and eventually to assert his independence. The only epigraphical record of Harihara I. makes no reference to Ballâḷa III. as overlord, nor does it furnish any clue as to the extent of the dominions owned by Harihara I. It is during the time of Bukka I. that the capital Vijayanagara first makes its appearance.⁹ There is reason to believe that the Muḥammadans continued to be troublesome during the reign of Bukka I. as well.¹⁰ It was during the time of Bukka’s son Harihara II. that the kingdom became firmly established. This is shown by the fact that he could turn his energies to extend his dominions in the south, or rather to recover possession of the provinces which were probably once subject to Ballâḷa III.

......The exact date of the accession of Hariahara II., in whose reign the subjoined inscription is dated, is not known. He must have ascend the throne between Śaka-Saṁvat 1293 and 1301.¹¹ From this as well as from other inscriptions¹² we learn that he was the son of Bukka I. by his queen Gaurî. In the Satyamaṅgalam plates of Dêvarâya II. we are told that Harihara’s queen was Malâmbikâ.¹³ His inscriptions have been found at Hampe or Vijayanagara in the Bellary district ;¹⁴ at Bêlûr,¹⁵ Chitaldroog,¹⁶ Harihar¹⁷ and Hassan¹⁸ in the
__________________________________________________________________________________________

......¹ Ind. Ant. Vol. X. p. 63; see note 52 on the same page.
......² ante, p. 32 verse 5.
......³ Jour. Bo. Br. R. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 338.
......⁴ ibid. p. 340.
......⁵ Dr. Fleet’s Kanarese Dynasties, p. 70.
......⁶ Dr. Hultzsch’s Annual Report for 1891-92, p. 8.
......⁷ Madras Christian College Magazine, Vol. IX. p. 667.
......⁸ Dr. Hultzsch’s Annual Report for 1892-93, p.2.
......⁹ ante, p. 36, note 1 ; Jour. Bo. Br. R. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 374 ; Colebrooke’s Miscellaneous Essays, Madras edition, Vol. II. p. 258, where it is said that Bukka (I.) made “Vidyânagarî” a permanent metropolis; and Mr. Rice’s Mysore Inscriptions, pp. 55 and 278.
......¹⁰ According to Mr. Sewell (Lists of Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 163), two attacks were made by the Muḥammadans about this time on Vijayanagara, the first in 1365-66 and the second in 1378 A.D. The first attack was successful, but in the second the leader was eventually compelled to retire.
......¹¹ The latest known date of Bukka I. is Śaka-Saṁvat 1293 according to the genealogical table of the first Vijayanagara dynasty published ante, p. 36, and the earliest date hitherto discovered of Harihara II. is Śaka- Saṁvat 1301 ; see Jour. Bo. Br. R. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 340.
......¹² ante, p. 37, verse 7; Colebrooke’s Miscellaneous Essays, Madras edition, Vol. II. p. 258 ; and Mr. Rice’s Mysore Inscriptions, p. 278.
......¹³ ante, p. 37, verse 9.
......¹⁴ South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I. No. 152.
......¹⁵ Mr. Rice’s Mysore Inscriptions, pp. 222, 227, and 268.
......¹⁶ In Colebrooke’s Miscellaneous Essays, Madras edition, Vol. II. pp. 254-267, an inscription on three brass plates, found at Chitaldroog, is published, and another found at the same place is noticed.
......¹⁷ Mr. Rice’s Mysore Inscriptions, p. 55.
......¹⁸ ibid. p. 278.