North Indian Inscriptions

NALLUR GRANT OF HARIHARA II.

Mysore state; at Makaravaḷḷi in the Hângal tâlukâ of the Dharwar district;¹ at Conjeevaram² and at Tiruppâsûr³ near Tiruvaḷḷûr in the Chingleput district ; and at Śrîraṅgam in the Trichinopoly district.⁴ These localities furnish a fair indication of the extent of the dominions of Harihara II. If we except the inscriptions of the Uḍaiyar chiefs,⁵ whose names and birudas resemble those of the kings of Vijayanagara, but about whose exact place in South-Indian history nothing can at present be said with certainty, the earliest Vijayanagara inscriptions in the south belong to the reign of Harihara II. From this fact it may be concluded that he was the first Vijayanagara king who had any possessions in the southern portion of the Madras Presidency. As his earliest inscriptions in the south are dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1315 ( = A.D. 1393), we may further conclude that his expedition to the south cannot have taken place long before that date. The unpublished inscriptions at Conjeevaram and Tiruppâsûr in the Chingleput district are dated in that very year.⁶ The former records that the king made a copper door for the central shrine (vimâna) of the temple of the goddess Kâmâkshî. The statement contained in one of his inscriptions, published by Dr. Fleet,⁷ that he made gifts at Kanakasabhâ, Kâlahasti, Veṅkaṭâdri, Kâñchî, Śrîśaila, Śôṇaśaila, Ahôbala, Śrîraṅga and Kumbhakôṇa, need not be mere empty boast,― as in the case of the exploits claimed by some other Vijayanagara kings in their inscriptions,― because there is no reason to doubt that these places were included in his dominions. The two verses which refer to these gifts, were probably composed during the reign of Harihara II. and were copied by later kings.⁸ Nor is it improbable that Harihara II. actually performed the “sixteen great gifts,” as special reference is made to them in the subjoined inscription (verse 17), in the copper-plate grant published by Colebrooke,⁹ and in the Satyamaṅgalam plates of Dêvarâya II.¹⁰ The spirit of toleration which characterised the time of Harihara II. ; for we learn from inscriptions that he patronised the Śaivas, Vaishṇavas and Jainas alike.¹¹ The tutelary deity of the kings of the first Vijayanagara dynasty was Virûpâksha, the name of the large Śiva temple at Vijayanagara.¹²

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......¹ Jour. Bo. Br. R. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 340 f.
......² Dr. Hultzsch’s Progress Report for February to April 1890, p. 4. No. 29 of 1890.
......³ The date of this unpublished Tamil inscription is as follows :― śrîman-mahâmaṇḍalêśvaran śrî-Vîra- Hariahararâyanukku śellâninra Śak-âbdam dyirattu munnûrru orubattu añjin mêl śellâninra Śrîmukha- saṁvatsarattu ; “in the Śrîmukha year, which was current after the Śaka year one thousand three hundred and fifteen (had expired), (during the reign) of the illustrious Mahâmṇḍalêśvara, the glorious Vîra-Harihara- râya.”
......⁴ Dr. Hultzsch’s Annual Report for 1891-92, p. 16, No. 58 of 1892.
......⁵ On the history of these chiefs see South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I. pp. 117 ff. and Madras Christian College Magazine, Vol. IX. pp. 670 ff.
......⁶ See notes 2 and 3 above.
......⁷ Jour. Bo. Br. B. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 355, ll. 75 to 82 of the text.
......⁸ In two inscriptions (Jour. Bo. Br. R. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 382, lines 21 to 26 of the text, and Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 364, verses 26 and 27), these two verses occur in connection with Vîra-Nârasiṁha, the elder brother of Kṛishṇarâya.
......⁹ Miscellaneous Essays, Madras edition, Vol. II. p. 259, verse 19.
......¹⁰ ante, p. 37, verse 8.
......¹¹ That the king made gifts at Kâlahasti and Śôṇaśaila, which are places sacred to Śiva, as well as at Veṅkaṭâdri and Śrîraṅgam, which are sacred to Vishṇu, shows that he made no distinction between Śaivas and Vaishṇavas. His toleration for Jainism is shown by the fact that he could allow his general Iruga to build a Jaina temple at the capital, Vijayanagara ; see p. 117, note 4.
......¹² This is borne out by the fact that the colophons of the inscriptions of this dynasty consist of the name of the god Virûpâksha. In an inscription of Harihara II. published by Dr. Fleet, Jour. Bo. Br. R. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 375, it is said that the ‘guardian’ of the city of Vijayanagara was the god Śrî-Virûpâkshadêva ; compare Mr. Rice’s Mysore Inscriptions, p. 55.