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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
father and predecessor of Siṅghaṇa.[1] Our record, as noted already, gives him such distinguishing
epithets as ‘ lord of many countries ’, and ‘he who put to rout Bhōjadēva, the lord of the west ’
besides describing him by his official designations like Mahāpradhāna, Samastasēnādhipati and
Bāhattaraniyōgādhipati. Fleet refers to an epigraph issued sometime in October, A.C. 1210 in
which this general is called the daṇḍanāyaka of the dakshiṇamahī, i.e., the southern part of the
kingdom.[2] That Siṅghaṇa had overrun and reduced a number of territories on or before December 19,
1210 A.C., is attested by a record[3] bearing this date found at Dēvarabeṭṭa in the Bellary District,
which states that on the date specified ‘ he was ruling the country having subjugated the whole
country and having obtained the kingdom’ (Siṅghaṇadēvan=ananta-bhūmiyaṁ sādhisi rājyamaṁ paḍedu pāḷisalu). Some more inscriptions of his reign, dated a few years later, in April 1215
A.C., January, 1216 A.C. and 1227 A.C. have been found at Nīlūru,[4] Anantapur District,
Gōraṇṭla[5] in the Kurnool District, and Kōḍumūrti[6] in the Tadpatri taluk, Anantapur District.
These prove that the Yādava ruler was in possession of this southern region continuously from 1210 to at least 1227 A.C. The Gōraṇṭla record of 1216 A.C. actually refers to
Lakshmīdēva Daṇḍanāyaka with the same string of birudas as is attached to his name in our Pushpagiri inscription, mentions also his victory over Bhōjadēva of the west, and in addition, specifies
that he was administering the country after ‘having conquered a number of territories by the might
of his arm’. The victory over Bhōja of the west, credit for which is claimed by Lakshmīdēva-Daṇḍanāyaka both in the Gōraṇṭla inscription and in the Pushpagiri record, seems to have been an
achievement of rather special importance, for, even the general’s overlord, Siṅghaṇa is described
as ‘ a very king of the birds (Garuḍa) in putting to flight the serpent, the mighty Bhōja whose
habitation was Pannāḷa’. Evidently both the ruler and his commander-in-chief were jointly
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[1] The Tiliwaḷḷi inscription of Siṅghaṇa dated Śaka 1160 (current), Hēmalambin (1237 A.C.) mentions Lakshmīdēva, a hastisādhanika, as serving under Siṅghaṇa on this date. (Kannaḍa Sāhitya Parishat Patrike, Vol. 28, p. 2,
text-line 2.) No other details about him are given. A certain Mahāpradhāna Lashumidēva figures in a damaged
inscription of Siṅghaṇa at Kolhapur of date 1237 A.C. (no. 353 of ARIE for 1945-6). It is quite likely that this
official and hastisādhanika Lakhmīdēva may be one and the same as they are found serving Siṅghaṇa in the same
year. If our Lakshmīdēva-Daṇḍanāyaka be identical with either of these it would appear that he had a long career
from about 1196 to 1237 A.C. But the epithet hastisādhanika with which Lakhmīdēva of the Tiliwaḷḷi record
is introduced and which is conspicuously absent among the titles of Lakshmīdēva-Daṇḍanāyaka would render the
identification of these two rather doubtful. On the other hand it seems more likely that hastisādhanika Lakhīdēva was a different person and perhaps identical with still another person of the same name who was the father of
Jalhaṇa of the Vatsa gōtra who wrote the Sūktimuktāvalī at the court of Yādava Kṛishṇa in Śaka 1179, i.e., 1257-8
A.C., since most of the ancestors of Jalhaṇa are described as holding the office of karivāhinīśa or karibṛindanātha
under the Yādava kings successively from the time of Mailugi to that of Kṛishṇa. Jalhaṇa gives his pedigree as
follows : in the lineage of Vatsa-muni was born Dādā who was a karivṛindanātha. He had four sons Mahīdhara,
Jalha, Sāṁba and Gaṅgādhara who, by their joint skill, uplifted the kingdom of Maillugi. Gaṅgādhara’s son was
Janārdana, a karivāhinīśa who instructed Siṅghaṇa in gajaśikshā. Janārdana’s son was Lakshmadēva who helped
his overlord Kṛishṇa is firmly established his kingdom. Jalhaṇa was the son of Lakshmadēva. Although the
title karivāhinīśa, is not applied to Lakshmadēva in this account given by Jalhaṇa, it is not unlikely that he also
held that office. If so, it is equally likely that he is identical with hastisādhanika Lakhmīdēva of the Tiliwaḷḷi
record. If this identification is substantiated by future discoveries, hastisādhanika Lakhmīdēva must have served
Siṅghaṇa in or about 1237 A.C. according to the Tiliwaḷḷi record and also Kṛishṇa later on as Jalhaṇa states.
[2] Rom. Gaz., Vol. I, part ii, p. 523.
[3] SII., Vol. IX, pt. i, No. 364.
[4] Ibid., No. 365.
[5] No. 315 of the ARSIE for the year 1937-38.
[6] Recently copied by me in November, 1953.
[7] Bom. Gaz., Vol. I, pt. ii, p. 524 and n. 1 ; Kannaḍa Sāhitya Parishat Patrike, Vol. 28, p. 1, text-line 10.
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