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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
Kētana who says that Tikka ‘ destroyed the pride of the Sēvuṇa-kaṭaka-sāmanta’.[1] These
historical allusions leave no doubt that the Sēvuṇa generals were defeated by Tikka I. The
reference to Kalyāṇapuri, i.e., Kalyāṇa, the famous Chāḷukya capital which at this period was
under the sway of Yādava Siṅghaṇa, as having been destroyed by Tikka I is rather puzzling as we
have at present hardly any evidence to show that Tikka I went so far north. On the other hand,
a campaign of his in the western direction if specifically alluded to. One of his inscriptions at
Gaṅgapērūru near Siddhavaṭṭam, states that after having successfully carried out the conquest
of the west (paśchimadigvijayam-paṇṇi) he made donations to the god at Siddhavaṭṭam.[2] It is
not certain if this western campaign was directed against the Sēvuṇas or against some other
power. Since, as stated already, there seems to be hardly any likelihood of Siṅghaṇa having
held this part of the country after 1227 A.C. and as the earliest of Tikka’s inscriptions crediting
him with victory over the Sēvuṇas is dated Śaka 1153, i.e., 1231 A.C., the defeat of the Sēvuṇas
might have occurred any time between these two dates. Similarly the date when the Pushpagiri
record of the Sēvuṇa general was set up cannot be stated with any precision. Either it was
written sometime between 1210 and 1227 A.C. when records of Siṅghaṇa are found in the
neighbourhood, or it was set up between 1227 and 1231 A.C. during which Tikka I might have come
into conflict with the Sēvuṇas.
Of the places and localities mentioned, Purpagiri, i.e., Pushpagiri, retains its name to the
present day.[3] The inscription describes it as a hill lying at the foot of Śrīgiri and as situated in
the vicinity of the southern gateway of Śrīparvata. Śrīgiri and Śrīparvata are evidently identical
or, as the context suggests, the composer meant by Śrīgiri the entire range of the present Nallamalai
hills at the apex of which stands the holy kshētra now called Śrīśailam which the writer perhaps
specifies in a slightly different way as Śrīparvata. Siddhavaṭṭam which lies about 15 miles south-east of Pushpagiri, is usually referred to as the southern gateway of Śrīśailam. Some inscriptions[4]
also state so. Our record says that Pushpagiri lay in the vicinity of the southern gateway while
another inscription of the time of Rāshṭrakūṭa Kṛishṇa (III?) at Pushpagiri[5] refers to the village
itself as the southern gateway (Śrīparvata-dakshiṇadvāra-śrī-Purpagiri). Evidently one main
hill pathway leading to the Śrīśailam summit started from Siddhavaṭṭam and was joined at some
distance further north by another proceeding from Pushpagiri or its vicinity. Perhaps on this
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[1] Daśakumāracharitramu, Canto i, v. 16. In the Nirvachanōttararāmāyaṇamu of Tikkana-Sōmayājin who
wrote the work at the court of Manumasiddhi II, the father of Tikka I, there are several verses describing Tikka’s
achievements. One of them (Canto 1, v. 33) states that when Lakumaya marched against Gurumulūru, he (Tikka)
captured his horses in battle. Sri. M. Somasekhara Sarma Garu identifies Lakumaya with Lakshmīdēva-Daṇḍanāyaka of the inscription edited here. (Kāṭamarājukatha, Mad. Govt. Oriental Series, No. XCI, Introd. p. III.)
[2] ARSIE, No. 16 of 1939-40.
[3] An account of Pushpagiri and its temples is given in PRASI, S.C., 1912-13, p. 62 ; see also Pushpagiri kaifiyat
in Local Records (No. 343, p. 163) preserved in the Madras Oriental Manuscripts Library. I am obliged to Mr.
Subrahmanyam, Pandit, Office of the Government Epigraphist for India, Madras, for having supplied me with the
text of the Pushpagiri kaifiyat copied by him at the Mss. library.
[4] No. 353 of the ARSIE for 1938-39 ; No. 12 of the ARSIE for 1939-40 from Doṅgalasāni in the Cuddapah
District specifies Tripurāntaka, Siddhavaṭa, Aṇampura and Māhēśvara as the four gateways of Śrīparvata. They
are clearly the modern Tripurāntakam (Kurnool Dist.), Siddhavaṭṭam (Cuddapah Dist.), Alampuram (Hyderabad
State) and Umā-Mahēśvaram (Mahbubnagar Dt., Hyderabad State) situated on the east, south, west and north of
Śrīparvata. In my article on the Māchupalle inscription of the time of Sōmidēva-Mahārāja (above, Vol. XXVIII,
p. 119 and n. 2) I adverted to these gateways but stated wrongly that the northern gateway was Kāḷēśvaram
(Hyderabad State) instead of Umā-Mahēśvaram (Mahbubnagar Dt., Hyderabad State). My attention was drawn
to this error by Sri. M. Somasekhara Sarma Gāru to whom I am thankful for the correction. But, in the spurious
Kollipara plates of Arikēsarin (Bhārati, Vol. VII, part II, p. 315, text line 88) Ēlēśvaram is mentioned as
situated at the northern gateway of Śrīparvata.
[5] SII, Vol. IX, part I, No. 69.
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