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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA The chief Savāyi Rāmachandra-nāyaka of Sōde who was instrumental for the sacrificial performance is not known from other sources. The principality of Sōde, more familiarly known as Svādi,[1] played a significant role in the later period of Karnāṭak history and an authentic account of its Nāyaka rulers remains to be worked out in detail with the help of epigraphical, literary and archaeological sources. In this context it would be worthwhile to review briefly the contents of a few epigraphs bearing on the Nāyaka chiefs of Sōndā, copied by me while conducting an epigraphical survey of the Sirsi Taluk. An inscription[2] in the Sōndā fort called Hosakōṭe belongs to the reign of the Vijayanagara king Dēvarāya II and is dated 1432 A.D. It introduces his subordinate Mahāprabhu Arasappa of Sōvade, who was the son of Saṁkaṇṇa. This is the earliest epigraph mentioning the Sōndā chiefs so far known. This Arasappa appears to be the first ruler of the name who founded the principality and his father’s name is disclosed here for the first time. Arasappa-nāyaka I, it appears, continued to rule during the subsequent reigns of the Vijayanagara kings. For instance, a record[3] from Hulekal belonging to the reign of Virupāksha and citing the cyclic year Hēviḷambi (1478 A.D.) introduces Arasappa-nāyaka of Sōde, and another from Chaḷgār,[4] dated 1478 A.D., refers to a ruler of Sōde having the same name. Arasappa-nāyaka II was the next distinguished chief who is said to have ruled from 1555 to 1598 A.D.[5] As the gap between Arasappa-nāyaka I and Arasappa-nāyaka II is fairly big, we have to assume that another chief whose name is not known to us ruled in the interval.
We have five records for Arasappa-nāyaka II. The earliest from Honnehaḷḷi,[6] dated 1556 A.D., speaks of Arasappa-nāyaka as ruling at Sōmadāpurī. The next one[7] is dated 1569 A.D. in the reign of the Vijayanagara king Sadāśiva. The information furnished by this epigraph is that this chief claimed his descent from the solar lineage and had a daughter named Arasamma. The third epigraph,[8] which apparently has to be assigned to this chief, belongs to the reign of the Vijayanagara king Veṅkaṭapati and cites the date 1593 A.D. The fourth record[9] from Hulekal referring to the death of a warrior in the service of Arasappa-nāyaka gives the date, Durmukha, Vaiśākha-paurṇimā, Sunday, corresponding to May 2, 1596 A.D. The last epigraph from Karasvaḷḷi[10] is dated in 1602 A.D. and extends the rule of this chief by four years. Two more inscriptions on hero-stones, one at Hulekal and another at Pañchaliṅga,[11] the dates of which cannot be determined with precision, may also be assigned to this ruler. _____________________________________________
[1] Sōde has become Sōndā under the influence of English. For the variants of this name and importance
of the place, see above, Vol. XXVIII, p. 292. In an inscription from Guttal, Haveri Taluk (B. K. Coll., No. 51 of 1932-33), dated 1162-63 A.D., mention is made of a Vaddabyavahāri (i.e. merchant-chief) described as an ornament of
the Sōnde family. This appears to be the earliest reference to Sōndā so far known. [See below, p. 81, note 2.─Ed.]
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