South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

and from three inscriptions at Kâñchi.^[1] Aiyaṇṇa, the son of Aṇṇa Goppaṇṇa, is mentioned in another Kâñchî inscription of Vîra-Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar, the son of Bukkaṇa-Uḍaiyar (No. 33 of 1890). The same inscription shows that Goppaṇa was a Brâhmaṇa, as it states that he belonged to the Âpastamba-sûtra and Bhâradvâja-gôtra.

It appears from the last paragraph that Goppaṇa’s sovereign, Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar, was the son of Bukkaṇa-Uḍaiyar or Vîra-Bokkaṇa-Uḍaiyar. I feel no hesitation in identifying this Bukkaṇa-Uḍaiyar with king Bukka I. of Vijayanagara, whose name appears as ‘ Vîra-Bukkaṇṇa-Oḍeyaru of Vijayânagara ’ in a Kanarese inscription of Śaka-Saṁvat 1293, the Virôdhikṛit year, at Bhaṭkaḷ,^[2] and in identifying Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar with Chikka-Kampaṇṇa-Oḍeyaru, the son of Bukka I.^[3] The word Chikka or Kumâra, which is prefixed to the name of Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar in some of his inscriptions, is evidently employed to distinguish him from his uncle Kampaṇa.^[4] In the pedigree of the first Vijayanagara dynasty Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar will henceforth appear as Kampaṇa II., and his uncle as Kampaṇa I. Mr. Taylor^[5] calls Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar the “ general or agent ” of Bukkarâya of Vijayanagara and states that he repaired the temple at Śrîraṅgam in Śaka-Saṁvat 1293─ the date of the subjoined inscription─ and that he expelled the Muḥammadan invaders from the Pâṇḍya country. Here we have a grain of truth among heaps of chaff. The existence, in the fourteenth century, of a dynasty of Musalmân chiefs of Madhurâ is testified to by chronicles and coins,^[6] and Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar’s conquest of the Pâṇḍya country is corroborated by an inscription of Śaka-Saṁvat 1287, the Viśvâvasu year, at Tiruppukkuli (No. 18 of 1899), which states that,“ having taken possession of the kingdom of Râjagambhira, he was pleased to conduct the rule of the earth on a permanent throne.”^[7]

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Râjagambhira is known to have been a surname of the Pâṇḍya king Jaṭâvarman alias Kulaśêkhara,^[8] whose Tiruppûvaṇam plates are dated, according to Professor Kielhorn, in A.D. 1214,^[9] Hence ‘ the kingdom of Râjagambhira ’ seems to denote the Pâṇḍya kingdom, and it may be accepted as a historical fact that Kampaṇa II., the son of Bukka I. of Vijayanagara, expelled the Muḥammadans from Madhurâ. Two inscriptions at Tiruppullâṇi^[10] show him in possession of a portion of the Râmnâd Zamindârî in Śaka-Saṁvat 1293 and 1296. The fact that he claimed to be ‘ conducting the rule of the earth ’ proves that he did not remain a subordinate of his father, but considered himself an independent ruler. His prime-minister (mahâpradhâni) Sômappa is mentioned in two of his inscriptions at Mêlpâḍi (No. 89 of 1889) and Achcharapâkkam (No. 250 of 1901). To return to Goppaṇa, he seems to have taken part

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^[1] South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. I. Nos. 86-88. When publishing these three inscriptions (op. cit. p. 117 f.), I represented Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar as the son of Vîra-Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar on the strength of a Tirumalai inscription (ibid. No. 72). But, in the light of other records, I believe now that, in l. 2 f. of this record, śrî-Vîra-Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar, Kumâra-śrî-Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar kumârar śrî-Ommaṇa-Uḍaiyar has to be translated by “ Ommaṇa-Uḍaiyar, the son of Vîra-Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar (alias) Kumâra-Kampaṇa-Uḍaiyar.”
^[2] Above, Vol. III. p. 36, note 1. An inscription of Vîra-Bokkaṇa-Uḍaiyar at Vêppûr (No. 20 of 1890) is dated in the Rikshasa year (i.e. Śaka-Saṁvat 1297); another at Tirukkalukkunram (Madras Christian College Magazine of March 1892) in the Nala year (i.e. Śaka-Saṁvat 1298) ; and one at Achcharapâkkam (No. 255 of 1901) in Śaka-Saṁvat 1298, the Nala year. See also Mr. Rice’s Ep. Carn. Vol. III., Md. 90, Ml. 23 and 76 ; Vol. IV., Ch. 113 and 117.
^[3] Ep. Carn. Vol. III., Nj. 117 ; Vol. IV., Y1. 64 and Gu. 32.
^[4] Above, Vol. III. p. 36.
^[5] Catalogue, Vol. III. p. 438 f.
^[6] See e.g. Dr. Caldwell’s History of Tinnevelly, p. 42 ; Mr. Sewell’s Lists of Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 222 f. ; Captain Tufnell’s Hints to Coin-collectors in Southern India, p. 32 f. and p. 66 ff.; and the late Mr. Rodgers valuable paper in Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. LXIV. Part I. p. 49 ff. No complete reading has yet been published of a silver coin which was figured on Tufnell’s Plate vi. No. 2, and of which I possess a specimen ; the obverse reads Aḥsan Shâh 758 (of the Hijra, i.e. A.D. 1337-38), and the reverse Al-Ḥusainiyyu.
^[7] Irâyagambhîra-irâjyam kai-kkoṇḍu sti(sthi)ra-siṁhâsanattil pr[i](pṛi)thivirirâjyam paṇṇi aruḷâṇ[i]nra. This passage and its bearing were first pointed out by Mr. Venkayya in one of the two Annual Reports which he drew up during my absence on furlough.
^[8] Ind. Ant. Vol. XX. p. 289.
^[9] See page 301 above.
^[10] Mr. Sewell’s Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 301 f.