South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Inked the letter, as in ghna, dhva, bhṛi, bhya, etc.^[1] Occasionally, however, the ottu is missing without any reason ; examples for gha are found in l. 18 ; for ḍha in l. 48 ; for dha in ll. 153, 228 ; 214 (dhâ) ; 39, 130, 178 (dhi) ; 180, 218 (rdhi) ; 93, 116, 198 (dhu) ; 27, 82, 163 (dhdha) ; for bha in ll. 33, 39, 231 ; 170, 187, 230 (bhu) ; 15, 85 (bhû) ; 233 (bhâ) ; 141, 233, 244, (bhô). As in the latter cases the talakaṭṭu disappears, it is of course, impossible to distinguish bhâ and bhô from bâ and bô. In the groups chchha and rchchha the chha is written above the cha (see ll. 15, 102, 160), the subscript chha apparently being found impracticable on account of the loop in the middle of the letter. As first letter of a group, r is represented by the full sign in rchû (ll. 220, 224, 236), and before y and v with the exception of rva in l. 177, rvâ in 24, and rvi in ll. 21, 33. Here, as in all other cases, the secondary sign has been used.─ The language is Sanskṛit, and the whole text is in verse, with the exception of the introductory phrase śubham=astu in l. 1, the concluding Telugu words śrî śrî śrîṁ jêyunu in l. 257, and a few explanatory remarks in Telugu in ll. 46 f., 49 f. and 121.─ As regards orthography, it will suffice to state that the doubling of consonants after r occurs only in Rompicharlla (l. 149) and vargga (l. 240). After anusvâra a consonant is doubled in vêdâṁtta (l. 10), Kṛishṇamâṁbbayâ (l. 61), saṁttâna (l. 90), âkrâṁtta (l. 140), anaṁtta (ll. 149, 225), saṁdhdhânitaṁ (l. 163), Roṁppicharla (l. 226), -âṁkkitaṁ (l. 243), and probably in Koṁḍḍakâvûri (l. 255). A superfluous anusvâra has been inserted in Tiṁmma (l. 40, 252). In nigṛiṁhya (l. 5) and Saṁhya (l. 246) the anusvâra is due to faulty pronunciation. The group ddh is written dhdh in ânadhdha (l. 8), pâtâḷâdh=dharaṇî[ṁ*] (l. 27), śudhdha (l. 48), yadh-dhâṭî (l. 82), yudhdha (l. 86), saṁdhdhânitaṁ (l. 163), and perhaps -ôdhdhûta (l. 83). The words maṇḍapa and pradhâna are written maṇṭapa (ll. 155, 168, 173, 184, 204) and prathâna (l. 29 ; pratâna in l. 113).

The proper object of the inscription is to record a grant by Sâḷva-Timma, the prime-minister of king Kṛishṇarâya of Vijayanagara. It opens with invocations of Vishṇu in his boar incarnation (vv. 1, 2), as lord of Kâkuḷa (v. 3), and as Râma (vv. 4, 5). The title of Kâkuḷêśa seems to refer to Vishṇu as worshipped at Śrîkâkuḷam, 19 miles west of Masulipatam in the Kistna district. Mr. Sewell in his Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I. p. 55, states that there is a temple at that place dedicated to Śrîkâkuḷêśvarasvâmin and considered to be very sacred.^[2]

The following verses (6-8) are a eulogy of king Kṛishṇarâya. They contain no historical information besides the statement that ‘ king Kṛishṇa’s pillar of victory is shining in the court of Kaḷiṅga,’ an allusion to his conquest of the eastern coast.

The next verses (9-15) give an account of Kṛishṇarâya’s prime-minister Sâḷva- (or Sâḷuva-) Timma. He belonged to the gôtra^[3] of Kauṇḍinya, and was the son of minister Râcha and the grandson of the minister Vêma,^[4] and it may be added here that vv. 43, 44 and 47 incidentally mention the name of his wife, Lakshmî.^[5] Two verses (13 and 14) are devoted to his conquest of Koṇḍavîṭi, i.e. Koṇḍavîḍu, the well-known hill-fort in the Narasarâvupêṭa tâluka of the

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^[1] But if the subscript sign stands far enough to the right, the ottu appears occasionally ; see rghya in l. 159.
^[2] That this temple existed long before the time of our inscription is proved by the fact that it contains a number of inscriptions ranging from the latter half of the eleventh to the beginning of the sixteenth century A.D.
^[3] Or, as it is called here, kula.
^[4] I have used throughout the Sanskṛit forms of these names, Râcha, Vêma, Timma, Appa, etc., though in the text we find also the longer forms Timmaya, Appaya (ll. 56, 143, 150, 153, 189, 227). Except in Timmâkhyê in l. 42, the longer forms are invariably used in compounds before a word beginning with a vowel, as in Appayâmâtya, Gôpayâmâtya, Timmayâmâtya, Vêmayâmâtya, Râchayâmâtya, Gôpayârya, Appayârya.
^[5] Perhaps the praise bestowed on Sâḷva-Timma in vv. 11 and 12 for his literary attainments was not quite unfounded. In his Index to the Sanskṛit Mss. at Tanjore, p. 159, Burnell mentions an ‘ exceedingly diffuse commentary (vyâkhyâna) on Agastya’s Bâlabhârata by Timmaya, dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century. The work apparently is the same as the Bâlabhâratavyâkhyâna described by Taylor in his Catalogue of Oriental Mss., Vol. I. p. 168, where the name of the author is given as Sâḷuva-Timmaṇna daṇḍanâtha. The date, the title and the surname of the author make it highly probable that he is identical with minister of Kṛishṇarâya.