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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA month Bhâdrapada of the year Târaṇa (Śaka 1326).[1] The same fact is repeated in an inscription at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa.[2] Another record from the Shimoga district states that in the month Kârttika of Śaka 1026 (evidently a mistake for Śaka 1326), Târaṇa, Bukka II. was on the throne.[3] This date is only a couple of months or so removed from the date of Harihara’s death, and naturally it might be concluded that Bukka immediately succeeded his father on the throne. That he was still reigning in Śaka 1328, is evidenced by an inscription of the Êkâmranâtha temple at Conjeeveram.[4] It is dated in the year Vyaya and purports to have been issued in the reign of Bukka II. Again we learn that the coronation of Dêvarâya I. took place in Śaka 1328, in the month Kârttika of the year Vyaya.[5] Evidently therefore Bukka’s reign must have come to a close at this time. But it must also be noted that in the month Mârgaśira of the year Târaṇa, Śaka 1327, Virûpâksha is represented as ruling in Vijayanagara.[6] This reign overlaps that of Bukka II. Under these circumstances it is not easy to explain how Virûpâksha could have reigned in the same period, except on the supposition that either Virûpâksha was acting as a regent, or that he seized the throne from his brother Bukka II., ruled for a short time, and was dethroned by the partisans of Bukka II. This latter may have been in his turn ousted from the government by Dêvarâya I. Hence we might conclude that after the death of Harihara II. there was a rapid succession of kings one after another, thus :— Bukka II., Virûpâksha, Bukka II. once again, and Dêvarâya I. Virûpâksha seems, therefore, to have been a raling king, though only for a short time.
Besides calling Virûpâksha the lord of the Tuṇḍîra, Chôḷa and Pâṇḍya countries (v. 6), the record under consideration gives more details of his deeds than the Âlampûṇḍi grant. He boasts of having weighed himself against gold in the presence of the god Râmanâtha (at Râmêśvaram). He is said to have made gifts of a thousand cows and is described as the establisher of the Brâhmaṇical faith (vêda-mârga, v. 7).[7] He is stated to have gilded (the vimâna of the temple at) Śrîrangam and the ‘ Golden Hall ’ (at Chidambaram), which latter act has been looked upon as highly meritorious ever since the days of the earliest Chôḷas. As regards the donees, it might be remarked that most of them bear Vaishṇava names ; and some of them have family names which are distinctly those of a few well-known Śrîvaishṇava Âchârya-purushas.[8] Of the places which are mentioned in this record, Śiraîkkâvûr, the village granted, is the same as the modern Śoraikkâvûr where the plates were found, and is 4 miles from the Kuttâlam Railway Station. Tiruppâmpuram (v. 10, ll. 49 f. and 65) is now known as Tiruppâmbâpuram and is about 9 miles west of the Nannilam station, also in the Tanjore district. I am unable to identify Elumuri in Elumuri-parru (ll. 60 and 64), which is literally translated into Sanskṛit as Saptakhaṇḍa-nîvṛit[9] (v. 9), while Uyyakkoṇḍa-vaḷanâḍu (ll. 59 and 63 f.), a district of Chôḷa-maṇḍalam (l. 58 f.), is Sanskṛitized as Ujjîvana (v. 9).
The inscription mentions a large number of fiscal terms (ll. 122-146), most of which have
remained to the present day unexplained.
[1] Ep. Carn. Vol. VII. Tîrthahaḷḷi tâluka, No. 129.
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