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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA son, the general or prince Iruga or Irugapa, who adhered to the doctrine of the Jainas ; but as the letters cha and ba closely resemble each other in the Telugu alphabet, I have no doubt that Chaicha and Chaichapa are merely misread for Baicha and Baichapa.[1] Two other inscriptions in the Jaina temple at Tirupparuttikunru near Conjeeveram, dated in A.D. 1382 and 1387-88 respectively,[2] record some donations by the general or minister Irugapa, the son of the general Vaichaya[3] and a follower of the Jaina religion. The two persons referred to in these three inscription have already been identified by Prof. Hultzsch with Baichapa I. and Irugapa I. of the present record. If in the Vijayanagara inscription Baichapa is called the minister of Harihara II., the successor of Bukka I., this proves only that he remained in office after the death of his first master. Verses 20 and 21 are in praise of a Jaina ascetic (yati, yamin) called Paṇḍatârya. In the two following verses (22, 23) a Jaina ascetic of the name of Śrutamuni is praised in very similar terms, There is nothing to show in what relation this Śrutamuni stood to Paṇḍiṭârya. The second group of verses is added to the first quite abruptly, not even one of the common particles being used to mark the transition. Under these circumstances I think it most likely that Paṇḍitârya and Śrutamuni are merely different names for the same person, a fact which will not be surprising, if we remember that Jaina monks were in the habit of bearing a surname generally referring to their literary accomplishments. The Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa epitaph of Mallishêṇa,[4] for instance, furnishes the following parallels : Śrîpâladêva-Traividya, Hêmasêna-Vidyâdhanaṁjaya, Ajitasêva-Vâdîbhasiṁha-Vâdîbhakaṇṭhîrava, Śântinâtha-Kavitâkânta-Kântaśânti, Padmanâ-bha- Vâdikôlâhala, Mallishêṇa-Maladhârin.
The abject of the grant is stated in verses 24-26. They record that at Beḷuguḷa, in the presence of Śrutamuni, the general Irugapa gave away, for the eternal enjoyment of the holy Gummaṭêśvara, the village or tîrtha of Beḷuguḷa, supplied with a grove and a new tank built by Irugapa himself. The donation took place ‘ while the year Śubhakṛit was flourishing, in the month of Kârttika, on the tithi of the slayer of Mura, when the moon had attained increase,’ or, in plain language, on Vishṇu’s, i.e. the eleventh or twelfth, tithi in the bright half of Kârttika in the cyclic year Subhakṛit. According to Mr. Rice, the Śubhakṛit year corresponds to A.D. 1362 ; but from the dates for Irugapa I. quoted above it appears that this is too early, and Prof. Hultzsch had already noticed[5] that the true European equivalent of the year is A.D. 1422. The rest of the date does not admit of verification. The inscription concludes with two of the ordinary benedictive and imprecatory verses. It is hardly necessary to state that Beḷuguḷa is Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa itself, and that the holy Gummaṭêśvara is the Jaina saint whose colossal image rises on the top of the Vindhyagiri to the south of the village.[6] TEXT.[7] South Face.
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[1] The same mistake was made by Mr. Rice in editing the present inscription.
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