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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA claim which Bhairava II. puts forth to belong to the family of Jinadatta implies nothing more than his connection with the Śântaras and the Jaina creed which he followed.
Vol. VI. of the Epigraphia Carnatica contains also a number of inscriptions of a family
called by Mr. Rice Kaḷasa-Kârkaḷa. He gives an account of these chiefs in his Introduction
to the same volume, pp. 19 to 21. The texts published by him show that they had no connection
whatever with the Śântaras of Humcha, and that of the records prior to the time of the
Vijayanagara king Dêvarâya II. only a single one may be assigned to the family, viz. Mg. 65
dated in A.D. 1209, where the chief Vîra-Balludêva receives the title maṇḍaḷika-gaṇḍara-ḍâvaṇi, which in the slightly altered form arirâya-gaṇḍara-dâvaṇi was assumed by almost
all the subsequent members of the family. From the time of Dêvarâya II. downwards the
records are more definite and furnish a connected account of the chiefs, a list of whom is
given by Mr. Rice on p. 20 of the Introduction. The donor of the subjoined grant figures as the
last person in that list. We gather also from these records that the Kaḷasa-Kârkaḷa chiefs
followed the aḷiya-santâna law of inheritance and were Jainas in religion, though most of their
inscriptions found at Kaḷasa and Koppa record grants to Śiva temples. As a rule they seem
to have acknowledged the Vijayanagara kings as their overlords. But in Mg. 48, dated
in Śaka-Saṁvat 1424 ( = A.D. 1501-2), which was about the period of the overthrow of the
Sâḷuva usurpers at Vijayanagara and of the acknowledgement of the Tuḷuva Narasa-Nâyaka as
sovereign, the Kaḷasa chief[1] Vîra-Bhairarsa-Oḍeya seems to have been semi-independent, as no
mention is made of any overlord in the inscription. The memorable battle of Tâlikôṭa dealt the
death-blow to the Vijayanagara empire, and the Kaḷasa-Kârkaḷa chiefs were not slow to take
advantage of the opportunity to openly assert their independence. Accordingly, in a Koppa
inscription (Kp. 57), dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1510 ( = A.D. 1588-89), Bhayirarasa-Voḍeya, son
of Vîra-Gummaṭadêvî, who is no doubt identical with the donor of the subjoined inscription, is
represented as ruling his kingdom undisturbed (sthira-sâmrâjya). The subjoined
Chaturmukhabasti inscription of this chief, which is dated two years earlier, contains a long
string of high-sounding birudas, and this fact may be taken to show that Bhairava II.
had then already declared his independence. But this state of things did not continue
long ; for in Śaka 1531 ( = A.D. 1609-10), Bhayirarasa-Voḍeya, the son of Vîra-Bhayirarasa-Voḍeya, was ruling the Kaḷasa-Kârakaḷa-râjya as a feudatory of the Vijayanagara king Veṅkaṭa I. (Mg. 63). From the above records we further learn that the country
over which these chiefs originally ruled was called the Kaḷasa-râjya, which included one
thousand villages (see e.g. Mg. 88), and the chief town of which was evidently Kaḷasa
above the ghauts. But in Śaka-Saṁvat 1438 ( = A.D. 1516-17), Kârkaḷa seems to have been
added to it ; for Yimmaḍi-Bhairarsa-Oḍeya, who in Mg. 39 is stated to have been ruling over
Kaḷasa-râjya in the dvitîya-Śrâvaṇa of Śaka-Saṁvat 1438, was, according to Mg., 41,[2] ruling
over the Kaḷasa-Kârakaḷa-râjya in the (nija)-Śrâvaṇa of the same year, and in Śaka-Saṁvat
[1] I have intentionally used the term ‘ Kaḷasa chief ; ’ for, as will be seen in the sequel, the Kaḷasa-Kârkaḷa
chiefs became rulers of both Kaḷasa and Kârkaḷa only in A.D. 1516-17. Prior to this their dominion was limited
to the Kaḷasa country ; and the name Kaḷasa-Kârkaḷa applied to their family prior to A.D. 1516-17 is to be
understood as being used only for the sake of uniformity.
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