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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA 1446 (= A.D. 1524-25) the same chief was ruling ‘ the kingdom below and above the ghauts ’ (Mg. 62). With the extension of the kingdom the capital also seems to have been removed to Kârkaḷa from Kaḷasa ; for in an inscription of Śaka-Saṁvat 1452 ( = A.D. 1530-31) Vîra-Bairarasa-Voḍeya is said to have been ruling from his throne at Kârakaḷa (Kp. 47). It will be seen in the next paragraph how the Kaḷasa chiefs managed to add to their dominions the Kârkaḷa country below the ghauts ; but for the present it may be enough to conclude from the Koppa and Mûḍgere inscriptions published in Mr. Rice’s Ep. Carn. Vol. VI. that Bhairava II. of the subjoined inscription was a direct descendant of the Kaḷasa family, and that his hereditary ancestral dominion was the Kaḷasa country. His name, his title arirâya-gaṇḍara-ḍâvaṇi and the existence of an inscription of his in the Koppa tâluka (Kp. 57) all point to the same conclusion.
Turning now to the inscriptions at Kârkaḷa itself, from which further information may be expected about the ancestors of Bhairava II., we find that the colossus there was set up by Vîra-Pâṇḍya or Pâṇḍyarâya, the son of Bhairavêndra of the lunar race in Śaka 1353, and the in Śaka 1358 the same chief, who is here said to have been the son of Bhairava of th family of Jinadatta, set up the Brahma pillar in front of that colossus.[1] An unpublished inscription[2] at Hiriyaṅgaḍi near Kârkaḷa, dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1379 ( = A.D. 1457-58), records a grant to the temple of Nêminâthasvâmin, while the arirâya-gaṇḍara-dâvaṇi, the lord of Paṭṭi-Pombuchchapura, who had obtained excellent gifts from (the goddess) Padmâvatîdêvi, and who was the uplifter of the ocean which was the family of Jinadattarâya─ Abhinava-Pâṁḍyadêva-Oḍeya, was ruling over Paṭṭi-râjya. A second inscription[3] in the same village, dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1514 ( = A.D. 1593-94), records grants to Chandranâthasvâmin, while arirâya-gaṇḍara-dâvaṇi Pâṇḍyappa-Voḍeya, the son of Vîra-Bhairarasa-Voḍeya, was ruling his country undisturbed (sthira-râjya). This chief is no doubt a son of Bhairava II. and apparently enjoyed the independence which his father also possessed. The earliest of the Kârkaḷa inscriptions,[4] which is dated in Śaka-Saṁvat 1256 ( = A.D. 1334-35), belongs to the time of Lôkanâtharasa, who, though only a mahâmaṇḍalêśvara ‘ who had acquired the five great sounds,’ bears the royal titles samastabhuvunâśraya, pṛithvîvallabha and mahârâjâdhirâja. He also calls himself ‘ the lord of Uttara-Madhurâ,’ ‘ the jewel of the great Ugra-vaṁsa,’ ‘ the lord of Paṭṭi-Pombuchchapura,’ ‘ the worshipper of (the goddess) Padmâvatîdêvî ’ and ‘ the pupil of (the Jaina teacher) Chârukîrti-Paṇḍitadêva.’ These titles make Lôkanâtharasa decidedly a Śântara chief.[5] The existence of this record at Hiriyaṅgaḍi makes it certain that the descendants of Jinadatta ‘ removed the capital first to Sisila or Sisukali and then to Karkala, both in S. Kanara ’ (Mr. Rice’s Mysore Gazetteer, Vol. II. p. 456). It will now be easy to see how the Kaḷasa chiefs, of whom Bhairava II. was one, came to be connected with the Śântaras, traced their ancestry to Jinadatta, became more zealous Jainas than their ancestors at Kaḷasa, and eventually stepped into the place of the Śântaras in the Kârkaḷa country. From the fact that the hereditary title arirâya-gaṇḍara-dâvaṇi of the Kaḷasa chiefs and the prominent Śântara titles of Lôkanâtharasa are found combined in the inscription of the chief Abhinava-Pâṁḍyadêva-Oḍeya as early as Śaka 1379, I conclude that the Kaḷasa chiefs must have entered into close relationship of intermarriage with the descendants of the Śântara Lôkanâtharasa, about Śaka-Saṁvat 1379 ( = A.D. 1457-58), if not a little earlier. Further it may reasonably be assumed that it was by virtue of this relationship with the local Śântaras that the Kaḷasa chief Yimmaḍi-Bhairarsa-Oḍeya, mentioned in the previous paragraph, extended his rule to the territory below the ghauts in A.D. 1516-17.
As regards the territory ruled over by Bhairava II. and his ancestors, a rough idea of its
extent may be formed from the name given to it─ Kaḷasa-Kârakaḷa-râjya. To ascertain its exact
[1] Above, Vol. VII. p. 109 ff.
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