South Indian Inscriptions

INTRODUCTION

had a nakhara-hañjamanu guild, like Barakūru, Basarūru, etc. These guilds generally figure as arbitrators of dispute and administrators of grants. They also patronised Śaivism and made a number of grants to the temples of Śaiva leaning.

        Among the records of Harihara II, a record from Surāla dated Śaka 1305 (1383 A.D.) is quite interesting. It registers the gift of income from some villages by Mahāpradhāna Jakkaṇṇa-oḍeya, the governor of Bārakūru-rājya to Śiva-Niḍuṁbūra, son of Aṇṇa-Niḍuṁbūra, probably as a compensation, for the record states that the latter died while carrying out some official duties.

       The record from Tiruvailu (No. 66) dated Śaka 1312 (1390 A.D.) states that Mallarasa was the then governor of Maṅgaḷūru-rājya while Harihara II was the ruling King. It registers the gift of land by Padumaladēvī, daughter of Kāmadēvarasa of Mukkaṇṇa-Kaḍaṁba family. We do not know whether this Kāmadēvarasa was governing any area around this region though the last of the Kadamba Kings by this name had ruled over Koṅkaṇa region (See Moraes, Kadamba Kula, pp. 210-211)

       No. 71 from Hampi reveals to us the name of a queen of Harihara II. This queen, Bukkayave is stated to have set up a lamp-post in the temple of Jeḍeya-Śaṅkaradēva, for the merit of her guru Bhāskaradēvayya. This record is dated in the cyclic year Īśvara corresponding to 1397 A.D.

       Another record from Hampi (No. 74) in Sanskrit language and Nāgarī script is dated in Śaka 1318 (1396 A.D.) and belongs to the same king who was ruling from Vijayanagara with his queen Viṭṭhaladēvī. It states that Virūpāksha-paṇḍita and Vināyaka-paṇḍita, sons of Gaṇapati-paṇḍita, constructed a shrine along with a sukanāsa for god Virūpāksha-Śrīpāda-Śrīvallabha and excavated a tank called Śrīvallabha-tīrtha. The tank behind the Prasanna Āñjanēya temple in Hēmakūṭa, on a boulder near which this record is found, might probably be the tank excavated by them. Both of them belonged to the Bhāradvāja-gōtra and Mādhyandina-śākha, and of these two, the former, Virūpāksha-paṇḍita is described as the author of thirteen literary works.

       The Perdūru inscription (No. 82) dated in the reign of Bukka II registers a royal gift of 170 Kāṭi-gadyāñas to Śrī Nārasiṁha Bhārati of Siṅgēri (i.e., Śṛiṅgēri) for the renovation and maintenance of library (of the maṭha there). Out of this, a sum of 20 kāṭi-gadyāṇas was gifted by the Oḍeya of Śṛiṅgēri.