South Indian Inscriptions

INTRODUCTION

in the form of lands worth the amount, situated at Śivapura, to purāṇika-Kavi Kṛishṇa-bhaṭṭa as vṛitti. This is probably because the donee was in charge of the above library.

        This Kṛishṇa-Bhaṭṭa’s son Śaṇkara-bhaṭṭa figures in another record (No. 104) from the same place dated Śaka 1354 (1453 A.D.) Wherein it is mentioned that land was given at Śivapura in lieu of 80 kāṭi-gadyāṇas due to him as varttaneya-kaṭṭaḷe. The gift was made by Mahāpradhāna Chauḍappa, the governor of Bārakūru-Tuḷu-rājya, at the instance of the king, Śaṅkara-bhaṭṭa seem to have served in the maṭha at Śṛiṅgēri and thus accepted the amount due for him for the services rendered by him there.

       An inscription from Maṇipura (No. 84) is an interesting record of Dēvarāya I. It is dated Śaka 1330, Sarvajit corresponding to 1407 A.D. It states that the king’s servants (baṇṭaru) unjustly killed one Hosabu-moyali. As a sort of compensation, Daṇḍappa-adhikāri, an officer who was governing Karakalasthaḷa-nāḍu along with mūḍilas, Māramma-heggaḍe, the Abaḷi-1000, the eight jananis and thirty two of the sabha, at the instance of Mahāpradhāna Bāchaṁṇa-oḍeya, who was governing Bārakūru-rājya, made a grant of land to the family of the deceased.

       The record (No. 94) from Kuttūr refers to the rule of Rāmachandra- mahārāya. It is dated in Śaka 1345, Śubhakṛit corresponding to 1422 A.D. King Rāmachandra-mahārāya was the son of Dēvarāya I and was ruling at Udayagiri (Nellore District Inscriptions, Vol. I, Cp. 1). It is possible that soon after his father’s death in 1422 A.D., Rāmachandra-mahārāya succeeded him. In the same period, we find Vijayarāya (Bukka III) and his son Dēvarāya II as rulers. Nuniz informs us that after the death of Ajarāo i.e., Dēvarāya I in 1422 A.D., his son Vasarāo (Vijayarāya) came to the throne and ruled for six years (Robert Sewell, Forgotten Empire, p. 302).

       Of the two record of Vijaya-bhūpati, the record from Peddavelagaṭūru does not refer to him as the king (No. 95). On the other hand he is referred to as maṇḍalēśvara. It registers the gift of the village Hiriya-Veḷaṁgaṭūru in Velumālina-nāḍu as sarvamānya by Vijaya-bhūpatirāya to god Mallikārjunadēva and goddess Bhramarādēvī of Śrīparvata i.e., Śrīśailam. The gift was probably made while he was still a prince and was looking after the administration of that area.

       The Hosāḷa inscription (No. 96) of Śaka 1345, and Kali 4524 (=1425 A.D.) mentions the rule of king Vijaya Bukkarāya and credits him with