South Indian Inscriptions

INTRODUCTION

       A fragmentary Kannaḍa record from Śrīraṅgam in Tiruchchirapalli Taluk and District (No. 15). referring to the 29th regnal of Chōḷa king Kulōttuṅga I (1098-99 A.D.) refers to a donation made by an officer of Chāḷukya Tribhuvanamalla (i.e., Vikramāditya VI). He is described as Kannaḍa-sandhivigrahi and daṇḍanāyaka of Tribhuvanamalla-bhaṭṭāra of the Chāḷukya family. Sri K.G.Krishnan (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXVI, pp. 204 ff.) has drawn our attention to a record from Brahmādēśam in North Arcot District (A.R. Ep., 1918, 177) dated earlier by a decade, to that of the present inscription, wherein there is a reference to Chāḷukya Tribhuvanamalla. This confirms that there was movement of the Chāḷukyas in the Śrīraṅgam area. It is possible that the officer had been to Śrīraṅgam on a pilgrimage. Also this seems to suggest the friendly relationship that existed between the ruler of the neighbouring kingdoms which were mostly at war with each other. The campaigns undertaken by the Chāḷukya king Tribhuvanamalla are felt by his presence in places like Śrīraṅgam, Brahmēśvaram, etc., in Tamilnāḍu. This unholy peaceful relationship will have to be placed between 1084 and 1099 A.D., as indicated by the present inscription and the record from Brahmadēśam.

       Two inscriptions from Rāchānapalle (Nos. 23 and 24) in Anantapur Taluk and District are of political importance. They are in characters of about the 12th century A.D. They refer to the reign of Chāḷukya King Tribhuvanamalla (i.e., Vikramāditya VI). The first inscription is dated in the Chāḷukya Vikrama year 45, Śārvvari, Jyēsṭha, Amāvāsya, Sunday and Solar-eclipse. While reporting this record in the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy. the cyclic year Śārvvari has been taken as correct for the corresponding, Chāḷukya Vikrama year 45 and thus suggested an equivalent of 1120 A.D., October 24. If the first year of the era is taken to be falling between 1076 and 1077 A.D., then it may be said that the first year was current till about the March 19, 1077 A.D. In which case, the details of the date of the present record would correspond to 1122 A.D., May 7. There was no Solar-eclipse on that day. The cyclic year was Śubhakṛit and not Śārvvari. It states that while the king was ruling from the capital city of Jayantipura, mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Raviyarasa, mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Kētamallarasa and mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Mummaḍi-chōḷarasa jointly made a grant of 15 mattar of ereya-Kayi land to the deity Mallikārjunadēva of Kuḍiyalli, the headquarters of Kuḍiyame-40 division. The chief Raviyarasa is referred to as the son-in law (aḷiya) of king Bhuvanaikamalla. He is known from the second record of the same year as the donor of land to the deity Mūlasthānadēva. He is credited with the title Ayōdhyāpuravarādhīśvara