Annual Reports

INTRODUCTION

  An inscription from Velamakūru (No. 203) in the Tadpatri taluk of the Antntapur District, Madras State, is dated Śaka 737, Madhyama-vīśi Vijaya, Uhatarāyaṇa-saṅkramaṇa and records a land gift by Vallava Salkalu. Salka in the expression Salkalu apparently stands for Chāḷukya, lu being the Telugu aonorific plural suffix. But as the Rāshṭrakūṭas were governing this part of the country during this period, the Chāḷukyas seem to have held a subordinate position. The expression Madhyama-vīśi (i.e., the middle twenty) used in respect of the cyclic year Vijaya in the record indicates that the 60-year cycle was divided, perhaps for convenience of calculation, into three equal divisions of 20 years each. A similar instance occurs in an epigraph from Nigadi in the Dharwar taluk, Dharwar District (S.I.I., Vol. XI, part II, No. 160) in which the cyclic year Nandana cited is referred to as Madhyama-Nandana.

   An undated Kannaḍa records in characters of the 9th century A.D., from Senagalagūḍūru also in the Tadpatri taluk (No. 197), mentions Chandiyanna, a chief who bears the characteristic epithets of the Bāṇa rulers such as Mahābalikulōdbhava, Kṛishṇadhvaja-virājita, Vṛishabhalāñchhana, etc. This name was not known so far among the members of the Bāṇa family. The chief is said to have remitted the tax on gold (ponna-tere) on the occasion of a solar eclipse.

   A fragmentary record (No. 166) inscribed on a slab in the possession of Pandit S. N. Vyas, Ujjain, is of considerable interest. It contains some verses in Prākṛit, one of which mentions the name Raṇaraṅgamalla. The epigraph is in characters assignable to the 12th century A.D. It may be pointed out that the Haihaya king Jājalladēva II (circa 1160-68 A.D.) is known to have enjoyed this biruda (cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. XIX, p. 213).

   On the Śamaṇarmalai hill near Kīlkuyilkuḍi, Madurai District, was discovered a Kannaḍa inscription of about the 12th century A.D., engraved on the top of the rock near a stone lamp-post (No. 244). It mentions the Jaina teachers, Āriyadēva, Ba(Bā)ḷachandradēva of Beḷaguḷa (i.e., Śravaṇa-Beḷagoḷa) who belonged to the Mūlasaṅgha, Nēmidēva, Ajitasēnadēva and Gōvardhanadēva. Evidently this locality where Jain inscriptions in Tamil of about the 9-10th century A.D. have already been discovered (A.R.S.I.E., 1910, Nos. 63-69) continued to be associated with Jainism till the 12th century A.D. The connection of a Jaina teacher of Śravaṇa Beḷagoḷa in Mysore with this ancient Jaina centre in the Tamil country is of special interest.

   No. 108 from Warangal, Hyderabad, is a Sanskrit record. It is engraved in Grantha script, a feature not common in this area. It embodies a verse in the Sārdūlavikrīḍita metre eulogising an author named Nṛisiṁha who is stated to have written several works among which was a history of the Kakatiyas in eight chapters (sargas) which he composed in a single day and a commentary on the Ṛigvēda.

   No. 399 from the Junāgaḍh Museum dated in V.S. 1454 refers to a certain Mīṇalladēvī as queen of Mahitēśa. A queen of the name Mīṇaladēvī is known from an inscription at Vanthalī in Kāṭhiāwāḍ (A. B. O. R. I., Vol. V , pp. 176 ff.). She was, however, the wife of the Rāshṭrakūṭa chief Bhīmasiṁha who was a feudatory of the Chaulukyas.

   An epigraph (No. 273) citing the 7th year of Rājarāja I (992 A.D.) from Kīranūr in the Nannilam taluk, Tanjore District, refers to Aryapaṇḍita Vimalaśiva, son of Āditya, as the pontiff (māṭhādhipatyakṛit) of the maṭha at Śivapuram in Kīrāgrahāra (i.e., Kīranūr). He is said to have apportioned the lands formerly endowed to the temple at Śivapuram for the various duties connected with the worship of the god. Vimalaśiva is also called the Nārppatteṇṇāyirabhaṭārar (Ashṭāchatvāriṁśat-sahasra-bhaṭāra). Persons, quarters and institutions associated with this name such as Nārppatteṇṇāyiravan Porkōyil-Nambi (A. R. No. 332 of 1923), Nārppatteṇṇāyira-pperunteru (A. R. No. 204 of 1912) and Nārppatteṇṇāyiravan-maḍam (A. R.1909, para. 53) occur in inscriptions. Probably the expression Nārppatteṇṇāyiravar denotes a guild or community like the expression Toṁbattārāyiravar (A. R. for 1939-40 to 1942-43, p. 237), Padineṇbhūmi-tiśai-āyiratt-aiññūrruvar (ibid., p. 284), etc.

   No. 272 copied from the same place and dated in the reign of Parakēsarivarman Rājēndra (I) records a tax-free gift of land by his queen Kalyāṇamahādēvī for various provisions including one for performing the five aṅgas of Sākkaikkūttu (a variety of dance) on certain specified occasions before god Mahādēva of Tiruvagnīśvaram. The land is stated to have been purchased for 173 kāśu given by the queen to the sabhās of Chiruppuliyūr and Vēlaṅguḍi and made