|
THE MADURA NAYAKAS
His officer Vaḍamalaiyappa-Pivai.
Vaḍamalaiyappa-Piḷḷai, an officer in the time of Chokkanātha, is mentioned
in No. 170 from Nenmani in the Sattur taluk of the Ramnad district, which states
that a certain Vatsavāy Kastūrirāja made
a gift of the village Tāmaraikkuḷam for
the merit of Chokkanātha-Nāyaka and Vaḍamalaiyappa-Piḷḷai, for providing
worship to god Tiruvēṅkaṭanāthasvāmi at Nenmani alias Kṛishṇāpuram in Iruṅgōḷa-vaḷanāḍu. This Vaḍamalaiyappa figures in several records of this Nāyaka
king and is also referred to in the Tamil poem Pulavarārruppaḍai of Śiriya-Ratnakavirāyar. He is therein stated to have been the son of Iruvappan of Śaṅkaranāyanārkōyil and to have been the chief of Iraśai (Trav. Archl, Series, Vol. V, p. 199 and App. A). He was different from Vaḍaimalai-Aṇṇagaḷ who
lived in the time of the Vijayanagara king Kṛishṇadēvarāya.
Muddammagāru, wife of Raṅgakṛishṇa Muddu-Vīrappa-Nāyaka is mentioned
in Nos. 3 and 4 from Śrīraṅgam, as having made a gift of two gold crowns to the
god and of two villages Iśanaikura and Nāṇakura to a certain Śrīnivāsayya for
maintaining a Rāmānūjakūṭam, while provision for the performance of worship
and Sahasranāmārchanā of the god appears to have been made through a certain
Namberumāḷayya.
Queen Maṅgammā, Śaka 1620.
67. A copper-plate grant in the possession of a resident of Śrīraṅgam (C. P.
No. 8) belongs to the reign of the dowager-queen Maṅgammā. It is dated in
Śaka 1620 expressed as 1000,600,20, but
the cyclic year quoted viz., Vyaya as well as
the other astronomical details are not regular. The record relates to a gift of a
small plot of land in Teṅgājji-sīma, i.e., Tenkāśi in the Tinnevelly distrcit, made by
the queen to a certain Gaṅgādhara-Udāsi, for providing food to itinerant pilgrims
presumably visiting Kurrālam, the famous place of pilgrimage near by, though
it is not specifically stated as such in the grant.
Vijayaraṅga-Chokkanatha.
68. Another recipient of land at Iḷañji in the Tenkāśi-sīma was a certain
Śivadāsa-Udāsi mentioned in C. P. No. 7 dated in Śaka 1630, who was possibly
connected with Gangādhara-Udāsi of land
other record, and to whom some land was
granted by Kāsi Yellāri-Nāyanigāru, with the permission of Raṅgaśāyi-Nāyanivāru,
son of Daḷakarttā Veṅkaṭakṛishṇama-Nāyaka for the conduct of a feeding
charity at Kurrālam or probably at Tenkāśi itself for the merit of Vijayaraṅga-Chokkanātha. This famous Daḷavāy Veṅkaṭakrishṇama-Nāyaka was the one
who served under Chokkanātha and took part in the war with Tanjore, but who
eventually turned traitor and lost his life in A.D. 1686 (Satyanatha-Nāyakas, p. 198). The two donee bore the title of Udāsi, by which we have to infer
that they belonged to a religious order of Śaiva ascetics, probably coming from
the north. A maṭha called the Udāsi-maṭha at Mēlagaram in the same Tenkāsi
taluk was in the charge of a northern ascetic in A.D. 1854 (No. 379 of 1917).
To the same Nāyaka ruler Vijayaraṅga-Chokkanātha belongs Copper plates No. 9,
dated in Śaka 1644. It mentions the Vijayanagara king Vīra Veṅkaṭapatirāya
as ruling from Ghanagiri, and states that Vijayaraṅga-Chokkanātha, grandson of
Chokkanātha and son of Raṅgakṛishṇa-Mudduvīrappa, instituted some enquiries
about an endowment which had been made by a certain Sūrappa for conducting
worship to Sūrap-Piḷḷaiyār and Vīradurgā at Tiruchināppaḷḷi and which had been
mismanaged by Chinnapaṇḍāram, apparently the trustee in charge of the Tōyumānavar temple there. He then ordered that the lands be left in change of
Mārappa, a descendant of the original donor, so that the services to Sūrap-Piḷḷaiyār
and Vīradurgā might be properly continued. Independently of this record, it is
learnt that the management of the Tāyumānavar temple was for a long time …
charge of the head of a maṭha called Maunasvāmiyār-maṭha now located within
the temple at Trichinopoly.
A maṭha at Śrīvilliputtūr maintained by barbers.
Copper-plate No. 2 from Śrīvilliputtūr purports to have been issued in the
same kings reign. It contains an incorrect preamble in which Hariyaputtrirarāyar,
Virūppāchchi-rāyar, Mallikachchirāyar,
Nāgaṇa-Nāyaka, Tirumalai-Nāyaka,
Anantappa-Nāyaka, Viśvanātha-Nāyaka, Mārappa-Nāyaka, Raṅgakṛishṇa Mudduvīrappa-Nāyaka and Vijayaraṅga-Chokkanātha-Nāyaka are mentioned as
ruling from Vijaiyāru (wrong for Vijayanagara). The date given is Śaka 1667,
Kali 4846, Akshaya, which is incorrect for Vijayaraṅga-Chokkanātha’s reign.
It purports to be an agreement entered into in the presence of the Talattār and Tānattār of Śrīvilliputtūr by the several barbers of the place, who had built a
|
