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THE VIJAYANAGARA KINGS
at Hemakūṭa, he gave to Timmā-Bhaṭṭa, son of Tippā-Bhaṭṭa of the Vāsishṭha
gōtra and several other Brahmans of various gōtras, shares in the village called
Śēṭṭṭūru renamed Kṛishṇarāyapura in the Rāyadurga-sīma. The composer of
The grant was Sabhāpati and the engraver was Vīraṇa, son of Mallaṇa.
The eight poets (known as the Ashṭadiggajas) of his court.
Of the stone records of the king, No. 282 from Tippalūru in the Cuddapah
district dated in Śaka 1430 (wrong for 1450) is of interest as it refers to the ‘ Ashṭa-
diggaja-kavīśvarulu’, or the eight famous
poets who flourished in the king’s court, to
whom the village Tippalūr had already been granted as an agrahāra. It is
stated in the inscription that when Kumaragiri-Reḍḍi and Kūtari Sūraparāju,
two leaders of the Dommari community, were staying at this village, they made
over the dommaripannu tax due from the agrahāra to the 24 families of their
community, for worship and offerings in the temples of Śiva and Vishṇu for the
merit of these families and of the king. The eight famous poets of Kṛishṇarāya’s
court are traditionally known to have been Allasāni Peddana, Nandi Timmana,
Ayyalarāju Rāmabhadra, Dhūrjaṭi, Mādayyagāri Mallayya, Piṅgaḷi Śūrana,
Rāmarājabhūshaṇa and Tenāli Rāmakṛishṇa.
Saptasagara-tirtha at Madura.
Of the other inscriptions of the king, a Sanskrit verse (No. 120) engraved
on a jamb of the Nānmugan-gōpura at Śrīraṅgam records that the doors of this gōpura were plated with gold in the Śaka year 1448, expressed by the chronogram jīvadvākyē while another verse in the same record mentions that a certain
Īśvara of the Bhāradvāja-gōtra, and the brother of one Ananta gave to the
god Raṅganātha a circular pīṭha and a footstool in the same year expressed
differently by the chronogram dēvabhōgyē. Two records from Elavānāśūr (Nos.
494 and 495) mention Vāśal Mallapa-Nāyaka and his four sons Timmappa-
Nāyaka, Ādiyappa-Nāyaka, Channappa-Nāyaka and Mallappa-Nāyaka, some
of whom already figure in other records (No. 182 of 1992, No. 230 of 1927 and
No. 246 of 1916). A certain Rāmaiyar, son of Vasava-Nāyaka, was the agent
of Chinnappa-Nāyaka noted above in the tract of country round about
Iraivānaraiyūr. Among the taxes leviable from this village are mentioned
some new ones such as śārkall-āyam, karuvip-paṇam, and tirikai-āyam. No. 494, dated in Śaka 1442 Timmappa-Nāyaka, one of these sons, is said to have
halted at Tillasthānam on the banks of the Kāvērī during a lunar eclipse, when
he restored the gift of the village Śembiyanmahādēvi free of taxes to the Śiva
temple at Elavānāśūr in Tirumunaippāḍi which was his nāyakattanam. Another
record (No. 161) engraved on a slab buried underground near the Ēlukaḍal-
tīrtham at Madura which is dated in Śaka 1438, Dhātu, states that the Saptasāgara-tīrtham in front of the
Chokkanātha temple was constructed by
Sāḷuva Narasā-Nāyaka Narasayan, whose identity is not clear.
Achyutarāya—his officer Vīrapaṇṇa.
70. King Achyutarāya is represented by a few copper-plate records and
about a dozen stone inscriptions. The copper-plate grants come from Lēpākshi
in the Anantapur district, which rose to importance during the Vijayanagara times.
This village consisted of two divisions, the old and the new, the old being now
almost deserted. The Vīrabhadra temple here, whose construction is connected
with the name of Vīrapaṇṇa of Penukoṇḍa, an officer who was apparently in
charge of this locality during the reign of this king, is a fine monument of the
Vijayanagara period. The stone inscriptions copied from this temple (Nos. 88
to 90 and 569to 583 of 1912) were almost all of them issued during the reign of
king Achyutarāya and record endowments made at the instance of this officer
Vīrapaṇṇa. Some local legends connecting this temple with the name of Vīra-paṇṇa are recorded in the Anantapur District Gazetteer, page 172. Of the copper-plate grants belonging to him, No. 19 which is dated in Śaka 1463, Plava, towards
the end of the king’s reign is of interest, as it gives a complete version of the
king’s historical introduction, in which are included the Sanskrit verse describing his gift of muktā-tulābhāra in Śaka 1454 at Kāñchīpuram, the svarṇamēru in
Śaka 1455 at Hampi, and the ānandanidhi in Śaka 1461 at the same place, copied of
which are independently found engraved in several temples in the Vijayanagara
dominions. The object of the present record is to register a grant of the
village Sirivara inclusive of the suburbs Mañchenahaḷḷi and Māyināyakahaḷḷi in
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