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THE VIJAYANAGARA KINGS
the Roḍḍha-nāḍu of the Penugoṇḍa-rājya for the expenses of the annual car-Festival of god Vīrabhadra at Lēpākshi, at the request of the local feudatory
Vīrapaṇṇa-Mahīpati. Incidentally the record devotes about 15 verses for giving
a detailed iconographical description of god Vīrabhadra. The feudatory Vīra-
paṇṇa is said to have been the son of Lakhi-Śeṭṭi and Muddamā of Lēpākshi
and to have been an ardent follower of the religious tenets of the Vīraśaivā-gama.
His Sirivara copper-plate grant of Saka 1463.
He had a brother named Vīraṇa-Nāyaka (No.570 of 1912). His
grandfather’s name is given as Māṇikka-
Śeṭṭi in the other copper-plate of the king
(C. P. NO. 16) Which relates to the gift of three villages Hambaṇanahaḷḷi.
Kansārehaḷḷi and Timmagoṁṇunahaḷḷi which were clubbed together under the
name of Veṅkaṭādrisamudra, by the king at the instance of the same Vīra-
paṇṇa. The same gift is also recorded in a stone inscription of the king (No.574
of 1912) engraved on the walls of the same temple. Vīrapaṇṇa also purchased the
village Kottūru alias Prauḍhadēvarāyapuram from several Brahmaṇs to whom
it had originally been endowed by Dēvarāya in Śaka 1361, Siddhārthin (C. P.
No. 17) and presented it to the Vīrabhadra temple in Śaka 1461, Vikārin (C. P.
No.18).
Jaina image called Vijaya-Nayaka.
Achyutarāya’s stone records range in date from Śaka 1452 to 1464. The
earliest (No.449 ), dated in Śaka 1452 (wrong for Śaka 1454 ), Nandana, comes
from Paḷḷichchandal in the Tirukkoyilur
taluk of the South Arcot district, and it
states that on the representation of Vaiyappa-Nāyakarayyan certain exemptions
of taxes were granted on the lands belonging to (the shrine of ) Vijaya-Nāyaka, during the regime of Vēlūr Bommu-Nāyaka who was wielding authority in
this region as the subordinate of Vaiyappa (the Gingee chief).He was apparently
different from Chinna-Bommu-Nāyaka of Vēlūr, the patron of Appayya-Dīkshita,
for whom a record at Aḍaippalam (No.395 of 1911) furnishes the date Śaka 1504
(A.D.1582) which is half a century later, A copy of this record (No. 449) is also
engraved at Jambai (No. 127 of 1906) but issued in favour of the Śiva temple at
that village. As the village was called Paḷḷichchandal which appears to be the same
as paḷḷichchandam, Vijaya-Nāyaka of the present inscription should be the name of
a Jaina deity and this is established in fact by the very name Śainiyamman (Jaina
Ammana ?)¬-kōyil by which the low mound on which the slab stands is known,
coupled with the existence of mutilated image of Bāhubali lying in its precincts.
King Achyuta is given the titles of Tiruvadi-saptāṅga-haraṇa, and Pāṇdyarājya-
Paripālana and is called Īśvara-Narasiṁha-kumāra in No.479 dated in Śaka 1453,
KLara, and contains details giving the equivalent A.D. 1532, March 7, It regis-
ters the gift of two hamlets reconstituted into one village called Tirumalairāja-
puram in the name of his brother-in-law Tirumalaṛāja to a certain Varadarāja-
Bhaṭṭar Varadarāja-Sarasvati-Dīkshitar of the Bhārgava-gōtra and Āśvalāyana sūtra and a resident of Iraivānaraiyur.
Date of Achyutaâs Southern Campaign.
The gift is said to have been made in the
presence of god Virūpāksha on the bank of the Tuṅgabhadrā. The biruda
Tiruvadi-saptāṅga-haraṇa he who captured the seven constituents of royalty
of the Tiruvaḍi ruler ’ was assumed evidently in commemoration of his success
in the campaign conducted on the king’s behalf by his brother-in law against the
Travancore king Udaiyamārttāṇḍavarman. This record is about the earliest to
mention these achievements of Achyuta, and so his southern campaign has to be
placed at the end of A.D.1531 or the beginning of A.D. 1532, shortly after
Kṛishṇarāya’s demise. No. 123 from Śrīraṅgam mentions that the maṇḍapa to the
west of the tank outside the Jambukēśvaram temple was enlarged to its present
d mensions to provide additional accommodation, by Śaṅkarasa, son of the avasaram officer Mallarasayyan, on behalf of the king, and that provision was
made for offerings, etc. , on the occasion of the god’s halt at this maṇḍapa during
the seventh-day festival called the Ellaikkarai-tirunāḷ. It may be remarked that
while the Vijayanagara emblem of a boar and dagger is sculptured on a pillar of
this maṇḍapa, few implements of the Rathakāras such as a pair of pincers, a
hammer, a chisel, etc., are also carved
on another pillar of the same maṇḍapa, testifying to the fact that the original maṇḍapa was perhaps the gift
of the Pathakāras. No. 483 from Elavānāśūr, is an interesting document.
Sketches of artisanâs tools in his inscription.
It does not refer itself to the reign of any Vijayanagara king, but
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