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THE VIJAYANAGARA KINGS
some verses giving the usual genealogy of Viṭṭhaladēva-Mahārāja and his
brothers. Viṭṭhala who is stated to have defeated all enemies in the dominions to
the south of Vidyānagarī with the help of his brother Chinna-Timma, made several
benefactions to the temple of Raṅganātha at Śrīraṅgam, such as daily Sahasranāmapūjā to the god and anointing him with karpūra-taila every Friday. He
also made a gift of some villages for providing offerings to the god. Nalla-Timma,
his elder brother, made a Chandraprabhā-vāhana in silver, while Ahōbala-Dīkshita
of Kṛishṇāpuram, probably their guru, presented a golden Sūryaprabhā to the god.
This Ahōbala-Dīkshita figures also in a record of Viṭṭhaladēva at Conjeevaram
(No. 656 of 1919). Viṭṭhala is said to have planted pillars of victory at Anantaśayanam, Kanyākumārī and Rāmasētu. We know that, as a Vijayanagara
viceroy, Viṭṭhala was placed in charge of the southern expedition and that he
was helped by the Madura Nāyakas Viśvanātha-Nāyaka and his son KṛishṇappaNāyaka in his campaigns. The Travancore king Rāmavarman also accepted his
suzerainty, in a record dated in Kollam 722 (A.D. 1547) at Śuchīndram in the
Travancore State, and the high gōpura was built in front of the temple
as a memento to Viṭṭhala’s southern conquests. The pillars of victory at Cape
Comorin, Anantaśayanam and Rāmēśvaram, if they were planted at all, are not
traceable now.
Viṭṭhala at Śrīraṅgam.
Another inscription (No. 8) actually dated in Śaka 1466 in the time of
king Sadāśiva furnishes the details of the endowments made for the provision
of worship, etc., to god Raṅganātha and it
further states that Viṭṭhalēśa defeated the Kuruvanniyar and re-opened the Srīraṅgam temple which had been closed for
some time, and revived worship therein. There is no reference to such an incident
in the Kōyilolugu. An earlier grant made by Akkāchchi Periya Koṇḍamman, who was probably Viṭṭhala’s elder sister, is also referred to, and the gift of land
made by Viṭṭhala himself on this occasion, is stated to have been placed in charge
of Parāśara-Bhaṭṭa Śiṅgayyaṅgār, for conducting a Rāmānujakūṭam at Śrīraṅgam.
Who the Kuruvanniyar, i.e., petty chieftains were, whose depredations had necessitated the closing of the temple for some time, is not specified. The Achyutarāyābhyudayam and the inscriptions of Achyuta also make mention of some Manniyar
or Vanniyar whom he had vanquished in the course of his southern expedition.
It may also be mentioned in this connection that a record from Tiruppukkuli
(No. 275 of 1916) states that the images of Ālvārs, etc., in that temple which
had been desecrated by Muhammadans were reconsecrated in Śaka 1495 in the
reign of king Sadāśivarāya.
Tāḷappākkam Śiru-Tirumalaiyyaṅgār.
Narapparāja, son of Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Nandyāla Naraśiṅgarāja, who
belonged to the Ātrēya-gōtra, Āpastamba-sūtra and Yajuś-śākhā (No. 66) and
hailed from Nandyāla in Uttaradēśam
(Nandyal in the Kurnool district) was a
scion of the Nandyāla family, whose first important member was Śiṅgārayya, the
grandfather of Nāraparāja. He calls himself a Sōmakulatilaka. He made a gift
of land in Uttamaśōlanallūr in Maṇappiḍi-nāḍu, a subdivision of Tiruchchirāpaḷḷi-uśāvaḍi for the maintenance of the Rāmānujakūṭam charity conducted by
Śiru-Tirumalaiyyaṅgār, son of Periya-Tirumalaiyyaṅgār of Tāḷappākkam. This
donee was one of the Tāḷappākkam poets, who composed many literary poems
and songs in Sanskrit and Telugu in praise of the god at Tirupati. In a record
from Tirupati dated in Śaka 1475 issued two years later than the present inscription, Nāraparāja is said to have made over certain prasādams due to him, to be
delivered to Tiruvēṅgaḷanātha, son of Periya-Tirumalaiyyaṅgār, who is evidently
the brother of the donee figuring in the Śrīraṅgam inscription (Tirupati Devasthanam Report, p. 284).
Veṅkaṭa I.
63. Of king Veṅkaṭa I there is an inscription (No. 137) engraved on a stone
slab in the Nāchchiyār temple at Uraiyūr. It is dated in Śaka 1521 and refers
to a gift of two vēli of land in Mēlvayalūr
in Uraiyūr-kūrram by Viśvanātha-Nāyaka
Kṛishṇappa-Nāyaka for providing offerings to the image of Tiruppāṇālvār, evidently in the temple at Uraiyūr, for the merit of his mother Tirumalai-amman.
The donor, namely Kṛishṇappa-Nāyaka the son of Vīrappa and Tirumalāmbā may
be identified with Madura Nāyaka ruler, the second of the name who ruled
from A.D. 1595-1601. It may be mentioned that Uraiyūr is famous as the birthplace of Tiruppāṇālvār, the Vaishṇava saint of the Pāṇa class, for whom there is
a separate shrine in the Nāchchiyār temple, in which his image is worshipped.
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