Nos. 28 to 34 are assignable to the reign of Devaraya II. of them the earliest (No. 28), dated in Saka 1347 (1425 A.D.), mentions the king as Kumara Devaraya ruling from Vijayanagara. An earlier date, perhaps the earliest for this king, is afforded in an epigraph from Barakur. Sambeta Bammayadevamaharaja and Rayadeva maharaja, sons of Lakkayyadeva-maharaja, are the only feudatories figuring in the records of this king reviewed here.

The Saluva Kings

No. 36, dated Saka 1399 (1477 A.D.), belongs to Saluva Narasimha who bears the characteristic titles of the family Medinimisaraganda and Kathari Saluva. He was still a Mahamandalesvara and was perhaps a feudatory under Virupaksha who was also called Praudha Devaraya. The inscription furnishes the interesting information that Annamarusayya, an officer under Saluva Narasimha, having visited Araturevula (modern Attirala in Cuddapah district) on pilgrimage, enquired into the affairs of the temples there, and seeing that worship in the temples had ceased due to the original grants having lapsed, made fresh endowments to the temples to revive worship once again.

To his so Immadi-Narasimha belongs Nos. 37-42 ranging in dates from Saka 1415 (1493 A.D.) to 1425 (1503 A.D.) in all of which Narasa-nayaka of the Tuluva family figures as the king’s most powerful feudatory. In No. 38 Kesama-nayaka who was the son of Mahanayankacharya Jamni Chennamanayaka and who held the Jagatapigutti-sima as nayankara, figures as endowing a village for the merit of the king as well as of Narasa-nayaka. No. 39 mentions Narasa-nayaka as ruling over the kingdom at the command of the king. Among the other subordinates not already known of this king, may be mentioned Ganti Kannama-nayudu who held Mulikinadu as nayankara (No. 39) and Bokkasam Honnappa-nayudu, son of Devappa-nayudu (No. 41).

The Tuluva Kings

The majority of the records belong to the Tuluva or the third dynasty. No. 43 which is fragmentary and No. 44 which is badly damaged have to be attributed to Vira-Narasimha, son of Narasa-nayaka. The former mentions the king as the son of Narasa-nayaka, son of Isvara-nayaka. He figures as still ruling on January 14, 1510 A.D. in an inscription from Basrur in the South Kanara district. This will be adverted to again in the sequel on the discussion of Krishnaraya’s accession.

Forty-four inscriptions (Nos. 44 – 88) belong to the reign of Krishnaraya. Of these, No. 45 from Pulivendla in the Cuddapah district dated Saka 1431, Sukla, Kartika, su. 12 corresponding to 24^th October 1509 A.D., is the earliest. An earlier record of this king dated in Sravana su. 10 of the same year corresponding to Thursday, 26^th July 1509 A.D., come from Gulya in the Bellary district. In his inscription from Kanchi (No. 51), dated Saka 1436 (1514 A.D.), Krishnaraya is stated to have ascended the throne on the death of his brother Vira-Narasimha while the Hampe epigraph of the king dated Saka 1430, obviously a mistake for 1431, Sukla, Magha su. 14 corresponding to January 24, 1510 A.D. refer to certain gifts made by him on the occasion of his coronation. It has been suggested by Dr. Hultzsch that this date might represent the anniversary of the king’s coronation rather than the actual date of the coronation itself. Mr. H. Krishna Sastri wrote in 1908, basing on the latest date then known for Vira-Narasimha, viz.,the month Vaisakha of the Saka year 1431, and the earliest date known for Krishnaraya, viz., the month Kartika of the same year, that Krishnaraya must have been crowned sometime between these months and that the Hampe epigraph was set up sometime thereafter, as indicated by the date of the record. The Gulya record cited above which pushes back the earlier limit of Krishnaraya’s reign by about three months, from Kartika to Sravana (October to July), together with the evidence of Vijayanagara-samrajyamu, a report prepared by the officers of the atthavanam at the instance of Venkata which alludes to the king’s coronation on the day of Srijayanti in the month Avani of the year Sukla corresponding to Saka 1432 (current) (1509 A.D. August 8), appears to support Mr. Krishna Sastri’s surmise regarding the date of the Hampe epigraph. Since the Kanchi inscription of Krishnaraya is specific in the statement that he ascended the throne only after his brother Vira-Narasimha’s demise, the latter must have died sometime prior to the date of the Gulya inscription, viz., July 26, 1509 A.D. The latest sure date for Vira-Narasimha afforded by an epigraph from Vikravandi in the South Arcot District, viz., Saka 1431, Karkataka, su. 5 corresponding to 1509 A.D., July 22 narrows down the interval between Vira-Narasimha’s latest date and Krishnaraya’s earliest to just four days. It is therefore very likely that Vira-Narasimha died sometime during this short interval. It has been surmised that the day of Srijayanti cited by the atthavanam was pitched upon for the coronation of Krishnaraya, it being the nearest and most suited auspicious day for the king’s coronation after Vira-Narasimha’s death.

Am empire-wide exemption of the marriage-tax seems to be almost the first act that the king affected soon after assuming the reins of the kingdom. This is recorded in a lengthy epigraph (No. 47) at Ramesvaram in Cuddapah district, which gives a descriptive account of the king’s ancestry as in his copper-plate grants and enumerates several divisions of his empire, which were benefited by this remission. A similar remission in Kamrnnadu (Kamnadu), more or less identical with the present Nandikotkur and Nandyala taluks in Kurnool district, is recorded in No. 48 from Rangasamudram, Chittoor district. Saluva Timmappayya or Timmarasu, the famous minister of the king, and his brother Govindayya are associated with the king in these records. The occasion of a laksha-homa ceremony celebrated at Sivanasamudram where the king was camping on state business in the year 1512 A.D. served also as an opportune time for securing royal assent for the exemption of all taxes as were in vogue from the days of Chikkodeya on the devadaya and the brahmadeya lands irrigated by Krottacheruvu in Penugonda-rajya by the citizens of Bukkapatnam (No. 49). The literary works Rayavachakamu, Parijatapaharanamu, Krishnarajavijayamu and the kongudesarajakkalin-charitam as well as Frair Luizs account, all refer to the siege of the forts of Sivanasamudram and Ummattur by the king and to his quelling the rebellious chief of Ummattur. The inscription itself seems vaguely to allude to certain disturbances and consequent non-payment of taxes which necessitated the king’s presence at Sivanasamudram.

The year Srimukha (1513 A.D.) appears to have marked the king’s setting out on a campaign of conquest and No. 52, dated Saka 1438 (1515 A.D.) and giving a descriptive account of these conquests, records the conqueror’s visit to Amaresvara, the gifts of Tulapurusha and Ratnadhenu to the god by the queens Chinnadevi and Tirumaladevi respectively, the king’s visit thence to Srisailam and his munificent endowment of the villages Parumanchala and Atukuru to god Mallikarjuna. Earlier, he appears to have visited the holy placed of Kalahasti in Saka 1435 (1513 A.D.) No. 50) and Kanchi in Saka 1436 (1514 A.D.) (No. 51), obviously in the course of his campaign of victory, although there is no specific reference to his campaigns in the records dated prior to 1515 A.D. The Kanchi epigraph which gives a descriptive account of the Tuluva kings crediting the conquest of the Chera, Chola, Pandya, Manabhusha, the lord of Madhura, the Gajapati and the Turushka kings to Narasa-nayaka, merely gives a long list of visits and gifts to holy places by the latter’s son, Vira-Nrisimha. Of Krishnaraya, however it states that having taken over the reins of the government on the demise of his brother, the king combined visits to the holy places with his campaign of conquest. On the occasion of his visit to Kanchi the king appears to have endowed gold to the temple of Perarulalapperumal for gilding the Punyakotivimana of the temple. However, the details of the grant for this purpose seem to have been committed to writing only on the king’s return to his capital on the date of the record, viz., 1515 A.D. the inscription contains a statement at the end detailing the expenditure towards gold, copper-plate, mercury and the wages that were incurred on the work of gilding; but curiously enough portions of the record giving the details of the amounts so incurred on these counts are left blank. Apparently when the draft was prepared the details were not known and later on after the work was completed, they were not filled up in the blank spaces provided for them. The gilding of the vimana is again referred to in another record (No. 57), dated Saka 1438 (1517 A.D.), also from Kanchi, wherein, after an account of the king’s conquests which took him as far north as Simhadri-Potnuru, where he set up a pillar of victory, the king is stated to have returned to Vijayanagara and visited Vishnukanchi when he granted several villages to the temple and endowed a thousand varahas to the god and had the Punyakotivimana gilded. Obviously the gilding, which was commenced on the earlier date of his visit to the holy place, had been completed on the later when the king visited the place again for a second time.

Among the numerous subordinates of the king, his famous minister Saluva Timmarasu figures in a number of records and the latter’s brother Saluva Govindayya is mentioned along with Saluva Timmarasu in No. 47. Another Govindayya, son of Rachiraju, who held the Puleti-magani as nayankara figures in No. 61. Rayasam-Kondamarasa, the son of Saluva Timmarasayya figures in No. 63 as donor of two villages. He also caused two tanks to be built, one in the name of his father and another in his own name at Pittalapuram alias Kapotapuram in Chejerla. The name Pittalapuram which is but the Telugu form of Kapotapuram commemorates the legend of king Sibi who offered his own flesh to save a bird that sought his asylum. Aptly enough the god of the place is also named Kapotesvara. By far the most important personality the figures as a recipient of the king’s munificence is the well-known Andhra poet of his court, Allasani Peddana. While the poet is referred to simply as Peddayyamgaru, son of Alasani Chokkayyamgaru in two records (Nos. 65 and 66) from Kokatam which, the records state, was granted to the poet by the king as umbali, No. 68 from Anniyur in South Arcot District calls the poet Andhrakavitapitamaha Peddiraju and mentions him as holding the nayankara of Karivachi-sima. A Tamil inscription from Melpadi in the Chittoor District also records a gift of the village Tanaippundi to this poet.

Honnapa-nayaka, son of Bokkasam Devapa-nayaka who held Panemsima as nayankara (No. 46), Lakshmikantarasu, son of Tipparasayya and Ramayamma (No. 59), Katti Yerrama-nayudu, son of Papa-nayudu (No. 70) who held Ghandikota-sima as nayankara, Mahanayankacharya Naasa-nayaka son of Timmi-nayaka who held Kundurpi-sima as nayankara (No. 74), Komara Vobulnayani-Tippi-nayaka who held Basavanikonda-sima as nayankara (No. 75), Peda-Singama-nayaka, son of Jupalli Rama-nayaka, who held the Chernuru and Potladurti-simas as nayankara and his brother Malla-nayaka (No. 77), Vakiti Pedapa-nayudu, son of Bokkasam Pedapa-nayaudu who held the Kandanavoli-sima as nayankara (No. 82) are a few of the outstanding feudatories figuring in the records of the king besides those already known. The last date of the king’s reign is afforded by No. 87 from Srisailam which records the setting up of stone images of the king and Demarusayya and one of his own by Avasaram Chandrasekharayya in the temple of Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in the Saka year 1452, Vikriti, Chaitra ba. 30 when, according to the inscription, the king was still reigning. The details of the date correspond to 1530 A.D. March 28. But by this date Krishnaraya must have already passed away for, in the Kadaladi Plates of Achyuta, dated in Saka 1451, Virodhi, Makara ba. 13, Tuesday corresponding to December 28, 1529 A.D., it is stated that Achyuta succeeded Krishnaraya after the natural death of the latter. And we know that Achyuta was anointed as king on October 29, 1529 A.D. (Nos. 97 and 98). The only explanation therefore, for this late date for Krishnaraya in the Srisailam epigraph would be that the news of his death had not reached this remote place by that time. The earliest record in this Volume, of Achyuta who succeeded Krishnaraya, the latter’s own son Tirumala (Nos. 89 and 90) having predeceased him, bears the date 1530 A.D., April 30 (No. 91).

It is needless here to recount the several well-known incidents of Achyuta’s reign as gathered from his records such as his campaign of conquests recorded in the Kanchi and Kalahasti epigraphs (Nos. 97 and 98) which besides, record the date of his coronation at Kalahasti. On this occasion were present with the king his queen Varadadevi and their son Kumara (Prince) Venkatadri who will be referred to again in the sequel. Noteworthy among the several gifts made to the god at Kalahasti by the king is a book called Jnanachintamani (No. 98). No. 102, also from Kanchi records the interesting fact that the king, having been appraised of the unequal distribution of the royal endowments made on the occasion of his coronation to the temples of Varadaraja and Ekambaranatha by his envoy Saluva Krishnappa-nayaka, took immediate steps to re-distribute the gift-villages equally between the two temples. He had the Tamil version of the record also engraved on the walls of the temple.  Steps taken by way of remission of taxes on artisans to encourage their rehabilitation as of old in their former village from which they had migrated to other places in recorded in No. 104 from Kanaganipalle in Ananatapur District. A charter (nammikasasanamu) issued to the people, revising the taxes in order to encourage their rehabilitation in their former village is contained in No. 110 from Pulivendla in the Cuddapah District. A remission with retrospective effect, of unjust levies on temple lands by former rulers is recorded in No. 115. The proceeds of this remission were made over to the respective temples. No. 121 mentions Ramaya-mantri Bacha or Ramaya Bhaskaramatya who held Kondavidu and had the appellation Rajyadhurandhara and whose sister Chinnamamba, wife Pratapa Yallayarya, caused a tank named Gopinathasamudra to be built. This Ramaya-mantri or Ramaya Bhaskaramatya was the fourth of the five sons of Rama-mantri by Telugama, who were Peda-Timma, Timma-mantri, Surendra, Bhaskara-chamupati and Bhavayendra respectively. He was the uncle of Ramaya-mantri who was the son of Peda-Timma, the eldest of the five brothers. The newphew Ramaya-mantri appears to have succeeded to the governorhsip of Kondavidu after his uncle Bacha or Bhaskaa after whose name he constructed temples and tanks. He was the author of the treatise on music called Svaramelakalanidhi. No. 126 from Bukkapatnam in the Anantapur District records, in addition to remission of taxes on marriages, exemption from taxes on the earnings of Brahmanas also. Achyuta’s latest date known in the records presented here is Saka 1464, Subhakrit Chaitraba 6, Wednesday, corresponding to 1542 A.D., April 5, which is about a year later than his Taramangalam record dated in Kali 4642, Plava, Chittirai 1, corresponding to 1541 A.D., March 28, or his Pushpagiri epigraph (No. 123), dated exactly a month later than the above.

To Sadasiva, the nephew of Achyuta, belong the bulk of the inscriptions, 150 altogether (Nos. 127 to 277). Although his epigraphs are current from and after Saka 1459 about five years earlier than the latest record of Sadasiva in the present volume is dated in the year Saka 1464 Subhakrit (1542 A.D.), which was also the last year of Achyuta. A few points of interest in his records may be noted here in chronological sequence. Among the various taxes that the temple villages (devata-gramalu) and the agraharas were exempted from payment to the royal treasury, but allowed to be utilized for services in the local temple at Mopuru itself occur durga-varttana and danaini-varttana, obviously two different taxes (No. 139). The term usually occurs as durgadanayini-varttana and apparently represents only one kind of tax. No. 142, dated Saka 1466 (1545 A.D.) records a grant of money at the rate of a mada and dharana (mada dharanam) per month for maintaining a perpetual lamp. The occurrence of dharana in so late a period as this and as a denomination of a mada is indeed noteworthy. In Nos. 147 and 148, both dated Saka 1469 (current) (1546 A.D.), the king is given the epithet Kathari-Saluva. No. 150, dated in Saka 1468 (1546 A.D.) records remission of the barbers, tax on the deva-grama, agrahara and bamdaravada villages. The expression bamdaravada obviously indicates a Government village, the bamdaram (bhandaram) meaning treasury connoting the Government. No. 175, dated Saka 1473 (1550 A.D.), mentions the Asvapati-Narapati and the Gajapati rulers as the three spiritual sons of the pontiff Santtabhishavritti-ayyavaru and god Mallikarjuna worshipped by them. The term Gajapati came to be recognized almost as a dynastic epithet of the kings of Orissa at this period. The Narapatis were obviously the Vijayanagara kings who are famed to have excelled in their infantry the other contemporary kings. The Achyutarayabhyaudayamu describes in canto XI Achyuta’s campaign against the Hayapati and his siege of the fort at Raichur. The term Hayapati synonymous with Asvapati, can here stand only for the Sultan of Bijapur. If the term Asvapati in the record stands for the Muhammadan rulers of the period, as it seems to, it is indeed noteworthy that the pontiff commanded the universal respect of all the three rulers alike of his time. In No. 196 from Vontimitta, dated in Saka 1477 (1554 A.D.), the Araviti chief Tirumalayyadeva-maharaja, thegrandson of Ramaraja is attributed, besides the usual birudas, the epithet Chalikkya-naraana. It may be noted in this connection that Venkata I, also of this dynasty bore the title chalikk-achakravarti. No. 201 from Markapur, dated in Saka 1476 (1555 A.D.), records a grant of various taxes such as yillari, pullari, ganugari, maggari, mudrayam and andisantisumkam from the 18 villages enumerated in addition to the lanja-sumkam (tax on prostitutes), the last collected during the festivals (tirunala-lonu) at Marakapuram. No. 208, dated Saka 1477 (1556 A.D.), mentions the cash amount derived from the panta-sumkam made over to the local deities of Santaravuru. The term maharachatevalu occurring in Nos. 236 and 237 appears to stand for a group of taxes or levies of which alugu-rukalu formed one. It is comparable with the term maharachaprayojanam occurring along with devat-prayojanam in No. 185 Nos. 210, 212 and 213, all from the Rayadurg taluk formerly in the Bellary District and dated in Saka 1478, Nala, Jyeshthasu. 15 corresponding to 1556 A.D., May 24, refer to the unauthorized and illegal collection of taxes by the local officials Manihagandlu and Hasanidyagandlu and to the remedial measures taken by the Government on representations made by the people, to redress their grievances.

No. 217, recording the obeisance of the merchant Tirumala-setti, to god Venkatesa, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Kondandarama and Kali in eight terse verses (ashtaka) in Sanskrit. The identity of the poet who composed the verses, however, remains unknown.

A record of considerable interest from the view point of present day trends in land tenure is No. 254 from Halaharivi, formerly in the Bellary district. It records a grant of land for svayamkrishi (self cultivation) to Ramakrishnayya of Nelluru by Jaggarajayya, son of Mahamandalesvara Tirumalarajayya of the solar race.

The latest date available for Sadasiva, in the records edited here is Saka 1489, Prabhava, Karttika su. 14, corresponding to 1567 A.D., October 17. His inscriptions are, however, current till the beginning of 1576 A.D. although after the death of Aliya Ramaraja in the great battle of Rakshas-Tangadi (known as the battle of Talikota) the latter’s brother Tirumala seems to have taken Ramaraja’s place in the administration of the kingdom. Sadasiva was the last of the Tuluva rulers and the date of his death is not known from inscriptions.

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