South Indian Inscriptions

INTRODUCTION

his genealogy as Vākyadēva’s younger brother. This is the correct identification, made in the work in the Chittoor Through The Ages, 1980, Delhi, p. 53 by Dr.M.D.Sampath based upon the revised reading of the Nelapalle inscription. This record clearly shows that Mahēndra II had a son Vākyadēva, who is also called Ēkavākyadēva, in the record under discussion and whose younger brother (tamma) was Iriva-Nolaṁba Ghaṭeyaṅkakāra.

       Among the Kalyāṇa Chāḷukya inscriptions, the record from Errmaṭham in Nandikotkur Taluk, Kurnool District (No. 17) belongs to the reign of king Bhuvanaikamalla (Sōmēśvara II). It states that while the king was camping at Baṅkāpura, his chief was mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Satyarasa, who bears the title Tagarapuravarēśvara. He is said to have belonged to the Jīmūta-vāhana lineage and described as a devotee of god Mallikārjunadēva. It states that, this chief got the temple of Bikkēśvara built in the name of his father Bikkeyarasa and granted the income accrued from taxes muyi pukāṇike and Koluṅgele out of his munneya for providing worship, offerings and maintaining a lamp for the above deity as well as for the feeding of the ascetics in the satra (charity or feeding house) attached to Sadyōjāta-paṇḍita of Eḍeya-maṭha on the day of Chaitra-puṇṇame in the cyclic year Rākshasa in the Śaka year 997 (1075 A.D.)

       The identification of the above two chief viz., Bikkeyarasa and Satyarasa will help us to understand the political set up of the feudatory families. On the basis of the title Tagarapuravarēśvara (the lord of Tagarapura). the lineage of Jīmūta-vāhana, and the reference to the rule of the king from Baṅkāpura, it may be suggested that they belong to a branch of the Śilahāra family. There are about twelve branches of this family of which the major ones are those from North Koṅkaṇ, South Koṅkaṇ and Kolhāpūr regions. The place Tagarapura has already been identified with Tēr in Osmanabad District, Maharashtra. These chiefs, though obviously belonged to the Śilahāra family, yet are not the same as the Śilahāras of Basavura, whose chief Kaliyammarasa was the governor of Bāsavura under Sōmēśvara II, on the above date.

       The chief Satyarasa also figures in a record of Tribhuvanamalla (i.e., Vikramāditya VI) dated 1082 A.D., from Saṅgamēśvaram in the same district (No. 18).