South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c11.s1.7

c11.s1.7

*Epigraphical Evidence.*—There are a few references in inscriptions in this part of the country which throw considerable light upon the Muhammadan invasions having gone as far as the Pāṇḍya country. The earliest so far available is No. 434 of 1903 of the Madras Epigraphist's collection, which refers itself to the fourteenth year of Veṇru Maṅkoṇḍa Śambuvarāyan, whose date of accession is A.D. 1322 according to the late professor Kielhorn. This would mean that the reference is of date A.D. 1335-36, and it speaks of the Muhammadan invasions in ‘previous days’ and the destruction of the country by them. This record is in Tiruvāmāttūr a place in the South Arcot district. The next reference is in records of Tiruppattūr (in the Ramnad district just outside the southern border of Puḍukoṭṭa) referring themselves to the years forty-four and forty-six of Vīra Pāṇḍya, in which it is stated that Tiruppattūr temple was in the occupation of the Muhammadans during their campaign in the south, and the temple was reconsecrated in the said years by a certain Viśaiyālaya Dēvan. The name Viśaiyālaya figures in inscriptions of Māravarman Kulaśēkhara, and refers possibly to the same officer as the one referred to in the records of this Vīra Pāṇḍya.¹ If that were so, the date of these records would be A.D. 1339-40 and A.D 1341-42. The Vīra Pāṇḍya referred to above must be Jaṭāvarman Vīra Pāṇḍya against whom Malik Kafur undertook the invasion of the south and whose date of accession is A.D. 1295-96. The next later record is one of the seventh year of Rājanārāyaṇa Śambuvarāyan, whose sixth year, according to Kielhorn, is A.D. 1345, and therefore the actual date of reference is A.D. 1346. But the most important document in this connection is c. 64 of 1916 at Tirukaḷākkuḍi which refers explicitly to the invasion and occupation by the Muhammadans, the appropriation of temple lands, the neglect of temple worship, etc., till Kampana Uḍaiyār came and put an end to the Muhammadan domination and appointed officers (Nāyakanmārs) for supervision of temple worship and management. This record refers itself to the thirty-first year of a Māravarman Vīra Pāṇḍya and gives astronomical details which, according to Rao Bahadur Mr. Krishna Sastrigal, work out correctly to A.D. 1358.¹ The next one is No. 18 of 1899 at Tiruppuṭkuḷi of A.D. 1365, which states in clear terms that Kampana conquered Rāja Gambhīra Rājya, and was pleased to rule the earth permanently. This date A.D. 1358 is taken as a starting point by Mr. Sastrigal, and calculating back from it he fixes the date of Māravarman Vīra Pāṇḍya's accession as A.D. 1326-27 on the assumption of a forty-eight years' occupation by the Muhammadans beginning with Malik Kafur. This point will come in for discussion in connection with the dynasty of the Sultans of Madura. It is enough to state here that the assumption of the official date for the Sultans of Madura who ruled for forty-eight years in all is wrong, and hence this date for Māravarman Vīra Paṇḍya is untenable if it depended upon that assumption alone. For the present purpose this series of epigraphical references makes it clear beyond doubt that the early Muhammadan invasions reached certainly into the Pāṇḍya country, and raises a very strong presumption that it did go farther south both to Madura and to Rāmēśvaram as Amir Khusru claims, having regard to the character of the invasion as a mere raid undertaken for the sole purpose of plunder.