Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s16: 16. Vijayanagar
Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s16
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16. Vijayanagar
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The Vijayanagar empire was founded in 1336, immediately on the disappearance of the Hoysalas from the stage of history. The founders were two princes named Hakka and Bukka, sons of Sangama. The former became the first king, taking the name of Harihara, and his brother succeeded him. They were probably subordinates of or connected with the Hoysalas,¹ and were aided in their enterprise by the head of the *matha* at Śringēri (in the Kaḍūr District) founded by the reformer Śankarācharya in the eighth century. The name of this guru was Mādhava, and he is known as Vidyāraṇya. He became the first minister of the new State.
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¹ A Ballappa-dannāyaka, described as a son of the Hoysala king Ballāla III, appears in several inscriptions at the close of the Hoysala period, down to Mr 16 of 1343. And in Sg 1 of 1346 we find Ballappa-dannāyaka as a son-in-law of the first Vijayanagar king, Harihara I. Moreover, in Yd 29 appears a son of Ballāla, called Hampe-Vodeyar. Now Hampe (the ancient Pampa) is still the name for the site of Vijayanagar.
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The Vijayanagar inscriptions in Mysore are nearly as numerous as those of the Hoysalas. There is one (Bg 70) which actually professes to be of the date 1336, and relates a story as to how the site of Vijayanagar was selected. But it cannot be relied on, no original being forthcoming. Then, Mg 25 contains some statement, which, owing to gaps in the inscription, cannot be fully made out, that Bukka-Rāya’s chief councillor was unwilling to give up Sosavūr. This was the birthplace of the Hoysalas. By 1539 its name had been changed to the present Angaḍi (Bl 197).
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But Sg 1 of 1346 is genuine and undoubted, and one of the earliest known inscriptions of the Vijayanagar kings. After obeisance to Vidyātīrtha, the guru of Vidyāraṇya above mentioned, it states that Harihara, having conquered the earth from the eastern to the western ocean, resolved to make a grant to celebrate the festival of his victory. Accordingly, he, with his four brothers, his son-in-law and other relatives, made grants to Bhāratītīrtha-śrīpāda and his disciples, as well as to forty Brāhmans living in the holy place Śringēri, for the maintenance of the rites and services. Another interesting inscription is Sk 281 of 1368, which contains particulars regarding Mādhava, then minister to Bukka-Rāya, and he is described as the guru who cleared and made plain the ruined path of the *upaniṣads*. It is unique in being dated by the Śātavāhana-śaka, for the Śālivāhana-śaka, a reminiscence of the origin of the latter. And it is of interest to note that the grant made in it consists of a village which was the object of the grant in the Kadamba Prākrit inscription of about the third century on the Malavalli pillar (Sk 264), and connected with a preceding inscription on the same pillar (Sk 263) recording a grant in about the second century by the (Śātavāhana) king Sātakarṇṇi.
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The first or Sangama dynasty of Vijayanagar, who were Yādavas, held the throne from 1336 to 1478, and consisted of nine kings. The throne was then usurped by a Sāluva chief, who was succeeded by his son. There were thus only two kings of the Sāluva dynasty; also Yādavas, and they occupied the throne from 1476 to 1496. Then followed the Narasinga dynasty from Tuluva, which ruled from 1496 to 1567, and had six kings. The fourth and last dynasty was the Rāma-Rāja or Karṇāṭa. It was in power from 1567 to 1644, and numbered six kings.
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The following is a table of the Sangama dynasty :—
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[Table]
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god, and their grants are usually signed in his name. Their crest was the Varāha or Boar, which had been that of the Chālukyas. Their capital was situated on the Tungabhadrā, in the west of the present Bellary District, near the Pampā lake, on a remarkable site covered with immense boulders, and their stronghold was the hill Hēmakūṭa. In Mysore, the king's eldest son was as a rule a viceroy in Muluvāyi (Mulbāgal) in the east, while another son was viceroy in Āraga in the Male-rājya or hill kingdom in the west. Another son was at times governor of the Terakanāmbi kingdom in the south. But from the end of the fifteenth century the chief representative of the empire in the south was a viceroy called the Śrī-Ranga-Rāyal, whose seat of government was at Seringapatam.
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Of Harihara I not much is known beyond what has been stated above. But Bukka-Rāya, whom he appointed as his Yuvarāja (Cn 256), was famous. With the assistance of Vidyātīrtha-muni he became very great, and having freed from enemies a hundred royal cities, counting from Dōrasamudra, ruled over an empire perfect in its seven parts (Yd 46). Though the establishment of the capital is attributed to Harihara, and his naming it Vidyānagarī after Vidyāraṇya-śrīpāda (Cd 46), the building of the city and the transformation of its name to Vijayanagari, or city of victory, are said to have been the work of Bukka-Rāya (Cn 256). The latter has the special titles *ari-rāya-vibhāḍa* (destroyer of hostile kings), *bhāshege-tappuva-rāyara-gaṇḍa* (champion over kings who break their word), *Hindū-rāya-Suratrāṇa* (Sulṭān over the Hindū kings), *pūrva-paśchima-dakshiṇa-samudrādhīśvara* (master of the eastern, western, and southern oceans). He was a terror to the Turushkas, the Konkana (king) Śankapārya, the Āndhras, Gurjaras, and Kāmbhōjas, and defeated the Kalingas. An interesting event of his reign, showing his liberal-mindedness, was his reconciliation of the Jainas and the Vaishnavas in 1368. The latter had been persecuting the former, who in a general body appealed to the king for protection. He summoned the leaders of both sects before him, and declared that no difference could be made between them. Then (as graphically described in Sb 136), taking the hand of the Jainas and placing it in the hand of the Vaishnavas, he ordained that they should each pursue their own religious practices with equal freedom. Copies of this decree were to be set up in various places, and besides the one at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa (SB 136), there is still one at Kalya in Magadi tāluq (Ma 18), the Kallehada-paṭṭana mentioned in them.
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In 1355 Bukka-Rāya is said (Cd 2) to be ruling from Hosapaṭṭaṇa in the Hoysana country, and Hosapaṭṭaṇa is mentioned in connection with the Jains who appealed to him as above mentioned, who are said to have come from districts included within Āneyagondi, Hosapaṭṭaṇa, Penugoṇḍa, and Kallehada-paṭṭana. It may be the place called Hosaviḍu, Hosadurga, and by other names, which was a residence of the last of the Hoysala kings. I have thought it might be Hosūr in Goribidnūr tāluq, or Hosadurga in Chitaldroog District. But this is uncertain, and its identification would be of interest. It is described as having been the capital of Nijagali-Kaṭaka-Rāya, but unfortunately this does not help us. It was apparently the same place as Virūpākshapura (see vol. x. Introd. 32).
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Harihara II, Bukka-Rāya’s son by Gaurāmbikā, succeeded him on the throne. But he also had other sons—Virūpaṇṇa-Oḍeyar by Jommā-Dēvi, whose succession was apparently desired in the west (Kp 6); Mallinātha or Mallappa-Oḍeyar, who was ruling in the east of Mysore; and Kampanna-Oḍeyar or Chikka-Kampaṇṇa, ruling in the south of Mysore. Harihara II is principally praised for making the sixteen great gifts at various sacred places, localities which show that his territories extended from the Krishṇā at Kurnool to Kumbhakōna or even farther south. But severe struggles were going on with the Sultāns of the Bahmani kingdom of Gulbarga, which was founded in 1347, or only eleven years after Vijayanagar. Thus, in 1380, when the Turushkas were swarming over the Ādavani (Adōni) hill-fort and kingdom, Mallappa-Oḍeyar’s son defeated them, took possession of the fort and kingdom, and handed them over to Harihara (Kg 43). In 1384 the Turukas are said to have come and attacked Kotta-koṇḍa when the army had gone to the Ōrugal country (Ck 15). In 1397 we are informed of the exploits of the general Guṇḍa (Bl 3), into the flames of whose valour the Yavanas, Turushkas, and Āndhras fell like moths. He conquered the Kēralas, Taulavas, Āndhras, and Kutakas, seized their wealth, and gave the spoils to the king. Dragging the elephant-like Saipa, Patheya, and other proud Turushkas along by their hair in battle, he tied them up in his stables like monkeys; and besides them, seized by the throat the two great tigers known as Jyēṣṭha and Kaniṣṭha. He set up pillars of victory in all the fifty-six countries, and restored the tower at the gateway of the Bēlūr temple, which Ganga Sālār, the Turushka from Gulbarga, had come and burnt. Harihara was a cultivator of Karṇāṭaka learning¹ (Kp 34). He died on the 30th of August 1404 (Tl 129, SB 126), and his virtues, it is said (Si 95), are sung in pleasant stories by the Nāga maidens in Pātāla, listening to which the serpents there are filled with delight.
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¹ Karṇāṭaka-vidyā-vilāsa.
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He had a son by Pampā-Dēvī, who appears to have reigned next, under the name of Immaḍi-Bukka-Rāya or Bukka-Rāya II. But the reign was a very short one, of little more than a year. Dēva-Rāya or Pratāpa-Dēva-Rāya then succeeded, Harihara’s son by Mēlā-Dēvī or Malla-Dēvī, of the family of Rāma-Dēva, probably the Sēuna king. He also had the sons Chikka-Rāya-Oḍeyar, ruling in Āraga in the hill country to the west; and Virūpaṇṇa or Virūpāksha, who conquered the eastern countries down to and including Ceylon (EI. iii. 225), and in 1404 appears as if ruling in Vijayanagar (Tl 13). Perhaps he was a candidate for the throne on the death of his father. But Pratāpa-Dēva-Rāya gained it, and was crowned on the 7th of November 1406 (Hn 133). Some inscriptions seem to represent him as the founder of a Pratāpa dynasty. An interesting account is given in Dg 23 and 29 of the construction of a dam at Harihara in 1410 across the Haridrā. The struggles with the Musalmāns to the north continued unabated, and the pages of Firishta are filled with details relating to them. According to him, Dēva-Rāya, whom he calls Dewul-Roy, was forced to give his daughter in marriage to the Bahmani Sultān Fīrōz Shāh. At the end of his reign Dēva-Rāya inflicted a severe defeat upon the Sultān. A great slaughter of the Muhammadans followed, and the Bijāpur country was laid waste with all the treasured resentment of many years. These reverses killed Fīrōz Shāh. But his successor, Ahmed Shāh, drove back the Hindus, and desolated the possessions of Vijayanagar, massacring women and children without mercy. Whenever the number came to 20,000, he halted for three days and made a feast. The Hindus, in desperation, formed a plot against him, from which he escaped by a hair's breadth. Terms were then agreed to, and he retired to his own country, the capital of which he shortly removed from Gulbarga to Bīḍar, a hundred miles to the north.¹ Of these affairs there is little indication in our inscriptions, which generally represent the king as ruling a peaceful kingdom.
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¹ The Bahmani empire was finally dismembered in about 1489, and broken up into the five States of Bijāpur, Ahmednagar, Golkoṇḍa, Berār, and Bīḍar.
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Dēva-Rāya was succeeded by Vijaya-Rāya, his son by Dēmāmbikā, but the history is not very clear at this period, and Vijaya-Rāya's reign was a short one. He was followed by his son Dēva-Rāya II, also called Prauḍha-Dēva-Rāya, who had the special title Gaja-bēṇṭekāra or elephant hunter. His mother was Nārāyaṇāmbikā, and one inscription (Ml 121) describes him as having received the throne from his elder sister (*nijāgrajā*), which may perhaps refer to the princess married into the Bahmani family. The kings of Anga, Kannōja, Kāmbōja, Vanga, and Nēpāla are said (Tl 200) to have acted as his servants, carrying his umbrella, his chāmara, his stick, or his goblet. He also had 10,000 Turushka horsemen in his service (Sr 15). He died on the 24th of May 1446 (SB 125, 127). He had a brother Pārvvati-Rāya-Oḍeyar, who in 1425 ruled the Terakanāmbi kingdom, in the south of Mysore District (Ch 195, 105), and is no doubt the Śrigiri, who was ruling in North Arcot in 1424 (EI. viii. 308).
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Dēva-Rāya’s son by Ponnalā-Dēvī, Mallikārjuna, also called Immaḍi-Dēva-Rāya, next came to the throne, and he was followed by Virūpāksha, the son of Dēva-Rāya by Simhalā-Dēvī. These were reigns wanting in vigour. Mallikārjuna is said (Md 12, 59) to be in Penugoṇḍa in 1459, along with his minister, engaged in affairs connected with Narasinga’s kingdom. This was the chief next to be mentioned.
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Sāluva-Nṛisimha, also called Narasinga-Rāya-Oḍeyar, the most powerful noble in Karṇāṭa and Telingāna. He was general of the armies of Vijayanagar, and successfully defended it against the Muhammadans. But the influence he thus gained enabled him in 1478, in the reign of Virūpāksha, to usurp the throne. When he was thus king,¹ the Bahmani Sultān again invaded the Vijayanagar territories, and was over-running the whole country, having advanced so far as to lay siege to the strong fort of Mālūr (Kolar District). Nṛisimha took to flight, but afterwards came to terms with the Sultān, who nevertheless marched on to Kāñchī (Conjeeveram), “situated in the centre of the dominions of that malignant one,” and plundered the town and temples, which were “the wonder of the age.” Nṛisimha’s distinctive titles were—*mēdinī-mīsara-gaṇḍa* (champion over the mustaches of the world), *kaṭhāri-sāluva* (dagger falcon). He was succeeded by his son Immaḍi-Nṛisimha or Immaḍi-Narasinga-Oḍeyar, for whom the earliest date seems to be 1493.
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¹ He was the tenth king of Vijayanagar, and his son the eleventh.
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This king, however, was murdered in 1496 by their general Narasa or Narasinga. He was of Tuluva descent, and became the founder of the Narasinga dynasty of Vijayanagar. The following is a table of this dynasty :—
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Timma, m. Devaki
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Iśvara, m. Bukkamma
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12. Narasa, Narasinga, Nṛisimha, 1496-1503
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| . . . . . | . . . . .
| | |
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By Tippāji, By Nāgalā-Dēvi, By Obāmbikā,
13. Vīra-Narasimha or 14. Krishna-Rāya, 15. Achyuta-Rāya, Ranga, Nṛisimha, 1509-1529 1530-1542 m. Timmāmbā Bhujabala-Rāya, | | 1504-1509 Tirumalāmbā, 16. Venkata- 17. Sadāśiva-Rāya, m. to Rāma-Rāja Dēva-Rāya, 1543-1567 (see Karṇāta dynasty) 1542
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Narasa is said in several inscriptions (Sk 234, etc.) to have quickly dammed the Kāvērī when in full flood, crossed over and seized his enemy alive in battle. Then, taking possession of Śrīrangapaṭṭaṇa (Seringapatam), he made it his own abode. Having conquered Chēra, Chōla, and Pāṇḍya, as well as the proud lord of Madhura, the fierce Turushka, the Gajapati king and others; from the banks of the Ganges to Laṅkā (Ceylon), and from the eastern to the western mountains, he imposed his commands upon all kings. In Rāmēśvara and other sacred places he from time to time bestowed the sixteen great gifts. He died in 1503 (Kr 64).
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He was succeeded in turn by three sons, born to him by different mothers. The first of these, Vīra-Narasimha or Nṛisimha, also called in a few cases Bhujabala-Rāya,¹ drew to himself, it is said, the hearts of all from Sētu to Sumēru, and from the eastern to the western mountains, and made all manner of gifts in all the sacred places. The Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, and other kings addressed him with such words as, "Look on us, great king! Victory! Long life!" His half-brother Krishna-Rāya next came to the throne, and was one of the most powerful and distinguished of the Vijayanagar monarchs. About 1520 he inflicted a severe defeat upon the Muhammadans, in consequence of which a good understanding prevailed between the courts of Vijayanagar and Bijāpur for a considerable time. One of the earliest expeditions of the reign was against Ganga-Rāja, the chief of Ummattūr (in Mysore District), who had rebelled and claimed Penugonda, perhaps as being a Ganga. His main stronghold was on the island of Śivasamudram,¹ at the Falls of the Kāvērī, and parts of the Bangalore District were known as the Śivasamudram¹ country. Krishna-Rāya captured his fort at the Falls, and also took Seringapatam. He extended the limits of the empire until they reached to Cuttack on the east and to Salsette on the west. In capturing Koṇḍaviḍu in 1516, he took prisoner Vīrabhadra, son of the Gajapati king Pratāpa-Rudra, and Dg 107 relates that he granted him the Maleya-Bennūr country (in the west of Mysore) as an estate. Krishna-Rāya was a great patron of Sanskrit and Telugu literature, and had at his court eight celebrated poets, distinguished as the *aṣṭadiggaja*. On his death, Achyuta-Rāya, his half-brother, succeeded to the throne. He was profuse in gifts to the Brāhmans, the records of which are commonly surmounted by a figure of the Vāmana or dwarf incarnation. He established in 1539 a sort of bank for the benefit of Brāhmans, called the Ānanda-nidhi. Two verses celebrating this event are repeated in Dg 24 and Hk 123, as well as in eight other places in Hampi and Kamalāpura.²
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¹ The Busbalrao of the Portuguese historian Nuniz.
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¹ Properly Śivasamudram.
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² For the latter see *Mad. Arch. Rep.* for 1903-4.
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Achyuta-Rāya’s son, perhaps an infant, was next crowned as king, but died in a short time. Sadāśiva-Rāya, the son of Ranga, a deceased brother of Achyuta by the same mother, was then raised to the throne by the great minister Rāma-Rāja (who was his brother-in-law) and the councillors. He is said to have subdued all his enemies in Suragiri (Penugoṇḍa), and brought the whole land into subjection to his commands, while the Kāmbōja, Bhōja, Kalinga, Karahāṭa and other kings acted as servants for his female apartments.
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But Rāma-Rāja himself wielded the chief power in the State, and is called the ruler of the great Karṇāṭa kingdom The descent of this dynasty, who call themselves kings of Karṇāṭa or Karṇāṭaka, is elaborately traced back (as in Tm 1) to the Lunar line, through Yayāti and Puru. In that race was Bharata, in whose line was Santanu, fourth from whom was Vijaya, whose son was Abhimanyu, whose son was Parīkshit. Eighth from him was Nanda, ninth from whom was Chālikka, seventh from whom was Rāja-Narēndra. Tenth from him was Bijjalēndra, third in whose line was Vīra-Hemmāḍi-Rāya, who prostrated himself before Murāri (Vishnu), and was lord of Māyāpuri. Fourth from him was Tāta-Pinnama, whose son Sōma-Dēva took from the enemy seven hill-forts in one day. His son was Rāghava-Dēvarāṭ, whose son was Pinnama. He was lord of Araviṭi-nagari and had a son Bukka, who assisted in firmly establishing even the kingdom of Sāluva-Nṛisimha. Bukka’s wife was Ballāmbikā, and their son was Rāma-Rāja. He gained a victory over Sapāda’s army of 70,000 horse, took the hill-fort of Ādavani (Adoni), and driving away Kāsappuḍaya, captured Kandana-vōli-durga (Kurnool), and owing to his faith drank with impunity the water from the feet of Hari there, although his kinsmen had put poison into it. His son, by Lakshmyāmbikā, was Śrī-Ranga-Rāya, whose wife Tirumalāmbikā bore to him three sons—Rāma-Rāja, Tirumala-Rāya, and Vēṅkaṭapati.
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Aliya¹-Rāma-Rājaya-Dēva having (in 1565) suddenly set (or died) owing to acts of State by the kings of the Turukas, the city, throne, and countries of the realm were destroyed and in ruins (Hk 6, Hl 7). On the death of Sadāśiva-Rāya, the brother of Rāma-Rāja, named Tirumala-Rāya, was anointed to the throne, and ruled from Penugoṇḍa (Anantapur District), which now became the capital. He subdued all his enemies and made all the great gifts in the various sacred places. He captured the eighty-four hill-forts (the Mahratta country), put down the pride of Avahala-Rāya, subdued the Utkala (Orissa) king, and styled himself the Tribhuvanamalla of Vengi, and the Suratrāna (or Sultān) of Urigōla (Ōrangal). He reduced to submission the Raṭṭas, and called himself lord of Kalyānapura, Chālikka emperor, victor over Gonga of Komarānikōṭa, and displacer of the Rāya of Rodda. The Kāmbhōja, Bhōja, Kalinga, Karahāṭa and other kings were his doorkeepers.
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¹ Son-in-law, that is of Krishna-Rāya.
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He was succeeded in order by his sons Śrī-Ranga-Rāya I and Vēnkaṭapati-Rāya I. The former, halting in Uddagiri (? Udayagiri), captured the hill-forts of Koṇḍavīḍu and Vinikoṇḍa (both in the Krishna District), and took up his residence in Penugoṇḍa. Vēnkaṭapati-Rāya, his brother, was next anointed to the throne in Suragiri (Penugoṇḍa) by Tātāchārya, the family guru, but removed the capital to Chandragiri (in North Arcot). Immediately after his accession he dispersed the hosts of Yavana fiends. His army also plundered Malik Ibrāhīm's son Muhammad Shāh (both kings of Golkoṇḍa) of horses, elephants, and white umbrella, so that he returned home in disgrace. Among other titles, Vēnkaṭapati has those of Manniyān and Sāmūla, and displacer of Oḍḍiya-Rāya (the Orissa king). It was during his reign, and apparently with his consent, that the Rājas of Mysore gained Seringapatam, and thus became independent.
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Vēnkaṭapati's grandson Rāma-Dēva or Rāmachandra-Rāya next came to the throne, and was followed by Vēnkaṭapati II, grandson of the original Rāma-Rāja, and called Peda-Vēnkaṭa. His younger brother Pina-Vēnkaṭa's son, Śrī-Ranga-Rāya, adopted by Gōpāla-Rāja, grandson of the original Rāma-Rāja's brother Vēnkaṭādri, was next placed on the throne as Śrī-Ranga-Rāya II. In 1644 his capitals Chandragiri and Chingalpat being taken by the forces of Golkoṇḍa, he fled to the protection of Śivappa-Nāyak of Bednūr, in the west of Mysore, who installed him at Bēlūr and neighbouring parts, and even laid siege to Seringapatam on the plea of restoring his sovereignty. But in this he was defeated. Śrī-Ranga-Rāya's inscriptions continue to 1664, and with him ended the Vijayanagar empire. According to Kg 46 he had a son Dēvadēva who was ruling in that year, and in Gu 64 and 65 we have a still later Vēṅkaṭapati ruling in 1668, who may have been the same. The line eventually merged in that of the chiefs of Ānegundi, who were subdued by Tipū Sultān. Some members of the family, however, still continue there.