Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s16.9

c8.s16.9

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.