Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c7.s2.13

v1.c7.s2.13

“. . . Gōppaṇārya, the Brāhmaṇa general of Kampaṇa, was placed by his master in charge of the Province of Señji (Gingee). He was a Śrīvaishṇava by persuasion, and belonged to the Bhāradvāja gōtra, and the Āpastambha sūtra. While on one occasion when he had gone to Tirupati on a pilgrimage, he found in the central shrine of the temple of Veṅkaṭēśa on the Tirumala hill an additional bronze image, and on questioning about it, he learnt that it was the image of the God Raṅganātha of Srirangam, which, after being taken away from that place shortly before the Turushkas entered Srirangam to Tirunārāyaṇapuram by way of Jōtishkuḍi, Tirumāliruñjōlai, (Aḷagarkōyil), Kōḷikkūḍu (Calicut), and Puṅganūr, was kept for some time at Tirunārāyaṇapuram (Mēlukōṭe), and then finally taken to Tirupati Tirumala. On hearing this account from the priests, Gōpaṇṇa induced them to remove the image to his capital, and keep it in *pūjā* there until such time as the Mussulmans were driven out of Srirangam. The priests permitted him to do so, he took it, set it up temporarily in the beautiful rock-cut shrine of Raṅganātha on the hill of Siṅgavaram, a suburb of Señji, and arranged for the conduct of the *pūjā* and offerings.