Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c21.s3.t10.2

v2.c21.s3.t10.2

How far Nicholas Pimenta could be trusted in connection with this detail can be seen by examining a few epigraphs which deal with this kind of water. An inscription, dated Śaka 1428 (A.D. 1516-17) of the times of Vira Narasimha Bhujabala Mahārāya, informs us that a gift of gold for a lamp was made for bringing a pot of water from the Kāvēri for the sacred bath of the god Ratnāchalēśvara at Ratnagiri, Trichinopoly district, and for offerings in the mornings.¹ There is reason to believe that there was an official who was in charge of the "holy water" from the Ganges, from the following inscription dated A.D. 1524. This record deals with the grant of Marayanahaḷḷi, rechristened Daṇāyakapura, for the chief evening offering of the god Varadarāja of Kalu-ūr, by Kōnapa Nāyaka, who was the "bearer of Ganges water to Kṛiṣhṇa Dēva Mahārāya."²