Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c22.s3.114

v2.c22.s3.114

The popularity of Achyuta Rāya, in spite of the adverse evidence given by Nuniz, is proved by epigraphs which contain similar grants for the merit of the monarch. Tavanidhi Tippaṇa Gauḍa rebuilt in A. D. 1529 the Aṅkuravaḷḷi village in the Chandragutti-vēṇṭhe which Harihara Mahārāya had granted for the god Śrīkaṇṭha. This village which had gone to ruin, was rechristened Amṛitapura and given as a gift to the same god "in order that a secure empire might be to the Mahārājādhirāja (with other titles) Achyuta Rāya"¹ The agents of Tiruveṅgaḍa Aṇṇayaṇ, according to an inscription dated only in the cyclic year Vikrita, Tai, 13 (=A. D. 1530, January 9th, Sunday), gave certain house-sites and money as a gift to private individuals (named) in order that merit might accrue to Achyuta Dēva Rāya, for the formation of a maḍa-vilāgam and service in the temple of Agastyēśvara at Avirīūr.² Māḷapa Nāyaṇḍu presented a bell to the temple of Mallikārjuna at Śrīśailam, Kurnool district, and a lace cloth to the goddess Brahmarāmbā, in Śaka 1452 (A. D. 1530-1), for the merit of Achyuta Dēva Rāya and Kṛishṇa Dēva Rāya.³ The Gaṇḍa-ragoḷḷi Daḷavāyi Soṇṇappa Nāyaka's son Nāgappa Nāyaka granted in A. D. 1531 a pura dharma-śāsana for the god Chennakēsava of Kāḍanūr transferring the village of Kāḍanūr in the Huḷukaḍi-nāḍ, which he had received as an emolument for his Nāyakship, for the service of the god, in order that dharma might be to the monarch.⁴ Bhōgaya Dēva Mahārāja, according to an inscription dated Śaka 1453 expired, Khara, (A. D. 1531), granted the jōḍi amounting to fifty poṇ to the Tālapurīśvara shrine in the Śiva temple at Tiruppanaṅgādu, North Arcot district, with the permission of Tirumalaiya Dēva Mahārāya, for the merit of Achyuta Dēva Rāya.⁵ For the same purpose the door-keeper of the monarch (avara kaṭṭi-gaya) Kāmanna Nāyaka granted the Śrīpatihaḷḷi for the offerings, anointing, worship, illuminations, and all other ceremonies of the god Gaṅgādhara “dwelling in the southern Kāśi.”¹ Rāmabhaṭṭar gave 2000 *paṇam* as a gift in Śaka 1453 (A. D. 1533-4) for the merit of Acyuta Rāya Mahārāya and his queen Varadā-dēvi-ammaṇ, for offerings made to the god at Kāḷahasti on the occasion of the halt made by the god at the pavilion in the (Oraṇdūr) garden on the day of Paṅguṇi-Uttiram.²