The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s3.t8.3

v2.c15.s3.t8.3

Several eminent Sanskrit writers and poets besides those whose works have come down to posterity are known to have flourished during the age of the Kākatīya rulers. Some of them figure as the authors of inscriptions which must be taken into consideration, on account of their literary excellence and manner of composition, as being *kāvyas* in miniature. Of these writers Achintēndra, son of Rāmēśvara Dikshita, and the pupil of the *advaita-sanyāsin* Advayāmṛita, deserves mention first. He was a contemporary of Kākati Rudradēva and was commissioned by that king to compose the *praśasti* embodied in the Hanumakoṇḍa inscription dated A.D. 1163.² Nandi, son of Rēchi and grandson of Nandimitra of the Bhāradvāja-*gōtra*, is mentioned as the author of the Gaṇapavaram inscription dated A.D. 1214;³ another poet who is known only by his title, *Kavi-Chakravartin*, is said to have composed the undated Pākhal inscription of Gaṇapatidēva which has been assigned to about A.D. 1245.¹ Among the donees of the Kōṭagiri Plates of Rudramādēvī dated Ś. 1195 (A.D. 1273), the names of three poets, Drāviḍa Uñjipira-kavi, Arhni-kavi, and Sūri-kavi, are enumerated, although nothing is known about their achievements.² Anantasūri, the daughter's son of a certain Gōvinda-bhaṭṭa, is said to have composed the Pānugal inscription of Immaḍi Mallikārjuna Nāyaka, a subordinate of Kumāra Rudradēva, in A.D. 1290.³ The most famous of the *praśasti* writers of the time was, however, Īśvarabhaṭṭōpādhyāya or Īśvarasūri, the author of the Bōthpūr inscriptions of the Malyāla clan. Īśvara was the son of Mayūrārya of the Taraṇikaṇṭi family, who appears to have been himself a notable scholar. He mastered the Paṇiniyan Grammar and also the Yajur-Vēda together with its *pada-krama*, and was an adept in the *chitra-kavitva*. The Bōthpūr inscriptions in which are inserted verses composed without gutturals (*nish-kaṇṭhya*), or without palatals (*nish-tālavya*), or without cerebrals (*nir-mūrdhanya*), or dentals (*nir-dantya*), or labials (*nir-ōshṭhya*), as well as *bhramakas* and *bandhas*, may be taken as examples of his skill in poetic composition.⁴