History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t8.10

v5.c74.t8.10

Several important and controversial questions arise in relation to Vithobā's temple at Pandharpur; viz. the date when the image of Vithobā was installed in the temple at Pandharpur, whether the present image is an old one or a substitute, what the ancient name of Pandharpur was, the derivation of the word 'Viṭṭhal'. As regards the first question it may be stated that there is not enough evidence to establish with certainty the time when the image was established¹⁶³⁰ But some of the items of evidence may be briefly set out here. In I A. vol. 14 pp. 68-75 Prof. K. B. Pathak published an inscription on a copperplate found at Bendigere (about eleven miles south-east from Belgaum), the inscription being dated in śake 1171 (1249 A. D), in which Pandharpur is called Pauṇḍarīkakṣetra on the Bhīmarathī (at p. 74) and Vithobā is called Viṣṇu and which records the grant of a village in Veṇugrāma district (Belgaum) to a number of brāhmaṇas by a minister of Yādava king Kṛṣṇa (or Kanhara in the inscription) in the presence of god Viṣṇu (p. 74) i. e. before the image of Viṣṇu or Viṭṭhala. Dr. R. G Bhandarkar in 'Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism &c', (p. 88) and in 'History of the Deccan' (2nd ed. p. 115-6) refers to an inscription on stone dated śake 1192 (1270 A. D.) in Pandharpur itself, in which Bhānu, son of Keśava, is represented as having performed the Āptoryāma sacrifice in Pāṇḍuraṅgapura 'on account of which crowds and Vitthala were greatly pleased'. There is another earlier inscription in the temple of Vithobā on three sides of a stone beam in a sopā beyond the maṇḍapa (porch) of 16 pillars, the script being Devanāgarī and the language being partly Sanskrit and partly Canarese. It was issued in śake 1159 (1237 A. D) by Hoysala king Someśvara and records the grant of an agrahāra to God Viṭṭhaladeva who resides in a great village called Pandarage situated on the Bhīmarathī river and who made the heart of sage (*muni*) Puṇḍarīka expand (with devotion). Vide Bom. G. vol. 20 pp. 419-420 and pp. 4-6 of Mr Khare's monograph (on medieval references). The Mysore Archaeological Survey Report for 1929 (pp. 197-210) publishes a copper-plate inscription issued by the Rāṣṭrakūta king Avidheya which records a grant of Pāṇḍaraṅga-palli and four other villages situated to the east of Mahādeva hill to a brāhmaṇa named Jayad-vittha. This grant was confirmed about 820 A. D. by Rāṣṭrakūta king Śarvarasa (i. e. Amoghavarṣa I). The editor Dr. Krishna is of opinion that the date of the inscription must be 516 A D. (*ibid.* p 203). Therefore the important conclusion follows that Pandharpur was known to Canarese people as Pandarage and was also called Pāṇḍaraṅgapalli. This inscription does not expressly refer to god Viṭṭhala, but the donee's name Jayad-vittha contains the part Vittha which is most probably an early form of Viṭṭhala.