15th century inscription eulogises Devaraya II

Udupi: An inscription dating back to the 15th century has been discovered at the Mahalingeshara- Kalinga Temple, famous for worship of the King Cobra,  in Kalavara village, Kundapura taluk, Udupi district.

Prof Murugeshi, head of history and archaeology at the MSRS College, Shirva, says the  inscription talks of Devaraya II of the Sangama Dynasty  that ruled the Vijayanagar empire. 

“The inscription is on a rectangular stone slab and dates back to saka year 1360. The 38 line epigraph is written in Kannada, but also has some Telugu words in the last few lines, which is not commonly seen in the region. It's possible that the officer, Tirumale Bhandari Nayaka, mentioned in the inscription, was from Andhra Pradesh," he told Deccan Chronicle. “The inscription says that when Devaraya II was in power, his pradhani, Chandarasa Odeya was the governor of  Barakuru . It reveals that one Duggana Nayaka took the help of Tirumale Bhandari Nayaka to see the emperor, who gave him Kalaura as a land grant,” he explained.

The professor finds it interesting that the inscription talks of a land grant for a non-Brahmin. “Usually land grants were made to Brahmins in the region. But this inscription is about giving  land to a non- Brahmin, which is unusual,” he observed.

According to him, the officer, Duggana Nayaka, was probably from Basrur fort during Vijayanagar period. As grant of land of about 3 km in radius was usually not given to an ordinary man at the time, the professor guesses  he may have been the local administrator.

The inscription also has an important detail about the Vijayanagar governors in Barkuru, he reveals. "Until now historians believed Chandarasa Odeya's rule (as governor of Barakuru) was from 1430 to 1434. But the present inscription indicates that he was governor as late as 1438,” Prof Murugeshi added.