Ahobilam inscription of Sriranga I (1584)

The record

The Government Epigraphist copied the temple inscriptions of Lower Ahobilam in 1915.¹² V. Rangacharya summarised No. 70 of 1915, which is “on the south slab set in the same place”.¹² It is dated in the reign of the Vijayanagara king “Virapratapa Vira-Rangarayadeva-Maharaya (1578–87) ‘ruling at Penugonda,’”.¹² The date is “S. 1506, Tarana, Vaisakha, su. di. 14”.¹² Saka 1506 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years) is 1584.¹²

The record says that “Venkatrajadeva Choda-maharaja, son of Timmana of the solar race and the Kasyapagotra, came to receive certain privileges in the temple.”¹² It gives the reason.¹² His grandfather, Kondaraja-Venkatraja-Timmaraja, had acted “under orders of the king and at the request of Van Sathagopa-Jiyyangaru”.¹²

The grandfather “had expelled the Muhammadan chief Vibhuramu (Ibrahim II of Golconda)”.¹² Vibhuramu “had occupied the temple of Ahobalam for seven years in alliance with the Handevaru (chiefs)”.¹² In Rangacharya’s words, “It was for thus restoring the temple to its original state that the family was granted the privileges mentioned above.”¹² See Ahobilam and Vijayanagara.

Rangacharya added a note on the chief.¹² The chief’s titles had led the Government Epigraphist to guess that he belonged to the Matla family.¹² Rangacharya also wrote that “the Hande chiefs of Anantapur were ardent Saivites”.¹² So they “co-operated with Ibrahim Qutb Shah in the spoiling of Ahobalam, and Venkatraja defeated the vandals and restored the prosperity of the place”.¹² He noted that the Van Sathagopa of the record was the seventh of the Ahobilam svamis (heads of the religious house).¹²

The next slab, No. 71 of 1915, is a record of “Vira-Venkata-patirayadeva-Maharaya … ‘ruling at Penukonda’”.² It is dated Saka 1507 (1585).² By it the same chief gave the temple the 80 varahas (gold coins) due to him every year from the temple villages.² This was his fee for protection (kavali).² See Venkatapati II and Penukonda.

The Kurnool manual’s account

The Kurnool manual of 1886 tells the story from local records.³ It gives different dates and a different villain.³ In its account, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda crossed the Krishna about 1590 and left garrisons in the district.³ After that, “Hande Devappa of Anantapur, a grandson of Hande Hanumanna, … attacked the famous temple of Ahobilam and plundered it of the jewels belonging to the idol.”³

The manual goes on: “Sathagopa Jeyyangar, who was in charge of the temple, sent a deputation to Venkatapati Raja, then ruling at Penukonda”.³ He “complained of the sacrilege committed by the Hande people and Muhammadans.”³ Then “Venkatapati sent a detachment of troops under the command of Venkata Raju, who restored the temple to the Jeyyangar”.³

Rangacharya’s summary of the inscription differs from the manual on these points.¹² It names Ibrahim, not Muhammad Quli, as the occupier.¹² It gives the credit to Venkataraja’s grandfather.¹² It is dated 1584, in the reign of Sriranga I.¹²

Other records at Ahobilam from the same century include grants of the reigns of Achyuta Raya (1531 and 1536) and Sadasiva (1547 to 1563).⁴²

Footnotes

1. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 972, Kurnool No. 584 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

2. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 973, Kurnool Nos. 584–589 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵

3. Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, A Manual of the Kurnool District in the Presidency of Madras (1886), p. 28 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 969, Kurnool Nos. 569–572 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩