Kondavidu pillar inscription of Nadindla Gopa (1520)

This pillar inscription records “some grants by Nadindla-Gopa, the governor of Kondavidu, during the reign of Krishnaraya of Vijayanagara”.¹ Gopa rebuilt the temple of Raghunayaka at Kondavidu, and gave it the customs on all the roads in the country of Kondaviti.¹² F. Kielhorn calculated the date as “Wednesday, the 2nd May A.D. 1520”.³

The pillar

E. Hultzsch sent inked estampages (ink copies on paper) of the inscription to H. Luders.⁴ They came “with the following note”.⁴ The note said that the inscription was “On four faces of a pillar near the agrahara at Kondavidu.”⁴ It went on: “The pillar is supported on two sides (north and south) by stones which made it impossible to copy and ink the top lines of the inscription in full.”⁴

The inscription has 166 lines in the Telugu alphabet, close to that of the Mangalagiri pillar.⁴ “The language is Sanskrit from the beginning to l. 108, and again from the middle of l. 162 to the end. The rest is in Telugu”, in prose.⁴ H. Krishna Sastri contributed the text and translation of the Telugu part.⁴ See Kondavidu.

Gopa’s gifts

Luders wrote: “The object of this inscription is to record some grants by Nadindla-Gopa, the governor of Kondavidu, during the reign of Krishnaraya of Vijayanagara.”¹ Up to verse 26, it repeats verses of the Mangalagiri and Kaza pillars.¹ One new verse calls Krishnaraya a descendant of Yadu.¹ Luders took this for a mistake, since the second dynasty traced its descent from Yadu’s brother Turvasu.¹

In his view, the record is important because “it clearly shows that in Saka 1442 Gopa was governor of Kondavidu”.¹ The verses on the honours of Gopa’s brother Appa are left out.¹ See the Mangalagiri pillar inscription.

By order of Saluva Timma, the minister of Krishnaraya, Gopa made gifts to the god Ramabhadra.¹ He gave “an exceedingly high temple (prasada) furnished with nine gilt domes” and a hall for festivals.¹ He also gave images for processions, golden ornaments and two pearl necklaces.¹ He made these gifts “for the benefit of Salva-Timma, the husband of Lakshmi”.¹

He also gave to the temple of Raghava, lord of the town of Yajnavati, “the customs on all the roads in the country of Kondaviti and the village of Maindavolu”.¹ He kept up an earlier gift of the village of Lemballe.¹ The author of the Sanskrit text was Lolla Lakshmidhara Yajvan.² See Saluva Timma.

The Telugu tariff

The Telugu part gives the date: Wednesday, the 15th tithi (lunar day) of the bright half of Vaisakha in the cyclic year Vikrama, Saka 1442 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years).² The day was “on the auspicious occasion of a lunar eclipse”.² It names the donor as Goparsayyangaru, “the son of Nadindla-Timmaraja”.² He was the nephew of “Saluva-Timmarsayyangaru, the glorious chief minister who bore the burden of the empire of the glorious Krishnadeva-maharaya”.²

The Telugu part lists Gopa’s works at the temple of Raghunayaka of Yajnavatika in Kondavidu:²

he built a spire for the temple²
he whitewashed the other spires, halls and towers²
he set up golden pinnacles²
he built the hall and wall around the temple²
he restored the village of Lemballe and gave the village of Maindavolu²

The customs were collected throughout the Kondavidu country.²³ They were taken in the town, at water-sheds and on roads used by people, “such as (those to) the Tirumala hills”.²³ The rates were fixed, for each bag of goods:²³

half a paikamu (a small coin) on millet, salt, mangoes and similar goods²³
one paikamu on green gram, wheat, sesamum, cotton and tamarinds²³
one damma (a small coin) on onions, turmeric, cumin and lime fruits²³
“at six dammas on every bag of the following: long pepper, pepper, sandal, cloves, nutmeg, mace, lead, tin, (and) copper”²³

The dues so collected “were granted (to the temple) by Nadindla-Goparsayyangaru”.²³ They were given “for the merit of the glorious chief minister Saluva-Timmarsayyagaru and his wife Lakshmamma.”²³

The Telugu text ends with a curse.³ “If (any) Odda kings and Telungu kings shall violate this charity, they shall incur the sin of killing cows on (the banks of) the Ganga”.³ And “if (any) Turuka (i.e. Musalman) kings shall violate (this charity), they shall incur the sin of eating pigs.”³

Luders noted that the record names these kings and the Muhammadans in particular.³ In his view, this “shows that they were continually disturbing the peace of Krishnaraya’s dominions”.³

Kielhorn calculated the date, for Saka 1442 expired, as “Wednesday, the 2nd May A.D. 1520, when a partial eclipse of the moon, visible at Vijayanagara, took place”.³ Luders wrote that Maindavolu “is the modern Mayidavolu, 12 miles east-south-east of Narasaravupeta”.³ He added that Yajnavatipura “seems to have been the name of a quarter or a suburb of the town of Kondavidu”.³ See Mayidavolu and Krishnadeva Raya.

Luders, “Kondavidu Inscription of Krishnaraya”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 231 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴
Luders and H. Krishna Sastri, “Kondavidu Inscription of Krishnaraya”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 232 (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
Luders and Krishna Sastri, “Kondavidu Inscription of Krishnaraya”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 233 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸
H. Luders, “Kondavidu Inscription of Krishnaraya; Saka-Samvat 1442”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 230 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

The pillar

Gopa’s gifts

The Telugu tariff

Footnotes

References