Penukonda inscription of Channappa Nayudu (1577)

This Telugu inscription is on the Anjaneya temple at the north gate of the Penukonda fort.¹² It records that Channappa Nayudu, an officer of Tirumaladeva, repaired and extended the fort and defeated several Muslim chiefs.¹² The sources spell his name in three ways: Channappa (Krishna Sastri), Chennappa (Rangacharya) and Chinnappa (Sewell).³¹⁴ H. Krishna Sastri read it as proof that Tirumala held Penukonda before the battle of Talikota.³⁵

The record

V. Rangacharya lists the inscription as No. 336 of 1901, in Telugu.¹² He places it “on the south wall of the Anjaneya temple at the north gate of the fort.”¹² In his words, it is “A record of the time of Sriranga Raya, dated 1499, Dhatu.”¹² It “Records that Chennappa Nayudu, an officer of Tirumaladeva, repaired and extended the fort and defeated several Musalman chiefs.”¹²

A second record of 1580 is on a slab at the old site of the Kesavasvami temples.² It records gifts to a temple “which had been built by Chennappa Nayudu, an officer of Tirumaladeva”.²

Robert Sewell’s list of 1882 was made before the records were copied.⁴ It gives an inscription “on the wall of the temple of Anjaneya” of 1577, which it calls Canarese (Kannada).⁴ The list says that “Chinnappa Nayadu, minister of Tirumaladeva of Vijayanagar, repaired the fort”.⁴ It also gives a Telugu record of 1567 close to it, about repairs to the fort by the same man.⁴ See the Penukonda fort.

Krishna Sastri’s reading

H. Krishna Sastri described the record in 1915.³ In his words, it is dated “in Saka 1499, Dhatri (=A.D. 1576-7) i.e., a decade after the battle of Talikota”.³ He found it “very interesting”, because it throws light on events both before and after “that decisive contest”.³

His summary of the record runs as follows.³ Channappa Nayudu was a chauri-bearer (fly-whisk bearer) of Vira-Tirumaladeva-Maharaya.³ In the year Pingala (1557–58), “at the time while Tirumala had occupied the town of Penugonda-pattana and was ruling it”, Channappa did building work there.³ Under Tirumala’s orders, he built “a dwarf fort (pilla-kota) within the big fort”.³ He also “erected fort gates, added bastions, dug trenches, etc.”, and repaired the hill fort below.³

Channappa had set up his family god, Channaraya of Markapur, at Penukonda.³ By the grace of this god, he defeated these enemies:³

• the Muslim general “Rambikesaru-Khanu”, in December 1566 or January 1567³
• “Vambinamali-Khanu” and other generals, in 1568–69³
• in 1576–77, “Yedula-Sahi who had come (to capture Penugonda)”³

The record ends with a curse, which Krishna Sastri called “curious”.³ It says that Penugonda-pattana “is a god-built city and no man could possibly boast of conquering its surrounding fortifications”.³

From this, Krishna Sastri drew these conclusions.³⁵ First, “Tirumala I was in charge of Penugonda before the battle of Talikota was fought”.³⁵ Second, after that battle, “his general Channappa-Nayudu successfully defended the stronghold against continued attacks by Muhammadans in the years 1566-7, 1568-9 and 1576-7”.³⁵

He identified Yedula-Sahi with Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur.³⁵ Ferishta records Ali Adil Shah’s siege of Penukonda in 1576–77.³⁵ Krishna Sastri also suggested that “Rambikesaru Khanu” joined the names of two Muslim commanders, Kishwar Khan and Roomy Khan.³⁵ See Tirumala.

The gazetteer’s account

The Anantapur gazetteer of 1905 cites the same inscription, but it tells the story in a different order.⁶⁷ According to the gazetteer, Tirumala and Sadasiva fled to Penukonda after the defeat of 1565.⁶⁷ Sadasiva stayed king in name only “until 1568 when, it is said, Tirumala murdered him, and seized the throne for himself”.⁶⁷ Then “under his orders the Penukonda fort was repaired and extended” by Channappa Nayudu.⁶⁷

In 1577, the gazetteer says, the king of Bijapur surrounded Penukonda and cut it off.⁷⁸ The blockade was so close that the garrison was near starvation.⁷⁸ Then the defenders bribed part of his army, and he gave up the siege.⁷⁸ See Penukonda.

Where the sources disagree

• When Channappa built the inner fort. In Krishna Sastri’s reading, the record dates Channappa’s building work to the year Pingala (1557–58), when Tirumala already held Penukonda, before the battle of 1565.³ The Anantapur gazetteer cites the same inscription.⁷ But it tells of the repair and extension of the fort only after it says that Tirumala seized the throne in 1568.⁷

Footnotes

1. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 24, Anantapur No. 158 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. I (1919), p. 25, Anantapur Nos. 158 and 163 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. H. Krishna Sastri, “The Third Vijayanagara Dynasty; its Viceroys and Ministers”, Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report 1911–12 (1915), p. 184 (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

4. Robert Sewell, Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I (1882), p. 119 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Krishna Sastri, “The Third Vijayanagara Dynasty”, ASI Annual Report 1911–12 (1915), p. 185 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

6. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Anantapur (1905), p. 21 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 191 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

8. Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 192 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³