Srikurmam inscription of Naraharitirtha

The inscription

H. Krishna Sastri described the record as being “in the Kurmesvara temple at Srikurmam in the Chicacole taluka of the Ganjam district”.¹ It is inscribed “on the east and north faces of one of the black granite pillars which support the hall enclosing the temple”.¹ It is “written in clear Telugu characters”.¹ It has nine Sanskrit verses in various metres.¹ See the Srikurmam temple.

Contents

The verses trace a line of Vaishnava teachers.¹ The first is the ascetic Purushottama-mahatirtha.¹ He is said to be an incarnation of Vishnu, and the author of a commentary.¹ His pupil was Anandatirtha, “who explained the Vyasasutras in accordance with the principles of the Dvaita school”, that is the philosopher Madhva.¹

Anandatirtha’s pupil was Naraharitirtha.¹ In Krishna Sastri’s words, Naraharitirtha “seems to have been the governor of the Kalinga country (v. 6) and to have defended Srikurmam against an attack of the Sabaras” (v. 7).¹ The Sabaras were the forest people of the Ganjam hills.¹

In Krishna Sastri’s translation, Naraharitirtha used “an excellent sword (which is) a thunderbolt to the mountains,—the bands of Sabaras”.² But the poet adds that he never had to strike with it.²

The last verse gives the date: Saka 1203 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years), the month of Mesha, a Wednesday in the bright fortnight.¹² On that day Naraharitirtha built a temple of the god Yogananda-Nrisimha in front of the Kurmesvara temple.¹² F. Kielhorn calculated that the day intended would be Saturday, 29 March 1281.² In that case, the word for Wednesday in the date would have to be corrected to Saturday.²

Naraharitirtha in Kalinga

Krishna Sastri set the inscription beside the traditions of the Madhva mathas (religious houses).³ A hymn on Naraharitirtha tells that his master sent him to the Gajapati kingdom.³ There he ruled the Kalinga country for twelve years on behalf of an infant king.³ When the king came of age, Naraharitirtha returned the kingdom, and asked for the images of Rama and Sita as his reward.³

Krishna Sastri found that “this traditional history of Naraharitirtha’s life agrees with the statement made about him in verse 6 of the inscription”.⁴ It also “fully accounts for the existence in the Kalinga country of several inscriptions which record his gifts to temples”.⁴ These inscriptions “range between Saka-Samvat 1186 and 1215 (= A.D. 1264 and A.D. 1294)”.⁴ In his reading, another Srikurmam record of Saka 1186 shows that both Naraharitirtha and his father were ministers of the king.²

Besides this inscription, Krishna Sastri printed five other records of gifts by Naraharitirtha.²⁵⁶ They are in the temples of Srikurmam and Simhachalam, and Kielhorn calculated their dates:²⁵⁶

• at Srikurmam, in 1264, 1293 and 1294²⁵⁶
• at Simhachalam, in January and July 1292²⁵⁶

One of the Srikurmam records, of Saka 1215, is dated “in the 18th year of the victorious reign of the glorious Vira-Naranarasimhadeva”.⁴⁶ Krishna Sastri took this king to be the Ganga king Narasimha II.⁴⁶

V. Rangacharya summarised another record, of 3 January 1294.⁷ It records that Naraharitirtha set up images of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana at Srikurmam and made gifts to them.⁷ At Simhachalam, an inscription of Saka 1213 records his gift of four lamps on the occasion of an Ardhodaya (a rare holy day).⁸ Robert Sewell treated the gift at Srikurmam in 1293 as evidence that Narasimha II was then reigning over Kalinga.⁹

The date of Madhva

The lists of the Madhva mathas give Anandatirtha’s birth as Saka 1040 (1118).⁴¹⁰ Krishna Sastri argued that the Saka dates in these lists were added later.⁴¹⁰ They had been worked out from sixty-year cyclic years, and he argued that they must be pushed forward by two full cycles.⁴¹⁰ Working back from the dates of Naraharitirtha’s inscriptions, he placed Anandatirtha’s life between 1238 and 1317.⁴¹⁰

Rangacharya called the inscription “very important as it fixes the date of Madhvacharya and others”.⁷ See Religion.

Footnotes

1. H. Krishna Sastri, “Srikurmam Inscription of Naraharitirtha; Saka-Samvat 1203”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 260 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

2. Krishna Sastri, “Srikurmam Inscription of Naraharitirtha” (1901), p. 266, translation of verses 6–9 and Kielhorn’s notes (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

3. Krishna Sastri, “Srikurmam Inscription of Naraharitirtha” (1901), p. 261 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Krishna Sastri, “Srikurmam Inscription of Naraharitirtha” (1901), p. 262 and note 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

5. Krishna Sastri, “Srikurmam Inscription of Naraharitirtha” (1901), p. 267 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Krishna Sastri, “Srikurmam Inscription of Naraharitirtha” (1901), p. 268 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 687, Ganjam Nos. 168–169 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. III (1919), p. 1681, Vizagapatam No. 139 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

9. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 168 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

10. Krishna Sastri, “Srikurmam Inscription of Naraharitirtha” (1901), p. 263 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴