A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of IndiaSewell, Robert
History
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India
Sewell, Robert
Vijayanagar (Empire) -- History
As to his having reigned quietly, I know of only one statement to the
contrary. An inscription of Samgama II. recording a grant in 1356,
and referred to below, states that Harihara I. "defeated the Sultan;"
but perhaps this only alludes to the fact that Muhammad Taghlaq had
to abandon his hold on the country.
The next king was Harihara's brother, Bukka I. ("Bucarao"),
and according to Nuniz he reigned thirty-seven years, conquering
in that time all the kingdoms of the south, even including Orissa
(Orya). Without laying too much stress on conquests by force of arms,
it seems certain that most if not all Southern India submitted to
his rule, probably only too anxious to secure a continuance of Hindu
domination in preference to the despotism of the hated followers of
Islam.[33] According to the chronicle, therefore, the death of Bukka
I., as we must call him, took place about the year A.D. 1380. As to
inscriptions of his reign, Dr. Hultzsch[34] mentions that they cover
the period from about 1354 to 1371, while the first inscription
of his successor, Harihara II., is dated in 1379.[35] If, then,
we assume that Bukka I. reigned till 1379, we find the chronicle
so far accurate that Bukka I. did in fact reign thirty-six years,
though not thirty-seven -- A.D. 1343 to 1379.
But meanwhile we have another story from an inscription on
copper-plates which is to be seen preserved in the Collector's office
at Nellore.[36] It has been carefully edited by Mr. H. Krishna
Sastri. According to this it would appear that Bukka I., who
undoubtedly was a man of war, usurped the throne. It asserts that
the father of Harihara I., who was named Samgama, had five sons. The
eldest was Harihara himself, the second Kampa, and the third Bukka. We
want to know who succeeded Harihara. There is extant an inscription
of Bukka dated in 1354, and there is this Nellore inscription dated in
1356. The latter comes from a far-off country near the eastern coast,
and it relates that Kampa succeeded Harihara, and that Samgama II.,
son of Kampa, succeeded his father, and granted a village in the
Nellore district to the Brahmans on a date which corresponds to May
3, A.D. 1356. It implies that Samgama had succeeded his father Kampa
exactly a year previous to the grant. Thus it claims that Kampa was
king from 1343 to 1355. We know nothing more of this, and there is
only one other document at present known to exist which was executed
in the reign either of Kampa or of Samgama This is alluded to by
Mr. Krishna Sastri, who refers us to the colophon of the MADHAVIYA
DHATUVRITTI, according to which its author, Sayanacharya, uterine
brother of the great Madhavacharya, was minister to king Samgama,
son of Kampa. The only possible inference is that the succession to
Harihara was disputed, and that somehow Bukka got the upper hand and
at least as early as 1354 declared himself king, afterwards claiming
to have immediately succeeded Harihara. It will be seen farther on
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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