IN THE REIGN of Vishnuvardhana, the greatest Hoysala emperor, the poet cum inscription-writer Mallikarjunarya occupied a hallowed place in the empire. Hailing from Gobbur (now near Gulbarga), his poetic prowess is engraved in an inscription dated 1113 CE.
So as to win the praise of poets, very clever in composition, (ati-patu-kavi), the servant (kinkara) of the Sarasvata lord, this Mallikarjunarya, wrote this Siva-dharma-sasana, so as to be a new model for poetic composition; the universal emperor of mnemonics (dharana-sarvabhauma) Mallikarjunarya of Gobbur is a Shanmukha among the chief poets.
Saletore testifies to the eminence that the Sasana writers commanded when he says, “Their opinion…must have been reckoned to be of great value.”
It was the Vijayanagara Rayas who elevated inscription-writers and engravers to newer heights. There were at least three major lineages of poets who were part of the inner circle of the Rayas as we shall see.
An honest study of the life and legacy of Sasana-writers and engravers reveals the same phenomenon yet again: the so-called oppressive caste system was a deliberate colonial ploy to keep the Hindu society divided. In an earlier essay on The Dharma Dispatch, we’ve seen how the barber Kondoja rose up the ranks to become an important member in the court of Achyuta Raya. Likewise, poets, Sasana-writers and engravers hailed from all sections of the society and commanded dignity and respect.
For instance, both Hoysala and Vijayanagara kings typically selected engravers from the carpenter and stonemason community. Here is a brief list of the names of engravers serving Vira Ballala III.
An inscription dated 1305 mentions the “skilful Maroja’s son, Yadoja” as Ballala’s engraver.
Another inscription dated 1328 mentions Simoja as Ballala’s engraver.
Yet another inscription from Nagalapura dated 1331 mentions the following names as Ballala’s engravers: Chaudacharya’s son, Masanacharya; Dashavidya Dandanatha’s son Benkacharya.
Still another inscription dated 1332 mentions Engoja’s son Bairoja as Ballala’s engraver.
Then we have the legendary Sringeri inscription of Harihara I dated 1346, which mentions Lingoja — the son of Chinna Malloja — as its engraver.
Another important Vijayanagara inscription dated 1355 tells us that it was composed by two Karanikas (typically, accountants) named Devanna and Revappa and that it was engraved by the stone-mason named Jadeya Ramoja. This Jadeya Ramoja appears to have been a minor celebrity in his area. The aforementioned inscription describes his skill as follows:
The workman who made the upper-storey, the pinnacle and the swing, and engraved this sasana, was the stone-mason Jadeya Ramoja. Notwithstanding any letter in defect or any letter in excess, this is entirely genuine.
Next we have the name of Dharanoja, who has engraved quite an impressive number of Sasanas during the rule of Harihara II. An inscription dated 1379 praises his elegance in engraving stone inscriptions and his usage of “well-chosen sentences and verses” and calls him the “the moon to the ocean of Manu-Kula.”
Other notable engravers and inscription-composers during the Sangama period include Lingayya Machanarya, Iruganna, “Akshara” Gopanna, Muddanacharya, and Bayiroja, who is extolled as “the pure one, a jewelled mirror to the face of good poets, of a voice like the roar of a lion, as glorious as the rising moon, Narasimha.”
Available research on the Vijayanagara Empire shows that the office of the Śāsanācārya (Superintendent of Inscriptions) was first established in the regime of Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya. The first explicit mention of a Śāsanācārya occurs in an inscription dated 1488. His name is Naga Deva.
AS THE VIJAYANAGARA EMPIRE grew in size, affluence and administrative complexity, a tiny army of Śāsana-writers and engravers grew concomitantly. Almost a century before the office of the Śāsanācārya was formally established, Śāsana writing and engraving had become a thriving profession akin to how India exploded with software developers during the run-up to the Y2K phenomenon and everything that followed it.
Vijayanagara teemed with Śāsana-writers and engravers at all levels — from the village up to the capital. Beginning with Harihara II, two or three lineages of royal Śāsana-writers and engravers arose and lasted till the fatal Battle of Talikota.
The first such royal engraver was Muddanacharya, who served under Harihara II. This is how Sri B.A. Saletore puts it.
Muddana is remarkable in the sense that with him begins a family of engravers who held for generations the post of engravers under the emperors. His name is coupled with that of another person, Mallanaradhya, the composer, son of Kotisharadhya… from the beginning of the fifteenth century till the end of the Vijayanagara Empire, excepting in five instances, the post… was retained by the members of the family of Muddana.
We observe the same generational occupation in the composers of royal Śāsanas. The most celebrated lineage of poets cum Śāsana-writers is that of the Dindima-Vamsha. Their service to the Empire was as multi-pronged as it was long-lasting; they combined in themselves the roles of Asthana-Kavi, Śāsana-composers, news writers and quasi-historians. We owe substantial debt to this learned lineage for giving us the contemporary history of Vijayanagara.
We can conclude this series by Sri Saletore’s evocative expression of the awesome service rendered by engravers and Śāsana-writers.
[They were officials] of great consequence. The commands of the king, the details of public or private benevolence, the news of victory — in fact, everything that was of public interest and that was to be permanent was inscribed on stones and copper-plates. These were the media of public information in those days… [their inscriptions are] a specimen of the intimate knowledge of the Vijayanagara composers of the rules of metrical composition…there were composers (and engravers) who were adepts in the art of composition…[they] in private and public service, helped to spread news and knowledge in the Empire…
Series concluded
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