Studies

'.

In

Indian Epigraphy

(B hiircttrya PurlWhllikha Patrikii)

JOURNAL OF Tue EPIGRAPHICAL SOClliTY OF INDIA VOLUT\fE XXXIII,. 2007

Executive EditiJT

K.V. RA1\lESH

Editor

M.D. SAMPATH

Published By

T'HE E-PIGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF .INDIA IVlvSORE

CONTENTS

&lito rial

1. Presidential Address, Samaresh Bandyopadhyay

2. Importance of the names given to the various entrance gates in Hampi 13

Priya Thakur

Vll

1.

3. The Trilingual inscription ofZheng He-

A hlswricall. study ofVU a)'81lag.1l1l response to the mine maritime expeditions in the fifteenth century

Venkata Raghothctm

4. ProfessarV.,s,Pailiakis contribution tn epigraphical studies Shanhtt Goyal

16

23

5 . Looking into the reso uree base of an early sixth century A.D.

Western Indiantempl e complex : TIJroUgD epigraphic lens Krishnendu Ray

6, Ancient inscriptions ofKheralu (North Gt~jarat) B haraii Shelat

34

44

7. A New Geographical name, Nl1agiri Nicholas Rhodes

49

.8, Four unpubliehed copper-plate grants oftheBiligi chiefs Rajaram Hegde

9. Cbalukya inscription from Harsur n.M. Nagaraju

I O. Ma.'Q:~r~~ inscription of the time ofkingRayapala [V ikrama] 1020 83

JaiPrakash

55

78

~ 1. Two. simple enhancement techniques for epigraphic image pre-processing 87

H. K. Anasuya Devi

l2.. T~ temple and its inscriptions 95

M. D. Sampath

13. Trade and. urbanisation ill Tamil Nadu during

the Vijayanagara period 1350·1565 A..D. 102

V. Palanichamy

ThfPORTANGE OF TH'E NAMES GIVEN TO THE VA,RIO'US, " EN'TRANCE GATES IN HA~IPI

.. ,P:riya Thaku1:'

Bach name signifies its own importance with a definite meaning aild a purpose, Tills is regulated by so many aspects such as etYmological), geograpl~ical,.; legendary; traditional and religious or some kind of .commernorative elements .. "

.' . .

III a wider sense, a. place or a structure draws its name depending. upon. 'any

of theseelements cited above. At Hampi, we see the remains of a numben.of entrance gates bunt in the fortification walls as well as at the main junctions of roads and streets. Various foreign travelers who visited this. dty mention, these gateways in outstanding terms ..

The first tYI>e of gateways is for the defensive purposes with projecting barbican enclosures with service structures, guard rooms with. shrines. .. The second _ category of these gateways and entrances were bu.ilt either at the nnportant .. junctions at the roads or at the beginning or end of the streets near the temples, These were constructed out o f granite blocks in a simple w.ay~ .8omet~m_e~ as' structures ·with corbels or two-storeyed pavlllon type gateway-s", the example of such a gateway can be seen near the Vit11talatemple.

Scholars have, categorized the various ,gateway-sin Hampi in ·t,he.fqUcnyil).g -:t.ht,ee

types ;,' L' :, .

· Hebbagilu - Main'-gates

· Bagi1u;. Gates

· Diddi - Subsidiary gates

So fru\ only t.wo gates have been identified as Hebb5.gilll in iIrscripti.6~S.

. ~. ', .. ~ .

I will be talking about the vernacular names of some: of these .gateways and. entrances with emphasis on the literary meaning as well as ,any possible speculation of the reason of on whl, they got such nomenclatnre in this paper.

Singharda hebbagilu is located on the main royal road beginning from lIaz.ara Riima temple leading to Talanghat. The literary meaning of its name call bt: the main gateway which. is highly decorated, tha.t is, Singhara or 'the main Lion's gate (Singhara:=Simha.dY~r&). But these two 'possible meanings depict totally . different meaning - tender (if we accept it as Sirig'hara), on ULe other hand, it

implies the ferocious sense, if we accept the meaning as ;5 irhn(J..dv(f;ra. Hut both these names seen to be appropriate .. It appears to be the main go3lt~Wa.:y to the city; for it has an elaborate arch, Reference to this gate is clearly mdicated. ill an epigraph on a boulder located to the north of this .gat.e. It is ascribable to the region of Bukka- I (l350-77- A.D.)

; -

'~Sr'i ViTa Bukk'ariiyana Vija-yanaf}'a'rlllia pagcl.1}ada m:t1¢u,na lliti.gharada. h.ebbagilla .... '1

Batekar'ar'~ hebbligUu - Tills: large gate is situated amidst hillocks to the east of the urban core. It is referred to ill the inscription, dated 1380 A.D. OIL a boulder towards its north-east, which Hays that, this gat,c was constructed by Bal)l~heya Na;yaka.., son of M.alanga Nayaka~ a 'hunter serving under the king. The literary meaning of this name is 'the main gate of Hunters', We can say that this .{r.at,e· got such kind of name as it was associated with the hunters serving under the king or wrth hunting- ceremonial OT otherwise. Its location is also ideal for hunting ..

Somavilratda bagilu is located at the South-east of the Singharda Hebbagiln. As its name itself implicates, it isthe 'Monday gate'. Maybe it was leading to some sort of market which was held on this specific da.y of the week. We can sec this type of tradition) that is still popular in Maharashtraas wellas some other pads of country, where we can find names like Somavara. FEith, Sanivar Pi'th., etc,

JedeyaMnkaradevaradiddi, Hari~piidetJi·TI(J, diddi, Sviimidevara biigilu - all these. entrance gates have acquired their respective names after the famous and important deities of the region, namely. - Jadeyasankara, another name of lord Siva~ Hampa Devi (Goddess PampaJ- another Dame of' P.ii:Iva.:ti.

Miitangf!ivuM Diva diddi is located at the foot of tile Matangahill, so it got this name because of its location. Similarly Are:sarikari bavi .Biigilu is mentioned in an mscriptiQIl. in Vithala temple, whidl says that it was built on the road surroundingthe gardens donated to an institution. Penugonde bagilu is Ioeated near the Pa~~a.bhirama temple. It is na..rnedafter Penugonda, a township in Andhra Pradesh, which later became the -cepital of Vijayanagara rulers of the Alravidlll dynast]y, after the catastrophe of Talikota, and this gate is located in the direction of that. dty~

Kotilankar4devara Bligilv; is a large gateway towards the west of sister's boulders and underground. temple, Its 'reference can he. found in the near by two inscriptions. It is dedicated to Lord Kotisaitkar.a~ Just near this ;gateway~ a number of small Liitgas are carved on a boulder. Udagiriya ba.gilu is mentioned in an epigraph in the Vithala temple. It is located to, Ole east of Vijayaml.gara

capital. Us name indicates that. it isa· type of commemorarive ga.tewa;y~ celebrating the victory of Udayagiri in Orissa 'by K:ri.:;h1.1adeva.raya; and 'Qis return

to the capital, .

A gate named K (i~AilrndOa ba.tJi1u ismentioned in all inscription dated 1450 A.D. to the North-east of the city, H canbe identified as Kos1Itaga;ra. bagilu, which Iiteraly means gate' (If store house or. gate leading to the store house. Thistype of nomenclature is based on a typical purpose or function of .ga.t'e.

Hodega biicgiiu. .is situated a.t the north 01 urban core on the way from 'royal center to th.·e Ma:tam,ga. Hill. -It means the 'gate of Qt1ive:r~ (hode = quiver or tremor}. This kind of nomenclature could be a way of relating this gate to fhedangers posed by robbers or wild beasts in. those days in the region. It is referred to ill inscrrption located to the North-east ofthe Malayvanta hill

UPl)(u'ige bil!Jilrt is: mentioned in the inscription. of Ganagitti J aina t,e.m,ple. As the name suggests, it must have been a ga.te with an. upper flo Qr" but we cannot, see the exact structure which. is now in a dilapidated condition .. This,type of naming was done on basis of struct ural form or we can s a.y superficial look of fhis gateway.

Pan-supari gate was built on the road leading to the bazaar (madtet) of same name. Bhimagateway, situated neal' the Ga.negitti temple)' got this namebecause of the image of Intima., one of the mythic heroes of Mahabharata. fame. Thus we can say that this kind of naming is on account of mythological Inftuence.

Thus the name of a place, or the entrance gates, got its own story to tell in regard to its character or association. These are named according to their Iocations, functions, structural forms or they are sunply dedicated to various gods and goddesses.

Notes and References

2. V.P.R., 19&4-87

3. Ibid~,1Q;_87-BS

4. Ibid., .19SS--0ll

5" Situlie.s in Indian P[.ace Nam,e.s, VaLlI, 1931

6. Robert Sewell· A F01'1Jottefl:E~npil'e" 20104 (ReprinL)