42 



Account of Mamallaipur. 



[No. 30 



III. The origin, or probable origin, of the place with its 

 sculptures, my own judgment would lead me to fix the pos- 

 sible origin of the settlement at Mavalkaram to a colonist fa- 

 mily of the Media tribe ; subsequent to the rule of Adondai, 

 and previous to the ascendancy of the Vijayanagaram as- 

 cendancy in the present Carnatic ; that is, (loosely stated), 

 between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries of our reckoning. 

 In this opinion I am guided by analogy. The Bhonju family, 

 in that manner, spread itself in a district ; afterwards subject 

 to the Gajapati princes of Orissa. The Malta family, from 

 wild mountaineers, became powerful chieftains in Telingana. 

 Many families, in that way, made subordinate settlements in 

 different village districts of the same country ; and, about the 

 period above indicated, some heads of families emigrated from 

 the Carnataca-desam proper, and became local chieftains ; 

 while many others at a later period, and from different caus- 

 es, followed a like course. But if I am right in this inference 

 by analogy, it does not follow that a settlement, made in a be- 

 fore pastoral, or waste f country, would at once become a place 

 of power or consequence. The same mode of argument would 

 suggest the need of soine centuries, in order to produce such 

 a result ; and we know that many mutations occur in such 

 kind of states, when near powerful neighbours. Accordinglv 

 though the name of the founder may have continued, yet, the 

 conquest of the South, began by Crishna-rayer of Vijayana- 

 garam, and completed by Achyuta-rayer, probably (c) over- 

 whelmed any such principality. Such was the case with the 



(c) In my abstract of the Tamil manuscript entitled Carnataca-rajakal, 1 do not find 

 definite mention of such a supercession : but I think it probable from the general con- 

 quest of the neighbourhood ; and suppose the district became subject to the local me- 

 tropolis of Gingee. In the paper referred to (note a) it is stated that Sinhama-naydua 

 {ji\hGVeUugatitarura.ce ruled at Mavulivaram, and employed many artificers, who 

 resorted thither in a time of famine, in making excavations and sculptures on the hill. 

 Follow ing out this indication, I observe that Ydchama-nayadu and Sinhama-nayadu of 

 that race fought a great battle and gained a victory over opposing chiefs in Sal, Sac. 

 J523 (A. D. 1G01>. By that time the power of the Vijayanagaram sovereigns was broken '. 

 and it said the Mahomedans were concerned in the affair, in connexion with Gingee 

 and Vellore. The scene of combat was Ootramaloor. This period would mark auothei 



