218 



INSCRIPTIONS. 



Concerning Mdgadahdluva I am as yet unable to make any 

 positive statements. 



Vithalanatha or Vithalesa or Vithala was a prince belong- 

 ing to the family of the Narapatis. We are enabled to prove 

 his identity on the authority of Konerinatha, a contempo- 

 rary Telugu writer, who dedicated his Balabhagavatam to 

 Tirumalaraja, the elder brother of Vithala. In the preface 

 to this book Konerinatha gives a genealogy of the family of 

 his patron, and sings also the praises of Vithala. The 

 preface of the Balabhagavatam seems to have been entirely 

 overlooked either by Professor Wilson or by his amanuensis, 

 but it is still more peculiar that the Balabhagavatam, of 

 which two copies exist in the Mackenzie collection, is neither 

 described by the Rev. William Taylor in his Catalogue 

 Raisonne of that collection, nor even mentioned in his List of 

 the Telugu MSS. contained in that collection. 



I. About Gore Gangaya Raddivaru. 



The dynasty of the Gangas was, after its overthrow in 

 Mysore, not doomed to insignificance. In various parts of 

 Southern India we soon observe them again rising to in- 

 fluence, if not as mighty princes, yet as generalissimos and 

 ministers of the ruling dynasties, while in Orissa they suc- 

 ceeded at last in founding a powerful realm. 



Thus one Gangaraja, master of Kolalapura (the modern 

 Kolar), distinguished himself as a general of the king of the 

 Pallavas; another served the Calukya king Bhuvanaika 

 Malla ; the Hoysala king Visnu Vardhana entrusted to a 

 Gangaraja the offices of minister and general, and we meet 

 with other Gangas in the reign of the Kalacurya Vijala of 

 Kalyana. 4 



In the extracts from the Local Records, which are given 

 below, occur the names of Gangaya Deva Maharaja and 



4 See Mysore Inscriptions by Lewis Rice, p. xlvi. 



