‘Krishnadevaraya offered loads of wealth to Tirupati’

[AndhraPickles]

Historians point out that he donated huge quantities of gold to the deity.“There are seven volumes of inscriptions on donations made by the kings in the past to Lord Venkateshwara. One entire volume is about donations made by Krishnadevaraya, that mostly constituted gold jewellery,”says Prof C S Vasudevan of Department of History and Archeology in Kannada University, Hampi.

 

Stating that there are more than 400 inscriptions, which mention about the donations of the king and his wives Thirumaladevi and Chinnadevi to Lord Vengadam, Vasudevan listed out some of the ornaments donated to the Lord by Krishnadevaraya. Referring to the temple inscriptions, he said the historical documents speak of donation of thirumudi (crown), udarabandham ( jewellery worn on stomach), bahuvalayam (jewellery worn on shoulder), thiruchandanam (bracelet), kaarai (anklet), padathayalam (anklet with belt), navarathna prabhavali (circular jewellery worn behind the crown) and a cap of gold and precious stones. In addition to this, the inscriptions also mention about donation of gold and silver utensils, he adds.

Sesha Sastry, a former professor of Sri Krishnadevaraya University at Ananthpur, says the king, whose favourite deity was Lord Vengadam, donated a crown decorated with diamond and red stones. The weight of gold and diamond are also mentioned in the inscriptions, which are in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. 
Prof Sastry, who has done extensive research on these inscriptions, says, “He (Krishnadevaraya) visited Tirupati on October 25, 1515. Another record was of his visit on January 2, 517. He again visited on September 9, 1518. 

It was his practice that whenever he was on a campaign, he would visit Tirumala and make offerings as thanksgiving. One inscription mentions about his visit to Tirumala after defeating Prathapa Rudra Gajapathiraya. The inscription speaks of conquest of Udayagiri. He visited Tirumala on a Thursday in Ashada Masa in 1436 (according to the Hindu calendar) and made an offering of 30,000 Kanaka (gold) rokka, Gadhyana and Varahas (coins with Vijayanagara emblem ‘Varaha’),” he said. 

As per the inventory prepared by the expert committee based on the inscriptions, the Emperor had presented one Ratna Kireetam, studded with precious stones such as garnets (2822), emeralds (160), diamonds (423), rubies (3), sapphires (10), cat eyes (1), agate (1) and pearls (1,339) during his first visit on 10-2-1513. In all, its total weight is recorded at 3,308 tunkhas (each tunkha is equal to 2.5 grams).

On his second visit on 2-5-1513, he presented ‘vidudhara' (a gold ornament), three pairs of bhujakeerthis, three swords with sheaths, two sheaths with tassels, a pendent, two pairs of addigalapeta with a gold chain and a kireetam (crown).

During the third visit on 13-6-1513, he offered to the Lord nine kinds of precious stones. Sri Krishnadevaraya performed a ‘Kanakabhishekam' for the Lord with 30,000 gold coins (varahalu) during his fourth visit on 6-7-1514. One ‘thrisaram' (three-stringed ornament), a pair of kadiyams were donated along with the gold coins during the visit.

A copper statue of Sri Krishnadevaraya along with his consorts Tirumala Devi and Chinnadevi paying obeisance to the Lord was presented during his sixth visit on 16-10-1518. A ‘peetambaram' studded with nine kinds of precious stones, was donated on his last visit on 17-2-1521. The description of each antique with the kind of metal and the stones used for its making and its weight was mentioned in the report.