The Madhurāvijayam or Vīra Kamparāya caritam by Gangā Dēvi was discovered by accident amidst a heap of worn out palm-leaf manuscripts as part of a series of Sanskrit works; and, but for the careful scrutiny of the Head Pandit of the curator of Sanskrit Mss. Trivandrum, it would have gone the way of many other works of the past which are not available to us. The original is in grantha characters and is full of errors. The manuscript, as discovered, was incomplete, with ten leaves missing in the middle and many slokas incomplete in the available portion. Though it is not possible to say how many slokas have been lost, it is fairly certain that the complete work might have included at least seventy more verses than are extant now.
The following analysis will show the number of verses available for scholars in all the nine cantos of the work.
The manuscript discovered in the condition described above was first brought to light in 1916 by Pandits G. Harihara Sastri and V. Srinivasa Sastri of Trivan drum. The manuscript itself was in the possession of Pandit N. Ramaswami Sastri and the credit of preserving and publishing the available portion of the manuscript must go to these three scholars. The Trivandrum Edition of the work of which the first two Pandits are the editors is the only available edition of the work and contains only the text of the work.
The present edition of the Madhurāvijayam is based on the only manuscript available. The editor has been in search of a second and more perfect copy of the manuscript these fifteen years and his efforts have not so far met with any success. Yet in publishing the present edition of the work with the same imperfections of the original as are found in the Trivandrum edition, the editor has at least the satisfaction that he is giving a translation of the whole work for the first time. The introduction to the Trivandrum edition by the distinguished scholar Sri T. A. Gopinatha Rao throws welcome light on some of the dark corners of the history of the “forgotten empire.” But many of his conclusions are now in need of revision in the light of the information that is now available and that was not available when Sri Gopinatha Rao wrote the introduction. Again, Sri Gopinatha Rao has failed to avail fully of the epigraphical evidence on the two great events described in the Madhurāvijayam: the destruction of the Sambuvarāya rule in Tondaimandalam and the destruction of the Madhurai Sultanate. He has depended too much on literary evidence without looking for epigraphical or other kind of corroboration. The result is we find him questioning even the veracity of the Madhurāvijayam in regard to the final fate of the Sambuvarāya rule. The Madhurāvijayam describes the total extermination of the Sambuvarāya rule in Tondaimandalam while Sri Gopinatha Rao doubts if Gangā Dēvi’s reference to the killing of the Sambuva rāya might not be to “heighten the poetic effect of the narrative."‘Sri Gopinatha Rao has also mixed up chronological and genealogical factors of Sambuvarāya history, depending on literary evidence, and made the Sambuvarāya a “tributary” of Kampaņa. This question has been examined thoroughly in the introduction and it will be seen that new light has been thrown on Sambuyarāya-Vijayanagar relationship. It has also been shown that the destruction of the Sambuvarāya rule and of the Madhurai Sultanate by Kampana were not two isolated events but two aspects of a grand and vital scheme, viz., “Madhurāvijayam” or the conquest of Madhurai.
This edition can be justified on other grounds as well. For the first time a succinct history of the Sambuvarāyas is supplied. The Sambuvarāyas were no doubt an insignificant line of feudatory chiefs but the times during which they ruled were great in the history of South India. With the Hoysala power reduced to nullity, with the Kākatiya fame dimmed for ever, with the Pāndyas no longer sovereigns of Madhurai, South India, especially the Tamil country, afforded splendid opportunities for adventurous marauders. The catastrophe which overtook the Tamil country was the direct result of the relentless campaigns of Alauddin’s general, Malik Kafur. The feudatory chiefs of the South assumed a great importance during the period of political vacuum immediately following Malik Kafur’s South Indian raids. A reconstruction and consolidation of the territory was no easy task and the emergence of the Vijayanagar kingdom was thus a great blessing and a boon to the chaotic south. That this work of re construction and consolidation was inaugurated by Kampaņa, the hero of this poem, is of especial interest to us. Some of the chronological problems of the period have been given what the editor will permit himself to call acceptable solutions. A brief account of the condition of the Tamil country between 1311 and 1371 has been given and much of the information may be found to be new.
The editor owes a duty to three great historians of India, one of whom alone is happily in our midst. Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar and Dewan Bahadur C. S. Srinivasachariar, both of hailowed memory, enthused the editor in the work which he had taken up with great diffidence; and what should have been offer ed at the feet of these two great savants of our country by their humble student can, by their passing away, only be dedicated to their memory. Dr. N. Venkataramanayya, the great authority on Vijayanagar history who is happily with us, gave the editor no small encouragement and to him he owes a great debt of gratitude.
The editor is grateful to the late Dr. K. V. Reddi Naidu Garu during whose regime as Vice-Chancellor this work was accepted by the University for publica tion. Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Iyer was instrumental in speeding up the publication of the work which had been long delayed for some reason or other. To him the editor owes a great debt of gratitude. Dr. S. Venkateswaran, Professor of Sanskrit, Annamalai University was kind enough to go through the translation and offer helpful suggestions. The editor has pleasure in acknowledging the Professor’s valuable help. Last, but not the least, the editor’s grateful thanks are due to Sri G. Srinivasachariar, proprietor of the G. S. Press for the fine execution of the printing work.
Karaikudi 6-11-1956