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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
of the big mosque at Rajahmundry by Sālār ‘ Ulwī, a servant of Ulugh Khān ’.[1] By this date the
conquest of the whole of the coastal region of the Āndhra country was complete. Ghiyās-ud-dīn
Tughluq’s coins discovered in this part of the country, ranging in dates from A.H. 722 to 726 [2]
(i.e. from 1322 to 1326 A.D.) were current in that region. However, the year 1325 A.D., the date
of the Mallavaram stone record of Vēmā Reḍḍi, [3] marks the turning of the tide, and indicates the
beginning, and 1326 A.D., the date of the Santamāgalūru record [4] of Kolani Rudradēva, the completion of the re-conquest and the final liberation of the coastal region of the Āndhra country.
A few inscriptions of the early post-Kākatīya period, of the Telugu-Chōḍas and the Reḍḍis, however, contain references to their victories over the Muslims in general, and of the particular Muslim
chiefs and commanders, in the course of the war. The Peṇṭapāḍu grant of Chōḍa Bhaktirāja[5]
is a very interesting record in this respect, as it furnishes some valuable information about Prōlaya-nāyaka and a certain Vēṅga-bhūpati. From this we learn that subsequent to the death of the
father of Chōḍa Bhaktirāja, who was then a boy, the Āndhra country (avanī-chakram=Āndhraṁ)
was conquered (hṛitaṁ) by the Yavanas (Mussalmans), when the valourous and righteous Prōlaya-nāyaka, son of the heroic Pōchaya-nāyaka, together with his associate Vēṅgarāja left the Vēṅgī
vishaya and repaired to a Vana-durga surrounded by hundreds of mountains. They both had
reconquered the Āndhra country after putting an end to the entire Turushka horse in battle (Samarē
śamit-āśēsha-Turushka-turag-ōtkarau, punar=āharatām=ētāv=Āṁdhraṁ maṇḍalam=arddhātaḥ).
After killing all the Yavana commanders (vihat-ākhila-Yavana-vāhini-nāthaḥ), Vēṅga-bhūpati
went to heaven (probably was killed in battle), as if to help Indra in battle. This Vēṅga-bhūpati
great-grandson of Brahmā, grandson of Dēva and son of Kāmarāja of the Lunar dynasty, was the
maternal uncle of Kāma, alias Bhaktirāja, son of Gaṅgarāja of the Solar dynasty. Consequent
on the death of Vēṅga-bhūpati, probably without leaving an heir to his kingdom, Prōlaya-nāyaka
installed Bhaktirāja, while he was still a boy as the ruler of his maternal uncle’s territory, which
seems to have comprised Vēṅgī and its surrounding tracts. Thus Chōḍa Bhaktirāja who, according to the grant referred to above, owed his elevation to the support given to him by Prōlaya-nāyaka, though a boy, killed the infantry and cavalry of the Yavana king (Bhakti-kshitipālakō=
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[1] Ep. Indo-Mos., 1923-1924, pp. 13 ff.
[2] A Forgotten Chapter of Āndhra History, p. 17.
[3] Nellore District Inscriptions, Vol. III, O. 73. The Mallavaram record registers a grant of land to god Rāghava of Chadalavāḍa in the Ongole Taluk of the Guntur District in the Śaka year denoted by the chronogram
Śaila (7), Vārdhi (4), and Dyumaṇi (12), that is, 1247, in the month of Āśvija on the occasion of a solar eclipse
on Thursday (Āśvīnasy=āvasānē rāhu-grastē=himāṁśav Suraguru-divasē) by Vēmā-reḍḍi, one of Prōlaya-nāyaka’s subordinate associates, who is described in the record as “ the very Agastya to the ocean, namely, Mlēchchhas (Mlēchchh-āṁbhōdhi-Kalaś-ōdbhavaḥ). The equivalent English date is 7th October, 1325 A.D. The
date Śaka 1277 given by Butterworth and Venugopala Chetty in the Nellore inscriptions by assigning the value
7 to Vārdhi, and the occasion as lunar eclipse (himāṁśau) are both wrong as pointed out by Mr. H. K. Narasimhaswami in the course of his article on the Kōḍūru grant of Anavōtā Reḍḍi (above, Vol. XXV, p. 139 and n. 5).
He takes himāṁśu as ahimāṁśu correctly but accepts the value seven given by the authors for the term vārdhi.
Hence he finds the date irregular as there was no solar eclipse in the month of Āśvija in Śaka 1277. So he writes,
“ The word vārdhi in the chronogram śaila-vārdhi-dyumaṇi as read by the authors (Butterworth and Venugopala Chetty) mentioned above has therefore to be altered suitably by some such word as tarka to give the numeral
6 in place of 7, and the chronogram equated with 1267.” If corrected like this the date becomes regular as there
was a solar eclipse in the month of Āśvija on Thursday in Śaka 1267. But the numerical value generally given
to vārdhi is 4 and not 7. Then the Śaka date becomes 1247 and not 1277. In 1247 there was a solar eclipse in
the month of Āśvija on Monday, Śaśidhara-divasa, and not on Thursday, Suraguru-divasa. The week day
does not totally tally, if 1247 is taken. However this Śaka date which is given so clearly in the inscription may
be accepted.
[4] A. R. Ep., 1915, No. 308.
[5] Ibid., 1946-47, App. A, No. 3.
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