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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA the cause of freedom. It is certain that it could not have been possible for Rudradēva to make this grant of a village as an agrahāra while the coastal country was under the iron grip of the Mussalmans. These two facts mentioned above, namely, the title borne by Anna-mantri and the grant of an agrahāra to him by Kolani Rudradēva, clearly suggest the important role played by these two aged Āndhra statesmen in the national movement started for the liberation of the Āndhra country. Siṁgaya-nāyaka, son of Era Dāchā-nāyaka of the Rēcherla family, was another survivor of the disaster. His father Era Dācha accompanied Muppiḍi-nāyaka in his expedition against the Pāṇḍyas to Kāñchīpura in 1315 A.D. He is said to have “ constructed a maṇḍala with arrows and on the dias of the elephants made an offering of the pride of the Pāṇḍya king in the hōma fire of his valour and accepted the hand of the bride of victory.”[1] His son Siṁgaya also must have followed his father and taken part in the battle of Kāñchī. All his activities described in the Telugu work Veluyōṭivāri Vaṁśāvaḷi refer to the early post-Kākatīya period.[2] Kūnaya-nāyaka, the son of Gaṇapati-nāyaka and the grandson of Kēsami-nāyaka was another contemporary of Prōlaya-nāyaka and Kāpaya-nāyaka. Kēsami-nāyaka who is said to have won a victory against the Pāṇḍyas according to the Kōrukoṇḍa inscription of Mummaḍi-nāyaka,[3] must have served Pratāparudra and taken part in the expedition against Kāñchī.
The Vīrasāmanta chiefs, Kāpaya-nāyaka and Prōlaya-nāyaka, also must have been the contemporaries of the Musunūri chiefs since the date of the Dōnepūḍi record of Nāmaya-nāyaka, grandson of Kāpa and son of Prōla, is dated in Śaka 1259.[4] Similarly the Uṇḍirājas of the Solar race, Veṅga-bhūpati, king of Vēṅgī, and his relations, the Telugu Chōḍa chiefs of Ēruva, Gaṅgādhara and his son Chōḍa Bhaktirāja, especially the latter, co-operated with the Musunūri chiefs in the war of independence.[5] All the Nāyakas and chiefs mentioned above, besides many others whose names are not known to us, must have formed into a confederacy, acknowledged the leadership of Prōlaya-nāyaka and gathered under his banner to free the country from the foreign yoke. These confederates must have made the mountainous regions and forest areas on the banks of the Gōdāvarī and the Kṛishṇā their rendezvous to put into action their plans to free the country, first the coastal plain below the Ghats and then the upland country of Telaṅgāna above the Ghats. The various measures concerted by Prōlaya-nāyaka and his associates to liberate the country from the Muslim yoke and how they accomplished their object are totally unknown to us. We know, however, for certain that Madhya-Āndhradēśa, as the coastal Āndhra country was then called, very soon had regained its independence, almost within two or three years after its subjugation by the Muslims. Warangal fell in 1323 A.D. ; but the whole of Telaṅgāna and Madhya Āndhradēśa did not immediately come under the sway of the Muslims. There was strong opposition to the Muslim army. However, the coastal plain submitted to the arms of the conquering hordes within a year, that is, by the 10th September, 1324 A.D., the date of the construction _________________________________________________ [1] A. R., Arch. Dept., Hyderabad, 1933-34, p. 29, App. C. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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