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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
date of this inscription to that of the first recorded Khaljī expedition seems to indicate that
Manaraṅgodarirāju and Layiṅgayadēva opposed the Turakas successfully on this occasion and
forced them to return to their country. A damaged epigraph at Śrīśailam in the Kurnool District
states that the Kākatīya general, Mahārāyasthāpanāchārya Kāchaya-reḍḍi, son of Mailaya-reḍḍi,
who placed the Kākita throne on a firm footing, vanquished the Turaka king, who invaded the
Teluṅga country after subjugating Gauḷa, Gūrjara, Mālava, Mahārāshṭra and other countries.[1]
The Turaka king vanquished by Kāchaya-reḍḍi was in all probability ‘Alā-ud-dīn Khaljī ; for
A though he is not known to have conquered Gauḷa (Lakhnāutī), the other countries mentioned
in the record were subjugated between 1296 and 1310 A.D. either by ‘Alā-ud-dīn himself or one
of his generals. The occasion when Kāchaya-reḍḍi defeated the Turakas cannot, however, be
ascertained definitely ; for, in the first place, the Śrīśailam epigraph which registers his victory
bears no date. Secondly, it cannot be referred to either of the two expeditions which ‘Alā-ud-Dīn
is known to have sent against Tiling. The first of these which was despatched in 1303 A.D. no
doubt ended, as pointed out already, in disaster ; but the conquest of Mālava and Gūrjara
referred to in the Śrīśailam record was not effected, by that time. ‘Alā-ud-dīn was still engaged
in Rajputana. Mālava was conquered in 1305 A.D. and Gūrjara (Gujarat) in 1309 A.D. The
Śrīśailam epigraph must be assigned therefore to a date subsequent to the conquest of these
countries. The second invasion according to the unanimous testimony of all the Muslim historians
was a great triumph of the Sultān’s armies ; and it is highly improbable that Kāchaya-reḍḍi
effected the destruction of Turaka forces on this occasion. Therefore Kāchaya-reḍḍi’s victory
must have taken place in the course of another expedition, which is not recorded for some reason
by the court historians of Delhi.
Telugu literary tradition handed down from the beginning of the fifteenth century A.D.
preserves also the memory of several victories of Pratāparudra and his generals over the Eussalmans. The poet Śrīnātha, who flourished at the courts of the Reḍḍi kings of Koṇḍavīḍu and
Rajahmundry in the first half of the fifteenth century refers, in the introduction to his Bhīmēśvara
Purāṇamu, to Prōlaya Anna, one of Pratāparudra’s ministers as the “ fire of destruction to the
Yavanas ”.[2] The Śivayōgasāram speaks of Mahāpradhāni Gannaya Preggaḍa, another minister
of Pratāparudra, as the vanquisher of the Turakas and the protector of the fort of Warangal.[3]
The Velugōṭivāri Vaṁśāvaḷi a chronicle of the Rēcherla chiefs of the Velugōḍu family alludes
to the battle of Kolachelamapura, in which Rēcherla Yācha, son of Prasāditya, put to flight the
Turakas and having captured their horses took them to the court.[4] The birudāvaḷi of some of the
Nāyaka families that were in the service of the Kākatīya monarchs alludes also to the Hindu
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[1] A. R. Ep., No. 54 of 1942-43.
[2] Bhīmēśvara Purāṇamu, 1. 48.
Yavana-saṁhāra-vilaya-kālāgni-yanaga
. . . .
vinutik=ekken=atula-bala-sīri
Prōlaya-Anna-śauri
[3] The concerned passage reads :
ōpi Turukala gelchi Pratāparudra-manuja-nāyaku kōṭan=ēmaraka kāche.
ā [Sultān=Ōrugall-ena] chuṭṭu-muṭṭan=ekkuva-līla=dāne [kal-kō]ṭa gāche.
Kākit=ēśuḍu mechcha galu-kōṭa vesa gāchi.
Published in the Kākatīya Saṁchika and the Telugu journal Subhāshi.
[4] Velugōṭivāri Vaṁśāvaḷi, p. 14, verse 48.
. . . . . . Turakalan=dōli tat-sainya-rājī
ghōr-āji-dhāṭi chellan Golachalam-purin ghōṭikā-kōṭi=dechchen.
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