EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
capital was the city of Addaṅki in the country of Pûṅgi, which extended from the eastern
slopes of Śrîgiri[1] to the eastern sea[2] on both sides of the river Kuṇḍi (vv. 14 and 15). At an
eclipse of the moon on Chaitrî[3] in the Śâka year counted by the mountains (7), the seasons
(6) and the suns (12),─ in figures 1267,─ in the presence if Mâṇḍûka-Śaṁbhu,[4] king Vêma
gave as an agrahâra to several Brâhmaṇas the village of Âtukûru, which was situated on the
northern bank of the river Kṛishṇâ, and which was renamed Vêmapuram after the donor
(vv. 17 and 18). After this comes a list of the donees, which is followed by a detailed account
of the boundaries if Âtukûru,─ boundaries which were entirely of a temporary nature, and
which must have disappeared centuries ago. The inscription ends with the usual imprecatory
verses and the signature Śrî-Pallava-Trinêtra (line 87).
This is the earliest inscription of the Reḍḍi dynasty as yet discovered. There is another
inscription of Vêma at Amarâvatî, also dated in the Śaka year 1267,[5] but in the month of
Kârttika. The Śaka year quoted in the subjoined inscription was the expired and not the current
year, and the date of the grant corresponds to Friday, the 18th March A.D. 1345, on which
date there was, according to Professor Kielhorn, “ a total eclipse of the moon from 18 h. 49 m.
to 22 h. 27 m. after mean sunrise, and therefore visible in India.” In the Amarâvatî inscription
the corresponding cyclic year is given as Pârthiva.
I have not met with the name of Pûṅgi elsewhere and cannot say whether it has anything to
do with Ongole, which is a contraction of Vaṅgavôlu─ the town of Vaṅga. It would perhaps
be more fanciful to derive the word from Pâka in Pâkanâḍu. The country of Pûṅgi comprised
parts of the modern districts of Kurnool, Nellore and Kistna. The village Âtukûru I identify
with Gani-Âtukûru─ west of Bezvâḍa. Addaṅki is the well-known village of that name
in the Ongole tâluka of the Nellore district and is the head-quarters of a Deputy Tahsildar. The
river Kuṇḍi is the Guṇḍlakamma of the map and is called Brahma-Kuṇḍi and Kuṇḍi-Prabha
in the Amarâvatî inscription.
All the accounts hitherto published of the genealogy of the Reḍḍi chiefs open with
Kômaṭi-Prôla. This inscription gives us the name of Prôla’s father Vêma, after whom his
illustrious grandson was named. This account is corroborated by the Telugu Harivaṁśam, which
was dedicated to Vêma, the donor of the present grant. In this book Vêma is called indiscriminately
Vêma, Kômaṭi-Vêma, Prôlaya-Vêma, or Annama-Vêma. The second and third names are
combinations of Vêma’s own name with those of his father, and the last name he derived from
his mother. From the Harivaṁśam we learn that Prôla’s wife Annamâ was the daughter of
Doḍḍa, who had three sons, viz. Pôta, Chiṭṭa and Nâga. Chiṭṭa had a son named Nûka
who is said to have been a very dear friend of Vêma. He is perhaps identical with Nallanûṅka,
who married Vêma’s daughter Vêmasani.[6] From the same book we learn that Vêma’s younger
brother Malla took Môṭupalli[7]─ from whom it is not stated─ and that he was of great help to
Vêma. The latter statement derives corroboration from the Amarâvatî inscription already
referred to, which says that Vêma fixed five golden post on the top of the temple of Amarêśvara for
the eternal benefit (puṇya) of his younger brother Mallâ-Reḍḍi. Before taking leave of the
Harivaṁśam, it may be pointed out that that book mentions only two sons of Vêma, viz. Pôta
(afterwards called Anapôta or Anavôta) and Kômaṭi. Anavêma, Doḍḍâmbikâ and Vêmasâni
were apparently not yet born when the Harivaṁśam was composed, and Kômaṭi probably died
while yet a boy.
__________________________________________________________________
[1] Śrîśailam in the Kurnool district.
[2] The Bay of Bengal.
[3] I.e. the full-moon day in the month of Chaitra.
[4] I.e. at the Śiva temple called Mâṇḍûkêśvara.
[5] No. 268 of the Government Epigraphist’s collection for 1897.
[6] See above, Vol. III. p. 287, and the genealogical tree published in the Report on Epigraphy for 1899-1900.
[7] In the Bâpaṭla tâluka of the Kistna district.
|