The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t1.44

v2.c15.s2.t1.44

While Rudra was busily engaged in the subjugation of the Kōṭas and Koṇḍapaḍumaṭis in the south, important changes were taking place at the same time in the Gōdāvarī delta to the east. On the death of the Chālukya-Chōḷa emperor Rājarāja II in A.D. 1172, Mallapadēva, the son of Vijayāditya III of the Bēta-Vijayāditya line of the later Eastern Chālukyan family, asserted his independence, and made himself master of Prōlu-*nāḍu* comprising portions of the Pihāpuram and Kākināḍa *tāluks* of the E. Godavari district. How a petty chief like Mallapadēva succeeded in establishing his independence in defiance of the authority of the Velanāṭis, the representatives of the Chālukya-Chōḷa emperors, without some powerful support from outside, is not quite clear. Judging from the friendship which obviously existed between him and Kākati Rudra in subsequent years, it is not improbable that the latter, who had been making great efforts since the time of his accession to bring the Gōdāvarī delta under his control, lent him a helping hand. In any case matters came to a head about A.D. 1184, when Velanāṭi Pṛthvīśvara, who, as mentioned above, had lost his hold on his home territory, made his appearance in the Godavari district at the head of an army and attacked Mallapadēva. The latter, unable to oppose him single-handed, appealed to Rudradēva for help, and who, responding readily to the call, marched into the Gōdāvarī valley with his army and joined him at Dākshārāmam, as shown by an epigraph found at that place, dated in the 5th regnal year of Sarvalōkāśraya Vishṇuvardhana, corresponding to Śaka 1108 (A.D. 1185–6).¹ Rudra’s help did not, however, prove of much avail to Mallapadēva; for he seems to have been worsted in the fight and to have been driven from power; for the inscriptions of Pṛthvīśvara leave no room for doubt that this prince became the master of Prōlū-nāḍu in A.D. 1185, and successfully held it until the time of his death.²