The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t3.102

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The feudatories of the second class came under the Kākatiya rule only during the time of Gaṇapati. Of these the Ayya chiefs of Divi are the most noticeable. Gaṇapati, it may be remembered, reduced the Ayya family to subjection about A.D. 1202, married, as mentioned above, two princesses, Nāramāmbā and Pēramāmbā, the daughters of Pina Chōḍi, and took Jāyapa, one of the three sons of that chief, into his service.⁴ Jāyapa was a distinguished soldier who appears to have been specially skilled in training the war elephants and overseeing their employment on the field of battle. He became the *gaja-sāhiṇi* of Gaṇapati and rendered valuable service in his wars, especially during his campaign in Kaliṅga. Jāyapa was a connoisseur of art and a distinguished man of letters; he composed a treatise on dancing and choreography called the *Nṛittaratnāvali*, which is considered by competent authorities to be the best work extant on the subject by any Indian writer. The most important and powerful feudatories of Gaṇapati, however, belonged to the various branches of the Telugu Chōḷa family. Of these, the Telugu Chōḷas of Nellore, who must be regarded as subordinate allies rather than feudatories, demand attention first. The part played by Tikka and Manuma Siddhi II in the southern wars of Gaṇapati has already been described and their activities need not be considered afresh in this context. Next in importance were the Ēruva and Pottapi branches of the family.

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How and when these were reduced to subjection by Gaṇapati is not definitely known, but the former appear to have come under the Kākatīya power soon after the overthrow of the Velanāḍus. As Chōḍa Tikka, who took part in Gaṇapati's last war with Pṛithvīśvara, is said to have conquered the *manniya* chiefs of Ēruva in the early years of that king's reign, it is not unlikely that Tikka may have in fact undertaken the conquest of the district at the instance of his ally. However that may be, it seems certain that this conquest was effected before Gaṇapati's invasion of Kaliṅga in A.D. 1212; for Ēruva Bhīma, who must have entered into the service of the Kākatīya monarch after the subjugation of his territory, took an active part in it, as we have mentioned above. The Telugu Chōḷas of Pottapi appear to have come under the Kākatīya rule about the same time or a little later; and Ōpili Siddhi of this family, at the instance of his master Gaṇapatidēva, defeated Mallidēva, the Telugu Chōḷa of Koṇidena, conquered Kamma-nāḍu, and was granted possession of the Six-Thousand Country as a reward for his services.¹ The Chakranārāyaṇa princes of Addaṅki were probably forced to submit about the same time. Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Mādhavā Mahārāja of this family, who was apparently ruling as an independent chief in A.D. 1208–9, is said in an inscription of his son Śārṅgadharadēva, dated A.D.

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1254–5, to have been a vassal of Kākati Gaṇapatidēva;² a certain Mādēva or Mādhava Nāyaka, who was ruling over this region as a subordinate of Gaṇapati in A.D. 1239–40, has been identified with this Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Mādhavā Mahārāja.³ If this identification should be accepted, it would corroborate the evidence of Śārṅgadharadēva's inscription that Mādhava was indeed a vassal of Gaṇapati. He was succeeded by his sons Siṅghaḷadēva and Śārṅgadharadēva, who ruled their principality jointly as the subordinates of Gaṇapati until A.D. 1257.⁴ The Chakranārāyaṇa line has been wrongly taken by modern writers to have been an offshoot of the Sēuṇa family of Dēvagiri. There is, however, absolutely no evidence in support of this view, though since Mādhava Mahārāja and his descendants were members of the Śālaṅkāyana-gōtra or clan, it is not improbable that they had some remote connexion with the kings of the Śālaṅkāyana dynasty who held sway over the coastal Āndhra country in the 4th and 5th centuries of the Christian era. Certain chiefs of the Eastern Chāḷukyan descent do in fact figure in the inscriptions of Gaṇapati, but nothing of importance is known about them, though Gaṇapati's daughter Rudrāmbā was given in marriage to Virabhadra, one of the members of this family.¹ Another member of the family, Bhīmarāju who made the gift of a village to the temple of Tripurāntaka-Mahādēva at Tripurāntakam in A.D. 1257, appears to have taken an active part in Gaṇapati's expedition to the South.

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His titles *Drāviḷa-bhayajvara*, *Karṇāṭa-māṇḍalika-vairi-gōdhuma-ghaṭṭana-gharaṭṭa*, and *Ballāḍarāya-diśāpaṭṭa*, clearly indicate that he participated in Sāmanta Bhōja's expedition in A.D. 1249.² Another Chāḷukyan chief, whose name is now unfortunately lost, held the offices of the *sakala sēnādhipati* (commander-in-chief of all the armies) and *paṭṭasāhini*. He claims to have been the Gāṇḍīva (Arjuna) of the battle which was fought on the banks of the Gōdāvarī and that he there cut off the head of Goṇṭūri Nāgadēva,³ who, as we have mentioned above, was probably an ally of the Eastern Gaṅga king Narasimha I.