The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t4.22

v2.c15.s2.t4.22

The Pāṇḍyas were now in possession of a large part of the Kākatīya territory in the south which they had occupied after their victory at Muttukūr. Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I is indeed said to have entrusted this country to the brothers of that Vīra-Gaṇḍagōpāla whom he had slain in the battle; apparently they were to govern it as the feudatories of the Pāṇḍyas.² But in fact nothing is really known either of these brothers or of their reputed rule at Nellore. It is most probable that Vikrama Pāṇḍya, one of the co-regents of Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I, had actually made an unsuccessful attack on the Kākatīya dominions; the statement in one of his undated inscriptions at Chidambaram that he did not carry his arms to the north because a woman who had assumed the name of a king was then ruling there would seem to be a euphemistic cover for the failure of an abortive expedition led by him against the Kākatīya kingdom.³ The available epigraphic evidence shows that immediately after Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I’s return to the south, Nellore and its dependencies passed into the hands of Tribhuvana Chakravartin Vīrarājēndra Chōḷa, who is identical with the last Chōḷa emperor Rājēndra III,⁴ and who apparently held the territory as a subordinate of the Pāṇḍyan monarch. The inscriptions of Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya I at Nandalūr and Tirupati show that the eastern half of the Cuddapah district as well as the Chittoor district were also annexed by him.⁵ The Kalukaḍa chiefs Kēsavadēva and his brother Rāyamurāri Sōmidēva, sons of Rāyadēva Mahārāja whom Gaṅgaya Sāhiṇi had previously fought with and subdued, encouraged probably by the Pāṇḍyas, forswore their allegiance and proclaimed their independence. They made inroads into the Kāyastha territory and succeeded in reducing a large part of it. Though in his inscriptions dated Ś. 1186 and Ś. 1191 Gaṇḍapeṇḍēra Jannigadēva is said to have been then ruling the territory extending from Pānugal to Kaivāraṅkoṭa in the Kolar district, this assertion is contradicted by the records of the two Kalukaḍa chieftains.¹ It is stated in an epigraph at Ellāreḍḍipalle in the Kamalapur tāluk of the Cuddapah district, dated Prabhava corresponding to Ś. 1189 (A.D. 1267–8), that Bhujabala Viranārāyaṇa Sōmēśvaradēva Mahārāja, who is the Sōmidēva mentioned above, was at that time in control of the districts of Muliki 300, Homnahaṭi (Honnavāḍi) 90, and Peṇḍekallu 800 from the Kāyastha capital Vallūripaṭṭaṇam.² Another inscription at Chintalaputtūru in the Cuddapah tāluk of the Cuddapah district, dated Vibhava corresponding to Ś. 1190 (A.D. 1268–9), bears testimony to the rule of Mahāmaṇḍalēśvaras Murāri Kēśavadēva Mahārāja and Sōmidēva Mahārāja, the lords of Kalukaḍapura, over the Kāyastha territory at that time.³ If the Sōmidēva mentioned in a record at Guṇḍluru in the Rajampet tāluk of the Cuddapah district dated Ś. 1206 is, as is very likely, identical with the Kalukaḍa chief of that name, then the Kāyastha territory must have remained under the Kalukaḍas at least until that year.⁴ The absence of any reference in the inscriptions of Tripurāridēva and Ambadēva, brothers and successors of Jannigadēva, to any victory over the Kalukaḍa chiefs prior to Ś. 1194 (A.D. 1272)⁵ seems to point in the same direction.