The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t4.54

v2.c15.s2.t4.54

Some time after his victory over the Kākatīya army Ambadēva concerted measures to reconquer the ancestral territories of his family which had been under the occupation of the Kalukada chiefs ever since the Pāndyan invasion in A.D. 1263. Although the Kalukadas were strongly supported by their ally and kinsman, Allu Ganga the Telugu Chōla ruler of Jagatāpi Gutti, now Gutti in the Anantapur district in the Āndhra Pradesh, they seem to have felt that they could not by themselves successfully withstand the Kāyastha attack and therefore sought the help of the Pāndyas who were at this time masters of the whole of South India. In response to his request, Vijaya-Gandagōpāla and Kōpperunjinga were commissioned by the Pāndyas, as recorded above, to march with their forces to the north and to help the Kalukada princes to defend their possessions. They set out with their troops in A.D. 1278-9 and reached the frontier in due course. They seem to have met Ambadēva’s army somewhere in the neighbourhood of Nandalūr. In the engagement that followed they suffered a defeat; Kōpperunjinga was killed,¹ and Vijaya-Gandagōpāla withdrew into his own kingdom where he seems to have died during the course of the same year. Soon after this victory, an opportunity presented itself to Ambadēva which enabled him to extend his sway as far as Nellore in the east. Manuma-Gandagōpāla, obviously a prince of the Telugu Chōla lineage, who had been driven out of his kingdom by his followers, sought his help. He immediately marched to Nellore at the head of his army, and having put down Manuma-Gandagōpāla’s enemies re-established him on his throne. The date of Ambadēva’s intervention in the affairs of Nellore is not definitely known. It took place probably in A.D. 1282, in which year, according to the evidence of Manuma-Gandagōpāla’s inscriptions, he began his reign.²