The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t4.70

v2.c15.s2.t4.70

The good fortune which had smiled on Ambadēva since the beginning of his career deserted him in the latter part of his reign. The tide at last turned against him. He met in Kumāra Rudradēva, the heir apparent to the Kākatīya throne, a foe who proved more than a match for him. Kumāra Rudradēva was a grandson of Rudramadēvī—the son of her daughter Mummaḍamma and her husband Mahādēva—whom she had adopted as her son and appointed as heir apparent.³ By the time that Ambadēva succeeded his elder brother Tripurāri I in A.D. 1272, Kumāra Rudradēva appears to have been fully adult. According to one tradition preserved in the *Telugurājula-charitramu*, he was born in Ś. 1166 (obviously a mistake for Ś. 1176) Ānanda (A.D. 1254).⁴ This is not unlikely, since he is mentioned in the Mālkāpuram inscription of Rudramadēvī, dated Ś. 1183 Durmati (A.D. 1261).⁵ Ever since he had taken the reins of government into his own hands, he had made the rehabilitation of the kingdom his sole aim, and to achieve his purpose, had, if tradition can be depended on, reorganized the military force of the kingdom and had strengthened the *nāyankara* system which appears to have lost its vigour and efficiency during the previous administration. Ambadēva was not unaware of the danger threatening the security of his kingdom, and he took necessary steps to defend his possessions as soon as the danger took a concrete shape. Considering that his army, notwithstanding its strength and its tradition of continuous victory on several fields of battle, was unequal to coping with the Kākatīya forces, he entered into an alliance with the Sēuṇas and the Pāṇḍyas, the hereditary foes of the Kākatīyas. The former, according to his Tripurāntakam and Nilagaṅgavaram inscriptions dated Ś. 1212 Vikṛiti (A.D. 1290-1), merely sent him only presents of golden jewels set with gems presumably intended as tokens of their goodwill; but the latter showed their friendship by the dispatch of fierce elephants and fleet-footed horses as auxiliary forces to his assistance.⁶ This is corroborated by the evidence of three inscriptions at Nandalūr, one dated in the 15th and the other two in the 17th regnal year of Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāṇḍya II corresponding respectively to (Ś. 1208)