The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t5.5

v2.c15.s2.t5.5

Pratāparudra put his new-modelled army to test by pitting it against the Kāyastha chiefs. It may be remembered that Ambadēva suffered a defeat at the hands of Pratāparudra when he was still the co-regent of his grandmother Rudrāmbā about A.D. 1293, and was compelled as a consequence to retire from Tripurāntakam and its neighbourhood. He, however, continued to rule over his native Muliki-nāḍu until A.D. 1304. He was succeeded by his son Tripurāri II, who held sway over his ancestral kingdom until at least A.D. 1305.¹ The relations between Pratāparudra and the Kāyasthas after Ambadēva’s defeat mentioned above are by no means clear. Though writers on the Kākatīya history declare that Ambadēva subsequently became a vassal of Pratāparudra, the available epigraphic evidence seems definitely to indicate that the status of himself and his successors as independent princes remained for the moment unaltered. Neither in the inscriptions of Ambadēva nor in those of his successors is there found any mention of an overlord. It seems therefore reasonable to assume that they stayed independent for a while. Their power, however, was not destined to endure very long. Pratāparudra sent an army against them under his general Mahārāya-Paṭṭasahini Sōmaya Nāyaka in A.D. 1309, and Indulūri Annaya as well as a number of other commanders accompanied him with their forces. In the war that followed, the kings of Mōpūru, that is, the Kāyasthas, were overthrown, and the government of their territories, which were annexed to the kingdom, was entrusted to Sōmaya Nāyaka.²