Epigraphia Indica Vol 26

SR No.: 032580
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1945
Total Pages: 448
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 24 MB

Page 34

No. 2.] RAJAHMUNDRY MUSEUM PLATES OF TELUGU CHODA ANNADEVA.
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Taking this year to be the first year of his reign and allowing a deration of 25 years for each generation, we get 1356—(4 x 25)=A.D. 1256 as the approximate date of the commencement of Bhima's reign. The whole of the Telugu country including the principality of Eruva acknowledged the supremacy of the Kakatiyas at this period. As a matter of fact the officers of the Kakatiya king Ganapati were engaged in reducing Vēngi and Kaļingal; and it is not unlikely that they might have subdued portions of the Central Provinces including Chakraghotta. Therefore it is not improbable that Bhima, who from all accounts appears to have been a distinguished warrior, followed the Käkatiya armies and contributed much to their success.
2. Bhaktiraja also was a great warrior. The present inscription gives a full account of his achievements. He is said to have waged war successfully with several chiefs.
i. Wbile he was still a youth, Bhaktirāja defeated Boggara and other Muhammadan warriors in a battle in the neighbourhood of Gulapündi.
ü. He defeated in the east the Gajapati near Pañchadhāra, and installed the Koppula chief on his throne.
iii. Near the city of Bharaṇipădu, he defeated the famous warrior Singa.
iv. In the vicinity of Pedakondapuri he overthrew the demoniac armies of Daburu-Khānu and others.
v. He overcame Annavõta in a battle near the town of Suravara.
These achievements of Bhaktirāja must be assigned to a period subsequent to A.D. 1366, the year in which he granted the village Kadavakolanu to the Saiva ascetic Visvēsvara of Sriparvata ; for, in the charter recording this grant, though his valour is praised in general terms, no specific mention is made of any enemy whom he had overthrown in battle. It is unlikely that the author of the prasasti would have failed to mention his victories, had he any to his credit at that time. Moreover, the earliest known record of bis son and successor Annadēva is dated in Saka 1310, Vibhava, i.e., A.D. 1388-89. Bhaktirāja's reign may be taken to have terminated some time before that year. He probably ascended the throne in A.D. 1356 itself; and it is not probable that he could have won any note ble victory so early in bis reign.
i. Victory over Boggara :- According to the present Rajahmundry Museum Plates, his victory over the Muhammadans under Boggara and others was won while he was yet a youth. This clearly indicates tbat he was a young man at the time of his accession to his ancestral throne, and harmonizes well with the comparatively long period suggested for his reign by the inscriptions mentioned above. Boggara is a Sanskrit corruption of Bughra, a name common enough among the Mussalmans of the 14th century A. D. It is not possible, however, to identify the bearer of this name in the present context. Nor is it possible to fix the locality where the encounter took place. Gulapundi is no doubt the same as Gollapudi; but as several villages in the Telugu country go by that name, no definite conclusions can be reached about its identity. It may, however, be remembered in this connection that this was Bhaktirāja's first victory, won by him while he was still a youth. As he was a scion of the Eruva family and as his only known inscription records the gift of a village to a religious teacher residing at Sriparvata, it may be reasonably assumed that Gulapūņdi where he defeated Bughra Khan was situated somewhere in the southern Telugu country.
Hyderabad Archeological Series, No. 3, ii. p. 16, Upparapalli Inscription of the reign of Ganapatidēvs -Cf. M. Somkhara Sarma, Kakatiyas and Kalinga, Kalinga-Sanichika, p. 381.
* No. 254 of 1905 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
A village called Gollapudi is found in the Bapatla taluk of the Guntur District; another in the Bezwada taluk and a third in the Nuzvid division of the Kistna District.