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No. 30]
VILASA GRANT OF PROLAYA-NAYAKA
of the big mosque at Rajahmundry by Salar Ulwi, a servant of Ulugh Khan'. By this date the conquest of the whole of the coastal region of the Andhra country was complete. Ghiyag-ud-din Tughluq's coins discovered in this part of the country, ranging in dates from A.H. 722 to 726 * (i.e. from 1322 to 1326 A.D.) were current in that region. However, the year 1325 A.D., the date of the Mallavaram stone record of Vēmā Redḍi, marks the turning of the tide, and indicates the beginning, and 1326 A.D., the date of the Santamagaluru record of Kolani Rudradeva, the completion of the re-conquest and the final liberation of the coastal region of the Andhra country. A few inscriptions of the early post-Kakatiya period, of the Telugu-Chōdas and the Reddis, however, contain references to their victories over the Muslims in general, and of the particular Muslim chiefs and commanders, in the course of the war. The Pentapadu grant of Chōda Bhaktiraja is a very interesting record in this respect, as it furnishes some valuable information about Prōlayanayaka and a certain Venga-bhüpati. From this we learn that subsequent to the death of the father of Choda Bhaktiraja, who was then a boy, the Andhra country (avani-chakram Andhram) was conquered (hritam) by the Yavanas (Mussalmans), when the valourous and righteous Prōlayanayaka, son of the heroic Pōchaya-nayaka, together with his associate Vengaraja left the Vengi vishaya and repaired to a Vana-durga surrounded by hundreds of mountains. They both had reconquered the Andhra country after putting an end to the entire Turushka horse in battle (Samarë samit-abesha-Turushka-turag-õtkarau, punar-āharatām-ētāv=Amdhram mandalam-arddhataḥ). After killing all the Yavana commanders (vihat-äkhila-Yavana-vahini-nathaḥ), Vanga-bhūpati went to heaven (probably was killed in battle), as if to help Indra in battle. This Venga-bhūpati, great-grandson of Brahma, grandson of Deva and son of Kamaraja of the Lunar dynasty, was the maternal uncle of Kama, alias Bhaktiraja, son of Gangaraja of the Solar dynasty. Consequent on the death of Venga-bhūpati, probably without leaving an heir to his kingdom, Prölaya-nayaka installed Bhaktiraja, while he was still a boy as the ruler of his maternal uncle's territory, which seems to have comprised Vengi and its surrounding tracts. Thus Chōda Bhaktiraja who, according to the grant referred to above, owed his elevation to the support given to him by Prōlayanayaka, though a boy, killed the infantry and cavalry of the Yavana king (Bhakti-kshitipalako
1 Ep. Indo-Mos., 1923-1924, pp. 13 ff.
A Forgotten Chapter of Andhra History, p. 17.
3 Nellore District Inscriptione, Vol. III, O. 73. The Mallavaram record registers a grant of land to god Ra. ghava of Chadalavada in the Ongole Taluk of the Guntur District in the Saka year denoted by the chronogram Saila (7), Värdhi (4), and Dyumani (12), that is, 1247, in the month of Aévija on the occasion of a solar eclipse on Thursday (Asvinasy-ävasané rahu-graste-himamiau Suraguru-divase) by Vema-reddi, one of Prōlaya-nä. yaka's subordinate associates, who is described in the record as "the very Agastya to the ocean, namely, Mlochchhas (Mlechchh-ambhodhi-Kalas-ödbhavah). The equivalent English date is 7th October, 1325 A.D. The date Saka 1277 given by Butterworth and Venugopala Chetty in the Nellore inscriptions by assigning the value 7 to Vardhi, and the occasion as lunar eclipse (himäméau) are both wrong as pointed out by Mr. H. K. Narasimhaswami in the course of his article on the Ködüru grant of Anavõta Reddi (above, Vol. XXV, p. 139 and n. 5). He takes himämáu as ahimäméu correctly but accepts the value seven given by the authors for the term värdhi. Hence he finds the date irregular as there was no solar eclipse in the month of Aévija in Saka 1277. So he writes, "The word värdhi in the chronogram saila-värdhi-dyumasi as read by the authors (Butterworth and Venugopala Chetty) mentioned above has therefore to be altered suitably by some such word as tarka to give the numeral 6 in place of 7, and the chronogram equated with 1267." If corrected like this the date becomes regular as there was a solar eclipse in the month of Aévija on Thursday in Saka 1267. But the numerical value generally given to värdhi is 4 and not 7. Then the Saka date becomes 1247 and not 1277. In 1247 there was a solar eclipse in the month of Aávija on Monday, Sasidhara-divasa, and not on Thursday, Suraguru-divasa. The week day does not totally tally, if 1247 is taken. However this Saka date which is given so clearly in the inscription may be accepted.
A. R. Ep., 1915, No. 308.
Ibid., 1946-47, App. A, No. 3.
