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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIII
1456 A.D. Since the earlier of the two records now under review, viz. the one dated 1455-56 A. D., is fragmentary and its introductory part gets some elucidation from the other epigraph, dated 1456 A.D., we shall take up the latter first for discussion.
The two known records of Raghudēva, together with the two now under study, show that he was Kapilēsvara's governor at Rajahmundry at least from 1455 to 1460 A.D. But he seems to have been placed in charge of the Gajapati province of Rajahmundry some time earlier. The province in question appears to have comprised roughly the present East and West Godavari Districts together with some of the adjoining areas. This was the Rajamahendra-rajya or the kingdom with Rajamahendrapura (or nagara) or Rajamahendravaram (i.e. Rajahmundry) as its capital, which Kapileévara conquered from the Reddis and annexed to the Gajapati empire a few years before the earliest date in Raghudeva's known records.
The struggle of the Reddis of Rajahmundry with their kinsmen, the Reddis of Kondavidu, led to the decline of both the houses and to their complete subjugation by the Vijayanagara king Praudha-Devaraya (Devaraya II) who had ascended the throne in Saka 1346 (1424 A.D.). This also speaks of the success of the Vijayanagara king against the contemporary Ganga monarch Bhanu IV (c. 14141 to 1434-35 A.D.) of Orissa because the latter's attempt to annex the Rajahmundry kingdom to the Ganga empire failed. An inscription points to the presence of the Vijayanagara general Telungaraya at Simhachalam in the year Plavanga (1427 A.D.) while the Mudabidure inscription of Saka 1351-Saumya (1429 A.D.) describes Devaraya II as the lion in destroying the crores of elephants of the Matangaraja (Gajapati) and the very Agastya to the ocean of the armies of the Andhra kings (i.e. the Reddis). The latest date for Virabhadra, the last Reddi king of Rajahmundry, is the month of Phalguna in Saka 1359-Pingala (1438 A.D.), when he was apparently a vassal of the Vijayanagara monarch. But a Draksharama (Ramachandrapuram Taluk, East Godavari District) inscription of the reign of Devaraya II, dated Saka 1366 (1444) A.D.), seems to suggest that the Reddi king was still living as late as that date. An inscription at Penugonda (Tanuku Taluk, West Godavari District), dated Saka 1370-Vibhava (1448 A.D.), however, speaks of the rule of the Gajapati king, i.e. Kapilēśvara. The Rajahmundry kingdom was thus conquered by Kapilēsvara between 1444 and 1448 A.D. There is a tradition that he conquered the courtry named Mahindra (or Räjämahindra) or Mahendra (i.e. Rajamahendra) in the fourteenth Anka year of his reign." Since he ascended the throne in 1434-35 A.D., his 14th Anka or 12th actual regnal year would correspond to 1446-47 A.D. Raghudeva may have been stationed at Rajahmundry soon after the annexation of the Rajamahendra-rajya to the Gajapati empire, i.e. sometime before 1450 A.D. How long he served in the same capacity after 1460 A.D., the latest date known from his records, cannot be determined until further evidence is forthcoming.
1. Raghudevapura Grant of Saka 1378
The set consists of six plates, of which only five bear writing on both sides. The plates are each 10 inches long and 5 inches high. The inscribed plates are numbered in Telugu-Kannada numerals, the figures being engraved in the left margin on the obverse, very near the ring-hole
1 This is the earliest known date found in his records. But the real date of his accession cannot be determined. See JOR, Vol. XXII, pp. 47 ff.
SII, Vol. VI, No. 905.
Ibid., Vol. VII, No. 202.
Ibid., Vol. IV, Nos. 1352 and 1355.
M. S. Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms, pp. 192-98.
Ibid., p. 193; Mackenzie Manu-ripte, No. 15-4-4. The Gutti fort was besieged by Gajapati Hambira during
the reign of Praudha-Devaraya (4.R.Ep.. 1921, p. 114, No. 10 of App. A).
Madala Pañjt, ed. A. B. Mahanti, Cuttack, pp. 44, 46, Cf. Kaifiyat of Jagannatham quoted by Sastri and Venkataramanayya, Further Sources of Vijayanagara History, Vol. II, p. 84,
