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Nolamba-Pallavas

Branch of the Pallavas that ruled Nolambavadi, the 'Thirty-two Thousand' province of the Chitradurga and Tumkur country and most of the Anantapur district, from the 9th to the late 10th century, with Henjeru (Hemavati, Madakasira taluk) as a chief town. First feudatories of the Rashtrakutas and Gangas, they became powerful under Mahendra I, who claimed to have destroyed the Bana race. Their inscriptions in Anantapur are at Hemavati, Hindupur, Manepalle and Kambaduru, dated from 853 to 965. The Ganga Marasimha (died 974) took the title 'death to the Nolamba race'; later the Nolamba-Pallava title passed to chiefs under the Cholas and Western Chalukyas.

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Each bar is a ruling power in its region; time runs left to right. Dashed = approximate dates. Select a bar for details.

7508008509009501000Eastern Chalukyas & the Deccan powers (624–1163 CE)Eastern Chalukyas & the Deccan powersTelanganaChalukyas of BadamiChalukyas of MudigondaChalukyas of VemulavadaRashtrakutas of MalkhedEastern Chalukyas of VengiWestern Chalukyas of KalyaniCoastal AndhraEastern Gangas of KalingaEastern Chalukyas of VengiCholas of TanjorePallavasEastern Chalukyas of VengiRayalaseemaPallavasCholas of TanjoreTelugu Cholas of RenaduWestern Chalukyas of KalyaniChalukyas of BadamiBanasVaidumbasNolamba-PallavasRashtrakutas of Malkhed7508008509009501000
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Eastern Chalukyas & the Deccan powers 624–1163 CE

Telangana
Chalukyas of Badami (c. 655–753 CE) · Chalukyas of Mudigonda (c. 890–1218 CE) · Chalukyas of Vemulavada (c. 750–973 CE) · Rashtrakutas of Malkhed (c. 753–973 CE) · Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi (c. 935–973 CE) · Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (c. 973–1163 CE)
Coastal Andhra
Eastern Gangas of Kalinga (c. 537–1434 CE) · Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi (c. 615–973 CE) · Cholas of Tanjore (c. 999–1135 CE) · Pallavas (c. 670–750 CE)
Rayalaseema
Pallavas (c. 300–900 CE) · Cholas of Tanjore (c. 985–1268 CE) · Telugu Cholas of Renadu (c. 550–800 CE) · Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (c. 1000–1190 CE) · Chalukyas of Badami (c. 654–753 CE) · Banas (c. 700–915 CE) · Vaidumbas (c. 750–1000 CE) · Nolamba-Pallavas (c. 750–974 CE) · Rashtrakutas of Malkhed (c. 750–973 CE)
Kingdoms and empires Uncertain or debated dates Held another region first This page

Reigns

Each bar is one ruler’s reign; time runs left to right. c. = approximate date.

8008258508759009259509751000Polalchora (Nolambadhiraja) · c. 813–878 CE · c. 65 yrsPolalchora (Nolambadhiraja)c. 813–878 CE · c. 65 yrsMahendra I (Nolamba) · c. 878–904 CE · c. 26 yrsMahendra I (Nolamba)c. 878–904 CE · c. 26 yrsAyyapa · c. 897–929 CE · c. 32 yrsAyyapac. 897–929 CE · c. 32 yrsAnniga · c. 931–940 CE · c. 9 yrsAnnigac. 931–940 CE · c. 9 yrsIriva-Nolamba (Dilipa) · c. 943–966 CE · c. 23 yrsIriva-Nolamba (Dilipa)c. 943–966 CE · c. 23 yrsNanni-Nolamba · c. 969–974 CE · c. 5 yrsNanni-Nolambac. 969–974 CE · c. 5 yrs
  1. Polalchora (Nolambadhiraja)c. 813–878 CE · c. 65 yrs
  2. Mahendra I (Nolamba)c. 878–904 CE · c. 26 yrs
  3. Ayyapac. 897–929 CE · c. 32 yrs
  4. Annigac. 931–940 CE · c. 9 yrs
  5. Iriva-Nolamba (Dilipa)c. 943–966 CE · c. 23 yrs
  6. Nanni-Nolambac. 969–974 CE · c. 5 yrs
Reign · c. = approximate date

Approximate reign years from the dated inscriptions listed by B. Lewis Rice (1909) and H. Krishna Sastri (1910). Krishna Sastri allowed Polalchora the long span 813–878 between his father's overlord Govinda III and Mahendra's earliest record (878–79). Rice gives Ayyapa records from 897 to 929, Anniga 931 and 940, Dilipa 943 to 966 and Nanni-Nolamba 969. The line ends with the Ganga king Marasimha, who ruled until 974.

A square black stone panel framed by a raised border, carved with a figure riding an animal among smaller figures, set in a long stone beam.
A square black stone panel framed by a raised border, carved with a figure riding an animal among smaller figures, set in a long stone beam. · Sailko (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 3.0 (opens in a new tab)

The Nolamba-Pallavas were a family of kings who claimed descent from the Pallavas of Kanchi.1 From the 9th to the late 10th century they ruled Nolambavadi, a province named after them.12 It covered the Chitradurga and Tumkur country of Mysore and most of the Anantapur district.123 Their inscriptions in the Anantapur district are found at Hindupur, Manepalle, Kambaduru and Hemavati.4567

Nolambavadi

The province was called the Nolambavadi Thirty-two Thousand.1 The number was the traditional count of its villages.2 B. Lewis Rice (1909) placed it chiefly in the Chitradurga (Chitaldroog) district and the country north and east of it.1 The Nonabas, a large class of farmers in Mysore, were in his view descended from its people.1

The Anantapur gazetteer of 1905 added that Gooty was also in Nolambavadi.2 So, it concluded, the province included the greater part of the Anantapur district.2 The Bellary gazetteer of 1904 said it took in most of Bellary too, with Uchchangi as its capital.8

H. Krishna Sastri (1910) called Henjeru, the modern Hemavati in the Madakasira taluk, “the capital of the Nolambas”.3 Rice called it one of their chief towns.7

The family tree

A pillar inscription at Hemavati gives the family tree.91 It traces the family to Trinayana-Pallava, of the Isvara race, a king of Kanchi.19 The kings follow in this order:1

  • Mangala, called Nolambadhiraja
  • his son Simhapota
  • his son Charuponnera
  • his son Polalchora Nolamba
  • his son Mahendra
  • his son Nanniga or Ayyapa
  • his sons Anniga and Dilipa (Iriva-Nolamba)1

Simhapota served the Ganga king Sivamara.1 Charuponnera and his son ruled the Nolambalige Thousand under the Rashtrakutas.1 Krishna Sastri took this district to be the core of the later province.3

The early kings in Anantapur

An inscription at Hindupur, dated in 853, refers to a Nolamba who ruled the country as far as Kanchi.410 The epigraphical report for 1912–13 could not decide whether he was Mahendra or his father Polalchora.10 An undated record at Kambaduru tells of a tank built at Beddugonde, with a temple to Siva.11 It names the early Nolambas Singapota, Ponnera and Dharma-Mahadevi.1110

Polalchora married Jayabbe, daughter of the Ganga king Rachamalla.12 Krishna Sastri allowed him a long reign, from about 813 to 878.12

Mahendra I

Mahendra I was “the most powerful of the Nolambas”, in the words of the 1912–13 report.13 A pillar at Kambaduru, dated Saka 805 (883; Saka is an Indian way of counting years), records a gift of land and paddy to a temple of the Sun in his reign.613 There he is called “the hero of the three worlds”.13

He invaded Pulinadu, the home district of the Banas, and took the title “destroyer of the Mahabali race”.1310 Many hero-stones remember a battle at Soremati in this war.14 Rice wrote that Mahendra later fought the Gangas and was killed by the Ganga prince Ereyappa.15

Ayyapa, Anniga and Iriva-Nolamba

Mahendra’s son Ayyapa ruled the Nolambavadi Thirty-two Thousand in 920.15 A record of his reign is at Manepalle, in the Hindupur taluk.510 Sewell and Aiyangar (1932) found his son Annayya (Anniga) ruling in the Anantapur district in 936.16 Rice wrote that the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III defeated Anniga in 940.15

Anniga’s younger brother Dilipa, called Iriva-Nolamba, followed him.15 His dates in Rice run from 943 to 966.17 A record of his near Hindupur gives him the name Dilipayya Iriva-Nolamba, grandson of Mahendra.4 Rice wrote that the Vaidumbas served him and that he had brought the Banas under his rule.17

A pillar at Kambaduru, dated 6 March 965, records a gift for a tank.6 The donor was Iriva-Nolamba’s grandson Polalchora, “the lord of Kanchi”.6 Rangacharya (1919) described Polalchora’s son Vira-Mahendra as a lieutenant of the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III in his conquest of the Chola country.6 The 1912–13 report suggested that the Nolambas then served the Rashtrakutas in their invasion of the Chola country.18

The Ganga conquest

The Ganga king Marasimha, who ruled until 974, boasted that he had destroyed the Nolamba family.17 He took the name Nolambakulantaka, “death to the Nolamba race”.178 Rice noted a record of 974 in which three Nolamba princes, perhaps in hiding, heard with relief of his death.17 The Anantapur gazetteer dated their overthrow to about 973.2

Under the Cholas and the Western Chalukyas

The Chola king Rajaraja I, who came to the throne in 985, claimed to have taken “Nulambapadi”.19 The Anantapur gazetteer took this to be Nolambavadi.19 Two Tamil inscriptions at Hemavati include one of the reign of a Kulottunga-Chola.19

The line was not wiped out.17 Rice traced Nolamba-Pallava chiefs under the Cholas and then under the Western Chalukyas.1720 One ruled from Kampili in 1022.20 In 1072 an Udayaditya ruled Nolambavadi from Penjeru, which Rice identified with Hemavati.21

Where the sources disagree

  • When the province began. About the middle of the 7th century (the Bellary gazetteer of 1904), or the 8th century (the Anantapur gazetteer of 1905).82 Krishna Sastri placed the first Nolamba ruler of Nolambalige under Govinda III, who reigned from 794 to 813.312
  • Who married whom. Rice read a Hemavati record to say that the Ganga king Rachamalla married a Nolamba princess.1 Krishna Sastri read the same words differently.12 In his reading, Rachamalla’s daughter Jayabbe married the Nolamba Polalchora and was Mahendra’s mother.12
  • Overlords. The Anantapur gazetteer called the Nolambas feudatories of the Rashtrakutas.2 Rice described most of their kings, from Mahendra to Nanni-Nolamba, as ruling in their own right.15

Footnotes

  1. B. Lewis Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 55 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  2. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Anantapur (1905), p. 15 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. H. Krishna Sastri, “Two Nolamba Inscriptions from Dharmapuri”, Epigraphia Indica X (1909–10), p. 57 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 10, Anantapur Nos. 62–63 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Rangacharya, Topographical List I (1919), p. 15, Anantapur No. 92 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Rangacharya, Topographical List I (1919), p. 20, Anantapur Nos. 125, 127 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. Francis, Anantapur (1905), p. 180 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary (1904), pp. 28–29 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Krishna Sastri, “Two Nolamba Inscriptions” (1910), p. 58 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Krishna Sastri, Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1912–13, Part II, para. 13, p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  11. Rangacharya, Topographical List I (1919), p. 21, Anantapur No. 132 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Krishna Sastri, “Two Nolamba Inscriptions” (1910), p. 59 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  13. H. Krishna Sastri, Annual Report on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1912–13, Part II, para. 13, p. 90 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  14. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  15. Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 56 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  16. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 45 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  17. Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 57 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  18. Krishna Sastri, Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1912–13, Part II, para. 14, p. 92 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  19. Francis, Anantapur (1905), p. 16 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  20. Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 58 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 59 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Photos

People

Mahendra I (Nolamba)

c. 878–904 CE

The most powerful king of the Nolamba-Pallavas, son of Polalchora Nolambadhiraja and the Ganga princess Jayabbe. His records run from Saka 800 (878–79), and a pillar at Kambaduru in Anantapur is dated in his reign in Saka 805 (883). He invaded Pulinadu, the country of the Banas round Punganur, and called himself 'destroyer of the Mahabali race'. After a quarrel with his Ganga overlords he was defeated by Butuga and killed by the Ganga prince Ereyappa, before about 904.

Iriva-Nolamba (Dilipa)

c. 943–966 CE

Nolamba-Pallava king, younger son of Ayyapa and grandson of Mahendra I, who succeeded his brother Anniga after the Rashtrakuta Krishna III defeated Anniga in 940. B. Lewis Rice gives him dates from 943 to 966. The genealogy on the Hemavati pillar ends with him, in a record of Saka 864 (942–43), and a record of his reign stands below the tank at Hindupur. The Vaidumbas served him, and a Bana chief ruled a district under him in 961. His grandson Polalchora set up a pillar at Kambaduru in 965.

References

Sources (7)
  1. B. Lewis Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (opens in a new tab), Archibald Constable, London, 1909, pp. 55–59. [Public domain]
  2. Sten Konow and V. Venkayya (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. X (1909–10) (opens in a new tab), Government Printing, India, Calcutta, 1910, pp. 57–59. H. Krishna Sastri, Two Nolamba Inscriptions from Dharmapuri. [Public domain]
  3. Madras Government (Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy), Annual Reports on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1910-11 to 1914-15 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, Report for 1912–13, Part II, pp. 90–92. [Public domain]
  4. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 10, 15, 16, 20–22. [Public domain]
  5. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Anantapur (opens in a new tab), Government of Madras (Addison & Co.), 1905, pp. 15–16, 180. [Public domain]
  6. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1904, pp. 28–29. [Public domain]
  7. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 38–40, 45. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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