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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Pandyas

Ancient Tamil dynasty of Madurai whose second empire, in the 13th century, reached the Telugu country. About 1260–63 Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I defeated the Telugus, their Telugu Choda allies and the Kakatiya Ganapati at Mudugur (Muttukuru in P. V. Parabrahma Sastry's account), drove them to the Krishna, and had himself anointed at Nellore and Kanchi. A later Sundara Pandya, crowned at Nellore, endowed a hall in its Ranganayaka temple, and Pandya princes held Nandalur in the Cuddapah country from 1286 to 1293. The Kakatiyas recovered Nellore, and in 1317 a Kakatiya general restored a Sundara Pandya to his throne. Marco Polo's 'Sonder Bandi Davar' of Ma'bar was identified by Henry Yule and Robert Caldwell with a Sundara Pandya.

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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.

12001225125012751300132513501375Kakatiyas (1163–1323 CE)KakatiyasNayakas, Reddis & Bahmanis (1323–1518 CE)Nayakas, Reddis & BahmanisVijayanagara & the Qutb Shahis (1336–1687 CE)TelanganaChalukyas of MudigondaDelhi Sultanate (Tughluqs)Bahmani SultanateKakatiyasMusunuri NayakasRecherla Velamas (Padmanayakas)Coastal AndhraEastern Gangas of KalingaHaihayas of Kona and PalnaduKotas of DharanikotaDelhi Sultanate (Tughluqs)Vijayanagara EmpireTelugu Chodas of Pottapi and NelloreReddis of KondaveeduVelanati ChodasPandyasMusunuri NayakasCholas of TanjoreKakatiyasRayalaseemaCholas of TanjorePandyasVijayanagara EmpireWestern Chalukyas of KalyaniKakatiyasReddis of KondaveeduTelugu Chodas of Pottapi and NelloreHoysalas12001225125012751300132513501375
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Kakatiyas 1163–1323 CE

Telangana
Chalukyas of Mudigonda (c. 890–1218 CE) · Kakatiyas (c. 1163–1323 CE)
Coastal Andhra
Eastern Gangas of Kalinga (c. 537–1434 CE) · Haihayas of Kona and Palnadu (c. 1073–1364 CE) · Kotas of Dharanikota (c. 1100–1276 CE) · Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore (c. 1106–1316 CE) · Velanati Chodas (c. 1118–1209 CE) · Pandyas (c. 1260–1264 CE) · Cholas of Tanjore (c. 1135–1264 CE) · Kakatiyas (c. 1185–1323 CE)
Rayalaseema
Cholas of Tanjore (c. 985–1268 CE) · Pandyas (1285–1293 CE) · Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (c. 1000–1190 CE) · Kakatiyas (c. 1250–1323 CE) · Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore (c. 1120–1268 CE) · Hoysalas (c. 1178–1342 CE)

Nayakas, Reddis & Bahmanis 1323–1518 CE

Telangana
Delhi Sultanate (Tughluqs) (c. 1323–1336 CE) · Bahmani Sultanate (c. 1347–1518 CE) · Musunuri Nayakas (c. 1336–1368 CE) · Recherla Velamas (Padmanayakas) (c. 1361–1475 CE)
Coastal Andhra
Eastern Gangas of Kalinga (c. 537–1434 CE) · Haihayas of Kona and Palnadu (c. 1073–1364 CE) · Reddis of Rajahmundry (c. 1386–1448 CE) · Delhi Sultanate (Tughluqs) (c. 1323–1326 CE) · Vijayanagara Empire (c. 1350–1579 CE) · Reddis of Kondaveedu (c. 1325–1424 CE) · Musunuri Nayakas (c. 1325–1346 CE)
Rayalaseema
Vijayanagara Empire (c. 1336–1646 CE) · Reddis of Kondaveedu (c. 1346–1386 CE) · Hoysalas (c. 1178–1342 CE)

Vijayanagara & the Qutb Shahis 1336–1687 CE

Telangana
Bahmani Sultanate (c. 1347–1518 CE) · Musunuri Nayakas (c. 1336–1368 CE) · Recherla Velamas (Padmanayakas) (c. 1361–1475 CE)
Coastal Andhra
Eastern Gangas of Kalinga (c. 537–1434 CE) · Haihayas of Kona and Palnadu (c. 1073–1364 CE) · Reddis of Rajahmundry (c. 1386–1448 CE) · Vijayanagara Empire (c. 1350–1579 CE) · Reddis of Kondaveedu (c. 1325–1424 CE) · Musunuri Nayakas (c. 1325–1346 CE)
Rayalaseema
Vijayanagara Empire (c. 1336–1646 CE) · Reddis of Kondaveedu (c. 1346–1386 CE) · Hoysalas (c. 1178–1342 CE)
Kingdoms and empires Sultanates 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.

12251250127513001325Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I · c. 1251–1268 CE · c. 17 yrsJatavarman Sundara Pandya Ic. 1251–1268 CE · c. 17 yrsMaravarman Kulasekhara I · 1268–1311 CE · 43 yrsMaravarman Kulasekhara I1268–1311 CE · 43 yrsJatavarman Sundara Pandya (crowned at Nellore) · c. 1276–1293 CE · c. 17 yrsJatavarman Sundara Pandya (crowned at Nellore)c. 1276–1293 CE · c. 17 yrs
  1. Jatavarman Sundara Pandya Ic. 1251–1268 CE · c. 17 yrs
  2. Maravarman Kulasekhara I1268–1311 CE · 43 yrs
  3. Jatavarman Sundara Pandya (crowned at Nellore)c. 1276–1293 CE · c. 17 yrs
Reign · c. = approximate date

Only the Pandya kings who matter for the Telugu country are charted. Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I's accession (1251) and Maravarman Kulasekhara I's reign (1268 to about 1311) are from S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1921); the end of Sundara I's reign is placed where Kulasekhara's begins. The later Jatavarman Sundara Pandya, who came to the throne in 1276 and reigned for more than seventeen years, is from the Nellore gazetteer of 1942. Several Pandya princes ruled at the same time as co-regents, so the reigns overlap.

The Pandyas were an ancient royal family of the Tamil country, with their capital at Madurai.1 In the 13th century they built a second empire in the south.12 For a few years their armies reached the Krishna, and they held Nellore and Nandalur in the Telugu country.345 They fought the Kakatiyas and the Telugu Chodas of Nellore for that country.67

The rise of the Pandyas

The Chola empire weakened in the 13th century.2 The Nellore gazetteer of 1942 names three Pandya kings who pressed on the Chola capital from about 1190 to 1251.2 The Hoysalas stepped in on the Chola side.28

In 1251 Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I came to the throne.9 The Nellore gazetteer called him the greatest king of his line.4 He defeated the Hoysala Somesvara and took the Kongu country.4

The march to Nellore

Sundara Pandya’s inscriptions describe a march north.103 S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1921) told it from those records.103

  • He took the fortress of the Pallava chief Kopperunjinga and gave it back to him.10
  • He drove the Banas into the forests and occupied Kanchi, after killing Gandagopala in battle.103
  • He beat the Telugus and their allies the “Ariyas” at Mudugur, and drove them up to the Peraru (the Krishna).3
  • His records call him “a tiger to the antelope, Ganapati”, meaning the Kakatiya king.3

Aiyangar took the Ariyas to be the Yadavas (Seunas) of Devagiri.3 He thought the campaign began soon after 1251 and took about ten years.9 He also thought that by its end the Kakatiya Ganapati had died, and that Sundara Pandya was crowned at Nellore.9

A record of his co-regent Vikrama Pandya explains why he went no further.11 He “ceased to be angry”, it says, because he heard that the ruler there was a woman.11 Aiyangar took this as proof that the war did not cross the Krishna.11 The Nellore gazetteer took the woman to be the Kakatiya queen Rudramadevi.12

The battle of Mudugur

The Nellore gazetteer named the defeated Telugu ruler as the Kakatiya Ganapati.4 It added that the Telugu Chodas fought on his side and shared his defeat.4 It could not identify Mudugur.4

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry (1978) gave a fuller account.613 In his version the Pandya army killed the Telugu Choda king of Nellore, Vira-Gandagopala, at Muttukuru in 1263.13 The Kakatiyas, the Seunas and the Banas fled.13 The Telugu Choda kingdoms of Nellore and Kanchi were added to the Pandya empire.13 Sundara Pandya was anointed at Nellore and Kanchi.13 He issued coins with the Kakatiya boar on one side and the Pandya fishes on the other.13 See Ganapatideva and Manumasiddhi II.

Robert Sewell (1932) doubted that the march to Nellore was possible.14 Sundara Pandya would have left enemies all round him, he wrote, along a line some 300 miles long.14 But, he admitted, there was no evidence against the inscriptions.14

Pandya rule in the Telugu country

The Pandyas held Nellore only for a time.14 Aiyangar wrote that their conquests up to Nellore “seem not to have been made permanently at all”.1 The Nellore gazetteer wrote that Ganapati recovered the Nellore and Kadapa (then Cuddapah) country almost at once.4

They came back later in the century.155

  • An inscription in the Ranganayakaswami temple at Nellore records a grant by “the emperor of the three worlds, the unequalled among kings, Sundara Pandyadeva”.1617 At the request of Kalingarayar, he gave a village for offerings in a hall built in his name in the temple.17 See the Nellore inscription of Sundara Pandya.
  • The Nellore gazetteer identified this king with a Jatavarman Sundara Pandya who came to the throne in 1276 and was crowned at Nellore.15 It saw in his record a check to Kakatiya rule in the Nellore country.15
  • Sewell and Aiyangar listed six records of Pandya princes at Nandalur, in the Kadapa district, from 1286 to 1293.518

The Imperial Gazetteer of 1908 also wrote that Nellore “seems to have passed to the Pandyas of Madura” about the middle of the 13th century.19

The Kakatiya counter-attack

Maravarman Kulasekhara I ruled from 1268 to about 1311.20 A quarrel between his sons Vira Pandya and Sundara Pandya brought the Delhi general Malik Kafur into the south.820 Parabrahma Sastry wrote that Devari-nayaka, a general of the Kakatiya king Prataparudra, later defeated Vira Pandya and put Sundara Pandya back on his throne.21 See the Srirangam inscription.

Marco Polo’s Ma’bar

Marco Polo visited the coast he called Ma’bar about 1292.7 He said it had five kings, who were brothers.22 The crowned king where he landed was “Sonder Bandi Davar”.22 Henry Yule (1903) explained that Ma’bar, in the Muslim writers, ran from Kaulam (Quilon) “to Nilawar, i.e. Nellore”.23 He reported Robert Caldwell’s view that Polo’s Sundar Bandi was “undoubtedly” the Sundara Pandi Devar of the Tamil lists.24 But Yule also noted “doubts as to the identification” of the prince and his family.23

Where the sources disagree

  • Who the Telugu enemy was. Aiyangar and the Nellore gazetteer named the Kakatiya Ganapati.34 Parabrahma Sastry named the Telugu Choda Vira-Gandagopala as the king killed at Muttukuru.13
  • The date. Sewell put the march north in 1260.25 Parabrahma Sastry dated the battle to 1263.13
  • Whether the march happened. Sewell doubted it.14 The Nellore gazetteer and Aiyangar accepted it.49

Footnotes

  1. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 67 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938 (1942), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 49 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  4. Nellore Gazetteer (1942), p. 45 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  5. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 165 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 114. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  7. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 62 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 59 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 51 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 48 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  11. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 50 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Nellore Gazetteer (1942), p. 46 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  13. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 115. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  14. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 155 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  15. Nellore Gazetteer (1942), p. 47 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  16. A. Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collection of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Part II (1905), p. 830, Nellore No. 61 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. Butterworth and Venugopaul Chetty, Nellore District, Part II (1905), p. 831, Nellore No. 61 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  18. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 166 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  19. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 344 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  20. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 69 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), pp. 133–134. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  22. Henry Yule and Henri Cordier, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, vol. II (1903), p. 331 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  23. Yule and Cordier, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, vol. II (1903), p. 333 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  24. Yule and Cordier, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, vol. II (1903), p. 334 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  25. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 154 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

Photos

People

Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I

c. 1251–1268 CE

Pandya king of Madurai who came to the throne in 1251 and led the second Pandya empire to its height. His records claim the defeat of the Hoysala Somesvara, the capture of Kopperunjinga's fortress, the occupation of Kanchi after killing Gandagopala, and a victory over the Telugus and their allies at Mudugur, from which he drove them to the Krishna. He was anointed as conqueror at Nellore. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry dates the battle at Muttukuru to 1263 and adds that he struck coins with the Kakatiya boar. Robert Sewell doubted the northern march.

Inscriptions

Nellore inscription of Sundara Pandya

c. 1276 CE

Tamil inscription on the western wall of the Ranganayakaswami temple at Nellore, recording that 'the emperor of the three worlds, the unequalled among kings, Sundara Pandyadeva', at the request of Kalingarayar, gave the village of Mavadikundai in Mundanadu for offerings in a hall named after him and for the worship of the god Pallikondaperumal. The regnal year is lost. The Nellore gazetteer of 1942 identified the king with a Jatavarman Sundara Pandya who came to the throne in 1276 and was crowned at Nellore.

References

Sources (7)
  1. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (opens in a new tab), Oxford University Press (Humphrey Milford), London, 1921, pp. 48–52, 59–63, 67, 69. [Public domain]
  2. W. E. Johns, Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1942, pp. 43–47. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. Alan Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collections of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Madras, in Three Parts, Part II (opens in a new tab), 1905, pp. 830–831. A. Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, Nellore No. 61. [Public domain]
  4. 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. 153–155, 165–166. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 344. [Public domain]
  6. Henry Yule and Henri Cordier (eds.), The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian, Vol. II (3rd ed.) (opens in a new tab), John Murray, London, 1903, pp. 331, 333–334. [Public domain]
  7. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 114–115. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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