Reddis of Kondaveedu

The Reddis of Kondavidu ruled the coastal Telugu country south of the Krishna for about a hundred years after the fall of the Kakatiyas.¹² Their first capital was Addanki on the Gundlakamma.¹² Their later one was the hill fortress of Kondavidu near Guntur.¹²

The Godavari district gazetteer describes the time after the influence of the Warangal kings disappeared from the coast.³ Then, it says, Vengi “was ruled by the Reddi chiefs of Korukonda, Kondavid and Rajahmundry”.³ Six kings followed one another, from Prolaya Vema to Racha Vema.⁴⁵ Under the fourth, Kumaragiri, the eastern half of the kingdom passed to his minister Kataya Vema.⁴⁵ The Reddis of Rajahmundry outlived the parent line by about a quarter of a century.⁴⁵

The dynasty in brief

The Kistna district manual of 1883 summed up the older view.⁶ It says the Reddis were “great patrons of Telugu literature”.⁶ The poet Srinidha (Srinatha) “with his brother-in-law Bommara Pota raja flourished at their Court and sang their praises”.⁶ On their extinction “the Gajapati kings of Orissa extended their power over this District”.⁶

Robert Sewell, in 1884, wrote that “the Kondavidu chiefs were, for a century, so important that their government rises to the dignity of a kingdom, and their family to that of a dynasty”.⁷ The Imperial Gazetteer of 1908 describes them as “a line of cultivators who rose to considerable power and are known to history as the Reddi kings”.⁸ Their fortresses at Kondavid, Bellamkonda and Kondapalli could still be seen.⁸

Most of what is now known comes from the family’s copper-plate grants and temple inscriptions, edited in Epigraphia Indica from 1894 onwards.¹⁹ Much also comes from the prefaces of the Telugu and Sanskrit books written at their courts.¹⁹ The traditional accounts in the Mackenzie manuscripts, above all the Kondavidu Dandakavili, tell how the kingdom was founded.²¹⁰ They also give a list of reigns that the inscriptions only partly confirm.²¹⁰

M. Somasekhara Sarma’s history of the Reddi kingdoms (1948) collected the dated records and fixed the reigns now generally used.¹¹ N. Ramesan adopted his chronology in 1962.⁵

Origins

The Reddi grants place the family in the fourth caste, the Shudras, said to be born from the feet of Vishnu.¹²⁴ They name its branch the Panta family.¹²⁴ The Madras Museum plates of 1345 begin the line with a Vemaya, “the founder of a family”.¹³ His son Komati Prola married Annemamba.¹³

Ramesan noted that a later grant calls the family the Panta Reddi community.¹⁴¹⁵ After Somasekhara Sarma, he suggested that the name came from a Panta country around Gudur in the Nellore district.¹⁴¹⁵

The local chronicles explain the family’s sudden wealth with a legend.² J. Ramayya summarised its version from the Dandakavili in 1906.² In it, Donti Allada Reddi robbed a guest of the Komati (merchant) caste of a philosopher’s stone (a stone said to turn metal into gold).² The dying Komati asked that his name be kept in the Reddi family and the wealth spent on charity.² With the money Prolaya Vema raised troops, seized Dharanikota from Prataparudra’s officers and settled at Kondavidu.²

Ramayya thought the story might have grown from the fact that Komati was a family name.² He pointed instead to Srinatha’s Haravilasam.² It says that a Komati merchant of Nellore, Avachi Devaya, was Vema’s chief support.²

The Kistna manual tells a shorter version.¹⁶ In it the founder, “a cultivator of Anumakonda”, grew rich “by discovering the alchymists’ secret”.¹⁶ Sewell recorded a third tradition at Kondavidu.⁷ In it Prolaya Vema was not of Donti Alla Reddi’s family at all but “a guest in his house”.⁷

The kings signed their grants Pallava-Trinetra.¹⁷ Hultzsch noted that the name was borrowed from a mythical king of the Telugu country.¹⁷ The Eastern Chalukya grants remember this king as Trilochana-Pallava.¹⁷ The family’s spiritual guide was a teacher named Ghoderaya-Ganga, whom Ramayya found also in Srinatha’s works.¹³

Ramesan reported Somasekhara Sarma’s suggestion that this teacher was the minister of the Kakatiya feudatory (subject chief) Ambadeva.¹⁸ By the same suggestion, the family first rose in Ambadeva’s service.¹⁸ Ramesan did not think the evidence enough to make the Reddis Pallavas by descent.¹⁸

Prolaya Vema and the founding at Addanki

The Delhi sultanate took Warangal in 1323. A group of Telugu chiefs then drove out the sultan’s officers. They were led by the Musunuri Prolaya Nayaka and then by his cousin Kapaya Nayaka. Ramesan, following Somasekhara Sarma, described Prolaya Vema as one of the chiefs of this movement.¹⁹²⁰ He cited the Kaluvacheru grant of 1423 for the statement that Vema had been one of Kapaya’s seventy-five subordinate chiefs before ruling in his own right.¹⁹²⁰

The Madras Museum plates say that Vema restored all the agraharas (villages granted to Brahmans) “which had been taken away by the wicked Mlechchha kings from (the time of) king Vira-Rudra of the Kakati-vamsa”.¹³² Ramayya called this “the only epigraphical reference as yet discovered to the Muhammadan conquest of Warangal”.¹³² He noted that it shows the Reddis as the political successors of the Kakatiyas.¹³²

The same plates give Vema’s capital as “the city of Addanki in the country of Pungi, which extended from the eastern slopes of Srigiri to the eastern sea on both sides of the river Kundi”.¹ The river Kundi is the Gundlakamma.¹

When his rule began is disputed.⁶¹²¹²² The sources give these dates:^63123242122

• the Kistna manual says he made himself independent in the hill fort of Kondavidu in 1328⁶
• the Godavari gazetteer put the earliest Reddi record in 1344³
• Ramayya, in 1906, knew none earlier than the Madras Museum plates of 18 March 1345¹
• the editors of a single plate from Chimakurti, published in 1933, read its date as 1336 but thought the plate a later copy²³
• H. K. Narasimhaswami gave Saka 1254 (1332–33; Saka is an Indian way of counting years) as the earliest date known for Vema²⁴
• Somasekhara Sarma and Ramesan begin the reign in 1325, with an inscription at Mallavaram in the Ongole taluk²¹²²

Vema’s younger brother Malla is credited with the conquest of the port of Motupalli.²⁵²⁶ Later records of the Reddis of Kandukur trace their descent from him.²⁵²⁶

The Puvvada grant of 1346 calls Vema an Agastya to “the ocean of the Mlechchhas”.²⁰²⁷ A Mackenzie manuscript tells of his victories over Turushka (Turkish) armies led by “Alavadin”.²⁰²⁷ Ramesan read this as a fight with the first Bahmani sultan.²⁰²⁷ The Godavari gazetteer adds that he “boasts that he conquered Raichur”.²⁸ See Prolaya Vema Reddi, the Madras Museum plates and the Puvvada grant.

Anavota and the wars with the Velamas

Vema’s elder son Anavota was already crown prince and commander of the army in his father’s lifetime.²⁴²⁹ This comes from Errapragada’s Harivamsa, as cited by Narasimhaswami and Somasekhara Sarma.²⁴²⁹ Somasekhara Sarma placed his accession in 1353.²⁹

His only known copper-plate grant comes from Koduru in the Gudivada taluk.³⁰³¹ It gave a village to sixty-one Brahmans in January 1358.³⁰³¹ In the same year, at Motupalli, he renewed a charter of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva.³² In it Ganapatideva had promised sea merchants that only the usual customs duties would be taken from their ships and cargoes.³² See the Koduru grant and the Motupalli inscription of 1244.

In 1361 Anavota’s minister Vema, son of Mallinatha, reconsecrated the Amaresvara temple at Amaravati.³³ The chronicle of the Velugoti family says that the same year the Recherla brothers Anapota and Mada, sons of Singa, defeated “Anapota-Reddi at Dharanikota”.³⁴

Sewell took the battle to mean that Anavota was driven out and succeeded by his brother.³⁵ Narasimhaswami left open whether his reign ended with it.³⁶ Ramesan, following Somasekhara Sarma, adds that Anavota lost land in the west and south to Vijayanagara.³⁷ The Vijayanagara kings had made Udayagiri in the Nellore country their base.³⁷

Anavema and the move to Kondavidu

The Amaravati inscription of 1361 still names Addanki as the capital.²³⁴³⁸ The Vanapalli plates of 1380 seat Anavema “on the lion-throne in (his) capital, the prosperous city of Kontoviti”.²³⁴³⁸ Ramayya therefore presumed that Kondavidu became the capital only under Anavema.²³⁴³⁸

Anavema’s grants reach the Godavari delta:³⁹⁴⁰

• the Vanapalli plates of 1380 gave a village on the Gautami in the Amalapuram taluk³⁹⁴⁰
• the Nadupuru grant, dated in Saka 1296 (1374–75), was made in the temple of Vijayesvara on the Godavari for a village in Konasthala, the delta country³⁹⁴⁰
• a gift of land by his servant at Palivela is dated 1378³⁹⁴⁰

An inscription of 1381 at Draksharama records buildings put up by an Ana-Vema.⁴¹ Rangacharya calls him the Kondavidu king, but Hultzsch thought it uncertain that he was the same man.⁴⁰⁴¹ Ramesan described an eastern campaign in which Anavema took Nidadavolu and Rajahmundry and reached Simhachalam.³⁷⁴² He also described a western one in which Anavema won land north of the Krishna from the Recherla chiefs.³⁷⁴² For this he cited an inscription at Wazirabad in the Nalgonda district.³⁷⁴²

At Srisailam, an inscription of January 1378 records that Anavema built the Viramantapa (heroes’ hall) for the merit of his uncle Annaya.⁴³ It adds that “in this mantapa many heroes voluntarily cut off their heads and tongues”.⁴³

Hultzsch explained two of his surnames.³⁹⁴⁴ Kshurika-Kali-Vetala likened him to a Vetala, a battlefield demon, fighting with a dagger.³⁹⁴⁴ Karpura-Vasantaraya referred to his part in the spring festival, when camphor was scattered about.³⁹⁴⁴

His sister Vemasani married a chief named Nallanunka.⁴⁰ Sewell’s pedigree makes their daughter Hemambika a queen of Deva Raya I of Vijayanagara.⁴⁵ See the Vanapalli plates, the Nadupuru grant, the Pedapalakaluru plates and the Pachchanitandiparru grant.

Kumaragiri and the division of the kingdom

On Anavema’s death the crown passed to Anavota’s son Kumaragiri.³⁴ According to the Dandakavili, he “was an unpopular and wicked prince”.³⁴ Somasekhara Sarma dated his accession to about 1386.⁴⁶⁴² He described a quarrel over the succession in which Kumaragiri’s brother-in-law and minister Kataya Vema fought for him.⁴⁶⁴²

Kataya Vema’s Tottaramudi plates say that he “rendered great help to Komaragiri in obtaining possession of and governing his ancestral territory, even as Krishna did to Yudhishthira”.⁴ In return he received “the eastern country, of which Rajamahendranagari (the modern Rajahmundry) was the capital”.⁴ Ramayya dated the division not later than Saka 1308 (1386–87).³⁴ Sewell placed it about 1380.⁴⁷ See the Tottaramudi plates.

Kumaragiri’s court is known mainly from books. Ramayya summarised Srinatha’s Haravilasam.³⁴ It makes Kumaragiri a contemporary of Harihara II of Vijayanagara and of the Bahmani sultan Firuz Shah.³⁴ It says that the merchant Tippa held the sole right to supply perfumes and spices for “the great annual spring-festival (vasantotsava) which Kumaragiri seems to have instituted”.³⁴

Rangacharya calls Kumaragiri the author of the Vasantarajiyam.³³ Kataya Vema named his commentary on Kalidasa’s plays the Kumaragirirajiyam after him.⁴⁸

Ramesan, following Somasekhara Sarma, says that a Vijayanagara army under Harihara II took Tripurantakam and reached Vinukonda.⁴² He says that Kataya Vema drove it back.⁴² The peace that followed was sealed by the marriage of Harihara’s daughter to Kataya Vema.⁴² See Kumaragiri Reddi.

The end of the reign was troubled. Somasekhara Sarma placed Kumaragiri’s last record in 1402.⁴⁶⁴⁹⁵⁰ He held that the throne was then seized by force by Peda Komati Vema, a grandson of Prolaya Vema’s elder brother Macha, with the help of some nobles.⁴⁶⁴⁹⁵⁰ Kataya Vema, fighting for Kumaragiri, was defeated, and Kumaragiri ended his days at Rajahmundry.⁴⁶⁴⁹⁵⁰

Ramayya, writing in 1906 from fewer records, saw no seizure of the throne.³⁴ He thought Kumaragiri “the last of Vema’s branch of the family”.³⁴ After his death, Ramayya thought, the crown passed to Peda Komati Vema.³⁴

Peda Komati Vema, the scholar-king

Ramayya wrote that Peda Komati Vema was “both a scholar and a patron of scholars”.⁵¹ He was the reputed author of the Sringaradipika, a commentary on the Amarusataka.⁵¹ His court “was the resort of poets among whom was the great Sanskrit poet Vamanabhatta Bana”.⁵¹

He signed as Viranarayana, and Srinatha held under him the office of vidyadhikarin (officer of learning).⁵²⁵¹⁵³ Srinatha composed his grants and inscriptions.⁵²⁵¹⁵³ Among them is the pillar inscription of 1410 at Phirangipuram, which records a tank built by his queen Suramamba.⁵²⁵¹⁵³ See the Phirangipuram inscription.

His reign was spent at war with his neighbours. Somasekhara Sarma held that he never won the obedience of Kataya Vema at Rajahmundry.⁵⁰⁵⁴⁵⁵ In his account Peda Komati Vema supported the Telugu Choda chief Annadeva against Kataya Vema.⁵⁰⁵⁴⁵⁵ Kataya Vema in turn sought help from Deva Raya I of Vijayanagara.⁵⁰⁵⁴⁵⁵ Deva Raya’s inscription of 1412 at Inkollu in the Bapatla taluk marks an invasion of the Reddi coast.⁵⁰⁵⁴⁵⁵

After Kataya Vema’s death the war went on against Allada Reddi of Rajahmundry.⁵⁶⁵⁷ In his son’s Vemavaram grant, Allada claimed to have “defeated Komati Vema at Ramesvaram”.⁵⁶⁵⁷ Somasekhara Sarma connected Peda Komati Vema with the Bahmani sultan Firuz Shah’s march towards Rajahmundry in 1417.⁵⁸⁵⁹ Inscriptions of the sultan’s officers from this march remain at Vedadri in the Krishna (then Kistna) district.⁵⁸⁵⁹

The Recherla Velamas were also enemies. Ramayya read their chronicle.¹⁰ It says that Racha, son of Komati, was killed by Pina Vedagiri, “great-grandson of Madanidu who had fought with Anapota-Reddi at Dharanikota”.¹⁰ Racha’s elder brother Vema killed Vedagiri and was himself killed by Vedagiri’s younger brother Linga.¹⁰ Ramayya used this account to show that when Peda Komati Vema died “he had, therefore, no brother to succeed him”.¹⁰

Somasekhara Sarma placed the chronicle’s account of Peda Komati Vema’s capture and death in battle among these wars.⁶⁰⁶¹ But he warned that no other evidence supports it.⁶⁰⁶¹ See Lingama Nayaka.

Racha Vema and the end of the Kondavidu line

Peda Komati Vema’s last known grant, from Rudravaram, is dated 1419.⁶²⁶³ Ramayya showed that his successor Racha Vema was his son, not his brother as the Dandakavili had it.¹⁰⁶⁴ His proof was an inscription of 1415 at Aminabad, composed by Srinatha.¹⁰⁶⁴ It says that Racha Vema, son of Vema, dug a channel to feed the tank Santana-sagara that his mother Suramba had built.¹⁰⁶⁴ This is the same tank recorded at Phirangipuram two miles away.¹⁰⁶⁴

The Kistna manual says that Racha Vema, “after an evil reign of four years was assassinated by a peon named Choudari Yellappa in 1428”.⁶ No records of his own have been found.⁶⁵

How the kingdom fell is disputed. Sewell, in 1884, wrote that “the dynasty was overthrown by the Muhammadans in A.D. 1427”, and Rangacharya repeated the date.⁷⁶⁶⁶⁷ But the Kondavidu chronicle that Sewell summarised in the same book makes a Langala Gajapati of Orissa succeed Racha Vema in 1420.⁷⁶⁶⁶⁷ In this chronicle two kings of the Vijayanagara family followed, from 1431 to 1454.⁷⁶⁶⁶⁷

Sewell’s later work is no more settled.⁶⁸⁴⁵ One passage has the family disappear about 1420, with Kondavidu passing to the Gajapati king.⁶⁸ His pedigree has the dynasty overthrown by the Bahmani Ahmad I about 1427.⁴⁵ The Imperial Gazetteer gives the Reddi dynasty at Kondavid “from 1328 to 1482”.⁶⁹

Somasekhara Sarma argued that Vijayanagara had conquered the kingdom by 1424.⁷⁰⁶⁵ He based this on inscriptions of Deva Raya II at Pottur near Kondavidu (1420) and Paidipadu (1424).⁷⁰⁶⁵ He found no inscription to confirm the Gajapati conquest told by the village histories.⁷⁰⁶⁵ The Godavari gazetteer says that by 1454 the Gajapati Kapilesvara “was recognized as suzerain as far south as Kondavid”.²⁸ See the Gajapatis and Vijayanagara.

Territory, forts and branches

The Reddi kings, Ramesan wrote, regarded themselves as masters of the land from Srisailam to the eastern sea.²⁰ Ramayya concluded that Vema’s rule reached at least the north bank of the Krishna.² By the evidence of an Amaravati inscription, he thought, it also reached the banks of the Godavari.² The Pedapalakaluru plates credit Vema with gifts of villages on the Tungabhadra, the Krishna and the Godavari.⁷¹

The Kistna manual credits the founder with the hill forts of Bellamkonda, Vinukonda and Nagarjunakonda in the Palnad.⁶ It credits Anuvema with extending the kingdom “to Rajahmundry on the north, Kanchi on the south and Srisailam on the west”.⁶ Sewell’s lists of antiquities of 1882 ascribe ruined forts and temples in the Krishna district to “the Reddi chiefs (A.D. 1328 to 1427)”.⁷² One of these is the ruined hill fort at Gudimetla on the Krishna.⁷²

The Imperial Gazetteer says that Kondavidu itself had been fortified in the 12th century.⁶⁹ Its walls ran along the crests of a small range of hills.⁶⁹ According to the same gazetteer, Kondapalli, on the north bank of the Krishna, was “built about A.D. 1360 by the Reddi kings of Kondavid”.⁷³ The Kistna manual says it was built in Anuvema’s reign.⁶

Somasekhara Sarma says that Peda Komati Vema gave the country north of the Krishna to his brother Macha.⁷⁴ Macha fortified Kondapalli and made it his seat.⁷⁴ See the Kondavidu fort and the Kondapalli fort.

A second line, descended from Prolaya Vema’s youngest brother Malla, ruled around Kandukur in the Nellore district.²⁶²⁵⁷⁵ Its records, at Kandukur and Chundi, run from the 1390s to the 1430s.²⁶²⁵⁷⁵ At Chundi in 1408 Malla Reddi, son of Srigiri, built a temple of Janardana.²⁶²⁵⁷⁵ He gave his soldiers’ payment of two pies each to its festivals.²⁶²⁵⁷⁵ In the Godavari delta, the Reddis of Rajahmundry descended from Kataya Vema and then from Allada Reddi.²⁸

Government, trade and coins

The grants are mostly gifts of whole villages to Brahmans.¹⁷⁶³⁰ The villages were renamed after the donor: Atukuru became Vemapuram, Puvvada became Vemapuri, and Koduru became Annavotapuram.¹⁷⁶³⁰ The villages were divided into shares among many donees, sixty-four at Puvvada.⁷⁷³⁰ Their boundaries were written out in Telugu, “the language of the country”, after Sanskrit verses.⁷⁷³⁰

Ministers appear as donors and governors.²⁷⁸ Vema son of Malla governed Dharanikota under Anavota, and Mallinatha was Anavota’s minister.²⁷⁸

The coast’s sea trade continued. Anavota’s renewal of the Motupalli charter for sea merchants in 1358 was signed by his minister Somayamatya at Motupalli.³² Srinatha describes the merchant Tippa, who supplied Kumaragiri’s court with goods from many lands:³⁴

• camphor from the Panjab³⁴
• elephants from Ceylon³⁴
• horses from “Hurumanji (Ormuz or Persia)”³⁴
• civet (a perfume) from Goa³⁴
• silk cloth from China³⁴

Ramayya read this account as showing that the Telugu country then had “extensive trade relations”.³⁴ An inscription of the Vijayanagara period at Kondavidu lists the tolls taken in the Kondavidu country at market towns, salt-pans and pilgrim roads.⁷⁹

No coin bears a Reddi king’s name. In 1926 R. Srinivasa Raghava Iyengar listed among South Indian gold coins a group he called “Reddi fanams”.⁸⁰ They have a couchant (lying) bull under the sun and moon on one side, and an elephant goad and coiled whip on the other.⁸⁰ But he did not say why he attributed them to the Reddis.⁸⁰ The bull is the emblem on the seals of the Reddi grants.¹²⁸¹

Religion and temples

The Reddi kings were Saivas (worshippers of Shiva).¹²³⁴ Their seals bear the bull Nandi.¹²³⁴ Almost every inscription of the family remembers Prolaya Vema for the flight of steps from the Patalaganga stream up to the shrine of Srisailam.¹²³⁴ The Pedapalakaluru plates add a second flight of steps at Ahobilam, and call the two “permanent pillars of victory”.⁷¹

Later tradition gave the Srisailam steps to Anavema.⁸²⁸³ An inscription listed at Srisailam says so.⁸² The Kurnool district manual credits Anavema with “the causeway on Srisailam”.⁸³ The Kistna manual found in the Brahmans’ chronicles that Pulayya Vema Reddi “dedicated 108 temples to the worship of Siva”.⁸⁴

The family also gave to Vishnu temples. Kataya Vema gave the village Kaluvacheru, renamed Komaragiripuram, to the Narasimha temple at Ahobilam in 1410.⁸⁵ Errapragada dedicated his Narasimha Purana to the god of Ahobilam.²⁴

Their inscriptions stand at the great temples of the coast: Amaravati, Draksharama and, in the north, Simhachalam.^86418788 At Simhachalam Kataya Vema gave gold in 1386, and Virabhadra of Rajahmundry gave a village and jewels.^86418788

Literature at the Reddi courts

The Reddi period was a high point of Telugu and Sanskrit letters. Errapragada completed the Telugu Mahabharata left unfinished by Nannaya and Tikkana.⁸⁹³¹ In the words of the History of Telugu Literature of 1928, he “was attached to Proliah Vema Reddy, the ruler of the district”.⁸⁹ He dedicated his Harivamsa to him.⁸⁹³¹

Court poets composed the grants.³¹³⁹ Balasarasvati wrote Anavota’s Koduru grant and Anavema’s grants until 1377.³¹ Trilochanacharya wrote the Vanapalli plates of 1380.³⁹ The same history calls Srinatha the poet who “overshadows all others of his age”.⁹⁰ He served Peda Komati Vema and later the Rajahmundry Reddis.⁹⁰⁵¹

The kings wrote too. Ramayya cited Peda Komati Vema’s Sringaradipika and the commentary that Kataya Vema wrote on Kalidasa’s three plays.⁵¹⁴⁸ The 1928 history instead gives the Sringaradipika as “purporting to be the composition of Kumaragiri Reddi”.⁹¹ It adds that the work “is held by many to be by Srinatha”.⁹¹ Ramesan, following Somasekhara Sarma, also credits Peda Komati Vema with a work on poetics, the Sahitya Chintamani, and one on music, the Sangita Chintamani.⁹²

Vemana: legend and record

The moralist poet Vemana, whose verses were the Telugu schoolbook for centuries, is sometimes connected with the Reddis. But no record of the period names him. Charles Philip Brown collected his verses in the 1820s.⁹³ He heard some assert that “he belonged to the family of Ana Vema Reddi, a chief in the candanul (or Curnool) country”.⁹³ But after enquiring in the places named he “gained no information whatever”.⁹³ He reported the belief that Vemana “lived about the beginning of the seventeenth century”.⁹³

The 1928 History of Telugu Literature reports claims for Kondavidu and for Katuru, where his tomb is shown, as his birthplace.⁹⁴ It thought it probable that he lived at the beginning of the fifteenth century, though “nor can we fix his date, even approximately”.⁹⁴ The connection with the Reddi kings therefore rests on tradition alone.⁹³⁹⁴

Evidence and disagreements

• The start of the kingdom. The Kistna manual dates the founding at Kondavidu to 1328.⁶ The Godavari gazetteer has the earliest record in 1344.³ Ramayya in 1906 knew nothing earlier than 1345.¹ The editors of the Chimakurti plate read 1336.²³ Narasimhaswami gave 1332–33.²⁴ Somasekhara Sarma and Ramesan begin with a record of 1325.²¹²²
• The order of the kings. The Kistna manual makes Anuvema, Aliya Vema and Komaragiri brothers of the founder, and the last two kings Komaragiri’s sons.⁶ The inscriptions make Anavota and Anavema the founder’s sons, Kumaragiri Anavota’s son, Peda Komati Vema a grandson of Macha, and Racha Vema Peda Komati Vema’s son.⁴⁵²¹⁰
• The Amaravati record of 1361. The Kistna manual says it names Anuvema.⁶ Rangacharya’s summary and Ramayya make it a record of Anavota’s minister.³³²
• Prolaya Vema’s wife. Ramayya read the Harivamsa as saying that Prola’s wife Annama was a daughter of Dodda.¹ Sewell’s pedigree makes the daughter of Dodda the wife of Prolaya Vema.⁴⁵
• The steps at Srisailam. The family’s inscriptions give them to Prolaya Vema.¹² A later inscription at Srisailam and the Kurnool manual give them to Anavema.⁸²⁸³
• The Sringaradipika. Ramayya and Rangacharya give it to Peda Komati Vema.⁵¹⁹⁵ The 1928 history of Telugu literature gives it to Kumaragiri, with many attributing it to Srinatha.⁹¹
• The end. The Kistna manual has Racha Vema assassinated in 1428.⁶ Sewell (1884) and Rangacharya have the dynasty overthrown by “the Muhammadans” in 1427.⁷⁶⁶ The Kondavidu chronicle and village histories have a Gajapati conquest in 1420.⁷⁶⁶ Sewell (1932) has an overthrow by Ahmad I Bahmani about 1427.⁴⁵ Somasekhara Sarma has a Vijayanagara conquest by 1424.¹¹ The Imperial Gazetteer gives 1482.⁶⁹

Footnotes

1. Ramayya, Madras Museum Plates of Vema (1905–06), p. 10 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

2. Ramayya, Madras Museum Plates of Vema (1905–06), p. 11 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

3. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 25 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. J. Ramayya, Tottaramudi Plates of Kataya-Vema, Saka-Samvat 1333, Epigraphia Indica IV (1896–97), p. 319 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

5. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 165 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Mackenzie, Kistna District (1883), p. 10 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

7. Robert Sewell, Lists of Inscriptions, and Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India (Lists of Antiquarian Remains, Vol. II, 1884), p. 187 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

8. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 302 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

9. G. V. Ramamurti, Konkuduru Plates of Allaya-Dodda, Saka-Samvat 1352, Epigraphia Indica V (1898–99), p. 55 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

10. Ramayya, Madras Museum Plates of Vema (1905–06), p. 13 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

11. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 47 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

12. E. Hultzsch, Vanapalli Plates of Anna-Vema, Saka-Samvat 1300, Epigraphia Indica III (1894–95), p. 59 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

13. J. Ramayya, Madras Museum Plates of Vema, A.D. 1345, Epigraphia Indica VIII (1905–06), p. 9 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

14. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 188 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

15. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 192 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

16. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District (1883), p. 9 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

17. E. Hultzsch, Nadupuru Grant of Anna-Vema, Saka-Samvat 1296, Epigraphia Indica III (1894–95), p. 286 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

18. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 177 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

19. N. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh Government Museum, Hyderabad, Vol. I (1962), pp. 163–164 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

20. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 166 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

21. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 41 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

22. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), pp. 164–165 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

23. A. Rangaswami Saraswati and N. Lakshminarayan Rao, Three Copper-plate Inscriptions of the Reddis, Epigraphia Indica XXI (1931–32), p. 268 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

24. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi (1939–40), p. 139 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

25. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 194 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

26. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 1084, Nellore Nos. 289–292 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

27. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 175 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

28. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 26 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

29. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 42 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

30. H. K. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi; Saka 1280, Epigraphia Indica XXV (1939–40), p. 137 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

31. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi (1939–40), p. 138 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

32. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 758, Guntur Nos. 102–103 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

33. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 824, Guntur Nos. 624–625 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

34. Ramayya, Madras Museum Plates of Vema (1905–06), p. 12 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³

35. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 195 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

36. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi (1939–40), p. 140 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

37. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 167 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

38. Hultzsch, Vanapalli Plates of Anna-Vema (1894–95), p. 64 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

39. Hultzsch, Vanapalli Plates of Anna-Vema (1894–95), p. 60 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

40. Hultzsch, Nadupuru Grant of Anna-Vema (1894–95), p. 287 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

41. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 744, Godavari No. 352 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

42. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 168 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

43. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 954, Kurnool No. 456 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

44. Hultzsch, Vanapalli Plates of Anna-Vema (1894–95), p. 65 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

45. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 385 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

46. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 45 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

47. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 202 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

48. Ramayya, Tottaramudi Plates of Kataya-Vema (1896–97), p. 320 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

49. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 157 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

50. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 159 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

51. Ramayya, Three Inscriptions of the Reddis of Kondavidu (1911–12), p. 315 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

52. J. Ramayya, Three Inscriptions of the Reddis of Kondavidu, Epigraphia Indica XI (1911–12), p. 314 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

53. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 838, Guntur No. 803 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

54. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 160 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

55. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 161 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

56. L. D. Barnett, Vemavaram Grant of Allaya-Vema Reddi: Saka 1356, Epigraphia Indica XIII (1915–16), p. 238 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

57. Barnett, Vemavaram Grant of Allaya-Vema Reddi (1915–16), p. 239 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

58. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 162 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

59. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 163 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

60. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 166 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

61. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 167 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

62. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 46 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

63. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 170 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

64. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 835, Guntur No. 766 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

65. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 170 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

66. Sewell, Lists of Inscriptions (1884), p. 188 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

67. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 770 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

68. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 213 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

69. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 336 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

70. M. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), pp. 40–41 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

71. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 189 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

72. Robert Sewell, Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I (1882), p. 43 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

73. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 323 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

74. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 158 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

75. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 195 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

76. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 176 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

77. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 178 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

78. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 795 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

79. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 771, Guntur No. 208 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

80. R. Srinivasa Raghava Iyengar, “Ancient South Indian Gold Coinage”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society I (1926–27), p. 134 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

81. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 173 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

82. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 959, Kurnool No. 489-L (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

83. Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, A Manual of the Kurnool District (1886), p. 24 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

84. Mackenzie, Kistna District (1883), p. 11 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

85. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 975, Kurnool No. 598 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

86. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 825, Guntur No. 634 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

87. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. III (1919), p. 1678, Vizagapatam No. 105 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

88. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. III (1919), p. 1687 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

89. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 48 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

90. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 59 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

91. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 60 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

92. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 171 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

93. Charles Philip Brown (tr.), The Verses of Vemana (1911 reprint of the 1829 edition), Preface (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

94. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 99 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

95. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 772 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩