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Vaidumbas

Family of chiefs of the Madanapalle–Rayachoti country who, in the 9th and 10th centuries, ruled Renandu, the old Telugu Chola country of the Cuddapah region. Their hero-stones are in early Telugu and Kannada. Under Ganda-Trinetra they fought beside the Banas against the Nolambas and Gangas at Soremati. Later Vaidumba chiefs served the Nolamba Iriva-Nolamba and the Rashtrakuta Krishna III, married into the Chola royal family, and from the reign of Rajaraja I were Chola vassals; one ruled near Gudur in Nellore in 992. A Vaidumba princess was the mother of the Kalinga Ganga king Vajrahasta. By the late 13th century the Hoysalas held their old country.

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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.

70075080085090095010001050110011501200Eastern Chalukyas & the Deccan powers (624–1163 CE)Eastern Chalukyas & the Deccan powersKakatiyas (1163–1323 CE)KakatiyasTelanganaChalukyas of BadamiChalukyas of MudigondaChalukyas of VemulavadaKakatiyasRashtrakutas of MalkhedKakatiyasEastern Chalukyas of VengiWestern Chalukyas of KalyaniCoastal AndhraEastern Gangas of KalingaEastern Chalukyas of VengiCholas of TanjoreKakatiyasChalukyas of BadamiEastern Chalukyas of VengiKotas of DharanikotaPallavasHaihayas of Kona and PalnaduTelugu Chodas of Pottapi and NelloreVelanati ChodasWestern Chalukyas of KalyaniCholas of TanjoreRayalaseemaPallavasCholas of TanjoreTelugu Cholas of RenaduWestern Chalukyas of KalyaniChalukyas of BadamiTelugu Chodas of Pottapi and NelloreBanasHoysalasVaidumbasNolamba-PallavasRashtrakutas of Malkhed70075080085090095010001050110011501200
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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) · Kakatiyas (c. 1052–1162 CE) · Rashtrakutas of Malkhed (c. 753–973 CE) · Telugu Chodas of Kanduru (c. 1060–1160 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) · Chalukyas of Badami (c. 655–680 CE) · Kotas of Dharanikota (c. 1100–1276 CE) · Pallavas (c. 670–750 CE) · Haihayas of Kona and Palnadu (c. 1073–1364 CE) · Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore (c. 1106–1316 CE) · Velanati Chodas (c. 1118–1209 CE) · Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (c. 1118–1126 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) · Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore (c. 1120–1268 CE) · Banas (c. 700–915 CE) · Vaidumbas (c. 750–1000 CE) · Nolamba-Pallavas (c. 750–974 CE) · Rashtrakutas of Malkhed (c. 750–973 CE)

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) · Kakatiyas (c. 1185–1323 CE) · Kotas of Dharanikota (c. 1100–1276 CE) · Haihayas of Kona and Palnadu (c. 1073–1364 CE) · Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore (c. 1106–1316 CE) · Velanati Chodas (c. 1118–1209 CE) · Cholas of Tanjore (c. 1135–1264 CE)
Rayalaseema
Cholas of Tanjore (c. 985–1268 CE) · Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (c. 1000–1190 CE) · Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore (c. 1120–1268 CE) · Hoysalas (c. 1178–1342 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.

8258508759009259509751000Manuja-Trinetra · c. 860–880 CE · c. 20 yrsManuja-Trinetrac. 860–880 CE · c. 20 yrsGanda-Trinetra (Vaidumba) · c. 880–900 CE · c. 20 yrsGanda-Trinetra (Vaidumba)c. 880–900 CE · c. 20 yrsSandaiyan Tiruvaiyan · c. 940–965 CE · c. 25 yrsSandaiyan Tiruvaiyanc. 940–965 CE · c. 25 yrs
  1. Manuja-Trinetrac. 860–880 CE · c. 20 yrs
  2. Ganda-Trinetra (Vaidumba)c. 880–900 CE · c. 20 yrs
  3. Sandaiyan Tiruvaiyanc. 940–965 CE · c. 25 yrs
Reign · c. = approximate date

Only a few Vaidumba rulers can be placed, and only roughly. Ganda-Trinetra is dated by the battle of Soremati: about 877–78 (Sewell and Aiyangar, 1932), about 885 (Panchamukhi, 1938) or 900 (the Cuddapah gazetteer, 1915). Manuja-Trinetra, whom Sewell thought probably the same man, is put just before him. Sandaiyan Tiruvaiyan made grants in the reign of the Rashtrakuta Krishna III (about 940–965).

The Vaidumbas were a family of chiefs in the Madanapalle and Rayachoti country, in the old Chittoor and Kadapa (then Cuddapah) districts.12 In the 9th and 10th centuries they ruled Renandu, the old kingdom of the Telugu Cholas.3 Some of their hero-stones are written partly in early Telugu and partly in Kannada.4 In turn they served the Rashtrakutas and the Cholas.15

Origins

R. S. Panchamukhi (1938) thought the family came from Vaidumbavrolu, in the Madanapalle taluk.2 The Cuddapah gazetteer of 1915 wrote that the Vaidumbas ruled part of Mysore and the south of Anantapur “from very early times”.1 It placed their spread into the Rayachoti taluk as early as the 8th century.1 Its evidence was an inscription naming a Vaidumba king at Nerusupalle, in the Surabhu valley.1

Panchamukhi saw it differently.6 At Chippili, he noted, Telugu Chola, Bana and Vaidumba records stand together, and the Vaidumba one has the latest script.26 So in his view the Vaidumbas grew strong only in the 9th century, after the Banas.6 He thought they took Madanapalle and then the whole of the Renandu Seven Thousand country.6

Ganda-Trinetra and Soremati

Two Vaidumba kings, Manuja-Trinetra and Ganda-Trinetra, are said to have ruled Renandu.3 Sewell and Aiyangar (1932) thought they were probably the same man.7 Hero-stones near Madanapalle remember the wars of Ganda-Trinetra.87

The best known is a hero-stone at Basinikonda, near Madanapalle.8 It records the death of a hero in a fight near the fort of Soremati, which Ganda-Trinetra and a Bana chief had raided.84 It is dated in the reign of the Vaidumba Maharaja Ganda-Trinetra.8 The Vaidumbas fought at Soremati beside the Banas.19 Their enemies were the Nolamba-Pallavas and the Gangas.98

Under the Nolambas and Rashtrakutas

B. Lewis Rice (1909) wrote that the Nolamba king Iriva-Nolamba, who ruled about 943–966, had the Vaidumbas under him.10 The Cuddapah gazetteer wrote that the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III (940–956) made the Vaidumbas his feudatories.1 Sewell and Aiyangar listed Tamil records in which the Vaidumba chief Sandaiyan Tiruvaiyan made gifts in Krishna III’s reign.11

After Krishna III’s death the Vaidumbas were acknowledged, apparently as sovereigns, as far north as Animela in the Kamalapuram taluk in 975–76.1 Sewell and Aiyangar noted a record in the Kadapa district of 972, which says a Vaidumba chief called Bhuvana-Trinetra was crowned that year.12

Marriage with the Cholas

The Anbil plates of the Chola king Sundara-Chola say that his father Arinjaya married Kalyani, “born of the family of the Vaidumba king”.13 Their editor, T. A. Gopinatha Rao, noted that Parantaka I had earlier defeated the Vaidumba king Sandaiyan.14

Under the Cholas

The Cuddapah gazetteer wrote that under the Chola king Rajaraja I a Vaidumba chief was his feudatory.1 He ruled the Ingallur-nadu, in the Pulivendla taluk.15 Sewell and Aiyangar wrote that the Vaidumbas had submitted to Rajaraja early in his reign.15 They thought the Vaidumbas sought his protection from the Western Chalukyas.15

The family reached the Nellore country too.16 At Reddipalem, in the Gudur taluk, a Tamil record of the 8th year of Rajarajadeva records a lamp given by the Vaidumba Maharaja Vishnudeva.1615 Sewell and Aiyangar date this record to 992, the eighth year of Rajaraja Chola.15

In 1056–57 a Vaidumba chief named Bhima Maharaja restored a temple at Palagiri in the Kamalapuram taluk.5 An inscription at Rayachoti shows the Vaidumbas still Chola feudatories in 1102.5 A hero-stone at Eradukera in Anantapur says that Vaidumba Chudamani carried off the cows of Bevinabidu.17 Sewell and Aiyangar noted it among records of about 1142.18 By the late 13th century, the gazetteer wrote, the Hoysala king Narasimha held Rayachoti, and the Vaidumbas had been “dispersed”.19

In Kalinga

The family also married into the Ganga kings of Kalinga.20 A copper-plate grant of Saka 984 (1062–63; Saka is an Indian way of counting years) in the Madras Museum is a record of the Ganga king Vajrahasta.2120 It names him as son of Kamarnava and of Vinayamahadevi “of the Vaidumba family”.20

Where the sources disagree

  • How old the family’s rule was. The Cuddapah gazetteer put Vaidumba rule in Rayachoti as early as the 8th century.1 Panchamukhi thought they became strong only in the 9th century, after the Banas.6
  • The date of Soremati. About 877–78 (Sewell and Aiyangar), about 885 (Panchamukhi) or 900 (the Cuddapah gazetteer).9221

Footnotes

  1. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah (1915), p. 29 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  2. Panchamukhi, “Three Inscriptions” (1938), p. 187 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Panchamukhi, “Three Inscriptions” (1938), p. 185 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  4. Panchamukhi, “Three Inscriptions” (1938), p. 184 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  5. Brackenbury, Cuddapah (1915), p. 30 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Panchamukhi, “Three Inscriptions” (1938), p. 188 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 35 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  8. R. S. Panchamukhi, “Three Inscriptions of Vaidumba-Maharaja Gandatrinetra”, Epigraphia Indica XXIV (1937–38), p. 183 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. B. Lewis Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 57 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 49 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  12. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 52 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  13. Gopinatha Rao, “Anbil Plates of Sundara-Chola” (1920), p. 68, translation of verse 24 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. T. A. Gopinatha Rao, “Anbil Plates of Sundara-Chola: the 4th Year”, Epigraphia Indica XV (1919–20), p. 50 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 54 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  16. A. Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collection of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Part I (1905), p. 446, Gudur No. 88 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  17. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 20, Anantapur district, Eradukera (No. 86 of 1913) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  18. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 105 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  19. Brackenbury, Cuddapah (1915), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  20. Konow, “Madras Museum Plates of Vajrahasta III” (1908), p. 95 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. Sten Konow, “Madras Museum Plates of Vajrahasta III: Saka-Samvat 984”, Epigraphia Indica IX (1907–08), p. 94 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  22. Panchamukhi, “Three Inscriptions” (1938), p. 189 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

Photos

People

Ganda-Trinetra (Vaidumba)

c. 885 CE

Vaidumba Maharaja of the Renandu country in the late 9th century, known from hero-stones near Madanapalle in early Telugu and Kannada. Three of them were edited by R. S. Panchamukhi in 1938. They place him in the wars against the Nolamba king Mahendra and the Gangas, culminating in the battle at Soremati, where he fought on the side of the Bana king Vijayaditya II. The battle has been dated about 877–78, about 885 and 900.

References

Sources (8)
  1. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, pp. 29–30, 32. [Public domain]
  2. N. P. Chakravarti (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIV (1937–38) (opens in a new tab), Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1938, pp. 183–190. R. S. Panchamukhi, Three Inscriptions of Vaidumba-Maharaja Gandatrinetra. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. B. Lewis Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (opens in a new tab), Archibald Constable, London, 1909, pp. 57. [Public domain]
  4. F. W. Thomas (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XV (1919–20) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1925, pp. 50, 68. T. A. Gopinatha Rao, Anbil Plates of Sundara-Chola. [Public domain]
  5. E. Hultzsch and Sten Konow (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX (1907–08) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 94–95. Sten Konow, Madras Museum Plates of Vajrahasta III. [Public domain]
  6. Alan Butterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, A Collection of the Inscriptions on Copper-Plates and Stones in the Nellore District, Part I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1905, pp. 446. [Public domain]
  7. 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. 20. [Public domain]
  8. 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. 35, 38, 49, 52, 54, 105. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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