Nayakas, Reddis & Bahmanis

Eastern Gangas of Kalinga

c. 498–1434 CE

Dynasty of Kalinga that ruled from Kalinganagara, now Mukhalingam in the Srikakulam district, and later from Orissa, from about the 6th century until 1434. Its early grants are dated in a Ganga era whose starting point is still disputed. The north of the Telugu country, the old Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts, was the heart of the kingdom. Their copper plates come from Chicacole, Achyutapuram, Jirjingi, Nadagam and Alamanda, and hundreds of their inscriptions in Telugu and Sanskrit survive at Mukhalingam, Srikurmam and Simhachalam. Anantavarman Chodaganga, a grandson of Kulottunga I, reigned from 1078 for about seventy years. The later kings fought the Kakatiyas across the Godavari, and their minister Kapilesvara founded the Gajapati dynasty in 1434.

Delhi Sultanate in the Telugu country

c. 1303–1344 CE

The Khalji and Tughluq sultans of Delhi sent five armies against the Kakatiya capital Warangal between 1303 and 1323. Malik Kafur's siege of 1309–10 and Khusrau Khan's of 1318 ended in tribute. Ulugh Khan, the future Muhammad bin Tughluq, took the city at his second attempt, sent Prataparudra towards Delhi and renamed Warangal Sultanpur. For a little over a decade Telingana (Tilang) was a province of the sultanate, governed for a time by the Telugu convert Malik Maqbul. Then a rising under Kapaya Nayaka, called Kanya Naik by Barani, drove the Delhi officers out.

Musunuri Nayakas

c. 1325–1368 CE

A family of Telugu military chiefs (nayakas) who led the recovery of the Telugu country from the Delhi Sultanate after the fall of Warangal in 1323. Prolaya Nayaka, from his hill capital at Rekapalli on the Godavari, freed the coast and gave back the Brahmin villages seized by the Delhi officers. His cousin Kapaya Nayaka took Warangal in the later 1330s and ruled as 'lord of the Andhra country'. He helped the founders of the Bahmani kingdom against Delhi, then lost Kaulas and Golconda to the Bahmanis, giving up the turquoise throne in 1365. He was overthrown by the Recherla Velamas in about 1368.

Reddis of Kondaveedu

c. 1325–1424 CE

Telugu dynasty of the Panta Reddi family. It rose on the coast after the fall of the Kakatiyas and ruled for about a hundred years, from about 1325 to the 1420s, first from Addanki and then from the hill fortress of Kondavidu. Its six kings, from Prolaya Vema to Racha Vema, held the country between Srisailam and the sea and at times the Godavari delta. They built the flights of steps at Srisailam and Ahobilam, fought the Recherla Velamas, Vijayanagara and the Bahmanis, and kept a court where Errapragada and Srinatha wrote. Under Kumaragiri the eastern half of the kingdom became a separate state at Rajahmundry.

Recherla Velamas

c. 1336–1475 CE

A family of Telugu warrior chiefs of the Recherla line and the Velama (Padmanayaka) community who rose after the fall of the Kakatiyas. Singama Nayaka's sons Anapota and Mada overthrew the Musunuri chief Kapaya Nayaka about 1368. They ruled Telangana from the hill forts of Rachakonda and Devarakonda for about a century, between the Bahmanis, the Reddis, Vijayanagara and the Gajapatis of Orissa. The king Singabhupala wrote the Sanskrit Rasarnavasudhakara, and tradition links the poets Srinatha and Potana with their court.

Vijayanagara Empire

c. 1336–1646 CE

The South Indian empire founded about 1336 by the brothers Harihara and Bukka on the Tungabhadra. The Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva and Aravidu dynasties ruled it in turn. It held Rayalaseema and the Nellore country from the fourteenth century. It fought the Reddis, the Velamas, the Bahmanis and the Gajapatis of Orissa for the Telugu coast, and under Krishnadeva Raya it took Udayagiri, Kondavidu and Kondapalli and marched to Simhachalam. Its court made Telugu a language of high poetry. After the defeat of 1565 its kings ruled from Penukonda and Chandragiri, until Golconda took the last of the Telugu districts in the 1640s.

Bahmanis

1347–1527 CE

Sultans of the Deccan (1347–1527) who ruled from Gulbarga and, from the 1420s, from Bidar. Their founder won his throne with troops sent by the ruler of Warangal. His successors took Kaulas, Bhongir and Golconda from the Telugu chiefs, sacked Warangal (in 1422, 1424 or 1425, by different accounts) and held western Telangana as the province of Bidar. They fought the Musunuri and Recherla nayakas, the Reddis, Vijayanagara and the Gajapatis of Orissa, and held the coast from Rajahmundry to Kondapalli and Kondavidu in the 1470s. Mahmud Gawan split the province of Telingana between Rajahmundry and Warangal. Its last governor, Sultan Quli, founded the Qutb Shahi kingdom of Golconda.

Reddis of Rajahmundry

c. 1386–1448 CE

The eastern Reddi kingdom, centred on Rajahmundry and the Godavari delta. It grew out of the Kondavidu kingdom when Kumaragiri Reddi gave 'the eastern country' to his minister and brother-in-law Kataya Vema in the 1380s. After Kataya Vema's death about 1414–16, his kinsman Allada Reddi fought off the Telugu Choda Annadeva, the Kondavidu king and a Bahmani army. Allada's sons Allaya Vema and Virabhadra ruled jointly until the 1440s, when the Gajapati Kapilesvara of Orissa took the delta. Srinatha wrote his last poems at their court.

Gajapatis of Orissa

c. 1434–1541 CE

The Suryavamsi kings of Orissa, 'lords of elephants', who ruled from Cuttack from 1434–35 to about 1541. Kapilendra (Kapilesvara) took the throne of the last Eastern Ganga king. He conquered the Reddi kingdoms of Rajahmundry and Kondavidu, and sent his son Hamvira and his nephew Raghudeva into Telangana, where they took Warangal in 1460. He carried his arms down the coast towards the Kaveri. His son Purushottama lost the Godavari–Krishna country to the Bahmanis and won it back. Prataparudra lost everything south of the Godavari or the Krishna to Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagara in 1513–19, and the coastal districts fell to Golconda in the following decades.

Adil Shahis of Bijapur

c. 1489–1686 CE

Sultans of Bijapur (about 1489–1686), founded by Yusuf Adil Khan, a governor who broke away from the Bahmanis. They fought Vijayanagara for a century over Raichur and Mudgal, and joined the league that defeated it in 1565. Then they advanced south of the Tungabhadra: they took Adoni in 1568, Kurnool early in the seventeenth century and Penukonda in 1652. In the 1630s–50s they overran the Karnatak and divided it with Golconda. They held the western Telugu uplands through Abyssinian governors, such as Siddi Masud of Adoni, and through tributary poligars, until Aurangzeb took Bijapur in 1686.

Shitab Khan of Warangal

c. 1504–1516 CE

Short-lived Telugu principality of the chief Shitab Khan, or Sitapati, between the fall of the Bahmani power and the rise of Golconda. He was a former officer of the Bahmanis. By his pillar inscription, he took Warangal fort from the Muslims on 21 January 1504. He held it with Khammam, Bellamkonda and other hill forts, and restored the Kakatiya family goddess and a Krishna image to their temples. The Kistna manual thought him a vassal of the Gajapatis of Orissa, with whose prince he fought at Palanchinur. Sultan Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda took his forts. The sources date the conquest of Warangal anywhere from 1512 to 1525.

Errapragada

c. 1280–1350 CE

Telugu poet of the 14th century, the third of the 'Kavitraya' who completed the Telugu Mahabharata. He finished the Aranya Parva that Nannaya had left incomplete. He was a Niyogi Brahman of Gudluru in the Nellore country and a devotee of Siva (Sambhudasa). He was attached to Prolaya Vema, the founder of the Reddi kingdom, and dedicated his Harivamsa to him. He also wrote a Ramayana and the Narasimha Purana for the god of Ahobilam.

Malik Maqbul (Khan-i Jahan)

c. 1323–1370 CE

Telugu noble of Warangal, called Kattu before his conversion, who entered the service of Muhammad bin Tughluq after the fall of the Kakatiyas. He governed the province of Telingana until Kanya Naik's revolt drove him out. He rose to be chief minister of Sultan Firuz Tughluq with the title Khan-i Jahan.

Muhammad bin Tughluq

1325–1351 CE

Sultan of Delhi (1325–1351). As Prince Ulugh Khan he besieged Warangal twice in the early 1320s, captured the Kakatiya king Prataparudra and renamed the city Sultanpur. As sultan he held Telingana as a province until a Telugu rising, after his visit of 1335, took Warangal from his governor. This page covers only his part in the history of the Telugu country.

Prolaya Nayaka

c. 1325–1336 CE

Musunuri chief (fl. c. 1325–1336). According to his Vilasa grant, he rose after Prataparudra's death and drove the Delhi garrisons out of the Telugu coast. He ruled from Rekapalli on the Godavari and gave back to the Brahmins the villages that the conquerors had seized.

Prolaya Vema Reddi

c. 1325–1353 CE

Founder of the Reddi kingdom of Addanki and Kondavidu (c. 1325–1353). He took over the country between Srisailam and the sea after the fall of the Kakatiyas. His grants of 1345 and 1346 say he restored the Brahman villages seized by the Muslim conquerors of Warangal. Later records remember him for the flights of steps at Srisailam and Ahobilam, and the poet Errapragada dedicated his Harivamsa to him.

Harihara I (Vijayanagara)

c. 1336–1355 CE

First ruler of Vijayanagara and eldest of the five sons of Sangama. With his brother Bukka he founded the kingdom on the Tungabhadra about 1336. His first dated inscription, of 1340, calls him only a mahamandalesvara, 'great lord'. It is disputed whether he and his brothers came from the service of the Kakatiyas of Warangal, of the Rai of Kampili or of the Hoysalas. His brother Kampa held Udayagiri and Nellore, the first Vijayanagara base in the Telugu country.

Kapaya Nayaka

c. 1336–1368 CE

Musunuri chief (fl. c. 1336–1368), cousin and successor of Prolaya Nayaka. He took Warangal from the Delhi governors and ruled as 'lord of the Andhra country'. He is identified with the Kanya Naik of Barani and the Krishna Naik of Ferishta. He helped the founders of the Bahmani kingdom, then lost Kaulas and Golconda to them. He was overthrown by the Recherla Velamas in about 1368.

Singama Nayaka (Recherla)

c. 1336–1361 CE

Recherla chief of the mid-fourteenth century, son of Dacaya and father of Anapota and Mada, the founders of the Velama kingdoms of Rachakonda and Devarakonda. He fought the Musunuri chief Kapaya Nayaka and settled Brahmins on the Krishna. The family chronicle says he was stabbed to death while besieging the fort of Jallipalli, about 1361.

Ala-ud-din Hasan Bahman Shah

1347–1358 CE

Officer of the Delhi sultanate who led the Deccan revolt against Muhammad bin Tughluq, with help from the ruler of Warangal. In 1347 he founded the Bahmani sultanate at Gulbarga. He took Kaulas from Warangal and made western Telangana a province of his kingdom.

Anavota Reddi

c. 1353–1364 CE

Second Reddi king of Addanki (c. 1353–1364), elder son of Prolaya Vema. His only known copper-plate grant, from Koduru (1358), and his renewal of the Kakatiya charter for sea merchants at Motupalli (1358) survive. A Velama chronicle claims a victory over him at Dharanikota in 1361. His son Kumaragiri and his son-in-law Kataya Vema later ruled at Kondavidu and Rajahmundry.

Bukka I (Vijayanagara)

c. 1355–1377 CE

Second ruler of Vijayanagara, brother and successor of Harihara I, who turned the frontier kingdom into an empire. He fought the Bahmani sultans Muhammad Shah I and Mujahid for the Raichur doab. His son Kumara Kampana destroyed the sultanate of Madura, and his inscriptions boast of driving the Andhras into the hills towards Udayagiri. His minister built the tank of Bukkarayasamudram in the Anantapur country in 1364. Sewell dated his reign 1343–1379 in 1900 and 1355–1377 in 1932.

Muhammad Shah I

1358–1375 CE

Second Bahmani sultan (1358–1375), son of the founder. He organised the court, the army and the four provinces, struck the dynasty's own gold coin, and fought the first great wars with Warangal and Vijayanagara. In Ferishta's account the ruler of Warangal ceded Golconda to him and gave up a jewelled throne, the Takht-i-Feroza or turquoise throne. The Burhan-i Ma'asir tells of the Telingana war in a single sentence.

Anapota Nayaka (Recherla)

c. 1361–1384 CE

Recherla Velama chief (r. c. 1361–1384), son of Singama Nayaka. He fortified Rachakonda in 1365 and overthrew the Musunuri chief Kapaya Nayaka about 1368. By July 1369 he ruled Warangal, Bhongir and Rachakonda. With his brother Mada of Devarakonda he made the Recherla family the leading power of Telangana.

Mada Nayaka (Recherla)

c. 1361–1384 CE

Recherla Velama chief (r. c. 1361–1384), younger son of Singama Nayaka and brother of Anapota. He ruled from Devarakonda and is counted as the founder of the Devarakonda branch. His inscription of 1377 records a pavilion he built at Umamahesvaram, the northern gateway of Srisailam. His son Venna governed Kandikonda.

Anavema Reddi

c. 1364–1386 CE

Third Reddi king (c. 1364–1386), younger son of Prolaya Vema, who ruled from Kondavidu and carried the kingdom's grants into the Godavari delta. He is known from five copper-plate grants (Pachchanitandiparru 1374, Nadupuru, Pedapalakaluru 1378, Vanapalli 1380 and others) and from records at Srisailam and Draksharama. He was surnamed Vasantaraya for his spring festival. The poet Srinatha's connection with the Reddis probably began under him.

Srinatha

c. 1365–1440 CE

Telugu poet of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, often ranked with the three translators of the Mahabharata. He served Peda Komati Vema of Kondavidu as vidyadhikarin and composed his grants and inscriptions. He then wrote for the Reddis of Rajahmundry. His Sringaranaishadham, Bhimakhandam and Kasikhandam are dedicated to Reddi kings and ministers, and they are a main source for their history.

Peda Vedagiri (Recherla)

c. 1384–1410 CE

Recherla Velama chief of Devarakonda (r. c. 1384–1410), son of Mada Nayaka. An inscription of 1399 calls him ruler of the land between Srisailam and the Vindhyas. The family chronicle credits him with a victory near Warangal in the war against Kapaya Nayaka.

Singabhupala (Recherla)

c. 1384–1399 CE

Recherla Velama king of Rachakonda (late 14th century), son of Anapota Nayaka. He wrote the Rasarnavasudhakara, a Sanskrit book on drama whose opening verses are the fullest early account of his family. Later tradition calls him, or a namesake of the next century, Sarvajna ('the all-knowing') Singa, patron of Srinatha and Potana. Who was who is disputed.

Kataya Vema

c. 1386–1415 CE

Minister and brother-in-law of Kumaragiri of Kondavidu. He received 'the eastern country' with Rajahmundry as its capital in the 1380s, and ruled the Godavari delta and the coast to Simhachalam until about 1414–16. A grandson of Prolaya Vema through his mother, he was also a Sanskrit scholar. He wrote the Kumaragirirajiyam, a commentary on Kalidasa's plays.

Kumaragiri Reddi

c. 1386–1402 CE

Reddi king of Kondavidu (c. 1386–1402), son of Anavota. He is remembered for his spring festival and his court's foreign trade, and as the patron after whom Kataya Vema named his commentary on Kalidasa. He gave the Godavari country around Rajahmundry to his minister and brother-in-law Kataya Vema. At the end of his reign he lost Kondavidu to his kinsman Peda Komati Vema.

Firuz Shah

1397–1422 CE

Eighth Bahmani sultan (1397–1422), a grandson of the founder. A learned and tolerant king in his early years, he fought Vijayanagara for most of his reign. The Burhan-i Ma'asir credits him with conquering Telingana as far as Rajahmundry. In 1417 he took tribute from the raja of Telingana, but then lost a two-year siege of Pangal to Vijayanagara and the raja of Telingana together. He gave up the throne to his brother Ahmad in 1422 and died days later.

Bammera Potana

c. 1400–1475 CE

Telugu poet of the fifteenth century, author of the Telugu Bhagavata. Tradition links him with Sarvajna Singa, a Recherla Velama king of Rachakonda. It says he wrote the Bhoginidandakamu in praise of the king's mistress but refused to dedicate his Bhagavata to a mortal king. No inscription confirms the story.

Peda Komati Vema

c. 1402–1420 CE

Fifth Reddi king of Kondavidu (c. 1402–1420), a grandson of Prolaya Vema's elder brother Macha, known as a scholar-king. The Sringaradipika commentary on the Amarusataka and other works are ascribed to him, and the poet Srinatha served him as vidyadhikarin and composed his grants. His reign was spent in wars with the Rajahmundry Reddis, Vijayanagara and the Recherla Velamas.

Allada Reddi

c. 1416–1420 CE

Reddi noble of the Duvvuri branch of the Panta family who took control of the Rajahmundry kingdom after Kataya Vema's death (c. 1416–1420). It seems he ruled first as regent for Kataya Vema's son and daughter. His sons' grants credit him with victories over the Kondavidu king Peda Komati Vema and over 'Alpa Khan', and with friendship with the Gajapati and the king of Vijayanagara. His sons Allaya Vema and Virabhadra ruled Rajahmundry after him.

Ahmad Shah I

1422–1435 CE

Ninth Bahmani sultan (1422–1435), called Wali, 'the Saint'. He took the throne from his brother Firuz and defeated Vijayanagara. In 1424 or 1425 he took Warangal, killing its raja, and the Velama rayas of Devarakonda and Rachakonda then paid him tribute. He moved the capital from Gulbarga to Bidar. He had to march into Telangana again to put down the chiefs who rose while he fought Gujarat and Malwa.

Deva Raya II (Vijayanagara)

1422–1446 CE

King of Vijayanagara from 1422 or 1423 to 1446, the greatest ruler of the first dynasty. He enlisted Muslim archers in his army, survived an attempt on his life in 1443 and received the Persian envoy Abdur Razzaq. His inscriptions reach the Godavari delta and the Guntur and Nellore country. The Telugu poet Vallabharaya governed Vinukonda for him, and Srinatha was bathed in gold in his Pearl Hall. After his death the Bahmani sultan and the Gajapati of Orissa besieged his capital together.

Lingama Nayaka (Recherla)

c. 1427–1475 CE

Recherla Velama chief of Devarakonda in the fifteenth century, and a great-great-grandson of Mada Nayaka according to an inscription of 1427. He is known from two tank inscriptions of 1427 and from a long list of victories in the family chronicle. The chronicle makes him a rival of the Reddi kings and a contemporary of the Vijayanagara king Praudha Devaraya.

Kapilendra (Kapilesvara)

c. 1434–1470 CE

Founder of the Suryavamsi Gajapati dynasty of Orissa, who took the throne of the last Eastern Ganga king in 1434–35 and reigned until about 1470. He conquered the Reddi kingdoms of Rajahmundry and Kondavidu, and governed them through his nephew Raghudeva and his kinsman Ganadeva. He relieved Devarakonda from the Bahmanis in 1459, and his son Hamvira and Raghudeva took Warangal in 1460. His records credit him with conquests down the coast to the Kaveri.

Humayun Shah

1458–1461 CE

Eleventh Bahmani sultan (1458–1461), remembered as Zalim, 'the Cruel'. In Telangana he put down the revolt of his cousin Sikandar Khan, who claimed the province. He sent an army against the Velama fort of Devarakonda, which was routed by its defenders and an Orissan relief force in 1459. He camped at Warangal, left Mahmud Gawan to hold Telangana, and returned to Bidar to take a savage revenge on a rising there.

Hamvira (Hambira)

c. 1459–1478 CE

Son of the Gajapati king Kapilendra and the leading general of his conquests in the Telugu and Tamil countries. He captured the fort of Warangal on 2 February 1460 and made the Chiruvroli grant on the Krishna in 1461. In 1464 his son Dakshina-Kapilesvara governed Kondavidu and the forts of the south. Ferishta writes of an 'Ambur Ray' who took the Orissan throne with Bahmani help after Kapilendra's death. This man has been identified with Hamvira, but the succession is disputed.

Muhammad Shah III

1463–1482 CE

Bahmani sultan (1463–1482) who came to the throne as a boy. He brought Rajahmundry, Kondapalli and the Krishna–Godavari coast under Bahmani rule, and spent three years settling Telangana. In 1481 he had his great minister Mahmud Gawan executed because of a forged letter, a deed the sources blame for the break-up of the kingdom.

Purushottama (Gajapati)

c. 1470–1497 CE

Gajapati king of Orissa from 1469–70 to 1496–97, son of Kapilendra. Early in his reign the Bahmanis took Rajahmundry and Kondapalli or Kondavidu, after a disputed succession in which he may have bought their help. His attempt to recover the Godavari country in the 1470s ended with Muhammad Shah III's invasion of Orissa. But by 1489 his grants and inscriptions reach the Krishna and the Ongole country again. Orissan tradition credits him with an expedition to Kanchi and a romantic marriage.

Mahmud Shah Bahmani

1482–1518 CE

Fourteenth Bahmani sultan (1482–1518). He came to the throne at twelve and spent his reign as the puppet of his ministers, while the governors became kings. Telangana stayed loyal longest. He campaigned at Warangal in 1486 and gave the province to Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk in the 1490s. Bahmani mosques of his reign stand at Rachakonda (1484) and Golconda (1518), the latter still naming him as sovereign.

Saluva Narasimha

c. 1485–1492 CE

Chief of the Saluva family of Chandragiri. He drove the Gajapatis of Orissa back up the coast towards Rajahmundry and faced the Bahmani sultan there in the 1470s. In 1485–86 he took the throne of Vijayanagara from the last Sangama king and founded the second, Saluva, dynasty. He died in 1492–93 and left his young sons in the charge of his general Narasa Nayaka. Whether he recovered Udayagiri from Orissa is disputed.

Yusuf Adil Khan (Yusuf Adil Shah)

c. 1489–1510 CE

Founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur (r. about 1489–1510). He was a foreign-born officer of the Bahmani kings who governed the province of Bijapur with the title Adil Khan. He declared his independence in AH 895 (1489–90). In 1493 he defeated the Vijayanagara regent Timmaraja and took Mudgal and Raichur. This began a century of war over the Raichur doab.

Shitab Khan (Sitapati) of Warangal

c. 1504–1516 CE

A Telugu chief of humble birth who held Warangal, Khammam and Bellamkonda in the early sixteenth century. Hirananda Sastri identified him with an officer who had fled the Bahmani Sultan Humayun Shah about 1461, and with the Sitapati of the Golconda chronicle. His pillar inscription in Warangal fort records that he took the fort from the Muslims on 21 January 1504. He put back the images of Krishna and of the Kakatiya family goddess. He supported Telugu poets and called himself king of the Bhogi family. Sultan Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda defeated him. He took shelter with the Gajapati prince at Kondapalli and fought on the losing side at Palanchinur. The Kistna manual thought he was a vassal of Orissa.

Jakkana

Telugu poet of the early 15th century, author of the Vikramarka Charitramu, tales of the legendary King Vikramaditya of Ujjain. He dedicated it to Vennelaganti Siddamantri, whose family was favoured at the court of the Vijayanagara king Devaraya II. K. Sitaramaiya counted him among the later poets who imitated Nannechoda's style.

Mahmud Gawan

before 1481 CE

Persian merchant who became chief minister of the Bahmani sultanate (c. 1461–1481). He was regent for two boy kings, fought in Telangana and on the west coast, reorganised the provinces and the army, and founded a great college at Bidar. Muhammad Shah III had him executed on a forged charge of treason in 1481.

Malik Hasan Bahri

before 1486 CE

Bahmani noble, born a Brahman and brought up as a Muslim. As Nizam-ul-Mulk he took Rajahmundry and Kondapalli or Kondavidu for Muhammad Shah III in about 1471, and governed all of Telingana. He resented its division by Mahmud Gawan and led the plot that had the minister executed in 1481. He then ruled the kingdom as Malik Naib until he was killed in 1486 after a campaign at Warangal. His son Ahmad founded the Nizam Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar.

Nachana Somana

Telugu poet at the court of Bukka I of Vijayanagara in the 14th century and author of the Uttara Harivamsamu, a retelling of the later life of Krishna. Critics ranked him with the three poets of the Telugu Mahabharata, and N. Venkataramanayya pointed to him as the only poet in a spoken language known to have been patronised by Bukka.

Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk

before 1543 CE

Persian-born officer of the Bahmani sultanate who governed Telingana from Golconda. He conquered much of Telangana and the Krishna–Godavari coast, and founded the Qutb Shahi dynasty. He was assassinated in 1543. According to the Golconda chronicle, he was killed at prayer in the mosque of Golconda fort. According to Ferishta, a slave killed him while he was examining jewels.

Vemana

Telugu poet of short moral, religious and satirical verses, each ending with the refrain 'Viswad abhi rama vinara Vema'. His verses were the moral schoolbook of the Telugu country. Nothing certain is known of his life: C. P. Brown, who collected and translated the verses from 1824, heard that he lived about 1600, while Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao preferred the early 15th century.

Vinukonda Vallabharaya

Telugu poet of the 15th century, governor of Vinukonda under the Vijayanagara king Devaraya II, named as the author of the Kridabhiramamu, a lively tour of the streets of Warangal told as a play. His family served the Vijayanagara kings from Bukka I onward as ministers, generals and keepers of the royal jewels. P. T. Raju and K. Sitaramaiya give the Kridabhiramamu to Srinatha instead.

Ahobilam

Village and temple of Narasimha on the Nallamalai hills in the Kurnool district, 'the most sacred Vaishnava shrine' of the district. Reddi records credit Prolaya Vema with a flight of steps there. Kataya Vema gave it villages named after Kumaragiri in 1410, and Errapragada dedicated his Narasimha Purana to its god.

Bhongir

Town at the foot of a great isolated granite rock about thirty miles east of Hyderabad, crowned by a fort. The Warangal kings are said to have built the fort, and the Muslim rulers rebuilt it. The first Bahmani sultan took it in a year-long campaign in Telangana, and it became the eastern limit of his kingdom. Ahmad Shah I later gave it to his commander in Telangana as an estate.

Devarakonda

Town and hill fort in the south-west of the Nalgonda district. From Mada Nayaka in the 1360s it was the seat of the Devarakonda branch of the Recherla Velamas. In 1459 its chief, with an army from Orissa, routed a Bahmani force sent against it. Sultan Quli of Golconda took it early in the sixteenth century.

Draksharama

Temple town in the Godavari delta, four miles south of Ramachandrapuram. It is famous as the 'Southern Benares' for its temple of Bhimesvara, whose walls carry hundreds of inscriptions from the 11th century onwards. Tradition derives its name from Daksharama, the garden of Daksha. It counts the temple's linga among the five Pancharama shrines.

Ganapesvaram

Hamlet near Talagada-Divi on Divi island in the Krishna delta. It is named after the Ganapeshvara temple that the Kakatiya general Jaya built there in 1231 in honour of his king Ganapatideva.

Golconda

Fortress and old royal town five miles west of Hyderabad. It was a Warangal frontier fort ceded to the Bahmanis in the 14th century, and then the first capital of the Qutb Shahi sultans. The court moved to Hyderabad in the 1590s, but the fortress remained their stronghold until 1687.

Guraja

Village in the old Gudivada taluk of Kistna (Krishna) district. It is the findspot of a copper-plate grant of 1346. In it the Musunuri chief Kapaya Nayaka gave the village of Prolavaram for the merit of his predecessor Prolaya Nayaka.

Inavolu

Village near Warangal with a temple of Mailara (Malleshvara). In 1369, after the fall of the Kakatiyas, the Recherla Velama chief Anapota-nayaka granted the village to this temple.

Kandikonda

Village with a hill fort near Mahabubabad, the Skandadri of the inscriptions. Venna, son of the Recherla chief Mada Nayaka, ruled here in the 1370s and built temples of Janardana and of Skandadrinatha.

Karempudi

Town on the Nagileru river in the Palnadu, west of Guntur. It is remembered as the battlefield of the Palnadu heroes and the seat of their cult. Its temple of the heroes, described by Robert Sewell in 1879, has inscriptions of 1324 and 1333. A minister of the Velanati chief Gonka II built a temple of Suresvara there in 1154.

Kaulas

Fort of the Telugu country which the first Bahmani sultan took from the ruler of Warangal. Haig names this ruler Kanhayya Naik, and an epigraphy report of 1934–35 notes that he has been identified with the Musunuri chief Kapaya Nayaka. His attempt to win Kaulas back led to war with the Bahmani sultan Muhammad Shah I.

Kondapalli

Town and hill fortress on the north side of the Krishna, about ten miles north-west of Vijayawada. The fort is said to have been built by the Reddi kings of Kondavidu in the 14th century. It passed to the Gajapatis, was ceded to the Bahmanis in 1470, and was taken by Krishnadeva Raya about 1515 and by Golconda in 1531. It was later the seat of the Kondapalli or Mustafanagar Circar.

Kondavidu

Village and hill fortress in Guntur district. It was the capital of the Reddi kings in the 14th and early 15th centuries, a prize fought over by Orissa, Vijayanagara and Golconda in the 16th, and the seat of the Murtazanagar or Kondavidu Circar.

Machilipatnam

Port near the mouth of the Krishna, known to Europeans as Masulipatam and locally as Bandar. It was the main sea outlet of the Golconda kingdom, where the English, Dutch and French traded from the 17th century. Later it was the chief town of the Northern Circars and of Kistna district.

Palakollu

Market town in the western Godavari delta, six miles north of Narasapur. It is known as Kshirarama for its Shiva temple, one of the five Pancharama shrines. It was the first Dutch settlement on this coast, founded in the mid-17th century, and passed finally to the British in 1825.

Phirangipuram

Village near Guntur, two miles from the Kondavidu hills. A pillar in front of its Virabhadra temple carries a verse inscription of 1410, composed by Srinatha. It records the tank Santana-sagara built by Suramamba, queen of the Reddi king Peda Komati Vema.

Rachakonda

Village and ruined hill fort in the hills east of Hyderabad, the Rajukonda or Rajachala of the inscriptions. It was the capital of the Recherla Velama kings of the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Anapota Nayaka fortified it in 1365, and Sultan Quli of Golconda took it early in the sixteenth century.

Rajahmundry

Town on the left bank of the Godavari, the ancient Rajamahendravaram. It was the eastern capital of the Reddis, and a frontier fortress fought over by Orissa, the Bahmanis, Vijayanagara and Golconda. It was Bussy's headquarters in the 1750s, and in the 1920s the home of the Andhra Historical Research Society.

Rekapalli

Village on the Godavari in the old Bhadrachalam taluk. N. Venkataramanayya and M. Somasekhara Sarma identified it with the Rekapalli at the foot of the Malyavanta hill that was the capital of the Musunuri chief Prolaya Nayaka, after the Telugu coast was freed from the Delhi Sultanate.

Simhachalam

Hill just north of Visakhapatnam with the temple of Narasimha, the richest and best-known shrine of the old Vizagapatam district. More than five hundred inscriptions on the temple record gifts from the Chola king Kulottunga I, the Eastern Ganga kings and their feudatories, the Reddis and the Vijayanagara king Krishnadeva Raya.

Srikurmam

Village and place of pilgrimage near Srikakulam, with the temple of Vishnu as the tortoise (Kurma). The temple's black stone pillars carry more than a hundred inscriptions. Many of them are of the Eastern Ganga kings, their ministers and feudatories (subordinate chiefs), and of the Gajapatis.

Srisailam

Temple town of Siva as Mallikarjuna, on the northernmost plateau of the Nallamalai hills, above the gorge of the Krishna in the Kurnool district. The Reddi kings of Kondavidu claimed the country 'from Srisailam to the eastern sea'. Their inscriptions credit Prolaya Vema with a flight of steps from the Patalaganga to the shrine, and Anavema built a hall there in 1378. Shivaji spent about ten days at the shrine in March 1677, on his way from Hyderabad to the Karnatak.

Udayagiri (Nellore)

Town in the west of the Nellore district below the Udayagiri Droog, an isolated hill of 3,079 feet once fortified with thirteen strongholds. It was the seat of a Vijayanagara province in the fourteenth century. The Gajapatis of Orissa held it in the later fifteenth century, and Krishnadeva Raya took it from Prataparudra after a long siege in 1512–13. Later it was a seat of Golconda and of the jagirdars (land-grant holders) of the Nawabs of Arcot.

Umamahesvaram

Hill shrine of Siva near Achampet in the Mahbubnagar district, known as the northern gateway of Srisailam. The Recherla chief Mada Nayaka of Devarakonda built a pavilion for the god here in 1377.

Vilasa

Village of the Konasima, the Godavari delta between the Vasishtha and Gautami branches, a few miles from Amalapuram. The Musunuri chief Prolaya Nayaka granted it to the scholar Vennaya in about 1330. Vennaya renamed it Prolavaram after the king.

Kondavidu fort

c. 1150 CE

Hill fortress on a small range of hills west of Guntur. It was the capital of the Reddi kings from the time of Anavema (after 1361) to the 1420s. The Imperial Gazetteer dates the fortress to the 12th century, and local chronicles credit Prolaya Vema with rebuilding its inner fort. Its walls run for miles along the tops of the hills. Orissa, Vijayanagara and Golconda fought over it until 1579.

Kondapalli fort

c. 1360 CE

Hill fortress north-west of Vijayawada, said to have been built by the Reddi kings of Kondavidu about 1360. It has lines of fortifications with bastions, a lower fort guarding the main approach, and a palace on the hill. Muslim governors rebuilt the palace and called the place Mustafanagar.

Shitab Khan's hall, Warangal

c. 1504 CE

Tall roofless stone hall in Warangal fort, near the western gateway of the old central temple. It is named after the chief Shitab Khan, who held Warangal from 1504. The Hyderabad Archaeological Department conserved it in 1925–26. It compared the hall with the Hindola Mahal at Mandu and thought it built about the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The hall is 86 feet by 24, with cross arches 28 feet high that once carried a flat vault, sloping walls, a cistern in the floor and a tall arched entrance on the north.

Bhimesvara temple, Draksharama

Two-storeyed Shiva temple at Draksharama in the Godavari delta, one of the five Pancharama shrines and the most famous temple of the coastal Telugu country. Its walls carry some 270 inscriptions dated from 1055. Popular tradition in 1907 gave it to an unknown Chola king. M. Rama Rao (1964) gave it to the Eastern Chalukya king Chalukya-Bhima I, after whom he took the god to be named.

Golconda Fort

Walled hill fortress five miles west of Hyderabad. The Bahmani sultans received it from the ruler of Warangal in the 14th century. It became the seat of the Qutb Shahi sultans and was rebuilt in stone under Ibrahim Qutb Shah. It fell to Aurangzeb in 1687 after a siege of more than eight months.

Kshiraramalingesvara temple, Palakollu

Shiva temple in the middle of Palakollu, in the western Godavari delta, one of the five Pancharama shrines under the name Kshirarama. M. Rama Rao (1964) gave its shrine to the Eastern Chalukya king Chalukya-Bhima I, and the foreword to his monograph counts it among the original Chalukya buildings. Its own inscriptions, more than forty, run from 1136 to 1640. They record gifts of the Velanadu chiefs, the Haihaya chiefs of Konamandala, the Chalukya chiefs of Nidadavolu and the Reddi kings.

Rachakonda Fort

Hill fort of the Recherla Velama kings on the twin hills of Rajukonda and Naganayanikonda, east of Hyderabad. Three inscriptions of August 1365 record that Anapota Nayaka built its stone walls and wells and dug the tank between the two hills. Sultan Quli of Golconda took it by storm early in the sixteenth century.

Simhachalam temple

Temple of Narasimha on the Simhachalam hill north of Visakhapatnam, described in 1907 as the most famous, richest and best carved shrine of the district. Its walls hold more than five hundred inscriptions, many of Eastern Ganga kings. The district gazetteer credits the Ganga king Narasimha I with building its central shrine, halls and enclosing verandah in black stone in 1267–68. Its records include a Tamil inscription of Kulottunga I, gifts of Reddi and Matsya chiefs, and the inscriptions of Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagara.

Srikurmam temple

Temple of Vishnu in his tortoise incarnation at Srikurmam, near Srikakulam. Its granite verandas and black stone pillars carry more than a hundred inscriptions. Most of them belong to the Eastern Ganga kings who came after Anantavarman Chodaganga, to their ministers and feudatories, and later to the Gajapatis. An inscription of 1283 credits a Brahmin contemporary of a king Anangabhima with building an enclosure of black stone for the temple.

Vilasa grant of Prolaya Nayaka

c. 1330 CE

A Sanskrit copper-plate charter of about 1330, in Telugu script. In it the Musunuri chief Prolaya Nayaka gives the village of Vilasa in the Kona country, on the Godavari, to the scholar Vennaya. Its opening is the only account from the Telugu country, written at the time, of Prataparudra's death on the way to Delhi. It also tells of the Delhi occupation, of Prolaya's war to free the land and of his capital at Rekapalli.

Madras Museum plates of Vema (1345)

1345 CE

A copper-plate grant of 18 March 1345, in which Vema (Prolaya Vema), founder of the Reddi kingdom, gave the village of Atukuru on the Krishna to Brahmans and renamed it Vemapuram. It names his capital as Addanki in the Pungi country and gives the earliest Reddi family tree. It says that he restored the Brahman villages seized by the Muslim conquerors of the Kakatiya kingdom.

Guraja grant of Kapaya Nayaka

1346 CE

A copper-plate grant from Guraja in the old Kistna district, dated at the solar eclipse of 22 February 1346. By it the Musunuri chief Kapaya Nayaka gave the village of Prolavaram, on the Malaghni stream, to the scholar Kandaya Peddi-Bhatta. He gave it for the merit of his predecessor Prolaya Nayaka. The grant gives the Musunuri family line for three generations and places Kapaya's capital at Ekasilanagari, Warangal.

Puvvada grant of Prolaya Vema (1346)

1346 CE

Five copper plates of 1346, found in an old well in the Tenali taluk and now in the Andhra Pradesh State Museum, Hyderabad. They record Prolaya Vema's gift of the village of Puvvada to Brahmans in sixty-four shares. The village lay between the forts of Addanki and Vinukonda and was renamed Vemapuri. The ring carries a Nandi seal and the sign-manual (royal signature) Sri Pallava Trinetra.

Pillalamarri inscription of the reign of Kapaya Nayaka

1357 CE

A Telugu inscription of 1357 at Pillalamarri, near Suryapet. In it Era-Potu-lemka, servant of Kapaya Nayaka, 'lord of the Andhra country' and lord of the city of Anumanamgallu, records that he set up again the image of the god Erakesvara. 'Sultan Alavadin' had damaged the image in the disturbances of the time. Era-Potu-lemka also gives land for its offerings.

Koduru grant of Anavota Reddi (1358)

1358 CE

Five copper plates of January 1358, found at Koduru in the Gudivada taluk. They record the gift of Koduru, renamed Annavotapuram, to sixty-one Brahmans by Anavota, the second Reddi king. The court poet Balasarasvati composed the text, and it is the only known copper-plate grant of Anavota.

Rachakonda inscriptions of Anapota (1365)

1365 CE

Three Telugu inscriptions of August 1365 at Rachakonda fort. In them the Recherla Velama chief Anapota-nayaka records the stone fortifications and wells he built on the twin hills of Rajukonda and Naganayanikonda. They also record the tank Anapota-samudram, dug between the hills, and an image of Bhairava set up under his title Pratigandabhairava.

Inavolu inscription of Recherla Anapota

1369 CE

A Sanskrit and Telugu inscription of 19 July 1369 at the Mailara (Mallikarjuna) temple of Inavolu near Warangal. In it the Recherla Velama chief Anapota-nayaka, who ruled Orugallu after the Kakatiyas, grants the village to the god. Its family history says his grandfather Dacaya conquered the Pandyas for Prataparudra.

Nadupuru grant of Anavema

c. 1374 CE

Three copper plates, known from impressions (copies) made for Sir Walter Elliot. They record Anavema Reddi's gift of the village of Nadupuru in the Godavari delta to twenty Brahmans, for the merit of his sister Vemasani, queen of Nallanunka. The village was renamed Vemapura. The grant was made in the temple of Vijayesvara on the Godavari, and it is dated in Saka 1296 (1374–75).

Pachchanitandiparru grant of Anavema (1374)

1374 CE

Five copper plates of 22 August 1374 that record Anavema Reddi's gift of the village of Pachchani-Tandiparru to the astronomer Peddi. They were composed by the court poet Balasarasvati. They were published in Epigraphia Indica XXI (1931–32) with two other Reddi copper plates: a plate of Vema from Chimakurti, and the Pinapadu grant of Komati Vema written by Srinatha.

Kandikonda inscription of Venna (1375)

1375 CE

An inscription of August 1375 at Kandikonda (Skandadri) near Mahabubabad. It records that Venna, son of the Recherla chief Mada Nayaka of Devarakonda, built a temple of Janardana and gave it land. It gives the family's descent from Dacha. It says that Venna came from Devarakonda to rule Skandadri at his father's order.

Umamahesvaram inscription of Mada Nayaka (1377)

1377 CE

A Telugu and Sanskrit inscription of early 1377 at Umamahesvaram, the northern gateway of Srisailam. It records the stone pavilion built for the god Mahesvara by the Recherla chief Mada (Madhava) Nayaka of Devarakonda. It gives a long family tree of his family and ends with a circular verse diagram.

Pedapalakaluru plates of Anavema (1378)

1378 CE

Four copper plates of 4 December 1378, found at Pedapalakaluru near Guntur in 1954 and now in the Andhra Pradesh State Museum, Hyderabad. They record Anavema Reddi's gift of the village to the scholar Ahobala Pandita and eight other Brahmans. Half of the 212 lines describe the village boundaries in Telugu. The family history in the grant credits Prolaya Vema with flights of steps at Srisailam and Ahobilam.

Vanapalli plates of Anavema (1380)

1380 CE

Three copper plates of 6 February 1380, found at Vanapalli in the Amalapuram taluk of the Godavari district and now in the Madras Museum. They record Anavema Reddi's gift of the village of Immadilanka, renamed Anna-Vemapura, to his minister and preceptor (religious teacher) Immadi. They name Kondavidu as the king's capital and describe his court.

Phirangipuram pillar inscription of Peda Komati Vema (1410)

1410 CE

A verse inscription on a stone pillar in front of the Virabhadra temple at Phirangipuram near Guntur, composed by the poet Srinatha. It records the dedication in February 1410 of a tank, Santana-sagara, built by Suramamba, queen of the Reddi king Peda Komati Vema. Half of it is in Sanskrit and half in Telugu. It gives the king's descent from Macha, the elder brother of Prolaya Vema.

Tottaramudi plates of Kataya Vema (1411)

1411 CE

Three copper plates of Saka 1333 (1411–12), found at Tottaramudi in the Amalapuram taluk and now in the Madras Museum. By them Kataya Vema of Rajahmundry gave the village of Mallavaram, named after his wife, to a Brahman. They give the family tree of the Kondavidu kings down to Kumaragiri. They also tell how Kataya Vema, Kumaragiri's minister, received the eastern country with Rajahmundry as its capital.

Devalanagaram inscription of Nagamba (1429)

1429 CE

A Sanskrit inscription of March–April 1429 on the bund of the tank Nagasamudram near Rachakonda. It records the tank dug by Nagamba, queen of the Recherla prince Ravu Madhava. It gives his descent from Era Dacha through Anapota and Singa. It says that he wrote a commentary on the Ramayana, the Raghaviya, in 1427.

Konkuduru plates of Allaya Dodda (1431)

1431 CE

Seven copper plates found in 1887 at Konkuduru, near Ramachandrapuram in the Godavari district. In them Dodda, a son of Allada Reddi of Rajahmundry, gave the village of Gumpini, renamed Alladareddidoddavaram, to Brahmans on 14 January 1431. They give the family tree of Allada's family. Their editor compared it with the accounts in Srinatha's Kasikhandam and Bhimakhandam.

Vemavaram grant of Allaya Vema (1434)

1434 CE

Eight copper plates in the British Museum, received from Rajahmundry. They record a grant by Allaya Vema, son of Allada Reddi, on the day of a total eclipse of the sun, 7 June 1434. The grant founded the village of Allada-Reddi-Vemavaram near Ramachandrapuram. It describes the wars of Allada and the conquests and gifts of Vema.

Gajapati inscriptions at Srikurmam (1452–1503)

1452–1503 CE

Short Telugu records on the black stone pillars of the Srikurmam temple. They are dated in the reigns of the Gajapati kings Kapilendra (1452, 1455, 1460), Purushottama (1470–1495) and Prataparudra (1503), and record gifts of land, lamps, images and silver vessels. They were copied in 1896 and printed in South-Indian Inscriptions V (1925). Monmohan Chakravarti and R. D. Banerji used them to fix the regnal years of the kings, and V. Rangacharya used them to argue that the kings came to the throne earlier.

Kondavidu plates of Ganadeva (1455)

c. 1455 CE

Three copper plates, sent to E. Hultzsch from the Kistna district and edited by him in 1891. They record a gift of the village of Chavali in the Repalle taluk to a number of Brahmins by Ganadeva, called Rautaraya, governor of Kondavidu. The gift was made on the day of a lunar eclipse in Saka 1377. The grant praises 'king Kapila' of the Solar race, the Gajapati of Orissa, whose capital was Cuttack. A pillar inscription of the same Ganadeva at Chintapallipadu is a year older, of April 1454.

Raghudevapuram and Dorapalem grants of Raghudeva (1455–56)

1456 CE

Two copper-plate charters of Raghudeva, nephew of the Gajapati Kapilendra and his governor at Rajahmundry. D. C. Sircar edited them in Epigraphia Indica XXXIII (1959–60): one from a set in the collection of the Andhra Historical Research Society at Rajahmundry, and one from a single plate in private hands. The Raghudevapura grant of June 1456 founded an agrahara (Brahmin village) on the Godavari for forty shares of Brahmins, and it gives the first family tree of Kapilendra's family. The broken Dorapalem grant of 1455–56 gave a village on the Godavari to a Brahmin.

Veligalani grant of Kapilesvara (1458)

1458 CE

Ten surviving plates of a copper charter whose first plate is lost, edited by D. C. Sircar and K. H. V. Sarma in 1963. By it the Gajapati Kapilendra (Kapilesvara), camping on the bank of the Godavari on the full moon of Vaisakha, Saka 1380 (27 April 1458), gave the village of Veligalani to 120 Brahmins and renamed it Kapilesvarapura. It is the only known copper-plate grant of the king himself. It has sections in Sanskrit, Telugu and Oriya, names his father and mother, and is the first to give him the titles Gajapati, Gaudesvara and Navakoti-Karnata-Kalavaragesvara.

Warangal inscriptions of Hamvira and Raghudeva (1460)

1460 CE

Two short records on gateways of the Warangal fort. Both are dated Saturday, the tenth of the bright half of Magha in the year Pramathin, 2 February 1460. They record the capture of the fort from the Bahmanis by two princes of the Gajapati house of Orissa. One was Hamvira (Ambira-deva), son of Kapilendra. The other was his cousin Raghudeva, governor of Rajahmundry, who says that he spared the lives of the Bahmani commander and his men.

Chiruvroli grant of Hambira (1461)

1461 CE

Copper plates found in 1941 at Nemalikallu near Ravela in the Guntur district, and edited by D. C. Sircar and K. H. V. Sarma in 1963. They are the only known copper-plate grant of Hamvira (Hambira), son of the Gajapati Kapilendra. On 4 September 1461 he gave the village of Chiruvroli on the Krishna, renamed Hambirapura, to more than a hundred Brahmins. A plate in Oriya, from another grant, was found with them.

Sayampeta inscription of Dharma-ravu (1464)

1464 CE

A Telugu inscription of April 1464 on a pillar near Sayampeta, north-east of Warangal. In it Dharma-ravu, a great-grandson of the Recherla chief Anapota Nayaka, gives the villages of Muccerla and Mada to the god Tiruvengalesvara and to Brahmin donees. The cultivators attached to their shares go with the gift.

Rachakonda mosque inscription

1484 CE

An Arabic inscription of AH 889 (1484), in the reign of the Bahmani king Mahmud Shah, recording the building of a mosque at Rachakonda by Malik An-Ni'mat, son of Mubarak. G. Yazdani, who translated it, took Malik An-Ni'mat to be the Bahmani governor and the mosque to have been a Hindu temple. Rachakonda had earlier been held by the rayas (chiefs) of Rajkonda, who paid tribute to Ahmad Shah I.

Warangal pillar inscription of Shitab Khan (1504)

1504 CE

A Sanskrit verse inscription, with two lines of Telugu prose, on a four-faced red sandstone pillar in front of the Sambhuni-gudi in Warangal fort. In 143 lines and 36 verses it records that the chief Chittapa Khan (Shitab Khan, or Sitapati) of the Bhogi family took Warangal from the Muslims. This happened on Sunday, the fifth day of the bright half of Magha, Saka 1425, which Hirananda Sastri reckoned as 21 January 1504. The record gives his ancestors, wives and sons, and says that he restored the images of Krishna and of the Kakatiya family goddess. It was composed by Madhava, son of Annarya, and edited by Sastri in 1932.

Jami Masjid inscription, Golconda fort

1518 CE

An inscription of AH 924 (1518) over the doorway of the congregational mosque (Masjid Safa) in Golconda fort. It records that Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk built the mosque in the reign of the Bahmani king Mahmud Shah, son of Muhammad Shah. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami used it to argue that Sultan Quli stayed loyal to the Bahmanis until 1518, and became independent only after Mahmud Shah's death.

Language & literature

From Prakrit inscriptions and the first Telugu records to Nannaya, Pothana, Vemana and modern prose.

Music & dance

Annamacharya, Tyagaraja, Kuchipudi, Perini and the folk performance traditions.

Religion & philosophy

Buddhism, Jainism, Shaiva and Vaishnava movements, Islam and the Sufi orders, Christianity and village deities.

Temples & architecture

Stupas, rock-cut caves, temples, mosques, tombs and palaces, and how they were built.

Forts & warfare

Hill forts, city walls, armies and the battles that changed who ruled the region.

Trade & economy

Ports such as Motupalli and Machilipatnam, Golconda diamonds, tanks and farming, merchant guilds.

Government & administration

Kingship, the nayankara system, village officers, land revenue and law.

Society & communities

Castes, communities and tribes, and how social life changed over time, from scholarly sources.

Daily life & festivals

Food, dress, homes and games; Sankranti, Ugadi, Bathukamma, Bonalu and other festivals.

Folk songs & oral traditions

Burrakatha, Oggu katha, Yakshaganam and the heroic ballads of Palnadu and Bobbili.

Inscriptions & sources

How we know: inscriptions, coins, travellers' accounts, the Mackenzie kaifiyats and archives.

Old names of regions

The old country names of the Telugu lands and where the sources place them: Andhra and Telingana, Vengi between the two deltas, Kammanadu round Ongole, Velanadu in the western Krishna delta, Pakanadu between Ongole and Nellore, Renadu round Kadapa, the Kondapalli and Kondavidu countries, and the later names Circars and Ceded Districts. Names only: for how borders changed, see How the map changed.