Kolanupaka pillar of Kumara Somesvara

A pillar with three names

P. B. Desai knew of no other record like this one.¹ It is engraved on the four faces of a pillar at Kolanupaka in the Nalgonda district.¹ The record gives the pillar three names:¹

• in one place, a manastambha (pillar of eminence), the Jaina term¹
• in another, the kirtistambha (pillar of fame) of the general Svamideva¹
• elsewhere, the jayastambha (pillar of victory) of Prince Somesvara¹

Desai thought that it was set up as a Jaina monument, and soon afterwards used to honour the two men.¹ The whole record belongs to the reign of Vikramaditya VI, and it praises Prince Somesvara.¹ Desai noted that the prince soon afterwards came to the throne as Bhulokamalla Somesvara III.¹

The four faces

The first face states that this is the pillar of fame of Svamideva, set up at a place called Ambaratilaka.² It is dated Chalukya-Vikrama year 50, the cyclic year Visvavasu, which Desai equated with 24 March 1125.² It records the grant of the village of Panupura to the goddess Ambika of Ambaratilaka, “situated in his capital Kollipake”.²

The grant was made by the mahamandalesvara (great lord) Chalukya-Ganga-Permadi Kumara Somesvara.² He made it at the request of Sayimayya, commander of the Kollipake two-thousand (a province).² Desai took Ambika to be the guardian goddess of the Jaina tirthankara (teacher) Neminatha.²

The second face praises Svamideva.² It says that the pillar of victory was planted by the king’s son Somesvara.² Somesvara defeated the lord of Trikalinga in battle, overran his country and captured his elephants.²

The third face prays to the goddess and praises the king, the prince and the general.² The fourth gives an account of the Jaina teachers of the Kanur gana (school).² It says that the manastambha was set up in the shrine of Ambika by the pergade (officer) Kesiraja.² Kesiraja was a devout Jaina in charge of the religious establishment.²

Gudur, 1124

A related record is at Gudur in the Nalgonda district.¹ It is dated 24 December 1124, in the reign of Vikramaditya VI “from Jayantipura”.¹ It gives the same prince the title Chalukya-Ganga-Permadi.¹ It describes him as having put the Chola king to flight and set fire to the three cities of the three Kalingas.¹ It records his grant of the village of Bammarige to the god Mallesvara.¹ He made it at the request of his officer in charge of the Kollipake two-thousand.¹

Kollipake

Desai wrote that this and other inscriptions from Kolanupaka show that it was Kollipake.² He counted Kollipake among the early capitals of the Western Chalukyas.²

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry placed Kumara Somesvara at Kollipake as mahamandalesvara of the seven-thousand province from about 1110.³⁴ In his account, Somesvara came there after the Paramara prince Jagaddeva.³⁴ Parabrahma Sastry cited Kolanupaka records of 1110, 1111 and 1112.³⁴ See Somesvara III and the Kolanupaka inscription of Jagaddeva.

Footnotes

1. P. B. Desai, introduction to P. Sreenivasachar, Kannada Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series 3, 1961), p. 16, Nos. 44–45 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased except for the short phrases quoted. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

2. Desai, Kannada Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh (1961), p. 17, No. 45 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased except for the short phrases quoted. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

3. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 71. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 73. ↩ ↩² ↩³