Pithapuram inscription of Mallideva and Manma-Satya II

What it is

This is the second of the four inscriptions on the stone pillar at the entrance of the Kunti-Madhava temple at Pithapuram.¹² The first is the inscription of Prithvisvara of 1186.¹² This second record tells that at the vernal equinox of Saka 1117 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years) the two joint rulers Mallideva and Manma-Satya II granted a village to the temple.¹ The village was Odiyuru, in the Guddavadi district.¹

E. Hultzsch edited the inscription in 1897.¹ He noted that the date could not be verified, and that it corresponds to 1194–95 or 1195–96.¹ The record was written by Kantacharya of Sripithapuram, and Hultzsch took him to be the Kantachari who wrote the first inscription.³

V. Rangacharya listed it as a record “of the Kona (Haihaya) kings Mallideva and Manma Satya II”.⁴

The village

The boundaries name the villages of Velengu and Siripuram.¹ Hultzsch identified them with Velangi and Siripuram in the Ramachandrapuram taluk (sub-district).¹ He identified Odiyuru itself with the modern Oduru, near Draksharama.¹³

The two family lines

Two Sanskrit genealogies (family lists) come before the grant itself.³ The first is of the Eastern Chalukya kings, and it contains a statement missing from the Korumelli and Chellur plates.³ Of the two sons of Kirtivarman I, it says, the elder, Satyasraya (Pulakesin II), took Kuntala.³ The second son, Kubja-Vishnuvardhana, took Vengi.³

The first genealogy also refers to a king Rajaraja of the Chalukya family as reigning at the time.³ The second genealogy traces the donors from Kartavirya, grandson of Haihaya, and calls the third chief lord of Konamandala.³

Hultzsch therefore named the family “the chiefs of Konamandala”.³ He thought their country was probably the same as Konasima, the Telugu name for the Godavari delta.³ Hultzsch printed the family as a table of sixteen names.⁵ See the Haihayas of Kona and Palnadu.

Jayamamba and the Velanati Chodas

Two Sanskrit verses between the Sanskrit and Telugu versions of the grant praise Jayamamba, queen of Manma-Gonka and mother of Kulottunga-Prithvisvara.⁶ Hultzsch read this as showing that “the chiefs of Konamandala were dependent on the chiefs of Velanandu”.⁶ He also took it to show that Prithvisvara was still alive in 1195.⁶ See Prithvisvara and the Velanati Chodas.

Prola II

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry cited this inscription, at page 91, line 91, of Hultzsch’s edition, as confirming a Draksharama record.⁷ That record says the Kakatiya Prola II was slain by Chodayaraja of the Kota family and by the Haihaya chiefs Satya and Mallideva of the Kona country.⁷

Line 91 gives Manma-Satya II the epithet (title of praise) Prodari-badavanala.⁸ Line 79 says that the crown of king Proda adorned Mallideva’s throne.⁸ In both places Hultzsch’s footnotes correct the word to praudha, “mighty”.⁸

E. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Mallideva and Manma-Satya II; Saka-Samvat 1117”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 83 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹
E. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Pillar Inscription of Prithvisvara”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Mallideva” (1897), p. 84 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰
V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 719, No. 64 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Mallideva” (1897), p. 85 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Mallideva” (1897), p. 86 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 87. ↩ ↩²
Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Mallideva” (1897), p. 91, text lines 79 and 91 and notes 8 and 20 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³