Warangal inscriptions of Hamvira and Raghudeva (1460)

Hamvira’s inscription

P. Sreenivasachar published the short record of the Gajapati prince Ambira-deva, that is Hamvira.¹ He printed it as an appendix to the report of the Archaeological Department of the Nizam’s Dominions for 1934–35.¹ His text corrected an earlier one in South-Indian Inscriptions VII.¹ He placed the record on the stone gateway on the western side of the fort.¹

Its few lines give the date: the year Pramadi (Pramathin), Magha, the tenth of the bright half, a Saturday.¹ Sreenivasachar equated this with 2 February 1460.¹ The record says that Ambira-deva Kumara Mahapatra, son of the Gajapati Kapilendra-maharaya, captured the fort of Varumgallu (Warangal).¹

Sreenivasachar rejected a reading that would make the conqueror an unnamed son of Kapilendra and Ambira-deva a separate general.² D. C. Sircar, in 1963, described Hamvira’s record as standing on the eastern gate of the fort.³ See Hamvira.

Raghudeva’s inscription

K. H. V. Sarma and V. S. Subrahmanyam copied Raghudeva’s record in 1957–58, and Sircar edited it.⁴ Colin Mackenzie’s assistants had copied it about 160 years earlier but could not read it well.⁴ It is cut in two parts on a gate of the fort, ten lines on the right wall and eight on the left, and it is badly worn.⁴ The letters are Telugu, but the language is Oriya much influenced by Sanskrit.⁴

The date is Saturday, with the moon in Mrigasiras, the tenth of the bright half of Magha in Pramathin.⁴³ This is the same as the date of Hamvira’s record.⁴³ Sircar placed Raghudeva’s inscription on the western gate, locally called the fifth gate.⁴³ He concluded that the two princes attacked the fort from two sides, Hamvira perhaps in chief command and Raghudeva second.⁴³

The inscription opens by setting its date in the eternal reign of the god Vishnu, as overlord of the Gajapati king.³⁵ It places Warangal in the dominions of “Umainusaha”, that is Humayun Shah, the sultan of Gulbarga, in the western part of the Andhra country.³⁵

It gives Kapilesvara the imperial titles of a maharajadhiraja (king of great kings) of the Solar race, the heroic Gajapati, lord of Gauda and of the conquered Karnata.⁶ But, as Sircar noted, it does not make the claim to Gulbarga that his other records make.⁶

The record also names these people:

• Jagesvara, as a maharaya⁶
• Parasuramadeva, Kapilesvara’s younger brother, a devotee of the god Mallinatha and the goddess Mangalachandi⁶
• Parasurama’s son Raghudeva, ruler of Rajamahendravara (Rajahmundry)⁶

Its last two lines say that Raghudeva subdued the lord of the fort of Warangal but spared the lives of the governor and his soldiers.⁶ Sircar noted that Mallinatha is a god popular in the Telugu country.⁶ For this reason he suggested that Kapilendra’s family may have come from there.⁶

The capture of Warangal

The Bahmani sultan Humayun Shah had besieged Devarakonda in 1459.⁷⁸ Ferishta says that the defenders asked the Ray (king) of Orissa for help.⁷⁸ The Ray’s troops routed the besiegers and chased them for eighty miles to Warangal.⁷⁸

Sreenivasachar suggested that the same Orissan force went on to take Warangal.² In his view, Warangal must then have been in Bahmani hands.² Sircar and Sarma took the two inscriptions to show that Warangal and other forts of Telangana were annexed to the Gajapati kingdom.⁹ See Warangal Fort, Devarakonda, the Recherla Velamas and the Gajapatis.

Evidence and disagreements

• Which gate. Sreenivasachar, in the department’s report for 1934–35, put Hamvira’s record on the western gateway.¹ Sircar (1963) put Hamvira’s on the eastern gate and Raghudeva’s on the western, or fifth, gate.³
• One person or two. Sreenivasachar, and also Sircar and Sarma, read Hamvira as the son of Kapilendra.²¹⁰ The reading rejected by Sreenivasachar makes two people of him: an unnamed son of Kapilendra and a general Ambira-deva.²¹⁰

Footnotes

1. P. Sreenivasachar, “Warangal Inscription of Ambira-deva”, Appendix E in Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of His Exalted Highness the Nizam’s Dominions, 1344 F. (1934-35) (1938), p. 29 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. Sreenivasachar, “Warangal Inscription of Ambira-deva” (1938), p. 30 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Sircar, “Warangal Inscription of Raghudeva”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIII (1959–60), p. 126 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. D. C. Sircar, “Warangal Inscription of Raghudeva, Kali Year 4561”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIII (1959–60), p. 125 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

5. Sircar, “Warangal Inscription of Raghudeva”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIII (1959–60), p. 127 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

6. Sircar, “Warangal Inscription of Raghudeva”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIII (1959–60), p. 128 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

7. Muhammad Qasim Ferishta, tr. John Briggs, History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Vol. II (1829), p. 456 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 457 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Sircar and Sarma, “Chiruvroli Grant of Hambira”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIV (1961–62), p. 181 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

10. D. C. Sircar and K. H. V. Sarma, “Chiruvroli Grant of Hambira, Saka 1383”, Epigraphia Indica XXXIV (1961–62), p. 180 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩²