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Allada Reddi

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.

Allada Reddi was the ruler of the Reddis of Rajahmundry between Kataya Vema and his own sons. The Godavari district gazetteer says that on Kataya Vema’s death “one Allada the son of Dodda Reddi obtained (it is not clear how) the throne of Rajahmundry”.1 It adds that he “founded a new, though short-lived, dynasty”.1

Family

Allada was the youngest of the three sons of Dodda (Doddaya), the fourth son of Perumadi Reddi of Duvvuru.23 G. V. Ramamurti took this family tree in 1899 from the Konkuduru plates of Allada’s son and from Srinatha’s Kasikhandam.2 The Kasikhandam places the family in the Panta division of the Shudra caste.2

He married Vemambika, a daughter of Bhima of the Choda family.43 The Kasikhandam calls her instead a granddaughter of king Anavema.5 Ramamurti suggested that she was Anavema’s daughter’s daughter.5 M. Somasekhara Sarma identified her father with Bhimadeva Choda, son of the Telugu Choda chief Bhaktiraja.6

Allada and Vemambika had four sons: Vema, Virabhadra, Dodda and Anna.23 His son Virabhadra married Anitalli, the daughter of Kataya Vema.5

Taking control of Rajahmundry

According to the Godavari gazetteer, Allada’s inscriptions appear “as early as 1415–17 in the delta (at Palakollu, Palivela, and Draksharamam)”.1 The gazetteer says he appears in them “as being the friend or servant of Kataya Vema, whose enemies he claims to have ‘uprooted’”.1

A record of 1416 at Palivela in the Amalapuram taluk records the building of a hall by Allada.7 It calls him “son of Doddaya-Reddi (servant and successor of Kataya Vema of Rajahmundry)”.7 A record of 1417 at Draksharama records the gift of a lamp held by a female figure.8

V. Appa Rao read the Kaluvacheru inscription of Anitalli in this way.9 In his reading, after the death of Kataya Vema’s son, Allada, “the relative (Bandhu) of Kataya Vema”, rescued the kingdom from rebellious chiefs.9 Allada then gave the kingdom to Anitalli.9

Somasekhara Sarma held that Allada first ruled as regent for Kataya Vema’s young son Kumaragiri.101112 Then, in his view, Allada ruled in Anitalli’s name, after defeating the Telugu Choda chief Annadeva, who had occupied much of the eastern kingdom.101112

Claims of victory

The grants of Allada’s sons credit him with wide wars. In L. D. Barnett’s summary of the Vemavaram grant of 1434, Allada “conquered Alpakhana, made an alliance with the Gajapati who was the lord of Karnata”.13 He also “defeated Komati Vema at Ramesvaram and established a powerful kingdom”.13

The Godavari gazetteer reads the same passage differently.1 It speaks of friendship with “the Gajapati of Orissa and the king of Karnata (i.e., the king of Vijayanagar, in the Bellary district)”.1 It also speaks of a victory over “a Musalman general called Alpa Khan”.1 It adds that he “also claims to have defeated the Reddis of Kondavid”.1

Somasekhara Sarma cites a further grant, from Kommuchikkala, for his defeat of the “Yavanas” (foreigners) and of “eastern kings”.1415

Who Alp Khan was is disputed. Robert Sewell connected the claim with the Bahmani sultan Firuz Shah’s advance towards Rajahmundry about 1417.16 Barnett identified Alp Khan with Hoshang Ghori, who succeeded his father Dilawar Khan as sultan of Malwa in 1405.1715 Somasekhara Sarma agreed, noting that Srinatha’s poems speak of a victory over the sultan of Dharanagara (Dhar, the Malwa capital).15

Somasekhara Sarma held that the Bahmani army that came towards Rajahmundry in 1417 came as the ally of Peda Komati Vema.15 He held that Allada drove it back.15

Death

Somasekhara Sarma dated Allada’s death to early 1420, when his commander Narahari set up a linga (stone emblem of Shiva) named Alladesvara at Palakollu.1819 He noted that no records of Allada are later than that year.1819

His sons Allaya Vema and Virabhadra became joint rulers of Rajahmundry about 1423.193 Before that there was a short interval in which, in Somasekhara Sarma’s view, Allada’s nephews held the throne.19

The poet Srinatha praised the family in the Kasikhandam and the Bhimakhandam.2 Ramamurti found that these poems confirmed and added to the information in the grants.2

Footnotes

  1. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 26 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. Ramamurti, Konkuduru Plates of Allaya-Dodda (1898–99), p. 55 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Ramamurti, Konkuduru Plates of Allaya-Dodda (1898–99), p. 67 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. G. V. Ramamurti, Konkuduru Plates of Allaya-Dodda, Saka-Samvat 1352, Epigraphia Indica V (1898–99), p. 54 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Ramamurti, Konkuduru Plates of Allaya-Dodda (1898–99), p. 56 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. M. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 173 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 713, Godavari No. 14 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 744, Godavari No. 351 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. V. Appa Rao, “Rajahmundry Museum Plates of Annadeva Choda”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society I, No. 4 (1927), p. 179 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 181 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 182 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 183 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. L. D. Barnett, Vemavaram Grant of Allaya-Vema Reddi: Saka 1356, Epigraphia Indica XIII (1915–16), p. 238 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 184 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 185 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  16. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 212 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. Barnett, Vemavaram Grant of Allaya-Vema Reddi (1915–16), p. 239 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  18. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 186 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  19. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 187 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

Dynasties

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.

References

Sources (7)
  1. E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. V (1898–99) (opens in a new tab), Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta (scan of the 1959 Government of India Press facsimile reprint), 1899, pp. 54–57, 67. G. V. Ramamurti, Konkuduru plates of Allaya-Dodda (No. 9). [Public domain]
  2. Sten Konow (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XIII (1915–16) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, Calcutta, 1916, pp. 238–239. L. D. Barnett, Vemavaram grant of Allaya-Vema Reddi (No. 23). [Public domain]
  3. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 26. [Public domain]
  4. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 713, 744, 903. [Public domain]
  5. 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. 212, 386. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  6. Not Available, The Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, Vol.1,pt.2 (opens in a new tab), 1926, pp. 177–180. V. Appa Rao (1927). [Public domain]
  7. M. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (circa 1325 A.D. to circa 1448 A.D.) (opens in a new tab), Andhra University, Waltair (Andhra University Historical Series No. 38), 1948, pp. 173, 181–187. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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