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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Amma I

Eastern Chalukya king of Vengi (918–925), grandson of Chalukya-Bhima I. He came to the throne against a conspiracy of his own relatives allied with the Rashtrakutas. His surname Raja-Mahendra led J. F. Fleet to suggest that Rajahmundry (Rajamahendrapuram) was named after him. His death in 925 opened nine years of civil war among the branches of the dynasty. His son Beta-Vijayaditya V, deposed as a child, founded the line of the Chalukya princes of Pithapuram.

Amma I ruled the Eastern Chalukya kingdom of Vengi for seven years.12 J. F. Fleet dated his reign from September 918 to August 925, and Robert Sewell gives the same years.12

His grants call him Amma, or once Amba.3 Like other kings of the dynasty he bore a second name, Vishnuvardhana (VI in Fleet’s numbering), and the surname Raja-Mahendra.3

Family

Amma I was the eldest son of Vijayaditya IV, called Kollabhiganda, and a grandson of Chalukya-Bhima I.34 Melamba was a queen of Vijayaditya IV, and is named in two later grants.5 She was the mother of Amma I’s half-brother, the later king Chalukya-Bhima II.678 His grant calls him “the son of Melamba and Vijayaditya”.678

Beta-Vijayaditya V was the eldest son of Amma I.9 Bhima, who reigned for eight months in 926–927 (Bhima III in Fleet’s numbering, Bhima II in Sewell’s), was another son of Amma I and a younger brother of Beta.810

His father’s short reign

Vijayaditya IV reigned for only six months, in 918.45 His grants call him Vijayaditya, Kollabiganda or Kollabhiganda-Vijayaditya, and one of them calls him Kaliyarttyanka.45

One record says that he ruled over the Vengi country “together with the forests of Trikalinga”, the three Kalingas.5 Another says that he conquered the rulers of Kalinga.5 Bhandanaditya, also called Kuntaditya, of the Pattavardhini family, served him.511 Bhandanaditya’s ancestor Kalakampa had fought for the founder of the dynasty, Kubja Vishnuvardhana.511

A disputed succession

Amma I’s own grant from Idara was edited by Hultzsch in 1890.11 It says that he “drew his sword, which broke the dishonest hearts of his feudatory relatives, who had joined the party of his natural adversaries”.11 In this way, it says, he won over the subjects and the army of his father and grandfather.11

Hultzsch took the natural adversaries to be the Rashtrakutas under Indra III (Prabhutavarsha), whose inscription is dated in 920.11 Fleet read the passage the same way.312 In his view some members of the family had conspired with the Rashtrakutas to keep Amma from the throne, and failed.312

Grants

Two grants of Amma I were known to Fleet:39

  • The Masulipatam plates were first published by Sewell in 1879. They give the village of Drujjuru in the Pennatavadi district to Mahakala, who had been a general of Chalukya-Bhima I. F. Kielhorn re-edited them in 1899 and added that Mahakala was the son of a foster-sister of Bhima I.313 Sewell identified Drujjuru with Zuzzuru in the Nandigama taluk of the Krishna (then Kistna) district. Kielhorn thought this possible but could not find the boundary villages near it.14 Fleet noted that this grant, or the Idara grant, is the earliest record to give the full historical genealogy of the dynasty with the length of each reign.3
  • The Idara plates were presented to the Madras Museum by the zamindar (landholder) of Nuzvid. They grant the village of Gonturu with twelve hamlets, in the Kanderuvadi district, to Bhandanaditya alias Kuntaditya.1511 He was one of the king’s military officers and had already served his father.1511

The seals of his grants bear the boar and the family motto Sri-Tribhuvanankusa, “the glorious elephant-goad of the three worlds”.313

Raja-Mahendra and Rajahmundry

Fleet noticed that Amma I’s surname Raja-Mahendra occurs in one of his own grants. He suggested that the city of Rajamahendrapuram, or Rajahmundry, on the north bank of the Godavari, was first occupied by the Eastern Chalukyas under Amma I.163 In his view it was named after this king.163 Amma II, his nephew, bore the same surname.17 (See Rajahmundry.)

After Amma I: the civil war of 925–934

Sewell summed up the years after Amma I’s death as a time of great confusion in the Vengi country.2 The rulers followed one another quickly:188219

  • Amma I’s son Beta-Vijayaditya V reigned for only fifteen days9
  • Tadapa, a son of Yuddhamalla I of the junior branch, drove Beta out9 and held the throne for a month188219
  • Vikramaditya II, Amma I’s uncle, overthrew Tadapa (one grant says he killed him) and reigned for eleven months
  • Amma I’s younger son Bhima defeated Vikramaditya and reigned for eight months, until Tadapa’s son Yuddhamalla II killed him188219

The grants say that Beta had been anointed as a child, by the tying on of a necklet (kanthika).9 Hultzsch explained Beta’s other name, Kanthika-Beta, from this necklet.20 He took it to be the sign of the heir-apparent.20

Beta and the Pithapuram line

Nothing in the records says that Beta died as a child. Fleet pointed out that two later inscriptions make him the founder of a separate line.9 In the end this line came to hold the Vengi country again.9 Beta’s son was Satyasraya, and his descendants, the Chalukya princes of Pithapuram, are the subject of the Pithapuram pillar inscription of Mallapadeva of 1202.1821

Sewell thought that Beta retired into private life.19 He noted that the Maliyapundi grant of Amma II says that Chalukya-Bhima II banished Beta.19 That grant says the king banished a Kanthika-Vijayaditya along with Yuddhamalla II.22 Hultzsch identified this Kanthika-Vijayaditya with Beta.22

Footnotes

  1. J. F. Fleet, “The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings”, Indian Antiquary XX (1891), p. 12, list of kings (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  2. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 43 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), pp. 266–267 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  4. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 103 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 104 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  6. F. Kielhorn, “Six Eastern Chalukya Copper-plate Inscriptions”, grant of Chalukya-Bhima II, Epigraphia Indica V (1898–99), p. 135 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), p. 32, pedigree of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 269 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  9. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 267 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  10. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 337 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), No. 36, p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  12. J. F. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts”, Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part II (1896), p. 417 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. F. Kielhorn, “Six Eastern Chalukya Copper-plate Inscriptions”, E, Masulipatam plates of Amma I, Epigraphia Indica V (1898–99), p. 131 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. Kielhorn, “Six Eastern Chalukya Copper-plate Inscriptions” (1899), p. 132 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), No. 36, p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  16. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 94 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  17. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 270 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  18. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 268 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  19. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  20. E. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Pillar Inscription of Mallapadeva”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 227 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Pillar Inscription” (1897), p. 228 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  22. E. Hultzsch, “Maliyapundi Grant of Ammaraja II”, Epigraphia Indica IX (1907–08), p. 49 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Photos

Dynasties

Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi

c. 615–1077 CE

A branch of the Chalukyas of Badami that ruled Vengi, the coastal country between the lower Godavari and Krishna, from the early 7th century. Its founder, Kubja Vishnuvardhana, was a younger brother of Pulakesin II. The kings fought the Rashtrakutas for two centuries. After about 1000 they were bound to the Cholas by marriage, and in 1070 their heir became the Chola emperor Kulottunga I. Their copper-plate grants record the length of every reign. The first Telugu literary work, Nannaya's Mahabharata, was written at their court in Rajahmundry.

References

Sources (7)
  1. R. C. Temple (ed.); article by J. F. Fleet, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX (1891), incl. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings' (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1891, pp. 12, 94, 103–104, 266–269. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings'. [Public domain]
  2. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I: Tamil and Sanskrit Inscriptions (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1890, pp. 32, 37–38. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions I, pedigree and No. 36 (Idara plates of Amma I). [Public domain]
  3. 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. 131–132, 135. F. Kielhorn, Six Eastern Chalukya copper-plate inscriptions: Masulipatam plates of Amma I; grant of Chalukya-Bhima II. [Public domain]
  4. F. Kielhorn (articles); E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV (1896–97) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1897, pp. 227–228. E. Hultzsch, Pithapuram pillar inscription of Mallapadeva. [Public domain]
  5. E. Hultzsch and Sten Konow (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX (1907–08) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 49. E. Hultzsch, Maliyapundi grant of Ammaraja II. [Public domain]
  6. J. F. Fleet, R. G. Bhandarkar and others (Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency), Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part II: History of the Konkan, Dakhan and Southern Maratha Country (opens in a new tab), Government Central Press, Bombay, 1896, pp. 417. J. F. Fleet, Rashtrakuta chapter. [Public domain]
  7. 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. 43–44, 337. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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