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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Anavota Reddi

Second Reddi king of Addanki (c. 1353–1364), elder son of Prolaya Vema. His only known copper-plate grant, from Koduru (1358), and his renewal of the Kakatiya charter for sea merchants at Motupalli (1358) survive. A Velama chronicle claims a victory over him at Dharanikota in 1361. His son Kumaragiri and his son-in-law Kataya Vema later ruled at Kondavidu and Rajahmundry.

Anavota was the second king of the Reddis of Kondavidu.12 He was the elder son and successor of the founder Prolaya Vema.12 His capital was still Addanki.31 An inscription of 1361 at Amaravati names it as the capital, and J. Ramayya concluded that the move to Kondavidu came only under his brother.31

Crown prince and king

Errapragada’s Harivamsa, as cited by H. K. Narasimhaswami, speaks of Anavota as crown prince and commander of his father’s army.4 An inscription of 1346 at Tripurantakam already names him with his father.5 M. Somasekhara Sarma took him to have ruled jointly with Prolaya Vema, and placed his accession in 1353.6

The Pachchanitandiparru grant of his brother says that Anavota ruled the Andhra country from the eastern part of Srisailam to the eastern ocean.7 The editors of that grant cited the Telugu Vishnupuranamu for his victory over a chief named Ravutu Kesa on the Krishna.7 The battle was fought in sight of the god Amaresvara of Amaravati.7

The Vanapalli plates praise him as one who “ruled the whole earth by means of the sword in (his) arm”.2 Having given agraharas (villages) to Brahmans, he “obtained the fruit of (his) birth”, that is, died.2

The Koduru grant and the Motupalli charter

His only known copper-plate grant was found at Koduru in the Gudivada taluk.89 It gave that village, renamed Annavotapuram, to sixty-one Brahmans on a day of solar eclipse in January 1358.89 It was composed by the court poet Balasarasvati.89

Narasimhaswami also drew attention to an incomplete grant of Anavota in the Elliot collection, in which Anavema joins his brother as donor.910 Its donees (receivers) include a Vidyadhikarin, Mallu-bhatta, and an “Erraya-pregada”.910 Narasimhaswami identified this man with the poet Errapragada.910 See the Koduru grant.

In the same year, at Motupalli, Anavota renewed the edict of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva for sea merchants.11 The edict assured them that only the usual customs duties would be levied.11 The renewal was signed by his minister Somayamatya “in the town of Mukula (Motupalli)”.11 Robert Sewell summarised the edict as forbidding the confiscation of ships wrecked on the coast.12 See the Motupalli inscription of 1244.

Ministers and the battle of Dharanikota

His minister Mallinatha is named in a record at Manikesvaram, where Mallinatha’s brother made gifts on his death.13144 In 1361 Mallinatha’s son Vema reconsecrated the Amaresvara temple at Dhanyavati (Amaravati) for Anavota’s long life.13144

In the same year, according to the Velugotivari Vamsavali, the Recherla brothers Anapota and Mada, sons of Singa, defeated Anapota-Reddi at Dharanikota.1 Sewell took this to mean that Anavota was driven out and succeeded by his brother Anavema.15 Narasimhaswami left the question open.10

N. Ramesan, following Somasekhara Sarma, says that Anavota’s last years were also marked by losses to Vijayanagara in the west and south.16

Family and death

Anavota’s son was Kumaragiri, who later ruled at Kondavidu, and his daughter Mallambika married Kataya Vema.1718 Kataya Vema’s Tottaramudi plates call Kataya Vema the son-in-law of Anavota.18

Somasekhara Sarma placed Anavota’s last record, the Kolluru grant, in Saka 1286 (1364; Saka is an Indian way of counting years), after which Anavema ruled.61916 Kumaragiri, still young, did not succeed his father.61916 See Kumaragiri Reddi, Anavema Reddi and Kataya Vema.

Footnotes

  1. Ramayya, Madras Museum Plates of Vema (1905–06), p. 12 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. E. Hultzsch, Vanapalli Plates of Anna-Vema, Saka-Samvat 1300, Epigraphia Indica III (1894–95), p. 64 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. J. Ramayya, Madras Museum Plates of Vema, A.D. 1345, Epigraphia Indica VIII (1905–06), p. 11 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi (1939–40), p. 139 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 935, Kurnool No. 284 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. M. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 42 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. A. Rangaswami Saraswati and N. Lakshminarayan Rao, Three Copper-plate Inscriptions of the Reddis, Epigraphia Indica XXI (1931–32), p. 270 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. H. K. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi; Saka 1280, Epigraphia Indica XXV (1939–40), p. 137 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi (1939–40), p. 138 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  10. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi (1939–40), p. 140 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  11. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 758, Guntur Nos. 102–103 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 194 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  13. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 795 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 824, Guntur No. 624 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  15. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 195 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  16. N. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh Government Museum, Hyderabad, Vol. I (1962), p. 167 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  17. J. Ramayya, Tottaramudi Plates of Kataya-Vema, Saka-Samvat 1333, Epigraphia Indica IV (1896–97), p. 319 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  18. Ramayya, Tottaramudi Plates of Kataya-Vema (1896–97), p. 321 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  19. Somasekhara Sarma, History of the Reddi Kingdoms (1948), p. 43 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Dynasties

Reddis of Kondaveedu

c. 1325–1424 CE

Telugu dynasty of the Panta Reddi family. It rose on the coast after the fall of the Kakatiyas and ruled for about a hundred years, from about 1325 to the 1420s, first from Addanki and then from the hill fortress of Kondavidu. Its six kings, from Prolaya Vema to Racha Vema, held the country between Srisailam and the sea and at times the Godavari delta. They built the flights of steps at Srisailam and Ahobilam, fought the Recherla Velamas, Vijayanagara and the Bahmanis, and kept a court where Errapragada and Srinatha wrote. Under Kumaragiri the eastern half of the kingdom became a separate state at Rajahmundry.

References

Sources (9)
  1. N. P. Chakravarti (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXV (1939–40) (opens in a new tab), Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1940, pp. 137–140. H. K. Narasimhaswami, Koduru grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi (No. 13); paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  2. Archaeological Survey of India, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VIII (1905–06) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1906, pp. 11–12. J. Ramayya, Madras Museum plates of Vema (No. 3). [Public domain]
  3. E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. III (1894–95) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1895, pp. 64. E. Hultzsch, Vanapalli plates of Anna-Vema (No. 10). [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. 319, 321. J. Ramayya, Tottaramudi plates of Kataya-Vema (No. 46). [Public domain]
  5. Hirananda Sastri, K. N. Dikshit and N. P. Chakravarti (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXI (1931–32) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1933, pp. 270. Pachchanitandiparru grant of Anna-Vema (No. 41 B); paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  6. 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. 758, 795, 824, 935. [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. 193–195. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  8. N. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh Government Museum, Hyderabad, Vol. I (Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series No. 6) (opens in a new tab), Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, 1962, pp. 167. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  9. 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. 42–43. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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