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Gonka II (Velanati)

Velanati chief, called Kulottunga Choda Gonka, who ruled from about 1132 to 1163 according to M. Rama Rao. The Pithapuram inscription says that he set a golden pinnacle on the Bhimesvara temple at Draksharama, and ruled the kings between Kalahasti and the Mahendra mountain. His minister built the Suresvara temple at Karempudi in 1154.

Gonka II was the son of Rajendra Choda I and his queen Gundambika.12 See Rajendra Choda I and the Velanati Chodas.

E. Hultzsch found two inscriptions of Saka 1055 (1133; Saka is an Indian way of counting years) belonging to his reign.1 One, at Draksharama, is of the mahamandalesvara (great provincial lord) Velananti Gonkaya, son of Gundambika.1 The other, at Nadendla, is of his queen Sabbambika.1

In the first he bears the title “Chalukya-rajya-bhavana-mula-stambha”, the main pillar of the house of the Chalukya kingdom.1 Hultzsch wrote that this title “shows that, like his predecessors, he was tributary to one of the two branches of the Chalukya dynasty” (that is, he paid tribute to them).1 His queen Sabbambika was a daughter of the chiefs of the country west of the hill, the Kondapadumati chiefs of Nadendla.34

His claims

The Pithapuram inscription credits him with placing a golden pinnacle on the temple of Bhimanatha (at Draksharama).5 It also says that he ruled over all kings between Kalahasti, in the North Arcot district, and the Mahendra mountain, in Ganjam.5 Hultzsch took this to mean “the whole Telugu country”.5

An inscription at Draksharama, Hultzsch noted, gives him the title lord of a country of six thousand and three hundred villages.6 The Godavari District Gazetteer repeats the claim to have ruled from Kalahasti to Ganjam, calling him “alias Kulottunga Choda Gonka”.7

Reign

M. Rama Rao, writing in 1930, dated his rule from 1132 to 1163 and called him “the most independent and glorious member of the family”. He wrote that in this reign the Kondapadumati chiefs became vassals (subordinates) of the family.8910 He also wrote that the Kakatiya Rudradeva took the Tripurantakam region from it before 1162.8910 In his account, Gonka’s general defended Kroccheruvu against Karnata cavalry.8910

An inscription at Karempudi, dated in Saka 1076 (1154), records that his minister Isana-peggada built the temple of Suresvara there.11 The minister also gave the temple goats for a lamp.11

His minister and envoy was Kommana, son of Nanduri Govindamatya.912 Kommana’s descendant Nanduri Gundanna was the patron of the Telugu poem Keyurabahucharitramu.912

Gonka II or Gonka III?

Which records belong to Gonka II, and which to his grandson Gonka III, has been disputed. Hultzsch assigned the inscriptions of Saka 1060–1079 (1138–1157) to Gonka III.1 H. Krishna Sastri suggested in 1917 that most of them belong instead to Gonka II.12 Sewell’s table gives Gonka II the dates 1132 to 1160.3

Footnotes

  1. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Prithvisvara” (1897), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1916–17 (G.O. No. 1035, Home (Education), 10 August 1917), Part II, para. 27, p. 119 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  3. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 399 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  4. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Prithvisvara” (1897), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Prithvisvara” (1897), p. 36 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. E. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Pillar Inscription of Prithvisvara; Saka-Samvat 1108”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 34, note 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 23 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. M. Rama Rao, “History of the Velnadu Chiefs”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society V, pt. 2 (October 1930), p. 68 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Rama Rao, “History of the Velnadu Chiefs” (1930), p. 69 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. Rama Rao, “History of the Velnadu Chiefs” (1930), p. 71 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 810, No. 522 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1916–17 (1917), Part II, paras. 27–28, p. 120 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

Dynasties

Velanati Chodas

c. 1076–1209 CE

A family of chiefs of Velanadu, the Chandavolu (Tsandavolu) country in the western Krishna delta. They rose as officers of the Eastern Chalukya and Chola kings and governed the Vengi country for the Chola emperors from the reign of Kulottunga I. Their records run from 1076 at Chebrolu to 1206. Gonka II claimed rule from Kalahasti to the Mahendra mountain, and Rajendra Choda II was the chief power on the coast in the 1170s. The Kakatiya Ganapatideva defeated the last of them, Prithvisvara, and had annexed Velanadu by 1209.

References

Sources (6)
  1. F. Kielhorn (articles); E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV (1896–97) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1897, pp. 34–38. E. Hultzsch, Pithapuram inscription of Prithvisvara. [Public domain]
  2. M. Rama Rao, History of the Velnadu Chiefs, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. V, pt. 2 (October 1930) (opens in a new tab), Andhra Historical Research Society, 1930, pp. 68–71. [Public domain]
  3. Madras Government (Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy), Annual Reports on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1915-16 to 1919-20 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1920, pp. 119–120 (report for 1916–17). [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. 810. [Public domain]
  5. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 23. [Public domain]
  6. 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. 399. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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