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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I

Pandya king of Madurai who came to the throne in 1251 and led the second Pandya empire to its height. His records claim the defeat of the Hoysala Somesvara, the capture of Kopperunjinga's fortress, the occupation of Kanchi after killing Gandagopala, and a victory over the Telugus and their allies at Mudugur, from which he drove them to the Krishna. He was anointed as conqueror at Nellore. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry dates the battle at Muttukuru to 1263 and adds that he struck coins with the Kakatiya boar. Robert Sewell doubted the northern march.

Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I was a king of the Pandyas of Madurai who came to the throne in 1251.1 His inscriptions describe a march north through the Tamil country to Nellore.23 There, his records say, he defeated the Telugus and their Kakatiya allies.34

His conquests in the south

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1921) traced his wars from his inscriptions.2 Sundara Pandya received tribute from the king of Ceylon.2 He besieged and took Sendamangalam, the fortress of the Pallava chief Kopperunjinga, and then gave it back to him.2 At Chidambaram he covered the roof of the temple with gold.2 At Srirangam he had himself crowned in the temple.2

His gifts to the Srirangam temple were large.15 Aiyangar wrote that he weighed himself against gold and pearls, with an elephant, on two boats in the river.5 Sewell and Aiyangar (1932) noted that his Srirangam inscription mentions a necklace looted from Kopperunjinga’s capital.6

The march north

His records say that he drove the Banas into the forests and occupied Kanchi, after killing Gandagopala in battle.23 He then beat the Telugus and their allies the “Ariyas” at Mudugur, and drove them up to the Peraru (the Krishna).3 His records call him “a tiger to the antelope, Ganapati”, meaning the Kakatiya king.3 He was anointed at Nellore as a conqueror.14

A record of his co-regent Vikrama Pandya says the Pandya stopped because the ruler further north was a woman.7 The Nellore gazetteer of 1942 took this to mean the Kakatiya queen Rudramadevi.8

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry (1978) dated the battle at Muttukuru to 1263.9 In his account the Telugu Choda king of Nellore was killed there, and Nellore and Kanchi were annexed.9 Sundara Pandya struck coins bearing the Kakatiya boar on one side and the Pandya fishes on the other.9 See Ganapatideva.

Where the sources disagree

  • The date of the march. Aiyangar thought the campaign began soon after 1251 and lasted about ten years.1 Sewell placed the march to Nellore in 1260.10 Parabrahma Sastry dated the battle to 1263.9
  • Whether it happened. Sewell doubted that Sundara Pandya could have marched 300 miles through hostile country.11 He accepted the inscriptions only because there was no evidence against them.11

Footnotes

  1. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 51 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 48 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 49 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938 (1942), p. 45 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  5. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 52 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 153 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  7. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 50 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Nellore Gazetteer (1942), p. 46 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  9. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 115. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 154 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  11. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 155 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

Dynasties

Pandyas

c. 1251–1311 CE

Ancient Tamil dynasty of Madurai whose second empire, in the 13th century, reached the Telugu country. About 1260–63 Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I defeated the Telugus, their Telugu Choda allies and the Kakatiya Ganapati at Mudugur (Muttukuru in P. V. Parabrahma Sastry's account), drove them to the Krishna, and had himself anointed at Nellore and Kanchi. A later Sundara Pandya, crowned at Nellore, endowed a hall in its Ranganayaka temple, and Pandya princes held Nandalur in the Cuddapah country from 1286 to 1293. The Kakatiyas recovered Nellore, and in 1317 a Kakatiya general restored a Sundara Pandya to his throne. Marco Polo's 'Sonder Bandi Davar' of Ma'bar was identified by Henry Yule and Robert Caldwell with a Sundara Pandya.

References

Sources (4)
  1. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (opens in a new tab), Oxford University Press (Humphrey Milford), London, 1921, pp. 48–52. [Public domain]
  2. W. E. Johns, Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1942, pp. 45–46. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. 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. 153–155. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  4. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 114–115. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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