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Kota Keta II

Chief of Amaravati–Dharanikota, the Mahamandalesvara Kota Ketaraja, lord of the Six-thousand country south of the Krishna. His long inscription on a pillar of the Amaresvara temple is dated in Saka 1104, probably the day he came to the throne (about 1182–83). It records grants to Brahmans, and lamps and villages for the Buddha at Amaravati. His mother was a sister of a Gonka of Velanandu. His records run to about 1209.

Keta II was the most powerful chief of the Kotas of Dharanikota. The Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1916 called him “evidently the most powerful prince of the family”.1 His long inscription at Amaravati tells us about his family, his gifts and the Buddhist temple there in his time.23

The Amaravati pillar inscription

His long inscription is engraved on a pillar of the Amaresvara temple at Amaravati, at the southern entrance to the central shrine.4 In its Telugu passages he is styled the mahamandalesvara (great lord of a province) Kota Ketaraja.42 It calls him “the lord of the district of six-thousand (villages) on the southern (bank) of the Krishnavenna river, obtained through the favour of the glorious Trinayana-Pallava”.42 It also calls him “the lord of Sri-Dhanyakataka, the best of cities”.42 See the Amaravati pillar inscription of Keta II.

The Amaravati pillar inscription names four generations of the family, Bhima I, Keta I, Bhima II, whose wife was Sabbamadevi, and Keta II.2 All the grants it records were made on the same day in Saka 1104 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years).2 F. Kielhorn found that the details of the date did not agree exactly.2 He judged the most likely date to be 5 January 1183.2 E. Hultzsch thought it “probably the very day of the accession of Keta II to the throne”.23

Gifts to the Buddha and to Brahmans

Keta II gave the Buddha the village of Kranteru and two villages in the Kondapadumati district.2 He also gave sheep whose milk was to feed two perpetual lamps.2 Two women of his household, Gasavi-Suramadevi and Prolamadevi, each gave sheep for a lamp.2

His fifth grant gave villages to Brahmans for the merit of his mother Sabbamadevi, his father Bhimaraja and his elder brother Choderaja, and for his own.2 He renamed them Sabbambikapuram, Bhimavaram, Chodavaram and, after his own title, Jagamechchugandapuram.2

Hultzsch found that Keta II’s mother was the sister of a Gonka, probably Gonka III of Velanandu.3 M. Rama Rao read the same record as making her the sister of Gonka III.5 See the Velanati Chodas.

Buddhism at Amaravati

Hultzsch saw these gifts as proof of the state of Buddhism at that time.3 In his words, “the Buddhist religion continued to have votaries in the Telugu country and was tolerated and supported by the Hindu rulers of Amaravati”.3 He added, half in jest, that the two women of the harem might have persuaded Keta to give to their god, “though he professed the Saiva creed”.3

The Government Epigraphist noted in 1914 that the Buddha temple at Amaravati existed in Keta II’s time.6 A record of his grandson Manma-Ketaraja in the Madras Museum also gives a lamp to the Buddha.6 In 1883 Gordon Mackenzie noted an inscription of Kota Keta Raja on a pillar to the west of the gopuram (gateway tower) of the Amaresvara temple. He dated it to 1192.7

Later generations

The Edavalli copper plates, found in the Narasaraopet taluk, give the line as Bhima I, his son Keta I, his son Bhima II, his son Keta II, his son Bhima III and his son Manma-Keta (Keta III), whose mother was Sabbambika.8 A record of Saka 1180 calls the mahamandalesvara Ganapatidevaraja the son of Bayyaladevi.8 The Annual Report for 1916 made him an undoubted son of Manma-Keta.8

The report also noted that Ganapamba was given in marriage to Beta, a grandson of Keta II, and the Yenamadala inscription makes Beta the son of Keta’s son Rudra.12 See Kota Beta.

Hultzsch thought that Bayyamamba was one of the wives of Keta II, but the report argued from the Edavalli plates that she was the queen of Manma-Keta.98 Bayyamamba, a daughter of the Natavadi chief Rudra, gave a lamp to the Buddha at Amaravati in 1234.98

His later records

Hultzsch noted later inscriptions of Keta II at Amaravati and Peddachemkuru, dated in Saka 1119 and 1122.3 P. V. Parabrahma Sastry gave him records from Saka 1105 to 1131.10

Footnotes

  1. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1915–16 (1916), Part II, para. 55, p. 138 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  2. Hultzsch, “Two Pillar Inscriptions at Amaravati” (1901), p. 147 and note 6 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  3. Hultzsch, “Two Pillar Inscriptions at Amaravati” (1901), p. 148 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. E. Hultzsch, “Two Pillar Inscriptions at Amaravati”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1901), p. 146 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. M. Rama Rao, “History of the Velnadu Chiefs”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society V, pt. 2 (October 1930), p. 72 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1913–14 (G.O. No. 920, Public, 4 August 1914), Part II, para. 41, p. 105 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District (1883), p. 163 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1915–16 (G.O. No. 99, Home (Miscellaneous), 29 August 1916), Part II, para. 55, p. 137 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. Hultzsch, “Two Pillar Inscriptions at Amaravati” (1901), p. 157 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 156. ↩

Dynasties

Kotas of Dharanikota

c. 1100–1276 CE

A family of chiefs of Amaravati–Dharanikota on the south bank of the Krishna, lords of the 'Six-thousand' country (Konnatavadi). Robert Sewell traced their line from about 1100, and their inscriptions run to the 1270s. Keta II, who probably came to power in 1182, still gave lamps and villages to the Buddha at Amaravati. Related by marriage to the Velanati Chodas and the Kakatiyas, they were brought under Kakatiya rule about 1185. Kota Beta married Ganapamba, daughter of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva, and she ruled the family's lands as a widow in the 1250s.

References

Sources (6)
  1. E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VI (1900–01) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1901, pp. 146–148, 157. E. Hultzsch, Two pillar inscriptions at Amaravati (No. 15). [Public domain]
  2. 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. 137–138 (report for 1915–16). [Public domain]
  3. Madras Government (Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy), Annual Reports on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1910-11 to 1914-15 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, pp. 105 (report for 1913–14). [Public domain]
  4. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government of Madras (Lawrence Asylum Press), 1883, pp. 163. [Public domain]
  5. 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. 72. [Public domain]
  6. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 156. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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