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Mahendra I (Nolamba)

The most powerful king of the Nolamba-Pallavas, son of Polalchora Nolambadhiraja and the Ganga princess Jayabbe. His records run from Saka 800 (878–79), and a pillar at Kambaduru in Anantapur is dated in his reign in Saka 805 (883). He invaded Pulinadu, the country of the Banas round Punganur, and called himself 'destroyer of the Mahabali race'. After a quarrel with his Ganga overlords he was defeated by Butuga and killed by the Ganga prince Ereyappa, before about 904.

Mahendra I was a king of the Nolamba-Pallavas in the late 9th century.12 The epigraphical report for 1912–13 called him “the most powerful of the Nolambas”.1 His wars reached from the Anantapur country to the Bana country round Punganur and south to Dharmapuri.13

Family

Mahendra was the son of Nolambadhiraja, also called Polalchora, and Jayabbe, daughter of the Ganga king Rachamalla.32 So the Dharmapuri inscription says, as edited by H. Krishna Sastri in 1910.3 B. Lewis Rice (1909) wrote that his queen was a Kadamba princess named Divalabbarasi or Divambike.4 His son was Ayyapa.4

Records

Krishna Sastri knew no record of Mahendra earlier than Saka 800 (878–79; Saka is an Indian way of counting years).2 An inscription of Saka 815 (892–93) at Dharmapuri, in the Salem district, was edited by Krishna Sastri.35 It records that Nidhiyanna and Chandiyanna, two sons of a merchant, built a Jain temple at Tagaduru (Dharmapuri) in his reign.6 Nidhiyanna received the village of Mulapalli from the king and gave it to the temple.6 At Kambaduru, in the Kalyandrug taluk of Anantapur, a pillar records a gift of land and paddy to a temple of the Sun in Saka 805 (883).7 The 1912–13 report noted that this record calls him “the hero of the three worlds”.1

The war with the Banas

Mahendra called himself the destroyer of the race of Mahabali, that is of the Banas.31 The 1912–13 report described his invasion of Pulinadu, the Bana country round Punganur.18 An inscription at Kalakattur, near Palamaner, says that a Nolamba king ordered his chiefs Kaduvatti and Maduva to take Pulinadu.8 They burnt the town of Perravi.8 The report could not say whether this king was Mahendra or his father.18

Sewell and Aiyangar (1932) put the battle of Soremati in this war.9 In their account the Bana and Vaidumba chiefs beat back the Nolamba and Ganga forces there.9 But by 892, they noted, Mahendra was claiming to have destroyed the Bana race.10

The end

Rice wrote that Mahendra began as a vassal of the Gangas, but in 878 he took the rank of an independent king.4 Sewell and Aiyangar described a quarrel with his Ganga overlord, in which Mahendra at first won.10 Then the Ganga Butuga I defeated him in three battles.11 Butuga’s son Ereyappa took the forts of Tipperu, Surur and Penjeru (Henjeru, now Hemavati) and killed Mahendra.11 Ereyappa won from this the title Mahendrantaka, “death of Mahendra”.4 Sewell and Aiyangar placed Mahendra’s final defeat before 904.11

Footnotes

  1. H. Krishna Sastri, Annual Report on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1912–13, Part II, para. 13, p. 90 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. Krishna Sastri, “Two Nolamba Inscriptions” (1910), p. 59 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. H. Krishna Sastri, “Two Nolamba Inscriptions from Dharmapuri”, Epigraphia Indica X (1909–10), p. 56 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. B. Lewis Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 56 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  6. Krishna Sastri, “Two Nolamba Inscriptions” (1910), p. 57 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 20, Anantapur No. 125 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Krishna Sastri, Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1912–13, Part II, para. 13, p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  10. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 40 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  11. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), pp. 40–41 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

Dynasties

Nolamba-Pallavas

c. 800–974 CE

Branch of the Pallavas that ruled Nolambavadi, the 'Thirty-two Thousand' province of the Chitradurga and Tumkur country and most of the Anantapur district, from the 9th to the late 10th century, with Henjeru (Hemavati, Madakasira taluk) as a chief town. First feudatories of the Rashtrakutas and Gangas, they became powerful under Mahendra I, who claimed to have destroyed the Bana race. Their inscriptions in Anantapur are at Hemavati, Hindupur, Manepalle and Kambaduru, dated from 853 to 965. The Ganga Marasimha (died 974) took the title 'death to the Nolamba race'; later the Nolamba-Pallava title passed to chiefs under the Cholas and Western Chalukyas.

References

Sources (5)
  1. Sten Konow and V. Venkayya (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. X (1909–10) (opens in a new tab), Government Printing, India, Calcutta, 1910, pp. 56–59. H. Krishna Sastri, Two Nolamba Inscriptions from Dharmapuri. [Public domain]
  2. B. Lewis Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (opens in a new tab), Archibald Constable, London, 1909, pp. 55–56. [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, Report for 1912–13, Part II, pp. 90–91. [Public domain]
  4. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 20. [Public domain]
  5. 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. 38–41. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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