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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Manumasiddhi II

Telugu Choda king of Nellore from about 1248 or 1250, son of Tikka I and patron of the poet Tikkana Somayaji. He was driven out of Nellore early in his reign. The Kakatiya king Ganapatideva restored him after Tikkana went to the Kakatiya court as his envoy, and he later fought for Ganapati against Kalinga on the Godavari. Whether he was the same king as Vijaya-Gandagopala of Kanchi is disputed.

Family and coming to the throne

Manumasiddhi II was the son and successor of Tikka I, and like his father he ruled the Pakanadu from Nellore.1 He also bore his father’s title, Madhurantaka Pottapi-Chola.1 Early in his reign he lost Nellore, and the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva restored him there.2 See Tikka I.

Sewell’s chronicle lists a record of his in the Nellore district made while his father still reigned.34 It also lists a gift he made in thanks for getting well from an illness, the year before he succeeded.34 Sewell dated his succession to between 13 August and 3 September 1250.4 Parabrahma Sastry, a modern historian, put his father’s death and his accession in 1248.5

Exile and restoration

Early in his reign Manumasiddhi lost Nellore. The sources disagree about who took it.

  • Brackenbury’s Cuddapah gazetteer (1915) says he “was dispossessed by a cousin, Vijaya Gandagōpāla”.2 This cousin belonged to the branch that had ruled the east of the province from Kandukur or Nellore.2
  • P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao’s History of Telugu Literature (1928) says that “his master was driven out of his country by his relatives, Akkana and Bayyana”.6
  • The Nayanapalle inscription of Ganapatideva says that the Kakatiya king killed Bayyana and Tikkana, who had burnt Nellore.78
  • Its editor, V. Venkatasubba Ayyar (1956), quoted a Telugu literary work in which the poet Tikkana asks Ganapati to restore Manmasiddhi, who had been driven out by Akkana and Bayyana.78 Venkatasubba Ayyar took the Tikkana of the inscription to be this Akkana, a kinsman of Manmasiddhi, not the poet.78
  • Parabrahma Sastry combined the accounts.9 In his view Vijaya-Gandagopala seized the southern part of the kingdom, and the officers Bayyana and Tikkana drove Manumasiddhi out of Nellore.9 A Vaidumba chief took his Kadapa (then Cuddapah) country.9

All agree that the poet Tikkana went to the Kakatiya court on his behalf.268 They also agree that Ganapatideva restored him at Nellore.268

In the literary account summarised by Venkatasubba Ayyar, Ganapati crowned Manmasiddhi at Nellore and gave him sixty-eight towns.8 He built a large tank there and stayed some months to teach him how to rule.8 Parabrahma Sastry placed the expedition about 1250, under the general Samanta Bhoja.9

Ally of the Kakatiyas, subordinate of the Cholas

Brackenbury held that Manumasiddhi won Ganapati’s help “by himself fighting on the side of that king in a battle on the banks of the Godavari”.12 He also held that Manumasiddhi formally accepted the Chola Rajendra Chola III as his overlord until 1268.12

Venkatasubba Ayyar placed the Godavari campaign after the restoration.10 In his account Manmasiddhi, now a subordinate of the Chola king, went to Ganapati’s aid against Kalinga as far as the Godavari.10 Parabrahma Sastry cited the Nandalur inscription of 1257.5 It says that Manumasiddhi crossed the Godavari and chased the king of Kalinga back into his own country.5

Sewell lists records of his reign at Pottapi in 1258–59.1112 He also lists a revolt that Manumasiddhi put down in the Nellore country, and a record at Gudivada north of the Krishna.1112

A land dispute at Pottapi

Brackenbury summarised an inscription in which Manumasiddhi, as Madhurantaka Pottapi-Chola, settled a dispute in the Pottapi division.13 Brahmans of Perungandura claimed land granted “very long ago” by a Pallava king called Mukkanti-Kaduvetti.13 Settlers from Sakali-Kodur and cultivators of Inumbrolu had occupied it while the Brahmans were away during a famine.13

After proof by ordeal (a test meant to show who told the truth), the ancient grant was confirmed.13 Manumasiddhi gave the village of Kodur back to the Brahmans “in order to secure religious merit for his father Tikka”.13 Brackenbury noted that the record does not mention the Chola king, and he took this to mean that Manumasiddhi ruled almost independently.13

Was he Vijaya-Gandagopala?

A king Vijaya-Gandagopala, also called Madhurantaka Pottapi-Chola, has records at Kanchi and in the North Arcot country.414 They are dated in years of rule counted from 1250.414 Robert Sewell identified him with Manumasiddhi II.414 So Sewell gave Manumasiddhi a reign of over forty years, from 1250 to 1291.414

Brackenbury made Vijaya Gandagopala the cousin who drove Manumasiddhi out.2 Parabrahma Sastry made him a rival who kept Kanchi while Manumasiddhi held Nellore.9

Sons

Sewell’s table gives him three sons, Tikka II (called Immadi Tikka), Nallasiddha II of Kanchi and Gopinatha.14 Tikka II has records of 1278 and 1280, and Nallasiddha II has records of 1256 and 1267.14 Sewell made Manmasiddhi III, the last of the line, a son of Nallasiddha II who succeeded his grandfather.15 See the Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore.

Footnotes

  1. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah (1915), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Brackenbury, Cuddapah (1915), p. 34 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 145 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  4. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 148 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 112. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 46 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. V. Venkatasubba Ayyar, “Nayanapalle Inscription of Ganapatideva”, Epigraphia Indica XXVII (1956), p. 193 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Venkatasubba Ayyar, “Nayanapalle Inscription” (1956), p. 194 and notes (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  9. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), pp. 113–114. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. Venkatasubba Ayyar, “Nayanapalle Inscription” (1956), p. 195 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  11. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 153 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  12. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 155 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  13. Brackenbury, Cuddapah (1915), p. 33 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  14. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 396, genealogical table (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  15. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 167 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

Dynasties

Telugu Chodas of Pottapi and Nellore

c. 1120–1316 CE

A family of Telugu chiefs who called themselves Madhurantaka Pottapi-Cholas and Ganda-Gopalas and claimed descent from the Chola king Karikala. They ruled the Pakanadu country of Nellore and southern Kadapa (Cuddapah) from Pottapi and then Nellore, from the early 12th century to about 1316. First vassals of the Cholas, they took Kanchi under Tikka I and his successors. They then passed under the Kakatiyas, who restored Manumasiddhi II, the patron of the poet Tikkana. A related branch ruled Konidena in the Guntur country.

References

Sources (5)
  1. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, pp. 32–34. [Public domain]
  2. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (The Heritage of India Series) (opens in a new tab), Association Press (Y.M.C.A.), Calcutta / Oxford University Press, London, 1928, pp. 46. [Public domain]
  3. B. Ch. Chhabra and N. Lakshminarayan Rao (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXVII (1947–48) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1956, pp. 193–195. V. Venkatasubba Ayyar, Nayanapalle Inscription of Ganapatideva (No. 35). Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  4. 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. 145, 148, 153, 167, 396. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 112–114. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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