Nijjiyaraja (Chalukya of Mudigonda)

Nijjiyaraja was a chief of the Chalukyas of Mudigonda, known from the Mogalcheruvula grant of his son Kusumayudha IV.¹ The grant names him but tells nothing of his deeds.¹² He matters because scholars use him to join the family’s records together, and they do so in two different ways.²³

Family

In C. Bendall’s pedigree, Nijjiyaraja was the eldest of three sons of Kusumayudha III.¹ His brothers were Malbaduraja and Lobhachalaka.¹ Nijjiyaraja and his queen Achidevi were the parents of Kusumayudha IV.¹⁴ N. Venkataramanayya counted twenty-five years a generation and placed him about 1015–1040.⁵

Nijjayaraja of the Kukkunur plates

The later Kukkunur plates of Kusumaditya begin their family tree with Kariya-Gonaga, lord of Koravipura, and his brother Nijjayaraja.⁶ Nijjayaraja’s son was a Kusumayudha.⁶ Bh. Lakshminarayana, who edited the plates, copied Venkataramanayya’s list of eight generations down to Kusumayudha IV. He then carried it on with the kings of the Kukkunur plates, from Beta onwards.⁷⁸ In this way he treated their Nijjayaraja and Kusumayudha as Nijjiyaraja and Kusumayudha IV.⁷⁸

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry pointed out that this link rests only on the likeness of the names.² The family’s Chalukya descent and its ties with Koravi also support it, he added, but joining the two lines raises other difficulties.² See the Kukkunur plates.

Niravadya of the Koravi inscription

Parabrahma Sastry made another suggestion.⁹³ The Koravi inscription names a chief Niravadya, younger brother of Gonaga, who became king of Koravi with the help of Chalukya-Bhima II.⁹³ Parabrahma Sastry thought it likely that this Niravadya was the Nijjayita of both copper-plate grants.³ He dated Niravadya’s rise to about 934.³ After him, in his account, came Kusumayudha, Betaraja and another Kusumayudha.³

The writers on the Koravi inscription in 1969 saw Niravadya differently. N. Mukunda Rao made him the younger son of Kusumayudha I and brother of Bijayita.¹⁰ S. Dasarathi noticed that the Mogalcheruvula grant leaves Niravadya out of the family list altogether.¹¹¹² He explained this by a quarrel between Niravadya and his brother’s son.¹²

A later date

Dasarathi also offered a different date for Nijjiyaraja. He suggested that the brother’s name, Malbaduraja, was a misreading of Mallaparaja.¹² He identified this Mallaparaja with the prince Mallana, to whom the Eastern Chalukya king Danarnava granted Pottapi-nadu in 970.¹² On that basis he placed Nijjiyaraja and Mallaparaja side by side, about 971–995.¹³

Where the sources disagree

• Who he was. Lakshminarayana treated him as Nijjayaraja of the Kukkunur plates.⁷⁸ Parabrahma Sastry thought he was probably Niravadya of the Koravi inscription.³ Mukunda Rao and Dasarathi kept Niravadya a separate, earlier chief.¹²¹⁰
• His dates. Venkataramanayya placed him about 1015–1040.⁵ Dasarathi placed him about 971–995.¹³ If he was Niravadya, Parabrahma Sastry’s date of about 934 would apply.³

Footnotes

1. C. Bendall, “Grant of Kusumayudha IV”, Indian Antiquary XXXII (1903), p. 281 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 53. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 56. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. Bendall, “Grant of Kusumayudha IV” (1903), p. 284, translation and notes (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

5. N. Venkataramanayya, The Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 36, note 55 continued (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

6. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 353, reprinting Bh. Lakshminarayana, “Kukkunuru Plates of Kusumadya”, Epigraphia Andhrica II (1974), pp. 39–49. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

7. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 354, reprinting Lakshminarayana (1974). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 355, reprinting Lakshminarayana (1974). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 55. ↩ ↩²

10. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 67, N. Mukunda Rao in the Koravi symposium (1969). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

11. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica I: Pre-Kakatiya Telangana (2023), p. 62, S. Dasarathi in “The Koravi Epigraphs (A Symposium)”, Epigraphia Andhrica I (1969). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

12. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 63, S. Dasarathi in the Koravi symposium (1969). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

13. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 64, S. Dasarathi’s table of the family (1969). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²