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Nripatunga (Pallava)

Nripatunga, also called Vikramavarman, was a Pallava king of Kanchi in the second half of the 9th century, a grandson of Dantivarman. An inscription of his 24th year at Gudimallam, near Kalahasti, shows the Bana chief Vanavidyadhara governing 'the west of the Telugu road' as his vassal. Robert Sewell dated it to 877–78 and identified the chief with the Bana king Vikramaditya I.

Nripatunga was a king of the Pallavas of Kanchi in the 9th century.12 In the south of the Telugu country his power rested on the Bana chiefs, who ruled the Kalahasti country as his vassals.34 An inscription of his reign at Gudimallam is the evidence for this.56

Who he was

G. Jouveau-Dubreuil’s family tree of the Pallavas (1920) makes Nripatunga the son of Nandivarman III and dates him 854 to 880.1 V. Rangacharya calls him a grandson of Dantivarman.6 Robert Sewell’s table of Pallava kings gives his other names as Vikramavarman and Videlvidugu, and the title “Ganga-Pallava”.2

Sewell tells of a war in the Tamil country late in his reign.7 The Ganga king Prithivipati I joined Nripatunga against the Pandya king Varaguna.7 The Pallava forces were led by the crown prince Aparajita.7

Gudimallam

Gudimallam lies about 13 miles south-west of Srikalahasti, in the old Chittoor district.8 V. Venkayya published five early Bana inscriptions from its Parasuramesvara temple.8 One of them, inscription C, is dated in the 24th year of a king whom Venkayya took to be Nripatunga.53

It was made while the Bana chief Vanavidyadhara-Mahabali-Vanaraya “was ruling the west of Vadugavali”.5 Vadugavali means the road to the Telugu country, and the phrase means the Bana lands west of that road.46 Only the start of the inscription can be read.5 Sewell dated the record to 877–78.4 He identified the chief with Vikramaditya Prabhumeru I of the Banas.4 See Vikramaditya I (Bana) and the Banas.

Where the sources disagree

  • His family. Venkayya wrote that Nripatunga “probably belonged to the same family” as Dantivarman, because the name of the line is missing in the Gudimallam record.3 For the time being he identified him with Dantivarman’s grandson, Nripatunga-Vikramavarman.3 Jouveau-Dubreuil made him the son of Nandivarman III.1
  • The Bana chief. Sewell called him Vanavidyadhara alias Vikramaditya Prabhumeru I.4 Venkayya’s translation gives only the name Vanavidyadhara-Mahabali-Vanaraya.5

Footnotes

  1. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 70, genealogy of the Pallavas (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 376, notes to the table of Pallava kings (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased except for the short phrase quoted. ↩ ↩2

  3. Venkayya, “Five Bana Inscriptions from Gudimallam” (1911–12), p. 229 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. Venkayya, “Five Bana Inscriptions from Gudimallam” (1911–12), p. 227, inscription C, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased except for the short phrase quoted. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency I (1919), p. 480, Chittoor district, No. 228 of 1903 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. V. Venkayya, “Five Bana Inscriptions from Gudimallam”, Epigraphia Indica XI (1911–12), p. 222 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Dynasties

Pallavas

c. 250–900 CE

The Pallavas ruled from Kanchi (Kanchipuram) and held the Telugu country south of the Krishna for much of the 4th to 7th centuries CE. Their earliest charters, in Prakrit, were sent from Kanchi to an officer at Dhanyakataka near Amaravati. A later line issued Sanskrit grants of villages in the Guntur and Nellore country from camps such as Palakkada and Dasanapura. The Chalukyas took Vengi and the Guntur country early in the 7th century. But Pallava kings still granted villages in Nellore until about 700, and their vassals held parts of Chittoor and Rayalaseema until the Chola conquest about 900.

References

Sources (4)
  1. Sten Konow (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XI (1911–12) (opens in a new tab), Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta (scan of the ASI 1981 facsimile reprint), 1912, pp. 222, 227, 229. V. Venkayya, Five Bana inscriptions from Gudimallam (No. 22). [Public domain]
  2. 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. 480. Chittoor district, Kalahasti taluk. [Public domain]
  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. 37–38, 376. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  4. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry (translated by V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), 1920, pp. 70. [Public domain]

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