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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Prithvisvara

Last ruler of the Velanati Chodas, son of Gonka III and Jayambika. In his reign his mother's grant of 1186 to the Kunti-Madhava temple at Pithapuram was engraved. The Kakatiya Ganapatideva drove him from the Krishna country, and Ganapatideva's general took the island of Divi about 1203. He held out north of the Godavari; his last record is of 1206, and he was killed in battle soon afterwards.

Prithvisvara was the son of Gonka III and his queen Jayambika, of the Velanati family.12 M. Rama Rao noted that he ruled from Pithapuram, beyond the Godavari.3 P. V. Parabrahma Sastry wrote that he was killed in battle against the forces of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva, after 1206.45 See the Velanati Chodas.

His mother’s grant

Jayambika came from the family of the chiefs to the west of the hill, at Nadendla.6 She rebuilt the temple of Kunti-Madhava at Pithapuram and covered the image of Vishnu at Simhachalam with gold.6 The great Pithapuram pillar inscription records her grant of the village of Navakhandavada to that temple in Saka 1108 (1186; Saka is an Indian way of counting years).1 The grant was “communicated to the inhabitants of the district by her son Prithvisvara, who accordingly appears to have been the ruling prince at the time of the inscription”.1 See the Pithapuram inscription of Prithvisvara.

Which records are his?

E. Hultzsch identified Prithvisvara with a Rajendra-Chodaraja, son of Kulottunga-Choda-Gonkaraja.78 The inscriptions of that Rajendra-Chodaraja run from Saka 1085 to 1102 (1163–1180).78 Hultzsch also read the inscription of the Kona chiefs of 1195 as showing Prithvisvara still alive, and their overlord, in that year.78 Gordon Mackenzie’s Kistna District Manual (1883) had listed grants of “Gonka Raja Prudhivisvara” down to 1186.9

The Godavari District Gazetteer followed Hultzsch in giving Prithvisvara the years 1163 to at least 1186.10 The Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1916 gave his records as Saka 1085 to 1121.11 H. Krishna Sastri’s reading of the copper plates of Rajendra Choda II in 1917 gave the records of 1163–1180 to Rajendra Choda II instead.12 M. Rama Rao followed him.3 He made Prithvisvara the son and successor of a short-lived Gonka III (1181–1186), and noted that he ruled from Pithapuram, beyond the Godavari.3

His end

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry gave the fullest account of his end.135 He wrote that Prithvisvara came to power in 1185 and inherited the large kingdom of his grandfather Rajendra Choda II.135 He moved his capital from Chandavolu to Pithapuram.135 Prithvisvara had retired to the island of Divi.135 The Kakatiya general Malyala Chaunda took the island and plundered his treasure for Ganapatideva.135 A Kondaparti inscription of 1203 describes the victory.135

Prithvisvara then held the country from Draksharama to Srikurmam and tried to win back Velanadu.45 He was killed in battle against Ganapatideva’s forces, after 1206, the date of his last known record.45 Among those forces was the Nellore Telugu Choda Tikka.45 Several Kakatiya generals and Tikka himself took the title “player with the ball that is the head of Prithvisvara”.45 Chilukuri Veerabhadra Rao (1912) also wrote that Tikka beheaded Prithvisvara in battle.14

The Telugu poem Keyurabahucharitramu was dedicated to Nanduri Gundanna, grandson of Ketana, a minister of Prithvisvara.12 Parabrahma Sastry regarded Prithvisvara as the only real power on the coast in Ganapatideva’s early years.1516 In his view the Kakatiya king defeated him to check his growth.1516 Then Ganapatideva annexed the coast from the Godavari to the Penna.1516

Footnotes

  1. E. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Pillar Inscription of Prithvisvara; Saka-Samvat 1108”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 33 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Prithvisvara” (1897), p. 35 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  3. 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)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 108. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 150. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  6. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Prithvisvara” (1897), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Prithvisvara” (1897), pp. 38–39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. E. Hultzsch, “Pithapuram Inscription of Mallideva and Manma-Satya II”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 86 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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

  10. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 23 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1915–16 (G.O. No. 99, Home (Miscellaneous), 29 August 1916), Part II, para. 49, p. 134 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1916–17 (G.O. No. 1035, Home (Education), 10 August 1917), Part II, paras. 27–28, p. 120 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 107. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  14. Chilukuri Veerabhadra Rao, Andhrula Charitramu, Part II (1912), p. 240 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). In Telugu. ↩

  15. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 175. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  16. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 177. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

Dynasties

Velanati Chodas

c. 1076–1209 CE

A family of chiefs of Velanadu, the Chandavolu (Tsandavolu) country in the western Krishna delta. They rose as officers of the Eastern Chalukya and Chola kings and governed the Vengi country for the Chola emperors from the reign of Kulottunga I. Their records run from 1076 at Chebrolu to 1206. Gonka II claimed rule from Kalahasti to the Mahendra mountain, and Rajendra Choda II was the chief power on the coast in the 1170s. The Kakatiya Ganapatideva defeated the last of them, Prithvisvara, and had annexed Velanadu by 1209.

References

Sources (7)
  1. F. Kielhorn (articles); E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV (1896–97) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1897, pp. 32–39, 86. E. Hultzsch, Pithapuram inscriptions of Prithvisvara (No. 4) and of Mallideva (No. 10). [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. 134 (report for 1915–16); 120 (report for 1916–17). [Public domain]
  3. 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]
  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. 7. [Public domain]
  5. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 23. [Public domain]
  6. Chilukuri Veerabhadra Rao, Andhrula Charitramu, Dvitiya Bhagamu (ఆంధ్రుల చరిత్రము - ద్వితీయ భాగము) (opens in a new tab), Vignana Chandrika Mandali, Madras, 1912, pp. 240. [Public domain]
  7. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 106–108, 150, 175, 177. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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