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Ahobilam

Village and temple of Narasimha on the Nallamalai hills in the Kurnool district, 'the most sacred Vaishnava shrine' of the district. Reddi records credit Prolaya Vema with a flight of steps there. Kataya Vema gave it villages named after Kumaragiri in 1410, and Errapragada dedicated his Narasimha Purana to its god.

A sunny stone-paved temple courtyard with a small pillared stone pavilion on a raised base, a tower covered in scaffolding behind it and long pillared halls on both sides.
A sunny stone-paved temple courtyard with a small pillared stone pavilion on a raised base, a tower covered in scaffolding behind it and long pillared halls on both sides. · P. Madhusudan (opens in a new tab) · CC0 (opens in a new tab)

The Imperial Gazetteer of 1908 describes Ahobilam as a village and temple in the Sirvel taluk of the Kurnool district, at 15°8′ N, 78°45′ E, on the Nallamalais.1 It says: “The temple is the most sacred Vaishnava shrine in the District, and has three parts”.1 These are:1

  • “Diguva (lower) Ahobilam temple at the foot of the hills”
  • “Yeguva (upper) Ahobilam about 4 miles higher up”
  • “a small shrine on the summit”1

The lower temple has reliefs of scenes from the Ramayana.1 It has two great stone halls on pillars “8 feet in circumference, hewn out of the rock”.1

The Reddis at Ahobilam

In 1906 J. Ramayya noted that the Amaravati inscription mentions Vema’s building of steps leading to the temples “at Srisailam and Ahobalam”.2 His own grant of 1345 does not mention them.2

The Pedapalakaluru plates of 1378 say that Vema built two flights of steps, at Srigiri and Ahobilagiri, as lasting pillars of victory.34 Their donee was honoured as if he were Narasimha of Ahobilam.34 Robert Sewell wrote that Prolaya Vema is widely remembered for steps leading up to the temples at Srisailam and Ahobilam.5 The poet Errapragada dedicated his Narasimha Purana to the god Narasimha of Ahobilam.67

Kataya Vema’s gift

In 1410 Kataya Vema, ruler of Rajahmundry, gave the village of Kaluvacheru, renamed Komaragiripuram, to the god Ahobaladeva.8 It was to provide daily offerings to the god, for the merit of Komaragiri Reddi.8 The inscription is on a slab on the way to the Pamuleti-Narasimha shrine.8

It also lists the villages of “Komaragiri-mandalam” that he had given to temples and Brahmans for the merit of his master and brother-in-law.8 It records gifts by his wives as well.8 See the Reddis of Rajahmundry and Kumaragiri Reddi.

Footnotes

  1. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 424 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. J. Ramayya, Madras Museum Plates of Vema, A.D. 1345, Epigraphia Indica VIII (1905–06), p. 12 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  3. N. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh Government Museum, Hyderabad, Vol. I (1962), p. 189 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions, Vol. I (1962), p. 190 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 183 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. H. K. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi; Saka 1280, Epigraphia Indica XXV (1939–40), p. 138 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Narasimhaswami, Koduru Grant of Ana-Vota-Reddi (1939–40), p. 139 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 975, Kurnool No. 598 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

Photos

People

Errapragada

c. 1280–1350 CE

Telugu poet of the 14th century, the third of the 'Kavitraya' who completed the Telugu Mahabharata. He finished the Aranya Parva that Nannaya had left incomplete. He was a Niyogi Brahman of Gudluru in the Nellore country and a devotee of Siva (Sambhudasa). He was attached to Prolaya Vema, the founder of the Reddi kingdom, and dedicated his Harivamsa to him. He also wrote a Ramayana and the Narasimha Purana for the god of Ahobilam.

Prolaya Vema Reddi

c. 1325–1353 CE

Founder of the Reddi kingdom of Addanki and Kondavidu (c. 1325–1353). He took over the country between Srisailam and the sea after the fall of the Kakatiyas. His grants of 1345 and 1346 say he restored the Brahman villages seized by the Muslim conquerors of Warangal. Later records remember him for the flights of steps at Srisailam and Ahobilam, and the poet Errapragada dedicated his Harivamsa to him.

Kataya Vema

c. 1386–1415 CE

Minister and brother-in-law of Kumaragiri of Kondavidu. He received 'the eastern country' with Rajahmundry as its capital in the 1380s, and ruled the Godavari delta and the coast to Simhachalam until about 1414–16. A grandson of Prolaya Vema through his mother, he was also a Sanskrit scholar. He wrote the Kumaragirirajiyam, a commentary on Kalidasa's plays.

Saluva Narasimha

c. 1485–1492 CE

Chief of the Saluva family of Chandragiri. He drove the Gajapatis of Orissa back up the coast towards Rajahmundry and faced the Bahmani sultan there in the 1470s. In 1485–86 he took the throne of Vijayanagara from the last Sangama king and founded the second, Saluva, dynasty. He died in 1492–93 and left his young sons in the charge of his general Narasa Nayaka. Whether he recovered Udayagiri from Orissa is disputed.

Monuments

Narasimha temples, Ahobilam

The temples of Narasimha at Lower (Diguva) and Upper Ahobilam, in the Nallamalai hills of the Kurnool district. Lower Ahobilam has a large unfinished mandapa (pillared hall). Fergusson's revisers compared its plan with the Vitthala temple at Vijayanagara but its style with Nayak work, and rejected a local tradition that gave it to Prataparudra about 1300. Inscriptions of Achyuta Raya, Sadasiva, Sriranga I and Venkatapati record halls, a pillar of victory and a Garuda pillar. They also record how the temple was recovered after the Golconda king had occupied it for seven years.

Inscriptions

Ahobilam inscription of Sriranga I (1584)

1584 CE

A Telugu inscription on a slab at the Narasimha temple in Lower Ahobilam, Kurnool district. It is dated Saka 1506 (1584), in the reign of Sriranga I, 'ruling at Penugonda'. V. Rangacharya summarised it in 1919. It grants rights in the temple to the chief Venkataraja, because his grandfather had driven out 'Vibhuramu', the Golconda king Ibrahim. Ibrahim had occupied the temple for seven years, in alliance with the Hande chiefs. A companion slab of 1585, of Venkatapati, records the same chief's gift to the temple.

References

Sources (6)
  1. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 424. [Public domain]
  2. Archaeological Survey of India, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VIII (1905–06) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1906, pp. 12. J. Ramayya (No. 3). [Public domain]
  3. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 975. [Public domain]
  4. N. P. Chakravarti (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXV (1939–40) (opens in a new tab), Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1940, pp. 138–139. H. K. Narasimhaswami (No. 13); paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. N. Ramesan, Copper Plate Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh Government Museum, Hyderabad, Vol. I (Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series No. 6) (opens in a new tab), Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, 1962, pp. 189–190. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  6. 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. 183. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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