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Pakhal

The Pakhal lake east of Warangal, the largest Kakatiya irrigation tank. Jagadala Mummadi built it in Ganapatideva's reign, and his pillar inscription stands on its bund (embankment).

The still surface of Pakhal Lake under a clear sky, a single tree standing in the water and reflected below it, and a low wooded hill on the far shore.
The still surface of Pakhal Lake under a clear sky, a single tree standing in the water and reflected below it, and a low wooded hill on the far shore. · Alosh Bennett (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab)

The lake

The Pakhal lake lies about 50 km east of Warangal, in the old Narsampet taluk, and densely wooded hills enclose it on the north, south and east.12 The Imperial Gazetteer of 1909 called it the largest artificial sheet of water in Hyderabad State.1

According to the gazetteer, the lake was formed by a dam more than 2,000 yards long across the Pakhal river, where the river cuts between two low hills.13 The lake covered nearly 13 square miles.13

The gazetteer noted channels carrying water away for irrigation, and a depth of 30 to 40 feet.4 At the centre of the dam it noted the ruins of a small pavilion called the chabutra of Shitab Khan.4 It also noted that the lake was full of fish, otters and crocodiles.4

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry describes the dam as about a mile long, built of laterite gravel and red earth, with 40 channels.2

The builder

A Sanskrit inscription on a pillar on the bund (embankment) records who built the tank.56 Jagadala Mummadi built it in the reign of Ganapatideva.56 He was a son of the king’s chief minister Bayyana-nayaka.56

He built the tank at a holy place called the Maudgalya-tirtha, near a temple of Shiva-Ramanatha, and founded a town called Ganapapura beside it.56 See the Pakhal lake inscription.

Survey

G. Yazdani of the Nizam’s Archaeological Department copied the inscription in the 1915–16 season.7 He planned to survey “the old monuments at Pakhal, Palampet, Borlapalli and Uparpalli”.8 He described these places as political and religious centres of the Kakatiya dynasty.8 His photographs of the lake and of the inscribed pillar are listed in the report for that year.9

Footnotes

  1. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 90 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 205. ↩ ↩2

  3. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 4 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. P. Sreenivasachar (ed.), A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts of Andhra Pradesh, Part III (1956), p. 150, No. Wg. 15 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. L. D. Barnett (1919), reprinted in Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica, vol. 2 (2023), p. 235, No. 201. Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of His Highness the Nizam’s Dominions, 1915-16 (1917), p. 10 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Annual Report of the Archaeological Department … 1915-16 (1917), p. 12 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Annual Report of the Archaeological Department … 1915-16 (1917), p. 26 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Photos

People

Shitab Khan (Sitapati) of Warangal

c. 1504–1516 CE

A Telugu chief of humble birth who held Warangal, Khammam and Bellamkonda in the early sixteenth century. Hirananda Sastri identified him with an officer who had fled the Bahmani Sultan Humayun Shah about 1461, and with the Sitapati of the Golconda chronicle. His pillar inscription in Warangal fort records that he took the fort from the Muslims on 21 January 1504. He put back the images of Krishna and of the Kakatiya family goddess. He supported Telugu poets and called himself king of the Bhogi family. Sultan Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda defeated him. He took shelter with the Gajapati prince at Kondapalli and fought on the losing side at Palanchinur. The Kistna manual thought he was a vassal of Orissa.

Monuments

Pakhal Lake

A great reservoir east of Narsampet, formed by a dam about a mile long across the Pakhal river and covering some 13 square miles when full. Local tradition recorded in 1900 gave it to Pratapa Rudra, or to a 'Raja Khaldya' sixteen centuries earlier. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, citing the inscription on the bund, gives it to Jagadalu Mummadi, son of a minister, in the reign of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva.

Inscriptions

Pakhal lake inscription of Jagadala Mummadi

c. 1245 CE

Undated Sanskrit pillar inscription on the bund of the Pakhal lake, from the reign of Ganapatideva. It records that Jagadala Mummadi, son of the king's chief minister Bayyana-nayaka, built the great tank and a town called Ganapapura beside it. It also gives a solar family line of the Kakatiyas.

References

Sources (5)
  1. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1909, pp. 4, 90–91. [Public domain]
  2. Archaeological Department, H.E.H. the Nizam's Dominions, Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of His Highness the Nizam's Dominions, 1915-16 (opens in a new tab), H.E.H. the Nizam's Government, 1917, pp. 10, 12, 26. [Public domain]
  3. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.); Gautam Pingle (gen. ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica, Vol. 2: Imperial Kakatiyas (opens in a new tab), Dr MCR Human Resource Development Institute, Government of Telangana, 2023, pp. 235. Reprint of L. D. Barnett's edition of the inscription. Paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  4. P. Sreenivasachar (ed.), A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts of Andhra Pradesh, Part III (opens in a new tab), Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1956, pp. 150. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 205. Paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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