Penukonda

Penukonda is a town in the Anantapur district, at the foot of a fortified hill.¹ An inscription dates its fort to 1354, and the Anantapur gazetteer concluded that a Vijayanagara prince lived there from the start of that dynasty’s rule.²¹ After the defeat of 1565 it became the headquarters of what was left of the Vijayanagara empire.³

The Anantapur gazetteer of 1905 called Penukonda “the most interesting town in the district” from a historical point of view.¹ It stands in a very picturesque spot, at the foot of a steep, rugged and strongly fortified hill “over three thousand feet in height”.¹ From the hill, “a semi-circular line of massive fortifications stretches out for some distance into the plain”.¹ A large tank (reservoir) lies along its southern side, and ruins and carved stones lie about on every side.¹

An inscription of Saka 1778 (1856; Saka is an Indian way of counting years) in the hill temple calls Penukonda “the throne of the kingdom of Ghanagiri, i.e., Penukonda”.⁴ See the Penukonda fort.

Under the first dynasties

The earliest record of the town is the Kannada (Kanarese) inscription of 1354 at the north gate.² It says that the fort was built while Bukka I’s son Virupanna governed the province of Penugonde.²

The gazetteer concluded that “at the very beginning of the rule of the Vijayanagar dynasty Penukonda was the residence of one of its princes”.¹³ It added that the town “evidently continued for many years to be one of the chief strongholds of the Vijayanagar kings”.¹³ According to Nuniz, Narasa Nayak kept the heir of the Saluva usurper prisoner in this fort, and had him murdered.¹³

A letter of 1510 to Albuquerque says that a rebel vassal (subordinate chief) seized a city called “Pergunda”.⁵⁶ H. Luders took this city to be Penukonda, held by the chiefs of Ummattur until Krishnadeva Raya recovered it.⁵⁶ The gazetteer says that Krishnadeva “is widely believed to have made the town his residence at one time”.³ The best of its stone-lined wells is popularly credited to him.³ See the Penukonda fort inscription and Krishnadeva Raya.

Capital of the Aravidus

After the defeat of 1565, Tirumala and the puppet king Sadasiva “hurried with all their treasure to the Penukonda fort”.³ They tried to reoccupy the old capital, but failed.³ Then “Penukonda became the head-quarters of what remained of the empire”.³

H. Krishna Sastri read an inscription of 1577 at the north gate.⁷ He took it to show that Tirumala already held Penukonda before the battle.⁷ In his reading, Tirumala’s officer Channappa Nayudu defended it against Muslim armies in 1566–67, 1568–69 and 1576–77.⁷

The gazetteer says that Tirumala’s son Ranga fled to Chandragiri, “in terror at the constant successes of the Musalmans”.³⁸ After that, governors ruled Penukonda.³⁸ It withstood a Bijapur blockade in 1577 and a Golconda siege in 1589.³⁸

Krishna Sastri, on the other hand, noted that Venkatapati’s inscriptions “mention his capital Penugonda”.⁹ He said that Venkatapati’s move to Chandragiri is only inferred, since “no direct statement to that effect” had been found.⁹ Records at Ahobilam of 1584 and 1585 call Sriranga I and Venkatapati “ruling at Penugonda”.¹⁰ See Tirumala, Venkatapati II, Chandragiri and the Penukonda inscription of 1577.

After Vijayanagara

A Mackenzie manuscript says that the place fell to Bijapur in 1652.⁸ Its governor, Konati Nayudu, had been bribed with a large jagir (land grant).⁸ The gazetteer says that the Muslim conquerors pulled down many temples and built mosques from their materials.⁸

About a century later, the town belonged to the Maratha Morari Rao of Gooty.⁸ Haidar Ali took it from him in 1762.⁸ The gazetteer singled out these buildings:⁸¹¹

• the Sher Khan mosque, in whose courtyard pavement lies a Telugu inscription of Sadasiva dated 1564
• the Ramasvami and Isvara temples, whose carvings “are much after the style of those on the Hazara Ramasvami temple at Vijayanagar”
• the Gagana Mahal palace
• the darga (shrine of a saint) of Babayya, which, its legend says, took over a temple of “Harihara of Vijayanagar”⁸¹¹

See the Gagan Mahal and Vijayanagara.

Footnotes

1. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Anantapur (1905), p. 190 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. E. Hultzsch, “Ranganatha Inscription of Goppana; Saka-Samvat 1293”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 327 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 191 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

4. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 24, Anantapur No. 153 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

5. H. Luders, “Amaravati Inscription of Krishnaraya of Vijayanagara; Saka-Samvat 1437”, Epigraphia Indica VII (1902–03), p. 18 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

6. Luders, “Amaravati Inscription of Krishnaraya”, Epigraphia Indica VII (1902–03), p. 19 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

7. H. Krishna Sastri, “The Third Vijayanagara Dynasty; its Viceroys and Ministers”, Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report 1911–12 (1915), p. 184 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 192 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

9. Krishna Sastri, “The Third Vijayanagara Dynasty”, ASI Annual Report 1911–12 (1915), p. 189 and note 2 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

10. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 973, Kurnool Nos. 584 and 585 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

11. Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 193 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²