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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Pillalamarri

Village near Suryapet, seat of a branch of the Recherla generals of the Kakatiyas. It has temples and inscriptions of Nami-reddi (1195 and 1202) and of his family, including the Nameshvara temple record.

A long, faded painted frieze of standing and moving figures.
A long, faded painted frieze of standing and moving figures. · Archaeological Department, H.E.H. the Nizam's Dominions (G. Yazdani, Director) (opens in a new tab) · Public domain

The Recherla village

Pillalamarri lay in the Suryapet taluk of the old Nalgonda district. P. Sreenivasachar’s Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts (1940) includes six inscriptions from the village, Nos. 37 to 42, found in and around the Komareshvara and other temples. One of them mentions a fort at Pillalamarri.12 Most belong to the Recherla family. In 1195 Nami-reddi, son of Kama and Kacha, installed three lingas (stone emblems of Shiva) named after his parents and himself. In 1202, in the reign of Ganapatideva, he founded the Nameshvara temple and gave it two tanks. Between 1208 and 1216 Eraka-sani of the same family built further temples.12

A later record of 1357 tells of the restoration of the god Erakeshvara after damage done by the Sultan Alauddin.1 See the Pillalamarri inscription of Recherla Nami-reddi.

The temples

Sreenivasachar listed the temples of Pillalamarri among the Kakatiya temples that show the builders’ enthusiasm.3 P. V. Parabrahma Sastry also named Pillalamarri among the chief Kakatiya temple sites.4 He described its chiefs as a branch of the Recherla family. In his account Nami-reddi built some of the temples in 1195, and they were perhaps finished under Ganapatideva.5 Nami-reddi also dug a tank called Nama-samudra.5

A later Telugu record on the site is dated 1357, after the fall of the Kakatiyas.6 See the Pillalamarri inscription of 1357.

Footnotes

  1. P. Sreenivasachar (ed.), A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts, Part II (1940), p. 193, list of inscriptions, Nos. 37–40 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Sreenivasachar, Corpus, Part II (1940), p. 194, list of inscriptions, Nos. 41–42 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  3. P. Sreenivasachar (ed.), A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts, Part I: Introduction (1942), p. 28 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  4. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 12. ↩

  5. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 145. ↩ ↩2

  6. Sreenivasachar, Corpus, Part II (1940), p. 114, No. 40, text and translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

Photos

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People

Kapaya Nayaka

c. 1336–1368 CE

Musunuri chief (fl. c. 1336–1368), cousin and successor of Prolaya Nayaka. He took Warangal from the Delhi governors and ruled as 'lord of the Andhra country'. He is identified with the Kanya Naik of Barani and the Krishna Naik of Ferishta. He helped the founders of the Bahmani kingdom, then lost Kaulas and Golconda to them. He was overthrown by the Recherla Velamas in about 1368.

Monuments

Temples of Pillalamarri

c. 1195 CE

Three twelfth- and thirteenth-century temples at Pillalamarri near Suryapet. Chiefs of the Recherla family, who served the Kakatiya kings, built them. A pillar inscription of 1195, in the reign of Rudradeva, records that Recherla Namireddi built three temples there. Another pillar, of 1208, stands beside the Somesvara temple. G. Yazdani surveyed them in 1926–27 and uncovered a painting of the churning of the ocean in one of them.

Inscriptions

Pillalamarri inscription of Recherla Nami-reddi

1202 CE

A Sanskrit and Telugu pillar inscription of March 1202 at Pillalamarri near Suryapet, in the reign of Ganapatideva. It records the Nameshvara temple and the tanks and lands that the general Nami-reddi of the Recherla family gave to it. It also gives the family tree of the Pillalamarri branch of the Recherla generals.

Pillalamarri inscription of the reign of Kapaya Nayaka

1357 CE

A Telugu inscription of 1357 at Pillalamarri, near Suryapet. In it Era-Potu-lemka, servant of Kapaya Nayaka, 'lord of the Andhra country' and lord of the city of Anumanamgallu, records that he set up again the image of the god Erakesvara. 'Sultan Alavadin' had damaged the image in the disturbances of the time. Era-Potu-lemka also gives land for its offerings.

References

Sources (3)
  1. P. Sreenivasachar (ed.), A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts of H.E.H. the Nizam's Dominions, Part II: Texts and Translations (opens in a new tab), H.E.H. the Nizam's Government, 1940, pp. 114, 193–194. Nos. 37–42. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  2. P. Sreenivasachar (ed.), A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts of H.E.H. the Nizam's Dominions, Part I (Hyderabad Archaeological Series No. 13) (opens in a new tab), H.E.H. the Nizam's Government, 1942, pp. 28. Introduction. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 12, 145. Paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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