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THE VELANANDU CHIEFS
Kulōttuṅga-Chōḍa Goṅka Śaka year 1050.
13. The earliest epigraph (No. 309) belonging to the Velanāṇḍu dynasty
refers itself to the chief Kulōttuṅga-Chōḍa Goṅka, who is represented by another
record secured from Bhaṭṭiprōlu in the
Guntur district (No. 302). It begins with
a Telugu verse invoking prosperity for and records a gift of land made to the temple of
Nāgēśvara-Mahādēva at Kumuṇḍavelli, Pṛithivīśvaradēva, Mallikārjunadēva and
Gaṇapēśvaradēva and to Prōlamarāja on the occasion of Uttarāyana-saṅkrānti
in the It is further stated that the land granted in the cyclic
year Nandana by the Ekkaṭis (soldiers) for the merit of their master, a certain Gaṇapatidēva Mahārāja, was given away for the maintenance of the Sānis, Mānis, etc., of the temples. These statements offer some difficulty in reconciling the
date with the period of the chief mentioned above. The cyclic year Nandana
which preceded the Śaka year 1050 mentioned in the record fell in Śaka 1034,
in which year we should search for this Gaṇapatidēva-Mahārāja. If the gift to
the Sānis and Mānis were recorded subsequent to Śaka 1050, then the cyclic year
Nandana would correspond to Śaka 1094. In either year we do not find a Gaṇapatidēva-Mahārāja
wielding authority in the Guntur district, deserving to be
mentioned as the ‘master’ of the soldiers. It may, however, be noted that
according to the Timmāpuram inscription of Kulōttuṅga-Chōḍa Goṅka dated in
Śaka 1083 (No. 443 of 1915), Kāma, a brother-in-law of the chief, died in the battle
at Cheruvalakōṭa after defeating the army of Gaṇapati (Ep. Rep. for 1916, p. 134).
This Gaṇapati cannot be possibly identified with the Kākatīya king Gaṇapati
who ascended the throne in Śaka 1121 and reigned for at least 62 years. Gaṇapatidēva-Mahārāja
mentioned in the present epigraph was perhaps the chief referred
to above. But this identification does not entirely solve the chronological
difficulty in the present inscription. The synchronistic references contained in
the names of the temples of Gaṇapēśvaradēva and Pṛithivīśvara in Kulōttuṅga-Chōḍa Goṅka’s
record of Śaka 1050 would be glaring instances of historical
anachronisms which remain yet to be explained, if the temple of Pṛithivīśvara was
named after the last Velanāṇḍu chief of that name, the great-grandson of
Goṅka II, who ruled sometime between Śaka 1094 and Śaka 1121, and if Gaṇapēśvara owed the
name to Gaṇapati who was either the enemy of Goṅka II
mentioned above, or the Kākatīya king of that name. On chronological grounds
the latter alternative is out of the question, while the former cannot also be accepted, since this
chief could not have commanded any influence in the territory of his
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* The word can also be read as Airaka (ef. A.S.R. for 1922-23, p. 130).
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