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VELANANDU CHIEFS
31. The Velanāṇḍu chiefs who held sway over the 6000-country south of
the Kṛishṇā river prior to the advent of the Kākatīyas are represented in the
present year’s collection by three inscriptions (Nos. 219, 239 and 204). The
earliest among these comes from Kārumañchi in the Vinukonda taluk of the
Guntur district and records a gift of land made to the temple of Tripurāntakadēva by Palla-Nāyaka and Pōti-Nāyaka, sons of Gāḍidiparu Prōlaya-Nāyaka,
a warrior (baṇṭu) of Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Kulōttuṅga Rājēndra-Chōḍayarāja,
in Śaka 1030 (=A.D. 1108). The last chief is evidently the son of Goṅka I for
Kulōttuṅga Rājēndra-Chōḍayarāja, in Śaka 1030 and the probable date of his accession.
whom the dates Śaka 998 (No. 151 of 1897) and Śaka 1028 (No. 277 for 1905)
Goṅka I must have died and his son Kulōttuṅga Rājēndrachōḍaya succeeded
him in the interval between Śaka 1028 and Śaka 1030. The present
record will thus be the earliest known inscription of the chief. It is interesting
to note that Velanāṇṭi Goṅkarāja who is called ‘the chief supporter of the
Chāḷukya kingdom’ made the gift
Velanāṇḍu chiefs and the extent of their territory.
of a village in Kammanāṇḍu and was ruling over the Thousand-Three-Hundred district in Śaka 1028 (No. 277 of 1905). Kammanāṇḍu
(modern Guntur district) must have comprised a portion of the Thousand
Three-Hundred district, which was probably the territory originally conferred
upon his father by his master Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa I. In course of time the territory was extended so as to include almost the whole of the Telugu country and
we learn from the Piṭhāpuram inscription of Pṛithvīśvara (Ep. Ind., Vol. IV.
pp. 32 ff) that Kulōttuṅga-Chōḷa I ‘ adopted as son’ Kulōttuṅga Rājēndrachōḍa,
son of Goṅka I, and bestowed upon him the country of Vēṅgi which contained
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