CHOLAS OF THE RENANDU COUNTRY AND VAIDUMBAS.

certain that it must have included the northern and western parts of the modern Nellore distrcit. The rashtra was probably named after the clan Hiraṇyakas who occur in the Nāgārjunakoṇḍa Prākrit epigraphs under the name Hiraṁñaka (Ep. Ind., Vol,, XX, pp. 5, 18 etc.). Similarly the territorial division of Pūṅgi-nāḍu which according to an inscription at Mallavaram in the Ongole taluk of the modern Guntur and old Nellore district (Nellore Inscriptions, Ongole 73) covered the country round about Addaṅki, must originally have been called Pūki-nāḍu or Pūgi-nāḍu, after the clan of Pūkiyas or Pūgiyas also who figure in the Nāgārjunakoṇḍa Prākrit inscriptions (Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, pp. 5, 12, 17).

An early Balliya-Chōla, not known hitherto.
8. The second of the records engraved on the set from the Government Museum mentioned above (No. 6 of App. A) belongs to a king called Balliya-Choḷa-Maharaja, who was evidently of the Telugu-Chōḷa lineage. He bears the epithet commencing with ‘ charana-saroruha-vihita’ etc., which occurs in almost all the inscriptions of this family found in the Nellore and adjoining districts. Chiefs of this family are already known to have occupied feudatory positions under the western Chāḷukya kings Trailōkyamalla-Sōmēśvara I (Ep. Rep. for 1921, page 88, paragraph 5) and Tribhuvanamalla Vikramāditya VI. (Ep. Rep. for 1916, page 131, paragraph 42; ibid, 1917, page 112, paragraph 13). But among these earlier chiefs of this family Balliya-Chōḷa is not known so for. From the position of the record in this set, coming as it does before the Vaidumba inscription of Śaka 893, and from its palӕographical features we have to look for an early date for Balliya-Chōla. The earliest chief of this name known to Epigraphy or Litera- of the Telugu poet Balli, the father ture so far is Chōḍa Nanni-Chōḍa (Ep. Rep. for 1921, page 112, paragraph 65). If Nanni-Chōḍa belongs to Śaka 1,000 as has been supposed already, Chōḍa-Balli should be assigned to about Śaka 975. Consequently it appears possible that Balliya-Chōla of the present grant was an earlier member perhaps of the same assigned to about Śaka 850-60. It is however evident that he was the last branch and may be member of the line to enjoy possession of the Rēnāṇḍu (Cuddapah) country for, as witnessed by the third grant on these plates (No. 7 of App. A), we find Vaidumba-Mahārāja ruling over it in about Śaka 893 (= A. D. 971). The last quarter of the tenth century appears to have seen the fall of the Chōlas in this reign. They must have migrated thereafter to the eastern regions (the modern Nellore and Guntur districts), where we have inscriptions of these chiefs belonging to subsequent times.

Bhuvanatriṇētra Vaidumba-Mahārāja—Śaka 893.
9. The third grant found in the set (No. 7 of App. A) belongs to the reign of king Bhuvana-Triṇētra Vaidumba-Mahārāja, who is introduced with the well-known dynastic eulogy anēka-samara-sanghaṭṭanaº etc. It is in the Telugu language and is dated in Śaka 893. The grant in question was issued from his capital (vīḍu) at Pottapi in Pāka-nāḍu. On the Dakshiṇāyana-saṅkkrānti of the year quoted ( = A.D. 972), the king made to the god Nṛitta-Lōkēśvara (Naṭarāja ?) or Trilōkēśvara─ the reading here is doubtful—at Artirēvula (which village finds mention in the other two grants engraved on this set) a gift of land at Kāṭicheruvu in the Kaḍapa-Twelve sub division. The village Artirēvula is evidently identical with Attirāla, an inam village in the Rājampeta taluk of the Cuddapah district. The territorial division Kaḍapa-Twelve was obviously named after Ka¬ḍapa, the modern Cuddapah. This seems to be the earliest known epigraphical mention of this place. The gift village Kāṭicheruvu, I would indentify with the modern village Kāṭimayakuṇṭla in the Rayachoti taluk of the district.

  From the wording at the end, of the record, the king appears to have been the son of Bhīmarāja and [Bī]chavvari, for it is stated that the gift was made for the benefit of these personages who must have been the king’s parents. The recipient of the gift was Kuchi-Bhaḍālu of Majaramu which appears to be identical with the village Mandaram mentioned in the two foregoing inscriptions of this set. The ānati (executor) of the charter was Sirama (Śrīrāma ?)-Peggaḍlu and the composer was Dēsarati Bhīma. It is interesting to notice

Home Page