Sammakka & Polavasa kingdom of yellapus

It is well aware that Yellapus migrated from Rajasthan and Gujarath.Finally reached to the Kakatiya kingdom by medieval period. But, in the recent past some epigraphical evidences are available that some yellapu people were working under kalyani Chalukyas at polavasa or Polasa( presently Jagityal area) as vassals and at other places, while kakatiya BethaRaju was ruling as vassal from Hanumakonda Vishaya.For his better services for the king ,he got the Sabbi- 1000, which is presently the karimnagar area. 

 The Polavasa kings prominently known in the region of Karimnagar during the Chalukya period was that of Medaraja and his descendants are belongs to Yellapu community, as per the oral history of elders. Some inscriptions of these chiefs have come to light in the Narasampet taluk of Warangal district. The Medapalli inscription of Jaggadeva (Jaggadeva established the Jagadevapeta as capital , which is near Jagityal town, on his name) and the Govindapuram inscription of Medaraja, both in Narasampet taluk are very valuable in constructing the genealogy and chronology of these chiefs. Polavasa was on the right side of the Godavari in Karimnagar district was their capital for some time. The genealogy of these chiefs can be given as follows: According to the Govindapuram inscription they belong to the family of the mythical personage, Madhavavarman of Maninagapura who obtained royal fortunes by the grace of Yakshini, a Jaina goddess. They bear the titles Lattaluru puravaradhisvara, Srikesavadevadivya Sripadapadmaradhaka etc. 

They were staunch Jainas in persuasion. Little evidences are there about the first member Durgaraja. Medaraja-I is described in the Polavasa inscription of 1108 A.D., as an independent chief. In the Banajipet inscription of  Kakatiya Beta-II is mentioned as a donor of some gifts to Virakamala Jinalaya built by Medaraja in the years Saka 1004. Meda-II is represented as a subordinate to the former. In the Thousand Pillar Temple inscription of Rudra, Meda-II and Gunda appear as the main enemies of Prola-II and Rudra. 

Further,Sri.Rapole Ramkumar Bharadwaj has provided the information on 2 inscriptions relating to polavasa kingdom as follows:

THE RASHTRAKUTAS OF MANYAKETHU:(King Amogavarsha's)
Shirur inscription Shaka S. 788 (V.S. 923=A.D. 866) at Shirur and
the sixth 3 (of the same date) at Nilgund;
all these belong to the 52nd year of his
reign. From the Shirur inscription it appears
that Amoghavarsha's coat-of-arms bore an image of
'Garuda/ for that his title was 'Lataluradhishvara', and
that the kings of Anga, Banga, Magadha, Malava, and
Vengi acknowledged his superiority.

From Bonagiri Srinivas blog:
The Polavasa kings(jagityala) prominently known in the region of Karimnagar during the Chalukya period was that of Medaraja and his descendants are belongs to Yellapu community.

From inscription at Polavasa:
Inscriptions from the twelfth century mention that Polavasa was a capital under the rule of Medaraja (1080–1110). The epigraph of 1108 AD refers to him as Mahamandalesvara Meda-kshampati who bears the titles of "Lattaluru-puravaradhisvara and Suvarnagaruda-dhvaja" which clearly indicates his Rashtrakuta affiliation.

Fragmentary inscription from Ramagundam village:
The fragmentary inscription from Ramagundam village, Karimnagar district mentions certain Mahamandalesvara named Edaraja, who bears the titles similar to those of Medaraja of Polavasa mentioned above viz. Lattaluri puravaradhisvara, Suvarna-Garuda-dhvaja, Sri Satyanarayana.

The family title of Rashtrakutas was "Latta-lurapuradhishvara". Suvarnagaruda-dhvaja indicates Emblem "Garuda"

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To elucidate about them briefly,Polavasa kings would have maintained the confederation,as three brothers Medararaju,Edaraju and Gundaraja was ruling from different places and bearing the same title.This may be because of their Rastrakuta descent.Here ,one question use to arise is that kalyani chalukyas and Rastrakutas were ruling same time and yellapus of polavasa were vassals of kalyani and how they are Rastrakuta descent.

It is to clarify that yellapus were definitely Rastrakuta descent and after their downfall would have reached karnataka and Telangana areas.Due to the circumstances,they would have worked as vassals in polavasa and warangal too.Also,they were active in the central administration of the Kalyani Chalukyan kingdom.

Thus,it clearly indicates the relation of yellapu families with the Rastrakutas.Already i discussed this matter in my other blog "Gurjara-Pratihara relations of Yellapus".

 Further, Adapa is a famous surname among the yellapus and Kapus. They(Adapa families) enjoyed the confidence of the king . Literally this term would mean the bearer of the betel-bag. Adapa is one of the Minister in the council of Ministers in the Kalyani Chalukya Administration.This reveals the influence of these families in the kingdom. they upkept the name of job as surname since centuries.It also reveals the fact that Yellapu families worked under Kalyani Chalukyas before working under Kakatiyas, as proposed by the Rapole Ramkumar Bharadwaj.

 We find that such officers(Adapa) are found in greater numbers at a later period when the Kakatiyas, Hoyasalas and the Vijayanagara rulers were in power. This officer, from the nature of his duty, appears to have been attending upon the king more frequently than others and was naturally in a position to overhear discussions, consultations and the like obviously; such an officer had to be in greater confidence of the king. However, during the Kalyani Chalukyas the yellapus would have enjoyed the greater confidence of the king than the kakatiyas, as yellapus were at both central administration and at local administration. Due to the rise of Betharaju after getting the Sabbi-1000 region, Medaraja-II was politically deprived of his original status, as he could not expand his territory.

As per the historical evidences available,Jagadevamalla of kalyani chalukyas waged a war on vassals in 1137 A.D.,when they supported Tailapa to become independent.Prola-2 had supported the kalyani chalukya king.Gundaraju of manthena(one of the rulers of Polavasa) was captured and tonsured.Varaha lanchana was imprinted on his chest.After conducting prosessoion ,Gundaraju was killed.Medaraju( brother of Gundaraju) and Edaraju ranaway.
Thus,prolaraju of kakatiyas had cleared his enemies to establish himself as supreme power in the telangana area.

In Kalyani, Jagadekamalla was replaced by tailapa and he was replaced by kalachuri Bijjala after 6 years.Bijjala tried to re-establish their power over Hanumakonda.He took the help of dommaraju of Nagunur and Medaraju of polavasa( who ran away earlier) and sent army under leadership of Mailagideva.dommaraju of Nagunur and Jaggadeva-2 , son ofMedaraju of polavasa was completly defeated and kakatiya army rushed to polavasa.On the other hand medaraja was again made to ran away by kakatiyas with the help of Gangadhara Manthri.This has ended the independent power of polavasa.

As per the oral stories,polavasa king continued as vassals.We have to understand in such a way that king Ganapathideva has given opportunity to all his vassals to be continued as loyal to kingdom, instead of annexing their territory.The same would have done in case of polavasa kings.The already established families of yellapus in kakatiya court would have played vital role
in materialising treaty between kakatiyas and polavasa.

Thus,over a period of time the suzerainty of the Kakatiyas was accepted by the descendants of the Medaraju. Some of the families like Bethi,Adapa, Gunda, sainis,Recharla has contributed much to the development, protection and expansion of the kingdom in various phases.

 In the olden days the religion was also a matter of confrontation. In the earlier days the kakatiyas patronized the Jainism and later converted to Shaivism and built many shiva temples throughout the dynasty. But, the Polavasa chiefs continued to patronize the Jainism in their principality.The Jain image recovered recently from Polavasa stirs our imagination to believe that there might have been a Jinalaya at Polavasa also, which was the capital of the Polavasa Chiefs, the patrons of Jainism. There is epigraphic evidence that Medaraja-I have built Virakamala Jinalaya at Banajipet in Narsampet taluk ,which was under his sway. According to the Padmakshi temple inscription of Hanumakonda dated 1117 A.D. Medaraja-II of Polavasa made gifts of lands to Kadalalaya-basadi lying on the top of the hill. The above acts reveal that the Polavasa Chiefs patronized Jainism and one can infer that their capital Polavasa was also a popular Jain centre during their times. I personally visited Padmakshi temple in the year 2002 and found the image of Mahaveera carved on the hill rock.

I have also visited the polavasa in the year 2016 and photographed the Architecture. Here i found the yellamma temple. And observed the richly carved idols. As per the tradition , most of the Jain temples were converted as Yellamma temples. In the present age, Yellamma is believed as Goddess of Ayurveda. Yellapus were experts in Ayurveda. They established many Ayurveda peetas across many states. Sammakka was also expert in Ayurveda.she saved the life of a person affected by snake bite on the very first day in the house of her husband. The name of the Jain Goddess has become yellamma is on the name of yellamma? or naturally happened? The idols in polavaseswara temple  in polavasa in the form of Genes ( two snakes intertwined like Genes) clearly revealed that they were devotees of Nagas. Nagas were also experts of Ayurveda. Also, the women idols handling the different type of swords attract our vision. It revealed their war skills and domination .

 Things stood thus, as per the one interesting oral story revealed by Sri.Praveen, an advocate in the Hon'ble Highcourt,during the Prataparudra-2 the Delhi Sultans were trying to defeat the kakatiyas by one way or other.Muhammad bin Tughlaq has launched his attack on Kakatiyas and his armies were to be retreated. After consolidating the power and taking due steps,Tughlaq wanted to defeat the kakatiyas. This time they wanted to divide the kakatiyan traditional supporters and they started negotiating with the different sections of the Army.They contacted the yellapu nobles also. These people were at the strategic locations. The question of the muslims was that what was the reward for the Yellapus for protecting the borders of kakatiya kingdom for 200 years.Some yellapu nobles were started thinking about the reality.They assured many lands to yellapu nobles. 

 This has created suspicion in the mind of Prataparudra.He tried to curb certain yellapu nobles.one of them was King of Polasa(presently in Karimnagar). Polasa region is a verymuch strategically located.Any army from the Delhi has to be reached to orugally has to travel from this region.They have been safeguarding the kingdom since ages. Due to the suspicion created by the muslims of Delhi, prataparudra has launched attack on the king of Polasa. 

Thus, he was forced to retreat in to the forest and later to his Son- in-law at medaram, pagidigiddaraju, who is believed as koya warrior.But, it was appraised to me that pagidigiddaraju is belongs to yellapu community.It is pertinent to mention that pagidididderaju (one who wears the pagidi or turban, a north indian tribal tradition) is the right pronunciation and it would have corrupted,as the idol of this king kept on gadde (pagidi didde raju>pagidi gadde raju >pagidi gidde raju

> pagididdaraju).But later it would have corrupted to pagididdaraju. This clarifies the close relation between koyas and yellapus. The pagidi would have worn to protect the hair(koppu).There is presence of many koppula families in yellapu community. pagidididderaju may be ancestor of these families. Also Jampala families are definitely related to him . I have met one Jampala family, who are practicing Ayurveda in khammam.


 The rest of the story is very well known to everyone in the form of sammakka sarakka story,on which the Jathara helds,which attracts the world’s second largest gathering. The courageous fighting was believed to be later inherited by the yellapu women, to protect their kith and kin ,during the absence of male members.

 To briefly narrate, sammakka is the wife of Pagidigiddaraju and sarakka is daughter. When he failed to pay the kappam during the famine, kakatiyas declared war on this tribal kingdom. Truly speaking, the kappam was a minor issue. Giving asylum to their enemy medaraju would have enraged the kakatiyas. Kakatiyas declared the war on tribals. When the tribals were on the verge of defeat and all the kith and kin are wounded or died, sammakka started killing the kakatiya armies ferociously. But, she was shot treacherously from the back. 

Consequently, she was disappeared after retreating from battle ground. It is believed that Sammakka had cursed the kakatiya kingdom to met with same fate. on the other hand the remaining yellapu nobles were loyal to prataparudra. But, the borders were neglected. The absence of warriors in the route of delhi to warangal created weakness in the kingdom. Prataparudra was busy in fighting his internal issues( polavasa and medaram)

When the delhi sultans were launched their final attack on kakatiyas, there were not even five soldiers were present in kagaznagar area, according to one historian.Thus , delhi king has reached the kakatiya capital at an early, not allowing the prataparudra to make arrangements for war.Through the strategic negotiations with yellapu and other warriors, delhi has created the suspicion in the minds of kakatiyas, which made to lost the unconditional support from the warrior communities in the boarders and tribal areas. 

Also, Prataparudra had given much priority to the velamas.It seems that some Yellapus supported the Velamas and got the future opportunities. How many of the yellapus has not supported the kingdom is not know. But , oral stories reveal that many yellapus lost their lives for fighting faithfully in the final war. 
As per the information given by one Veeramalla Somadeva raju,simultaneous attack was made on Valmikipuram and warangal fort.somadeva, a military leader was protecting Valmikipuram. On hearing attack on Kakatiyas at warangal , he moved to warangal. By the time he reached warangal, prataparudra was captured. Most unfortunately the Valmikipuram was destroyed by army of Delhi.This again reveals the faithful participation of yellapus and loss of their lives. 
During the recent research made by the historians, it is observed that after the downfall of kakatiya dynasty at Warangal, Annamadeva, cousin of Prataparudra established a kingdom in the Baster area and it lasted for 600 years ,till the Independence, in which Koyas played very vital role. This reveals their faith on the kingdom even after the sammakka sarakka episode. 

 Though i had many doubts in the story told by Mr.Praveen,Advocate, but there are some substantial evidences to believe certain facts.After the epigraphical evidences are matching with the stories, there is no option but to believe it.Finally , i thank him for telling the story,which enables me to organise this entire information.I also thank Sri.Rapole Ramkumar Bharadwaj for providing the thread of kalyani chalukyas. 

Sri. Dyavanapalli satyanarayana has provided basic information about sammakka and sarakka. Sammakka is grom Chanda family.  This family worshipped Bandi chikki Devatha.Her fathers name is Rayibandani Raju. He ruled over the area of Bhupalapatnam. His brother -in -law is Samudrudu.Samudrudu ruled over kothapally area of Bijapur taluq of Bastar district. He was from Naga vamsha.

Rayibandani Raju has given his daughter sammakka to pagidigidda Raju,  son of samudrudu and nephew of medaraju of polavasa.He become king of medaram area. First name of medaram was mouze medaram. Surname of pagidigidda Raju was mujji.mauze or mujji means village. Pagidigidda Raju ruled over Dharmaram in karimnagar district. It is attested by the fact that mujjem pally village is near dharmaram.Some forts , villages and temples are present here, which are believed to be built by Medaraju and his descendants. 

In 1159 , prataparudra - 1 defeated Meda raju. Medaraju refused to offer the hand of sammakka to prataparudra-1. Subsequently, he left the polavasa and reached the manchukonda forests by crossing River Godavari , as per the Inscription opposite to Thousand pillars temple. 
We can find  the villages of kannepally, kannepeta, kannepuram in the forests of manchukonda. 

Pagidigidda Raju and other relatives of medaraju has established small kingdom in Bayyakkapet near medaram. Prataparudra -1 won't like leave the reminder of enemies,  declared war on the tiny kingdom. 

The rest of the war and death of many soldiers is one and same. The veeragal statues were unearthed in the work site of Jampanna vaagu bridge.It is belied that one statue is of sammakka and other statue is of Jampanna. Also , we can observe statues of Dommaraju and others with their names in the temple of Nagunur.

As per the Literature available, Sammakka took up social welfare activities.  On the day of her marriage,  she saved a person from snake bite by administering a herb.She used to administer the herbal medicines for fertility and tough diseases. 

The daughter -in-law of sammakka family  (chanda family ) has got constructed Burrikunta for the advantage of the people. Jalakam Bavi is constructed in similar manner.The traces of that well can be seen in Bayyakkapeta. We can also observe the tank built by family members of sammakka in medaram in Dharmaram mandal.

The Gotra of Chanda family was Kashyapa.Domma Raju and Edaraju of this gotra got constructed the Someshwara and Nagareshwara temples. Sri. Dyavanapalli satyanarayana,  a reasercher have discovered a inscription in Gujjal village near Tadwai in Nizamabad district, in which the operations and maintenance charges of temple and pandits. It is pertinent to mention that Medaram village of warangal district is also in Tadwai mandal. There are 3 pagidipally villages in the neighbourhood of Dharmaram and Medaram,  possibly on the name of pagidigidda Raju. It would have constructed by sammakka and pagidigidda Raju,  beyond any doubt.

We can deduct many things out of the information given by historian Sri. D. Satyanarayana. 
1. The only Kashyapa gotra left in yellapu families is Bonagiri.  Hence, Bonagiri families would have belongs to Chanda family. Their surname changed when they migrated to karimnagar district with little delayed than others.
2. Dommaraju may be also related to polavasa kingdom and their relatives.
3. Sammakka is expert in ayurveda like other yellapu ancestors. 
4. They took up social welfare activities like other Yellapu rulers.
5. The Gotras of kakatiyas and sammakka are one and same.
6. Veeragal tradition was continued upto the days of elagandula fort of present days.
7. The Gujjal village clearly attests the Rajasthan relations of yellapus. 


References:
1.Oral stories by caste elders.
2.Shodganga website.
3.Banajipet Inscription.
4.Padmakshi temple Inscription.
5.Indian History -K.krishna Reddy.
6.sammakka,sarakka story- warangal district official website .
7.Andhrula Charithra of telugu academy.



*  Prataparudra-2 belongs to 14th century. Samajika belongs to 13th century. Khaljis and Tughlaqs waged war on Kakatiya kingdom. The inconsistencies has to be removed.