The first known Velama’s in the Kakatiya kingdom were the brothers Dama, Prasaditya and Rudra Nayakas. All the 3 were in the service of Ganapatideva (1199-1262) of which Prasadityanayaka was the most prominent.
When Ganapatideva died, some of the commanders and tributary kings were averse to accepting Rudramadevi as a King as she was a lady. Then, Prasadityanayaka along with the Kayastha chief Ambadeva and Gona Gannareddy supported her and defeated the opposing commanders and tributaries. For this Rudramadevi conferred the title of “Kakathiya Rajya Sthapanacharya” to both Prasadityanayaka as well as Ambadeva.
Nothing is known in history about Prasadityanayaka’s brothers Dama and Rudra Nayakas. Also nothing is known about Damanayaka’s sons Vennamanayaka and Sabbinayaka. However, in the Velugotivari Vamsavali it is mentions that Vennamanayaka defeated a Muslim army.
Vennamanayakas son is Dachanayaka or Era Dachanayaka with whom the Rachakonda kingdom begins.
Dachanayaka had 3 sons, Singama, Vennama and Yachama Nayakas.
Dachanayaka and his son Singamanayaka were commanders with Prataparudra. When Prataparudras army under Muppidi Nayaka attacked the Pandyas in 1316 AD, Dachanayaka accompanied him and had shown great valor and helped in winning the battle. For this Dachanayaka was conferred with the title of “Panchapandyadala Vibhala” by Prataparudra. Singamanayaka accompanied his father to Kanchi and took active part in the battle. Dachanayaka probably died in the battle of Orugallu with the Muslims in 1323 AD when many of Prataparudra’s commanders perished and Prataparudra himself was taken prisoner by the Muslims.
All the commanders of Prataparudra perished in the battle of Orugallu except for three. 1. Gaja Sahini Bendapudi Annaya who was a minister of Prataparudra, 2. Kolani Prataparudra ( from the Induluri family) whose grandfather was a minister of Ganapatideva and 3. Recherla Singamanayaka.
Kolani Prataparudra was a powerful commander under Kakatiya Prataparurda and he was also the superintendent of the 72 Kakatiya forts. To release the Andhra area from the Muslims Bendapudi Annaya along with Kolani Prataparudra united the remaining commanders and tributary kings.
The important ones among the kings so united are 1. Recherla Singamanayaka, 2. Ana Vema Reddy of Addanki, 3. Musunuri Prolayanayaka, 4. Koppula Prolaya Nayaka who ruled the surrounding areas of Pithapuram, 5. Manchikonda Ganapati Nayaka. This is more or less a confederacy of the kings of the coastal Andhra region except for Recherla Singamanayaka who is from Nalgonda district. If that is so then he would not have been left with any kingdom because all the Telengana area went into the control of the Muslims. It is also possible that after the fall of the Kakatiya kingdom, Singamanayaka must have taken some territory in the Andhra area and ruled it.
Bendapudi Annaya and Kolani Prataparudra being elders went to the sidelines and acted as advisors to this confederacy. Kolani Prataparudra strongly recommended the leadership of the confederacy to Musnuri Prolayanakaka and Bendapudi Annaya accepted it. Due to this reason Singamanayaka had no choice but to accede to the arrangement. The name of Prolayanayaka was unknown before the battle of Orugallu in 1323 AD. He was not heard of before that either as a commander, tributary king or minister to the king. Solely by the strong backing of both Kolani Rudradeva and Bendapudi Annaya he became the head of the confederacy. But both Annaya and Prataparudra are seasoned warriors and if they elevated Prolayanayaka to that position, obviously he had some special merit in him.
Prolayanayaka was the son of Pochinayaka. His capital was Rekapalli near Bhadrachalam near Malyavanta mountain which meant possibly the Eastern Ghats. With the support of the above mentioned important and several other smaller nobles, Musunuri Prolayanayaka freed the coastal Andhra Area form Muslim domination by about after 1324 AD but the exact year when he freed it was unavailable from historical sources. Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlak died in 1325AD and Prince Ulugh Khan was busy attending to the matters at home when Prolayanayaka and his other supporting chiefs sallied forth and rapidly freed the Coastal Andhra area from Muslim garrisons. These conquests of Prolayanayaka are mentioned in the Mallavaram stone inscription of Vema Reddy.
After the death of Kolani Rudradeva in 1326 Prolayanayaka ruled the coastal Andhra country as an independent king. The others chief nobles helped him ruled as his nominal vassals over their own territories.
What Prolayanayaka freed were the districts of Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Nellore. Contigous to the Godavari district is the Vizagapatam and Ganjam districts which were a part of Kalinga. The Rayalaseema region came under Muslim rule after the battle of Orugallu and stayed with them till the Vijayanagar kingdom took it. The Telangana area too remained with the Muslims till Prolayanayka’s cousin Kapanayaka conquered it later in 1344 AD.
Prolayanayaka ruled till about 1333 AD when his cousin Kapanayaka who was the son of Devanayaka, the brother of Prolayanayakas father took over. Kapanayakas aim then was to free the Telangana area from the Muslims. Kapanayaka achieved this by 1344 AD and ruled the Telangana area from Orugallu.
It was mentioned in the Velugotovari Vamsavali that Singmanayaka while trying to expand his territory has defeated Musunuri Kapanayaka. However, this does not seem a complete victory because as per the Pillalamarri sasana of Kapanayaka dated 1357 AD found in Nalgonda district he was then still in possession of the Telangana area.
Finally in about 1368 AD Recherla Anapotanayaka and Madanayaka marched against Kapanayaka as they suspected his hand in the assassination of their father Rechrela Singamanayaka. They defeated Kapanayaka in the Bhimavaram battle and Kapaya was killed. The Telangana area fell into the hands of the Anapotanayaka and Madanayaka. The Ainavolu sasana of Anapotanayaka of 1369 AD describes him to be control of the Tribhuvanagiri(Bhongir), Orugallu and Singavaram forts.
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