Part 24 - Visvesvara (A D. 1377-1407) and Choda Ganga (A.D. 1391-1417)

Visvesvara had a reign of thirty years during the latter part of which Chodaganga, the younger brother of Upendra V became his associate ruler. Visvesvara ruled singly till A.D. 1391 and together with Choda Ganga from 1391 to 1407. From A.D. 1407 to 1417 Choda Ganga ruled by himself. The earliest inscription of Visvesvara is from Simhachalam dated A.D. 1377 mentioning him as Visvesvara Bhupati, a moon to the fourth caste and the bearer of the titles - Sarvalokasraya-Chakravarti and Vishnuvardhana. His queen was Manuma-rudra. The next inscription from Simhachalam dated A.D. 1388 mentions Elamanachi Maharaja and Lakkamadevi, and their daughter Ambikadevi. This Ambika was evidently a sister of Visvesvara and the record shows that Manmaopendra was also known as Elamanchi Maharaju. The next record of the reign is that of Chodaganga dated A.D. 1391 from Simhachalam, mentioning him as Sarvalokasraya Sri Vishnuvardhana maharaja alias Elammanchi choda Gangadevaraju. He was a warrior and destroyer of enemies. No more records of Chodendra are available for the rest of his reign up to A.D. 1417 when he was succeeded by Nagendra. The record of Visvesvara, dated A.D. 1401 or 1402 from Simhachalam refers to him as King Somanatha of the lunar race and Elamanchi Visvesvaradeva chakravarti. His last record is the Panchadharala pillar inscription dated A.D. 1407. It records the only significant political event of the reign that Visvesvara defeated the Andhras at Sarvasiddhi in A.D. 1402 which is corroborated by literary evidence also.

Political Relations

Visvesvara was variously known as Visvanatha, Visvanripa, and Visvesa. His epithets were - Sarvalokasraya, Rayagana-gopala, dharanivaraha, rajanarayana, Vishnuvardhana, Karvalabhairava and Sarvajna. He was a good swordsman and administrator.

In A.D. 1402 king Visvesvara overcame the Andhra army in the region of Sarvasiddhi. Kavyalankarachudamani says that the group of kings—rachakadupu from Sarvasiddhi were defeated by Dharanivaraha i.e. king Visvesvara. Sarvasiddhi lies at a distance of 7 miles from Panchadharala and 5½ miles south, Southwest of Elamanchile. As for the date of the battle the cyclic year is chitrabhanu, the saka year in the Chronegram In the inscription is interpreted to mean 1325 by taking Jaki to represent the numeral ‘five’. But the-last figure must be four for the word gati, according to Sankhyarthenamaprakasika by Kanuparti Venkatarama Srividynandhanandha and epigraphical literature as evidenced from a few records in the Telugu country represents four.This is supported by literature where the term Chaturupaya Is used which definitely means four (devices). So in s 1324 Chitrabhanu—A.D. 1402 Visvesvara had a overwhelming, victory over the Andhras near Savvasiddhi. These Andhra enemies of visvesvara are not specified either in the record or in the poem. In this period the Reddis of Rajahmundry under Katayavema were extending the bounds of their kingdom especially in the direction of Kalinga in its southern part—over which the control of the weak Ganga emperors was practically ml. The Reddi victories in Kalinga are attested by their records and literature and the allegiance to them of the-local dynasties like the Matsyas, as the Gangas of Jantarnadu etc. Probably in an expedition of conquest in 1402 A.D. into Kalinga, the Reddis and their subordinates suffered a severe reverse at Sarvasiddhi in the Chalukya hands under the leadership of Visvesvara. The achivement was quite important for the Chalukyas as it is seen from its being mentioned with the date of occurrence in an inscription and literature. Probably the grants of Visvesvara to the celebrated temple at Simhachalam were after this victory made as a thanks offering. It is likely that Chodaganga, the joint ruler with Visvesvaraparici-pated in this war. Or else the Andhras may refer to the Velamas—the beareres of the titles—Andhresvara etc, the contemporaries of Visvesvara being Anapota II, Ramachandra and Mada II and Linga, son of Mada II who also led expeditions of conquest into south Kalinga frequently.

During the period of the rule of Chodaganga from A.D, 1407 to 1417, no political events of importance occurred Probably this Chodaganga was named after Anantavarmai Chodaganga or later Ganga princes bearing that name. H< does not appear to have owed allegiance to the Ganga empero Virabhanu IV.