Part 22 - Rajaraja I and Beta II (A.D. 1118-1129-1134)

Rajaraja I and Beta II were the first two among the four sons of Vikrama I and the names of the last two arc unknown. They exercised joint sway like their brothers, the Kona Haihavas in Konamandala for eleven years—up to A D 1129. After that year Rajaraja I is not heard of and Beta II i uled alone for a few years till about AD 1134. The earliest inscription of the reign is from Bhrigubanda i.e. Bikkibanda dated AD. 1118 mentioning Pennamanayaka and Kamenayaka of Tangedumpudi Rajaraja and Beta boie the epithet mahamandalesvara and did not acknowledge Chalukyan supremacy in the record though far cei tain the Chalukyan power must have been increasing in the Palnad kingdom. Towards the close of Rajaraja’s reign AD 11Kalyani witnessed the change of kings—as Vikiamaditya was succeeded by Somesvara III, who inherited the vastly extended Chahikyan empire.

A.D. 1129 appears to have been the first year of Beta II's independant rule. Beta’s record of that year fi cm Gurizala is issued in the reign of Bhulokamalla i.e. Somesvara III (AD 1127—1138). Beta II bore the title Birudankarudra and shifted his capital from Macherla to Gurizala. His acknowledgement of Bhulokamalla’s suzerainty was the culmination of the drift towards that end in the relations between the Palnad Haihayas and the Chalukyas during the reigns of Beta I and Vikrama I and Rajaraja I. Thus, Western Chalukya para-mountacy and Haihaya subordination were definitely established in this period. Consequently, Beta would have allowed the passage of Chalukyan armies into other parts of Vengi through his kingdom and assisted in the expansion of Chalukyan power in Vengi for the rest of his reign. The suggestion that all the Kshatriya dynasties helped the Chalukyas who afterwards destroyed them one after another with Beta II being no exception to it cannot be accepted for want of conclusive data.

No sons of Beta II are heard of. There seems to have been a short gap in the history of Palnad after Beta II and prior to the accession of Aluguraja. Neither the relationship between Beta II and Aluguraja is known.