Part 26 - Pratapa Gangaraju (A.D. 1319-1368)

Pratapagangaraju whose relationship to Gangaraja is not known became ruler in A.D. 1319. His earliest inscription is from Simhachalam dated A.D 1319 and the 13th year of Devadideva Srijagamnatha deva. The Sanskrit portion of the record mentions the King Ganga and queen Lakshmi devi. His next record also from Simhachalam dated A.D. 1336 records gifts by Sumitradevi, the mother of Jantarnati Pratapa Gangaraju for the increase of Victory, kingdom, health and wealth of her son. As in the previous record, the king is mentioned simply as King Ganga in the Sanskrit portion of the inscription. The next inscription also from Simhachalam is dated A.D. 1368 mention the king as Jantarnati Pratapaviraganagaraja for the satistaction of his own desires. So, Gangajrajula reign lasted up to A.D. 1368.

Pratapa Ganga had a reign of fifty years. The Western Ganga emperor Bhanudeva II i.e. Jagannatha reigned from A D. 1307 to 1328. Gangaraju’s record dated in Jaganatha’s regnal years shows his allegiance to the Ganga throne. The statement in the record that the queen of Gangaraju made the gift in charge (authority) of Sankaradesa mahasenapati shows that the part of the Ganga Empire in which Jantarnadu was included was in the charge of Viceroy Sankaradasa, Pratapaganga’s loyalty to the Ganga throne must have continued in the reigns of Narasimha III (1328-1353 A.D.) and Bhanudeva III (1352-1378).

Gangaraja must have come into conflict with the Reddis of Kondavidu in defensive warfare. For Prolaya Verna Reddi claims to have disturbed Jantarnadu by A.D. 1335 as the title Jantarnatarayahallakallola indicates. Gangaraja suffered a reverse in the Reddi hands during the later’s campaign in southern Kalinga about A.D. 1334.