Part 47 - Udayaditya (A.D. 1160)

Udayaditya was the son and successor of Gokarna I. Rudradeva’s Hanumakonda inscription says that Prola defeated King Govinda and gave his kingdom to king Udaya. This Udaya is evidently Udayaditya, His earliest inscriptionis from Jedcherla, which is 30 miles to the north of Panugal and records a grant by a general of Udayachoda, dated A.D. 1962, its registers grants by his tole officers In C.V. 84 the the king Kanduri Udayanachoda, bearing a prasasti granted? the coins—Koduri Gokarna' raksha to the deity.

His Political Relations

Udaya is mentioned as mahamandalesvara Kanduri Odayanadeva chola, Kanduri Udayanachoda, Uduyaditya, Udaya choda and chodadaya in inscriptions. He boi e the titles—Kodurpuravarasvara, Suryavamsodhbhavakulatilaka, Kasyapagotra and Karikalanvaya etc. Udayaditya thus, owed his kingdom to Prola of the kakatiyas, and owed allegiance to Somesvara III of the chalukyas of Kalyani—some opinethdt probably Udayaditya must have sided Prola in fighting on behalf of the Kalachuris in A.D. 1157 against Taila III of the chalukyas, and was rewarded with a kingdom.

Soon after, Udaya tried to set up independence and consequently came into eonflct with the contemporary Kakatiya ruler Rudradeva and was snbdued by him. For the Hanumakonda inscription dated A.D. 1162 says that in pursuing Bhima. Rudradeva, burnt the capital of Chodedaya, cut down the forest in which he took refuge, and built a city with a tank in the midst of it. Then peace was concluded between Rudra and Chododaya and the former married Padumavati, the daughter of the latter. Telugu literature of the period refers to Udayavatnsa and his minister Pengali Govinda. This king Udaya is identical with Chododaya or Udayachoda.

To suggest the identity of Udaya with Gonka II of the Velanandus is wrong and also the suggestion of the existence of three persons—Udayaditya, udayachoda and chodadaya where as all the names refer to a single person. Probably Udayaditya is the builder of the tank—Udayadityasamudram at Penugal, existing to this day, though the date 10th century A.D. assigned to him and the tank is too early for inscriptions show that he lived in the 12th century A.D.