Warangal: Another Kakatiya inscription discovered

Warangal: Archaeologists have discovered yet another Kakatiya inscription deep inside the Pakhal wildlife sanctuary. The inscription was found on the pillar of a Thrikuta temple built in Kakatiyan style. 

The temple is located in a remote hamlet called Gudi thanda (because of the presence of the temple) which falls under the Kothaguda mandal of Mahbubabad district. The locals call it the Rajarajeshwara Swamy temple. The thanda is just a few kilometres from the famous Pakhal Lake. 

Archaeologist Aravind Arya Pakide stumbled upon the two-sided inscription while visiting the Pakhal Lake and cycling to Gudi Thanda with his friends. He noticed that the villagers whitewashed the inscription along with the entire temple.  With the help of his friends, he scrubbed off the portion of the pillar where the letters were inscribed and made the inscription visible. 

Mr Pakide sent pictures of the inscription to noted author, historian and epigraphist Sriramoju Haragopal, who then deciphered it. According to Mr Haragopal, the inscription was laid during the time of King Ganapathi Deva (1199-1262 A.D) by one of his vassals and eulogises him as ‘Raja Gaja Kesari’ in the same fashion as the inscriptions found in Bayyaram, Parkal, Hanamkonda, Palampet and Ghanpur. The date and year were not mentioned similar to those found in the above five places. “It is interesting to note that the line ‘Asmaadhyannahi Raja Gaja Kesari vibhramam Ganapatyavaneendrasya’ can be found on both the Pakhal inscription and also this newly-found inscription. It is not an uncommon trend for the vassals to eulogise the kings in the inscriptions they install. 

The most common and dedicated eulogy term used for the Kakatiya Kings end with ‘Gaja Kesari’. One more interesting aspect of this inscription is that the letter ‘tha’ has been mentioned which is not found in any other inscriptions,” he said.

In the inscription found at Gudi thanda, it is mentioned that the moola Virat (presiding deity) of this temple is ‘Siva-Ramanatha’ and there were some shlokas praising him. On the second side, two persons, ‘Kachaboyadu’ and ‘Mallaboyadu’ have made offerings of milk and ghee for the temple.