Gollavagu River

Origin : Mamidighat, Mandamarri Mandal, Mancherial District in Telangana
Outflow : Godavari River

Length : Around 40 Km
District : Mancherial

Mandals : Mandamarri, Naspur, Bheemaram, Chennur, Nennel

Start : Mamidighat

End : Konampet Village

Gollavagu river is in Mancherial District and it flows through below Villages. It also has several streams as tributaries.

• Mandamarri
• Mamidighat
• Naspur Mandal
• Singapur
• Bheemaram / Bhimaram Mandal
• Reddipalle
• Dampur
• Burugupalle
• Bheemaram / Bhimaram
• Ankushapur
• Maddikal
• Kothapalle
• Chennur Mandal
• Suddal
• Kachanpalle
• Angarajpalle
• Raipet
• Nennel Mandal
• Konampet

GOLLAVAGU PROJECT
This is a Medium Irrigation project constructed across Gollavagu near Bheemaram Village & Mandal, Mancherial district under G basin. The main objective of the Project is to irrigate 9,500 Acres of ayacut in Bheemaram and Chennur mandals.

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Durjaya Dynasty

c.500 AD - c.611 AD : Durjaya Dynasty
Founder : Rana Durjaya was a descendant of Karikala, the great Chola monarch who started as vassals to Vishnukundins. 

Capital : Pistapura (Identified as modern Pithapuram)

The Durjayas were a brach of early cholas.The Garvapadu grant of Ganapati states that Ranadurjaya, the founder of Durjaya dynasty, was a descendant of Karikala, the great Chola Monarch.

Many ruling dynasties in Andhra and Telangana, such as the Kakatiyas , Malyalas, Viryalas, the Konakandravadis, the Ivani Kandravadis, the Kondapadumatis, the Paricchedis and the Chagis, are claimed to be his descendants.

It is likely that Maharaja Ranadurjaya, the first ruler of this SriramakaSyapa family , was a contemporary of Vishnukundin Madhavavarman II (456-503 A.D.) and his subordinate for some time. 

Tandivada grant reveals that he was able to establish himself as a paramount king at Pistapura Vasista king Anantavarman who had issued his Srungavarapukota inscription from Pistapura 

Vikramendra 

565 AD  - 615 AD : Prithvi Maharaja ruled over a vast kingdom extending from Jajpur (Vaitarani) to the river Godavari in the south. 

569 AD : This King defeated Vishnukundin king Vikramendra Varma II (555-569).
592 AD : In his 27th year he extended his sway unto the river vaitarani in the north defeating the eastern Ganga, Sailodbhava and the Mudgals kings.

611 D : Tandivada Grant of Prithivi Maharaja - 46th Year - The object of the record is to register a grant of the agrahara village Tandivada in Pagupara-vishaya made from Pishtapura by Prithivi-Maharaja of the Kasyapa-gotra who bore the biruda Srirama, son of Vikramendra and grandson of Maharaja Ranadurjjaya, to Bhavasarman of the Kamakayana-gotra, who was the son of Prithivivarman and grandson of Vishnuvarman and was a resident of Kondamanchi, on the full-moon day of Karttika in the 46th year of his reign. About this time he also defeated the sailodbhava king Ayososbhita of Kongada, the father of Madhavaraja II.

C. 611A. D  may be approximately fixed as the date of Badami Chalukyas (543 AD - 753 AD) Pulakesin II's victory over Prithvimaharaja. We get a reference to the horrors of the battle evidently fought between Pulakesin II and Prithvi Maharaja on the bank of the Kunala or the Kolleru on the left bank of which stood the fortress of Pistapura.

In 49th year he issued the paralakhimedi plates from his military camp at Viranja-Nagara modern Jajpur for Cuttack district. 

It seems that in his 50th regnal year (615 A.D) he was defeated and killed by Sasanka in battle near Viraja. 

Budharaja, a successor of Prithvi Maharaja, ruled under Kubja Vishnuvardhana

After their defeat at the hands of Sasanka the Durjayas fled away to Pistapura and took shelter under Pulakesin II. Pulakesin II allowed his younger brother, Kubja Vishnuvardhana to rule Pistapura. This Kubja Vishnuvardhana founded the famous line of the Eastern Chalukyan dynasty in the Vengi region.

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Abhira Dynasty

c.208 AD - c.280 AD : Abhiras / Abheeras (c. 208 - c. 375 AD) were subordinate rulers of Western Satraps and declared independence after fall of Satavahanas. 

Founder : Isvarasena

Language : Sanskrit
Religion : Hinduism (Saivism)

The Abhiras were in power for 67 years according to most puranas and one hundred and 67 years according to Vayu purana. 

Around 280 A.D Abhiras lost sovereign status due to the rise of Chutus in Western Deccan and Ikshavakus in Eastern Deccan.

The Abhiras were from the Yaduvanshi Kshatriya clan. Some of them entered the military service of the Western Satraps (Sakas), and helped them in conquest of new territories. By 181 A.D, the Abhiras had gained considerable influence at the Kshatrapa court. Some of them were even serving as generals. 

Jaithraka

Varahadeva

Regaresvaradeva

84 A.D : Daulatpur Yashti Inscription of Regaresvaradeva during the reign of Chastana 6th year

General Bapaka

181 A.D : General Rudrabhuti

The Gunda Stone inscription dated Saka year 103 (181 CE) refers to Abhira Rudrabhuti as the senapati (commander-in-chief) of the Saka satrap (ruler) Rudrasimha (178 - 197 AD).

The history of the Abhiras is shrouded in much obscurity. The Abhira dynasty was founded by Ishwarsena. The branch came to power after the demise of the Satavahanas in the Nasik region of Maharashtra, with the help and consent of the Western Satraps (Sakas). They were known as Gavali rajas indicating that they were cowherds by profession before becoming kings. Ten Abhira kings ruled in the Maharashtra region of the Deccan, whose names have not been mentioned in the Puranas. An Abhira king is known to have sent an embassy to the Sassanid Shahanshah of Persia, Narseh, to congratualte him on his victory against Bahram III.

 Gupta Empire, a period that oriental historians have named the "Golden Age of India." recorded Abhira as a "frontier kingdom" which paid an annual tribute. This was recorded by Samudragupta's Allahabad Pillar inscription

The following is the list of the sovereign and strong Abhira rulers

188 A.D : Abhira Sivadatta

A general in the service of Rudrasimha I who deposed his master in 188 A.D and ascended the throne. Rudrasimha I soon deposed him and regained the throne in 190 A.D.

c. 208 -  228 A.D - Mathariputra Svami Sakasena alias Saka Satakarni

Another king claiming to be a son of Mathari besides Abhira Ishwarsena is Sakasena. He was likely the older brother of Ishwarsena, who succeeded him on his death. He is identified with Saka Satakarni, whose coins have been found over Andhra Pradesh

Kanheri Cave Inscription in Year 8

He seems to be ruling Maharashtra and also some copper coins found in Peddabankur, Peddapalli district, Telangana.

Abhira Kottaraja
Vatsyayana (between c.200 - c. 300 A.D) mentions Abhiras and Andhras ruling side by side. He Speaks of Abhira Kottaraja, king of kotta in Gujarat, who was killed by Washerman employed by his brother. Then again in the chapter on conduct of Woman confined to Harems, he describes the sexual abuses practiced in the seraglio of the Abhira kings among others. Kottaraja was probably his personal name. 

228 A.D - c.248 A.D - Abhira Ishwarsena alias Mahaksatrapa Isvaradatta 

Coin found of his 4th regnal year and 154 assumed to be Saka 154. (232 AD)

236 - 239 AD : Defeated Western Kshatrapas. According to the coins he was ruling between 236 A.D and 239 A.D when he usurped the throne of Western Kshatrapas

Ishwarsena was the first independent Abhira king. He was the son of Abhira Sivadatta and his wife Mathari. 

237 AD : Isvarasena an Abhira Chief, known from an inscription in Cave X at Nasik regnal year 9. was the founder of this kingdom. Sivadatta, the father of Rajan Isvarasena, bears no title in the epigraph, which indicates that he was not a king. The record is dated on the thirteenth day of the fourth fortnight of the season Grīshma in the ninth (regnal) year of the Ābhīra king Īśvarasēna. 

Ishwarsena started an era which later became known as the Kalachuri-Chedi era. His descendants ruled for nine generations.Ishwarsena's coins are dated only in the first and second years of his reign and are found in Saurashtra and Southern Rajputana.

In the Nashik Inscription Abhira king names Madhariputra Isvarasena, Madhariputra Isvarasena is described as the son of sivadatta. It records the gift of sakani visnudatta, daughter of saka Agnivarman, wife of the Ganapaka Rebhila and mother Ganapaka visvavarman, of three investments of 2000,1000 and 500 Karspanas in the trade guilds of Govardhana for the purpose of providing medicines for the sick buddhist monks living at the monestery on mount Trirasmi.

c.248 A.D - c. 280 A.D : Abhira Vashishthiputra Vasusena 

After the death of Abhira Vashishthiputra Vasusena, the Abhiras probably lost their sovereign and paramount status. The Abhiras lost most of their domains to the rising Vakatakas (north) and the Kadambas (south-west).The Abhiras were finally supplanted by their feudatories, the Traikutakas. But still many petty Abhira chieftains and kings continued to rule until the fourth century, roughly till 375 AD, in the Vidarbha and Khandesh region. They continued to rule, but without sovereignty, until they came into conflict with the Kadamba king Mayurasarman and were defeated.

278 AD: Astbhujasvamin Nagajunakonda Inscription

Year 30 (variously read as 9, 20, 30 of King King Vasisthiputra Vasusena the Abhira fortnight 6 of the rainy season 2 day 1 which is 257, 268 or 278 

By the great village chief, the great talavara, the great commander, Sivaseba of the Peribidehas of the Kuasika gotra this image of lord Astbhujasvamin, made from udeumbara wood, which had never been moved from Sanjayapuri from its place, by the kings Saka Rudradaman of Avanti and Visnurudra Sivalanda Sataakrni of Vanavasa has been installed on Sedagiri. 

The engraver is Vardhamanaka belonging to sembaka family 

280 AD : Yasobhuti

A potin coin of a chief Yasobhuti was been reported from Hyderabad.

Around 280 AD Haritiputra Vinhukada Chutukulananda Satakarni might have defeated and occupied telangana region

Abheeras ruled the Telangana region contemporary to Ikshvakus. 

293 A.D : Paikali inscription of persia mentions Abhiran Sah (Abhira king) who deputed embassy to congratulate the Sasanian Naresh on his victory over Varhran III. Narseh was the seventh Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 293 to 303

Lakshmideva

A stone inscription at Āmbē in the Hyderabad State records that Khōlēśvara, a general of the Yādava king Simhana, exterminated Lakshmīdēva, the lord of Bhambhāgiri, who belonged to the Ābhīra dynasty.3 Bhambhāgiri is probably identical with Bhāmēr, four miles south of Nizampur in the Pimpalner tālukā of the West Khandesh District. Near Bhāmēr is a great fortified hill which has many ruined gateways, gates, towers and also some old caves locally known as a Raja’s houses. The fort was probably known as Bhambhāgiri. The aforementioned Āmbē inscription describes Khōlēśvara as a very wild fire which burned the forest of the family of Lakshmīdēva, the Ābhīra king of Bhambhāgiri, and a similar statement occurs about Simhana in the Uddari stone inscription. This plainly indicates that the whole family of Lakshmīdēva was exterminated, and his kingdom was annexed by the Yādava king Simhana.

Kampala
Another king named Kāmapāla, who was vanquished by the Krishna, the grandson and Successor of Simhana, probably belonged to the Ābhīra dynasty; for, his defeat is said to have delighted the cowherds, who may have been oppressed by him. The Tāsgaon plates of Krishna's reign intimate that Krishna's feudatory Kesava obtained a victory over a chief of the cowherds, who may have been identical with the aforementioned Kāmapāla. He also may have been ruling in some part of Khandesh.

Vapa

352 AD : Vasuraka

Mewasa inscription, Gujarath 103 year (249 + 103) 

Kadamba King Mayurasarma (340-360AD) refers to a fight with Abhiras and Trikutakas 

The Abhiras were later supplanted by their feudatories, the Traikutakas around 375 AD

375 AD : Excavations at Devni-Mori near the village samlaji in Sabarkamth district of Gujarat a inscription of 127 year of kathika kings on the fifth day of the month of Bhardrapada during the reign of Rudrasena.

The Kalachuri Era, also called the Chedi Era, was a Hindu system of year numbering started by the Abhira King Ishwarsena in which the year numbering started in September 248 the year that began with the month of Asvina

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44148188

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24665991

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Telangana Timeline

 

Telangana is separated from Andhra Pradesh and became 29 state of India on June 2 2014 with Hyderabad as it capital. Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao popularly known as KCR became the first chief minister.

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Damascus or Wootz steel of Telangana

Iron Age may have come into existence in Telangana much before the rest of the world. At least that's   the conclusion reached by archaeologists excavating the University of Hyderabad campus who found iron artifacts dating back to roughly 2,200 BC has a long tradition of metallurgy.

One of the noteworthy scientific and technological products of old India was Telangana steel, also called Wootz, Ukku or Damascus steel. Its origins can be traced back as far as 500 A.D. Apparently, The Raw Ore Used To Make The Legendary 'Damascus Steel' Came From Telangana! 

Known for their skills since 300 AD, blacksmiths of Telangana had a glorious past. Interestingly, a team of researchers that was fascinated by the high quality of Tipu Sultan’s sword that was put for Sotheby’s auction in 2012 in London wanted to find out the origin of the majestic sabre. The sword was auctioned for an enormous 502,500 pounds.

The team comprised of Bangalore-based National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) and UK’s Exeter University finally traced the origins of the metal used to make the Sultan’s sword, which was known for its toughness due to high carbon content. To their utter surprise, they found out that the sword was made by blacksmiths of Telangana, maybe someone who lived between Nizamabad and Hyderabad.

Additionally, they were given access to a number of blades thought to have been produced from steel from this region, so they could attempt to match components and qualities of the steel in the blades with the materials found at the old sites.

They were able to confirm that Tipu Sultan’s blade was indeed made with steel from this region, and further delved into the nature and qualities of Telengana steel and its historic production. Their results have been collected and are available in the report:  Pioneering Metallurgy: Origins of Iron and Steelmaking in the Southern Indian Subcontinent, which explores the ways in which they collected, analyzed and matched the samples.

Remnants of iron ore smelting found at many places demonstrate the hoary roots of artisanship and tool making in Telangana for at least two thousand years.

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Chityala Ailamma

Name : Chityala Ailamma or Chakali Ailamma (1919–1985)
Born : 1919, Krishnapuram, Raiparthy Mandal, Warangal
Died : Sep 10, 1985 Palakurthi, Jangaon.
Spouse : Chityala Narsaiah
Children : 4 Sons and 1 Daughter Somu Narsamma.
Profession : Farmer, Social Activist, Social Reformer

She belongs to Rajaka caste so her name became Chakali Ailamma.Poor with no formal education, a legend in the Telangana armed struggle.

Chityala Ailamma's struggle to establish her right to cultivate her own landmarks in a sense was the beginning of the Telangana Peasant Struggle.

She became an inspiration for many people in Telangana region.

She took 4 acres of land for rent (koulu) to cultivate land from a local landlord kondala rao. But, Patwari Veeramaneni Sheshagiri rao did not like that and started giving trouble to leave the land and asked her to come work in his own field.

Around the same time Andhra Maha Sabha led by Communits gave a call to revolt conducted many militant struggles against zamindars and deshmukhs,against the practices of vetti (beggar – forced labour), against illegal exactions and against evictions of cultivators from their lands.

She joined Andhra Maha Sabha and inspired her whole family, her sons and daughters to be with the Party throughout, through thick and thin. Her house had been the centre of Andhra Mahasabha and Communist Party activities against the landlords. She fought not only for her personal case – this only symbolised and signalled the beginning of the mighty struggle of the Telangana peasant for land.

Patwari Veeramaneni Sheshagiri rao complained to Visunur Deshmukh Ramachandra Reddy that she joined communists and got her husaband an d sons arrested.

Being independent minded and courageous, she resisted the attempts of the notorious deshmukh to occupy her land and merge it with his own. 

In the summer of 1946, Visunuru landlord planned to take away the harvest and evict her from the land, planned to seize the harvest directly from the fields. Just before this at a public meeting held in that village, he had sent his goondas to murder the Sangham leaders. But the people had foiled his plans and had beaten black and blue the goonda leader, Onamala Venkadu. On this pretext, the landlord arrested 14 of the Sangham leaders and lodged a case for attempted murder against them. Involved in this case were the leaders of the Sangham from that village, taluka and district. People were scared. Under these circumstances, Visnur Ramachandra Reddy thought that no one would obstruct him from taking possession of Ailamma’s lands.

He sent 100 goondas and 100 farm servants, men and women, to gather the harvest. Then the Sangham leaders and 28 volunteers, staking their lives, and armed with lathis and shouting slogans attacked the goondas. Hundreds of peasants, women as well as men, helped her to gather them and defended them with slings, stones, chilli powder and pounding sticks, Seeing these volunteers marching in formation with lathis and with fierce determination on their faces, the goondas ran for their lives. No one was left behind. The harvest was gathered and was sent to Ailamma’s house. The same night police from Visnur arrived but they dared not touch the harvested grain stored in Ailamma’s house. This incident roused the spirit of the people.

Next morning, 6 leaders including Bheemireddi Narasimha Reddy, Chokilam Yadagiri Rao, Nallu Pratapa Reddy, Katkur Ramachandra Reddy were arrested and taken to Visnur police station. At mid-night, they were taken with shackles on their hands and feet to the kutcheri house, there they were beaten severely, their heads were thrust in the ovens, chilli powder was thrust in their anus, urine was poured into their mouths and many other acts of fascist brutality were committed. But in spite of all this, Ailamma’s harvest and lands could not be seized. This victory over Visnur Ramachandra Reddy, the notorious deshmukh, enthused and gave courage to the people of the whole of Telangana. Long after this, the people used to describe this heroic struggle and sing songs about it.
But in spite of all this, Ailamma's harvest and lands could not be seized.

Songs were written on the incident of Ailamma’s land struggle attracted the women a lot. For the first time, the problem of land, eviction and vetti and forcible grain levies which had become the problems of their life, were connected with the slogan of abolition of zamindari, and that was the main feature of this period.

My daughter's name is Somu Narasamma. She had two children. She had a small infant, new-born, they beat her up and raped and my son-in-law did not take her back. May he be ruined. The sangham people could not do anything when my daughter was ruined said Ailamma.

Today if you help one person it is as if you have done a great thing.

It is my name that has stood. Wherever I go the [party] folk come and say, 'one should be like Ailamma'”

How can the dream of a new order that the Sangham (organiz- ation) spoke ofever leave us and how can that hope die?' asks Chityala Ailamma.




TELENGANA PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE AND ITS LESSONS P. SUNDARAYYA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chityala_Ailamma

Myth and reality: the struggle for freedom in India, 1945-47 - Page 474

http://sambatecks.blogspot.com/2015/09/about-chityala-ailamma-or-chakali.html

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