the various petty rulers who now divided the country, even down to a time when their power in Tanjore was shattered, they had little, if any, real influence in Vengi after the death of Vikrama Chóla.
Of these petty rulers, the most important (and apparently the admitted suzerains over the others) were the Vélanándu family, to which belonged that Chóda who was adopted into Kulóttunga's family and left as viceroy of Vengi when Vikrama Chóla went in 11118 to join his father in the south. Vélanándu is said*[1] to be 'an old name for the Chandhavólu country' (i.e., the western part of the Kistna delta), where the family appear to have been long established and to have ruled as feudatories of the Eastern Chálukyas. Chóda's father, Gonka I, seems to have ruled 'the Andhra country' under Kulóttunga I, and is mentioned in an inscription at Chebrólu in the Kistna district dated 1076. A cousin of his named Vedura was a minister of Kulóttunga's son Víra Chóda when viceroy of Vengi; and, in recognition of his services against 'a Pándyan king,' was given by his master the overlordship of the country between the Kistna and the Gódávari. It was however under Chóda that the Vélanándu family first attained the position of viceroys of the Vengi country. He and his successors wielded considerable power. Chóda, as has been seen, bowed the neck to Vikramáditya VI, but his son Gonka II (alias Kulóttunga Chóda Gonka) claims to have ruled from Kálahasti in North Arcot to Ganjám. The queen of the latter's grandson, Gonka III (1137-56), covered with gold the idol at Simháchalam near Vizagapatam. The family seems to have been suppressed by the Kákatíyas of Warangal, in what is now the Nizam's Dominions, who forced their way into the country south of the Gódavári at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The last of them who is known to history was Prithísvara, the son of Gonka III, who ruled from 1163 to at least 1186.
Meanwhile another family, the Haihiya chiefs of 'the Kóna country,' were in power in the delta of the Gódávari. The delta taluk of Amalápuram is still known as the Kóna country. These people were apparently hereditary chieftains subordinate to the Vengi viceroys and the Vélanándu family. Their inscriptions in this district range from 1128 to 1206.
Other local rulers were the chiefs of Nadendla in the Kistna district, who seem to have recognized the authority of the Vélanándu line and have left inscriptions ranging from
- ↑ *Ep. Ind., iv,33. and Manual of the Kistna district, 214. The Velinádu Smárta Telugu Bráhmans have a tradition that Vélanándu is a name for the country near Kondavid. See Chapter III, p, 52.
