The inclusion of a lesson in revised Intermediate second year history text of book of Telangana State on Chandupatla inscription which says that Kakatiya warrior queen Rudramadevi (1261-1290AD) died in Tripuranthakam of Nellore district has triggered a controversy.
The lesson says that she was killed during a war with Kayastha king Amadeva (1272-1295) which has been disputed by historians. According to them the Chandupatla inscription does not confirm the location of Kakatiya queen’s death.
A historian, D. Surya Kumar said the Chandupatla inscription confirmed the exact date of her death as November 27, 1289 AD. The inscription was laid down by an army man of Rudramadevi, Puvvula Mamidi, who also donated a piece of land to Somanatha Temple, marking the death of queen. While stating the date when the queen and her army chief Mallikarjuna Nayakudu died, there was no mention about the cause of death or the location. However, historians opined that based on circumstantial evidence they believed that the queen and chief of army would have been killed during a war since both died on the same day. Mr. Surya Kumar further said that Tripuranthakam was not in Nellore but was in Prakasam district now. Earlier, it was part of Kurnool, he stated.
Another historian, Emani Siva Nagi Reddy said Ambadevudu had laid an inscription at Tripuranthakam stating that he had defeated all the rulers in Andhra Pradesh, but he did not say that he also defeated Rudramadevi. Ambadevudu was the nephew of Gangaiah Sahini, who ruled some area around Nalgonda and was a staunch loyalist of the Kakatiyas. After the death of Gangaiah, his nephews Jannigadeva and Tripurari succeeded their uncle and were also loyal to Rudramadevi. The historians said that Ambadevudu, ruled Andhra making Vallur near Kadapa as his capital, stopped payment of allegiance to Kakatiyas. Denying Kakatiya supremacy, Ambadevudu declared independence and waged war on most Kakatiya loyalists. Though there was no evidence of Rudramadevi involved in a war with Ambadevudu, the historians believed that she would have been killed in a war with him on the basis of circumstantial evidence. However, both these historians observed that the text book committee must invite the opinion of all the experts before revising the text. “It needs to be deliberated with the help of experts.
