11th-Century Inscription Records Temple Land Grants in Nallamala

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ONGOLE: An 11th-century Telugu inscription documented by the Archaeological Survey of India in Andhra Pradesh's Nallamala region has revealed det

ails of agricultural land donated to support worship at a local temple, adding another piece of evidence about the relationship between irrigation, farming and religious institutions in medieval Andhra.

The inscription was documented near Satakodu village in Yerragondapalem mandal, during an epigraphical survey conducted by ASI's Epigraphy Branch from June 11 to 13, 2026. ASI announced the decipherment of the record in August.

K. Muniratnam Reddy, Director of Epigraphy at ASI, identified it as a Telugu inscription written in 11th-century script. According to ASI's reading, the record says Muthu-Malaredi Nayaka donated eight putlu and two mattars of wetland located behind the tank at Muttumalapadu for worship of the deity Saptakotidevara on the occasion of Uttarayana Sankranti. A second donation recorded on the same inscription gave three khadukas of land to the same deity, made by a person named Praralaya-Peggada.

The reference to wetland behind the Muttumalapadu tank is particularly significant. Irrigation tanks were essential to agricultural production in much of the Telugu region. Land supplied with reliable water could generate crops and income that, when endowed to a temple, provided continuing support for ritual activity.

The Satakodu area has already produced other medieval inscriptions. A separate record reported after the same Nallamala survey was dated precisely to 1121 CE, during the Kalyani Chalukya period, also recording a donation to a temple deity involving agricultural land near a tank.

The value of the Satakodu inscription lies partly in its ordinary subject matter. Land-grant inscriptions can reveal how institutions functioned at a more local level, where someone owned agricultural resources, land was formally donated, a tank supplied water to fields, and produce supported worship.

For Telugu Americans, the discovery demonstrates the use of Telugu in a formal record roughly a millennium ago to document land and religious obligations. It joins a growing collection of inscriptions from the Nallamala region that help scholars trace the development of Telugu vocabulary, writing conventions and administrative terminology.