1261 CE Telugu Inscription Found in Nallamala Reveals Kayastha Rule

ONGOLE: A 765-year-old Telugu inscription documented during an Archaeological Survey of India expedition in Andhra Pradesh's Nallamala region is offering an unusually detailed glimpse into how agricultural land, irrigation and temple finances were connected in the 13th century.

The inscription was recorded on a stone slab associated with the sluice on the southern side of a tank at Yerragondapalem during an epigraphical survey of the Nallamala forest region. ASI Director of Epigraphy K. Muniratnam Reddy said the record is written in Telugu and carries a precise date corresponding to June 20, 1261 CE.

The inscription records grants of agricultural land and money associated with a temple establishment, providing evidence of the economic arrangements that sustained religious activity in medieval Andhra. The record refers to sugarcane fields and dry land below the tank in a temple village called Paramesvari-uru.

According to ASI's reading, the grants supported payments to people involved in conducting Rangabhoga festivities at an Ashtashakti shrine within a Mahadeva temple complex. The donation was made by the chief priest Potajiya, together with five other people, acting under the orders of Kayastha ruler Tripurarideva.

The Kayasthas were an important regional ruling house in the Telugu country during the broader Kakatiya period. The inscription also refers to monetary grants measured in madas, a historical monetary unit, including 200 madas for Goddess Paramesvari and 50 madas for Potajiya.

The location of the inscription is itself historically significant. It was recorded on a sluice slab beside a tank, with the agricultural lands mentioned in the text situated below that water body, directly connecting irrigation infrastructure with the economic resources assigned to the temple.

For Telugu Americans, the inscription demonstrates the use of Telugu in a formal record roughly 765 years ago to document land, money, religious obligations and local administration. More than seven and a half centuries ago, Telugu was being carved into stone in this landscape to document everyday institutional life.