The Bhimeswara temple at Draksharama in the Godavari delta is one of the five Pancharama shrines of Shiva and the oldest great temple of the delta; the village was once Dakshatapovana, and eight lingas in the eight directions are the Ashta Someswaras (Draksharamam article, read; no dated history on the page).
The temple's walls carry inscriptions of the Eastern Chalukya, Chola, Velanati and Kakatiya kings (general knowledge, not read here); Rudradeva's records of 1168 and 1185-86 in the delta show Kakatiya reach (the realm records). In 1200 the temple stands in Velanati country with Kakatiya and Eastern Ganga eyes on it.
Who holds it
- Title
- Temple trustees and priests of Bhimeswara
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No head is named in any source we read.
What it holds
- The temple and its endowments in the delta
How things stand that morning
In Velanati country; the Kakatiyas have been giving here since 1168 and, on the likely course, hold it after 1207 or 1209.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The Draksharamam article (read) names the shrine and the group and gives no dates.
Primary sources for Velanati Chodas (Velanadu)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts, Various (Kakatiya chancery and temple scribes), edited by P. Sreenivasachar (inscriptions of the 10th to 15th centuries; edited 1940 to 1942). The Kakatiyas of Orugallu (Warangal) are known for 1200 almost entirely from inscriptions, and this Hyderabad Archaeological Series corpus is the main printed collection. Read online
- South Indian Inscriptions (Archaeological Survey of India), Various (Chola, Pandya and other chanceries and temple scribes), edited by E. Hultzsch, V. Venkayya, H. Krishna Sastri and successors (inscriptions of the 7th to 17th centuries; the series ran from 1890). The temple inscriptions printed here are the primary record of the Tamil country in 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia: Draksharamam (read this session)
- Wikipedia: Velanati Chodas (read this session)
- General knowledge of the medieval Deccan (Bhandarkar, Altekar, Sastri, B. R. Gopal, Suryanath Kamath): from memory, not re-read
- OMNIA board notes for this place (a lead only, checked against the sources above)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.