The Haihaya house split Palnadu between two half-brothers (Nalagamaraju at Gurazala, Malidevaraju at Macherla) and fought it out at Karempudi in a war the Telugu country remembers as an epic (Brahmanaidu, Nayakuralu Nagamma, the cockfight, a poisoned envoy).
Take it as bardic in detail and real in effect: the dates are 1178-82 and the result is a hole in the order of battle of the Velanati Chodas and of Palnadu's fighting men. In 1200 the country is limestone and thin soil, poor and bitter, and its chiefs are Velanati kin who look to Warangal for friendship.
Who he is
- Name
- Nalagamaraju (of Gurazala) is the victor of the epic; no chief named for 1200
- Title
- Haihaya chiefs of Gurazala and Macherla
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Haihaya house (Anuguraju's line); Nalagamaraju's mother Mailama Devi was a daughter of the Velanati Gonkaraju (Wikipedia, Battle of Palnadu); Malidevaraju of Macherla (died in the war) married a Kalachuri princess of Kalyanadurga
- Confidence
- low
The Palnati Yuddham: Wikipedia dates it 1178-1182, calls it largely corroborated by inscriptions and carries a 'multiple issues' banner. The narrative sources (Srinatha's Palnati Veeracharitra, the Palnativirula Katha) are bardic. Kakatiya support (Rudradeva sent about a thousand horse, Wikipedia's Rudradeva article) went to Nalagama.
What it holds
- Gurazala
- Macherla and its Chennakesava temple (Brahmanaidu's memory)
- Karempudi (battlefield)
Allies and rivals
Velanati kin and vassals; Kakatiya supporters of Nalagama; Kalachuri kin of Malideva.
How things stand that morning
A scarred chiefdom between Velanadu and the Kakatiyas.
Places of note
- Macherla: Chennakesava temple.
- Karempudi: Battlefield (board coordinates).
Where the sources disagree
- Board 'karempudi-palnadu' says the war was 1178-82 with the Kakatiyas on the winning side and the Kalachuris on the other: matches Wikipedia's dating; the epic's detail is bardic and flagged.
- Board 'macherla-chennakesava': Brahma Naidu is 'minister of the losing side'; the Wikipedia article makes him Malideva's supporter. Fine.
Evidence: Wikipedia's Battle of Palnadu and Rudradeva articles (read); the epic's own text was not.
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: Battle of Palnadu (read this session)
- Wikipedia: Rudradeva (read this session)
- Wikipedia: Velanati Chodas (read this session)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.