Recherla Nayakas were an Andhra dynasty that wrested power from the Musunuri Nayakas and became the dominant power in the

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...

region during the late 14th century and early 15th century (r. 1368–1435). They were based at

Rachakonda Rachakonda Fort is a historic fort located in Rachakonda, Yadadri Bhongir district of Telangana, India. It was built by the Recherla Nayaka king Anapotanayaka in the 14th century AD. Till that time the Recherla Nayakas had their capital at Anu ...

, southeast of Golconda, the border with the Bahmani sultanate during this period, and built a second base at Devarakonda.

History

Even though modern historians of Andhra identify the Recherla Nayakas with

Velama Velama is a caste found mainly in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The earliest occurrence of ''Velama'' as a term for a community dates from the 17th century. Origin and history The Velamas are described by that name from the 17th century and in ...

s, Cynthia Talbot states that the formation of the Velama community dates to a later period, the mid-sixteenth century at the earliest. Unfortunately, Talbot's research falls short of historical references. There are adequate references of Nayaka castes (Kamma, Velama, and Padmanayaka) in literature such as the Srinatha's Bhismeswara Puranam, Palanati Yuddham (which happened in ~1180 AD), and the Velugoti vari Vamasavali which describes the recherla nayaka lineage of Venkatagiri Samsthanam, to name a few. The Recherla Nayakas are believed to have established their first base at Amanugallu. When their chief Singama Nayaka was assassinated by rivals, his son Anapota Nayaka blamed Musunuri Kapaya Nayaka as the orchestrator and marched on Warangal. In a battle fought at Bhimavaram in 1368, Kapaya Nayaka was killed and the Recherlas got control of Telangana. Anapota Nayaka later claimed, in an inscription issued in 1369, that his grandfather, Dachaya, had served as a chief under the Kakatiyas and that

Prataparudra II Pratāparudra (r. c. 1289–1323), also known as Rudradeva II, was the last ruler of the Kakatiya dynasty of India. He ruled the eastern part of Deccan, with his capital at Warangal. Prataparudra succeeded his grandmother Rudramadevi as the Ka ...

conferred on him the title ''Pandya-raja-gaja-kesari'' (a lion against the Pandya elephants). The Recherla Nayakas built two fortified towns at

and Devarakonda in the

Nalgonda district Nalgonda district is a district in the Telangana state of India. Nalgonda district has the highest number of mandals in the state with 31 mandals. The district shares boundaries with Suryapet, Rangareddy, Yadadri and Nagarkurnool districts an ...

. The Recherlas had as their rivals the

Reddy dynasty The Reddi kingdom or Kondavidu Reddi kingdom (1325–1448 CE) was established in southern India by Prolaya Vema Reddi. Most of the region that was ruled by the Reddi dynasty is now part of modern-day coastal and central Andhra Pradesh. Orig ...

in the coastal Andhra region. They were initially allied with the Bahmani sultanate, following the same terms of agreement as reached by the Musunuri Nayakas in 1364, whereas the Reddys were allied to the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Mahar ...

. Following a split among the Reddy clan, into

Rajahmundry Rajahmundry, officially known as Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and District headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the sixth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the District of Rajah ...

Reddys and Kondavidu Reddys, the Kondavidu Reddys switched their allegiance to the Bahmanis and the Recherlas aligned themselves with the Vijayanagara. A major battle ensued at Pangal Fort (near Wanaparthi) in 1419 in which the coalition of the Vijayanagara, Recherlas and

Reddys was victorious. However, the change of allegiance by Recherlas led to attacks by the Bahmani sultanate in the 1420s, who captured Warangal as well as Rachakonda by 1435. Thereafter, the Recherla chiefs remained small players scattered throughout Telangana.

References

; Sources * * * {{citation , first=Cynthia , last=Talbot , title=Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19803-123-9 , year=2001 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C Dynasties of India Telugu monarchs